Radiation imagery chemistry: process – composition – or product th – Imaging affecting physical property of radiation sensitive... – Making named article
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-07
2002-09-10
McPherson, John A. (Department: 1756)
Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product th
Imaging affecting physical property of radiation sensitive...
Making named article
C347S047000, C347S054000, C347S056000, C347S065000, C347S067000, C156S230000, C156S275300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06447984
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head for recording by discharging liquid as flying droplets which adhere to a recording medium, and a method of manufacture therefor. The invention also relates to a liquid discharge recording apparatus.
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head, a method of manufacture therefor, and a liquid discharge apparatus applicable to a printer that records on a recording medium, such as papers, threads, textiles, cloths, leathers, metals, plastics, glass, wood, ceramics, and also, applicable to a copying machine, a facsimile equipment provided with communication system, and a word processor provided with the printing unit, among some others. Further, the invention also relates to those applicable to recording systems for industrial use which are structured by the complex combination of various kinds of processing apparatuses. Here, the term “recording” referred to in the specification hereof means not only the provision of meaningful images, such as characters, graphics, but also, it means the provision of such meaningless images as patterns recorded on a recording medium.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, there has been known an ink jet recording apparatus that records by discharging ink serving as recording liquid form the orifices formed for the liquid discharge head as an excellent recording apparatus in that it is capable of recording at high speeds in a lesser amount of noises. Along with the advances of printing technologies in recent years, the ink jet recording apparatus is required to be able to record in higher speeds in higher precision. As a result, the size of the discharge ports (the orifice diameter) becomes finer, and at the same time, the discharge ports are formed in higher density.
FIG. 1A
is a perspective view which schematically shows one example of the liquid discharge head used of the conventional ink jet recording apparatus.
FIG. 1B
is a cross-sectional view thereof, taken in the flow path direction.
As shown in
FIGS. 1A and 1B
, the head comprises an orifice plate
102
having a plurality of orifices
101
for discharging ink, and the head unit
110
which is bonded to the orifice plate
102
by use of bonding agent
106
in order to supply ink to be discharged from the orifices
101
. The head unit
110
is provided with the flow paths
112
communicated with the orifices
101
to supply ink to be discharged from the orifices
101
; the ceiling plate
111
which forms the flow paths
112
; and the energy generating elements
114
that generate energy for discharging from the orifices
101
the which ink supplied from the flow paths
112
. Then, the unit comprises the substrate
113
that forms the flow paths
112
together with the ceiling plate
111
.
Here, for the orifice plate
102
, fine orifices
101
are arranged in order to discharge ink. Since the orifices
101
present an important factor of which the discharge performance of the liquid discharge head is dependent, it is required for the orifices to provide an excellent machinability, and resistance to ink, because the orifices are directly in contact with ink.
Conventionally, as the material of the orifice plate that satisfies such an operational condition as described above, there is a metallic plate, such as SUS, NI, Cr, Al or a resin film material, such as polyimide, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyphenylene sulfide, polypropylene, polyether etherketon, among some others. If a metallic plate is used for the orifice plate, it is generally practiced to use a method, such as electrocasting, for the formation of the orifices. If a resin film is used for the material of the orifice plate, it is generally practiced to use a method for forming the orifices by processing the resin film finely by means of the excimer laser ablation.
However, when the orifice plate is bonded to the head main body, it is extremely difficult to connect the fine discharge ports with the flow paths without any gaps, which should be communicated with the discharge ports. Particularly when the orifice plate formed by the resin film should be bonded to the head main body, the orifice plate may often be fixed in a deflected condition due to the flexibility of the orifice plate. in this case, the direction of the plural discharge ports formed for the orifice plate is allowed to be varied eventually. The products thus manufactures should be refused. Also, if the water repellent layer should be provided for the surface of the filmed resin, there is a fear that the water repellent layer is subjected to damages when the resin is handled. As a result, an utmost care should be exercised for handling when the bonding operation is carried out for the orifice plate.
Further, for the color image formation which has rapidly been in more demand, particularly for the formation of photographic color images, it is required to place the ultrafine ink droplets exactly in higher density on the desired positions on a recording medium. Therefore, it is extremely important to maintain the exact positional relationship between the four-color head units, yellow, cyan, magenta, and black, for example.
FIG. 2
is a perspective view which schematically shows one structural example of the liquid discharge head used for the conventional ink jet recording apparatus which is capable of forming color images. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the conventional ink jet recording apparatus capable of forming color images is provided with the liquid discharge head having the orifice plates
202
a
to
202
d
and the head units
210
a
to
210
d
for each of the plural colors. Then, the head units
210
a
to
210
d
are arranged on the predetermined positions of the frame
230
, respectively.
Here, as a technique to enhance the positional precision between the head units
210
a
to
210
d
with each other, a method or the like is adopted to connect and bond the head units
210
a
to
210
d
with the frame
230
corresponding to each color in such a manner that each position of discharge ports of the head units
210
a
to
210
d
for the respective colors is recognized in advance by the application of image processing, and then, each position of the discharge ports thus recognized is offset from the positioning standard set on the frame
230
for the printer main body.
Now, hereunder, the description will be made of the method for manufacturing the liquid discharge head described above. At first, the flow path walls and the electrothermal transducing elements serving as discharge energy generating elements are arranged on the silicon substrate. Then, the ceiling plate formed also by a silicon substrate, for example, is bonded with this substrate. After that, by use of the diamond blade for adjusting the positions of the flow paths and the like, the head units are cut per color. Then, each of the orifice plates is bonded to the head unit thus cut by use of a bonding agent, such as epoxy resin.
Subsequently, the position of the head unit bonded to the orifice plate is recognized by means of the image processing, thus connecting and bonding it with the frame after adding the offset value with respect to the positioning standard set in advance for the frame. In this manner, the positioning relationship between four head units is determined relatively.
However, with respect to a liquid discharge head manufactured by the conventional method of manufacture as described above, there is a problem which may make it difficult to maintain the placement accuracy for the ink jet recording apparatus which should be provided with a resolution of as high as 1200 dpi to 1440 dpi or even as high as 2400 dpi as to the relative relationship between the head units for each color in recent years. If, for example, the liquid discharge head of four-color structure should be manufactured, there is a need for controlling six axes, that is, X, Y, Z, &thgr;x, &thgr;y, and &mgr;z, for the relative positions between the head units for each color as shown in FIG.
1
A.
In acco
Ikeda Masami
Ikegame Ken
Inada Genji
Ishinaga Hiroyuki
Ito Miki
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