Ink print head with low flow resistance central refilling

Details Ink print head with low flow resistance central refilling Ink print head with low flow resistance central refilling

2002-01-03

2003-08-19

Vo, Anh T. N. (Department: 2861)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Fluid or fluid source handling means

Reexamination Certificate

active

06607265

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink print head. More specifically, the present invention discloses an ink print head with low flow resistance central refilling, which provides a wide fluidflowing channel so as to reduce the flow resistance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Inkjet printers provide high level printing quality for a reasonable price. They have become a welcome printing device in the information age. Striving for higher performance, higher printing quality and quicker printing speed has become a goal of modern research.
Please refer to FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
is a diagram of a prior art ink print head
10
of the inkjet printer. During a printing operation, the inkjet printer ejects fluid out from the ink print head
10
onto a printing paper
11
. The ink print head
10
comprises an ink container
12
for storing fluid. An ink ejection module
16
is installed on a bottom
14
of the ink container
12
for ejecting the ink out onto the printing paper
11
. The printing paper
11
(only a portion is shown in
FIG. 1
) is set under the ink print head
10
. There is a fixed distance
13
between the printing paper
11
and the ink ejection module
16
.
Please refer to
FIG. 2
to
FIG. 4
for a further explanation of the structure of the ink ejection module
16
.
FIG. 2
,
FIG. 3
, and
FIG. 4
offer a perspective view, a structural diagram, and a cross-sectional view along hatched line
4
—
4
of
FIG. 2
, of the ink ejection module
16
, respectively. Please note that, the figures display the ink ejection module
16
, which is set on the bottom
14
of the ink container
12
. Therefore,
FIG. 2
,
FIG. 3
, and
FIG. 4
offer a view seen from the bottom of the ink print head
10
. In other words, the upper portions of the figures represent the lower portion of the ink print head
10
. For simplicity, the ink container
12
is only partially drawn on the figures. A plurality of nozzles
18
is set on the ink ejection module
16
, which ejects fluid out onto the printing paper
11
(the printing paper is not shown in
FIG. 2
to FIG.
4
). The ink ejection module
16
comprises a nozzle plate
20
, a dry film
22
, and a chip
24
, each stacked up. A central slot
30
is set in the middle portion of the chip
24
for passing fluid. A plurality of heaters
32
(providing thermal resistance) is set on the chip
24
. In addition, the dry film
22
is stacked on the chip
24
. The dry film
22
has a plurality of etching holes, so as to form channels
28
and ink chambers
34
on the chip
24
. The nozzle plate
20
is stacked on the dry film
22
, yet the nozzles
18
penetrate the nozzle plate
20
.
The principle of the prior art ink print head
10
ink ejection module
16
can be described as below. The fluid flows out from the central slot
30
of the chip
24
,through the channel
28
that is formed by the dry film
22
, and then into the ink chamber
34
which also formed by the dry film
22
. The heater
32
of the chip
24
is set corresponding to the ink chambers
34
for heating the fluid inside the ink chambers
34
. The fluid then ejects out from the nozzles
18
of the nozzle plate
20
to print on the printing paper
11
. A path
35
that fluid flows out from the ink container
12
and ejects out from the nozzles
18
is shown in FIG.
4
.
As told before, printing speed requirements of ink printers are increasing constantly. That means the fluid will eject out from the nozzles more and more frequently. In order to resupply the quickly-consumed fluid inside the ink chamber
34
, the fluid must able to flow out from the ink container
12
, through the channel
28
, and into the ink chamber
34
quickly. However, the channel
28
of the prior art ink ejection module
16
is formed only by the thickness of the dry film
22
. The thickness of the dry film
22
is about 25 &mgr;m. The channel
28
formed by the dry film
22
, covering the whole flowing channel from the central slot
30
to the ink chamber
34
, is too narrow and too long (about 2 mm). The channel causes a large fluid resistance, so that fluid is unable to flow from the central slot
30
into the ink chamber
34
quickly. Therefore, the prior art ink print head
10
is unable to print quickly.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide an ink print head with a low flow resistance ink ejection module, overcoming the limitation of the prior art.
The claimed invention, briefly summarized, discloses an ink print head with a low flow resistance ink ejection module. The ink print head has an ink container for storing fluid, a chip installed at a bottom of the ink container having a central slot for passing fluid, and a dry film formed on the chip having a plurality of ink chambers. The ink print head also has a nozzle plate formed below the dry film, a middle portion of the nozzle plate protruding above four sides of the nozzle plate so as to form a central refill chamber, and a near two edges of the nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzles corresponding to the ink chambers of the dry film. In addition, the ink print head also includes a plurality of heaters set on the chip for heating fluid inside the ink chambers so that the fluid can be ejected from the nozzles of the nozzle plate. When operating, fluid inside the ink container will flow through the central slot into the central refill chamber and then into the ink chambers.
It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the central refill chamber increases the capacity and the flow rate of the flowing channel, therefore decreasing the fluid flow resistance. The consumed fluid inside the ink chamber is resupplied quickly, achieving high printing speed.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5463411 (1995-10-01), Wehl
patent: 5538586 (1996-07-01), Swanson et al.
patent: 6039439 (2000-03-01), Komplin et al.
patent: 6188414 (2001-02-01), Wong et al.
patent: 6273553 (2001-08-01), Kim et al.

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