Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-06
2003-12-09
Stephens, Juanita (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S056000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06659597
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head that performs print recording, image formation, or the like on a recording medium by discharging liquid form discharge ports as liquid droplets.
2. Related Background Art
A liquid discharge apparatus (ink jet recording apparatus) is the apparatus of the so-called non-impact apparatus that performs print recording, image formation, or the like on various kinds of recording media by discharging liquid droplets with the supply of ink or the like to the liquid discharge head, while driving the piezoelectric element or the electrothermal converting element (heat-generating member) in accordance with the driving signals corresponding to recording information or image information, which is known as the excellent recording apparatus in that it performs a high speed printing with a lesser amount of noises with some other advantages, and widely adopted for use of the printer, word processor, facsimile apparatus, copying machine, and others that carry a recording mechanism.
The liquid discharge head used for a liquid discharge apparatus of the kind has the electrothermal converting element arranged in the liquid flow paths for the liquid discharge head that uses the electrothermal converting element, for example. With the provision of driving signals that serve as discharge signals for such element, thermal energy is given to liquid. Then, the bubbling pressure of each liquid droplet exerted at the time of bubbling (boiling) of liquid, which is generated by the phase changes of liquid at that time, is utilized for liquid discharges.
Also, for the liquid discharge head that uses the electrothermal converting method described above, there are two types: one is the edge shooter type where liquid droplets are discharged in parallel to the surface of the base plate having the electrothermal converting element (heat-generating member) arranged; and the other is the side shooter type where liquid droplets are discharged perpendicularly to the surface of the base plate having the electrothermal converting element arranged.
Now, hereunder, with the example of a liquid discharge head of side shooter type, the specific structure of the conventional liquid discharge head will be described in conjunction with
FIG. 4
to FIG.
6
.
FIG. 4
is a perspective view that schematically shows the conventional liquid discharge head of side shooter type, observed from above.
FIG. 5
is a cross-sectional view that schematically shows the liquid discharge head arranged along the direction (
5
—
5
line) orthogonal to the arrangement direction of discharge ports represented in FIG.
4
. Likewise,
FIG. 6
is a partial cross-sectional view of the liquid discharge portion.
In
FIG. 4
to
FIG. 6
, the element base plate
101
having the liquid discharge portion formed therefor is installed on the supporting member
120
through the holding member
121
. On the surface side of the element base plate
101
, there is arranged the flow path structural member
107
to form plural discharge ports
108
and liquid flow paths
111
. Several tens or more of discharge ports
108
are provided for a actually finished product. Communicated with these discharge ports
108
, the liquid flow paths
111
for supplying liquid are open almost in the same length as that of the discharge ports. Also, with the liquid flow paths
111
, the liquid supply port
110
that supplies liquid from backside through the element base plate
101
and the liquid chamber
112
, which is formed for the holding member
121
, are communicated to arrange the structure in which the liquid chamber
112
receives the supply of liquid from outside.
As shown in
FIG. 6
, the heat-generating member (electrothermal converting element)
102
that gives heat to liquid for bubbling is provided for the element base plate
101
corresponding to each of the discharge ports
108
. Also, the electrode wiring connected to each of the heat-generating member
102
is connected with the transistor circuit for driving the heat-generating member
102
, respectively. For the transistor circuit, there have been known the method for incorporating such circuit on the element base plate
101
and the method for assembling the element incorporated in a separate member on the element base plate
101
. Usually, for the element base plate
101
that has comparatively small numbers of heat-generating members
102
and discharge ports
108
, it is generally practiced to adopt the method for incorporating the transistor circuit directly on the element base plate
101
. However, in the case of the element base plate
101
that has comparatively large numbers of heat-generating members
102
and discharge ports
108
arranged for the purpose of widening the printing width, the structure that incorporates the transistor circuit on the element base plate tends to invite a significant reduction of production yield of element base plate. Therefore, the method for assembling the element incorporated on a separate member on the transistor circuit is considered advisable in terms of production yield. Here, the
FIGS. 4
to
6
illustrate the example in which the transistor circuit incorporated on a separate driving element (driving IC)
113
is assembled on the element base plate.
FIG. 7
is a schematic view that shows the driving circuit of the kind for heat-generating member of the conventional ink jet recording apparatus. As described above, a plurality of heat-generating members
102
is provided, and one side of each wiring therefor is assembled by use of the block common wiring
301
on the VH power source side provided for each assembling (block) of the heat-generating members appropriately installed. Further, it is arranged to assemble each block common wiring
301
on the VH power source side by use of the head common wiring
302
on the VH power source. In this way, all the heat-generating members are electrically connected with the VH power source installed outside the recording head. The other wiring for heat-generating member
102
is connected with the driving transistor
1131
provided for the aforesaid driving IC
113
corresponding to each of the heat-generating members
102
one to one, respectively. The power supply line from the driving transistor
1131
is assembled by use of the block common wiring
303
on the GND side arranged per block, and assembled further by use of the head common wiring
304
on the GND side. In this way, all the heat-generating members are electrically connected with the electrodes of the VH power source and GND. Form the VH power source a constant voltage is supplied. The gate electrode of the driving transistor
1131
is connected with a driving control circuit (not shown), and with the appropriate control of the gate electrode, the heat-generating members
102
are driven arbitrarily to make an arbitrary image printing possible.
As shown in
FIG. 6
, the electrode wiring (not shown) connected with the heat-generating member
102
is connected to the thin-filmed electrode portion
103
a
, the common thick-filmed electrode portion
103
b
, and the IC assembling
104
. Then, on the IC assembling
104
, the driving IC
113
is assembled by the COB (chip on board) connection method using anisotropic conductive bonding film (ACF), solder bumps, or the like. Also, for the driving IC
113
, the logic circuit and others are installed to drive transistor in addition to the transistor circuit for driving the heat-generating member
102
. The logic circuit is connected with the flexible film (flexible wiring base plate)
114
through the electric connecting portion
104
a
formed at the edge of the element base plate
101
. Further, the flexible film
114
is connected with the printed-circuit board (circuit base plate)
116
, which is formed by a compound material of glass-epoxy and others. The printed-circuit board
116
has the electric connector
117
(
FIG. 5
) mounted in order to receive electric signals from outside. The flexible film
114
Murata Tatsuo
Yokota Masami
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Stephens Juanita
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