JPH0345812Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head, and more particularly to a multi-type liquid jet recording head.

[Prior Art] A liquid jet recording head applied to a liquid jet recording method generally has a fine liquid ejection opening (orifice),
It includes a liquid passage and a liquid discharge energy generator provided in a part of the liquid passage.

Conventionally, such a liquid jet recording head has been manufactured by forming fine grooves on a glass, ceramic, or metal plate by cutting or etching, and then subjecting the plate with the grooves to another suitable process. A method of forming a liquid passage by bonding with a plate;
A method of forming a liquid passage wall made of a cured photosensitive resin film on a substrate on which a liquid ejection energy generator is arranged, and then attaching a cover to the passage (for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
No. 57-43876. ) There is a method of bonding a plate-like member having a liquid passage wall formed by plating or resin molding to a substrate on which a discharge pressure generating element is arranged.

When two or more liquid jet recording heads manufactured by the above method are arranged side by side and fixed to produce a multi-type liquid jet recording head having a larger number of orifices, the conventional method is as shown in FIGS. The method shown in Figure 10 was adopted.

In these figures, 1 is an orifice, 3 is a liquid supply pipe, 31 is an individual liquid jet recording head made up of these orifices and liquid supply pipes, 32 is a support plate, 33 is a fixing screw, and 34 is a fitting groove (recessed part). ),
35 is a plate for fixing, and 36 is a positioning abutting portion.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, a method is adopted in which each liquid jet recording head 31 is fixed to a support plate 32 using screws 33.

In the example shown in FIG. 8, a recess 34 into which each liquid jet recording head is fitted is formed in the support plate 32, and the liquid jet recording head is fitted into the recess 34 and fixed. is adopted. Furthermore, if necessary, use adhesive to secure it more firmly.

In the example shown in FIG. 9, a method is adopted in which individual liquid jet recording heads are arranged on a support plate 32 and then the heads are held down by a fixing plate 35.

In the example shown in FIG. 10, a protrusion 36 for positioning is provided on the support plate 32, and each liquid jet recording head is abutted thereon and fixed with screws or adhesive.

However, the method of arranging and fixing individual liquid jet recording heads in the manner described above has the following drawbacks. In other words, (1) When making a multihead with a larger number of orifices by arranging individual liquid jet recording heads, the mutual positional relationship of these individual liquid jet recording heads has a large effect on the quality of the recording state (for example, printing). However, when juxtaposing and fixing using the method described above, the position of the screw hole in the fixing support plate, the fitting groove (recess), or the protrusion must be carefully determined. The supporting plate had to be manufactured with extremely high precision, which increased the cost of the support plate and made it unsuitable for mass production.

(2) In order to achieve high precision in the final positional relationship between the liquid jet recording heads, after arranging the individual heads,
Providing a mechanism (not shown) that allows movement by fine adjustment would further increase costs and make the process for positioning extremely complicated.

[Purpose] The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides a low-cost multi-type liquid jet recording head that can perform high quality image recording by arranging and fixing liquid jet recording heads with precision. is intended to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording head that is capable of performing high-quality color recording with a simple head structure.

[Summary of the invention] The liquid jet recording head of the present invention, which can achieve the above object, performs color recording by ejecting liquids of different colors. The liquid jet recording head is configured such that it can be connected to an adjacent liquid jet recording head by a complementary fitting portion, which includes a concave portion and a convex portion, and is provided at a different position for each liquid jet recording head on the side surface. It is characterized by being bonded.

[Example] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

Examples of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 1-3. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an orifice, 2 a heating resistor which is a discharge energy generator, 3 a liquid supply pipe, and 4
5 is a liquid reservoir, 5 is a liquid flow path, and 8 is a ceramic substrate on which the heat generating resistor is installed, and the recessed portion indicated by the symbol A is formed in the manufacturing process of the ceramic substrate. Although not shown, wiring for sending electrical signals to the heating resistor 2 is provided on this board. Reference numeral 9 denotes a cured photosensitive resin forming the liquid flow path 5 and the liquid reservoir 4, and is laminated on the substrate 8 in exactly the same shape as the outer shape of the substrate. A cover 6 is also made by curing a photosensitive resin and is laminated on the cured photosensitive resin 9. Note that this cover 6 is also patterned to have the same shape as the outer shape of the substrate. 7 is a liquid supply hole.

The liquid jet recording head thus produced is an individual liquid jet recording head designated by the reference numeral 10 shown in FIG. Furthermore, the code 11,1
The head indicated by 2 is also made in the same manner as the head 10 described above, but each has a different external shape. The head 11 has complementary protrusions that fit into the recesses A of the head 10, and the head 12 has protrusions B that fit into the recesses A of the head 11, respectively. FIG. 3 shows a multi-head head in which the heads 10, 11, and 12 are fitted into each other through complementary fitting parts (coupling parts) provided on each side. After fixing the fitted heads with adhesive in this way, the positional deviation between the individual heads was measured and found to be within a range of ±5μ with respect to the design value. With this level of precision, there is no deterioration in recording quality when recording by ejecting liquid droplets, and when we actually printed by providing liquid of a different color to each head, we found extremely good color recording. It was done.

[Reference Example] Next, a reference example of the present invention will be described. 4th to 6th
The figure shows a reference example of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an individual liquid jet recording head used in this reference example, in which reference numeral 1 is an orifice, 3 is a liquid supply pipe,
Reference numeral 13 denotes a cylindrical piezoelectric element which is a discharge energy generator, and a glass thin tube 14 is fitted inside the cylindrical piezoelectric element 13, and an orifice 1 is formed at the tip of the glass tube 14. A filter 15 is attached to the rear end. Further, 17 is a recording liquid.

Further, 16 is the body of the head, which is a molded product of acrylic resin.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of this head. On both sides of the body 16, a convex portion B and a concave portion C for fitting are formed complementary to each other (trapezoidal in this embodiment) when the body is molded. A plurality of liquid jet recording heads 18 manufactured in this manner are installed in parts B and C.
Fig. 6 shows a structure assembled and fixed by fitting the parts.

Then, when we measured the mutual positional relationship of each orifice in Fig. 6, we found that ±
It was within the 10μ range.

In the case of this reference example, the mutual position of each liquid jet recording head is greatly affected by the precision of molding of the resin material forming the body, so the precision of the molding machine as well as the shrinkage of the material are affected. It is necessary to use a material with low thermal expansion and good moldability. In this reference example, a polycarbonate resin containing 40% glass fiber and an acrylic resin containing 30% glass fiber were used, but any resin may be used as long as it satisfies the above conditions. Furthermore, when printing was actually performed by ejecting liquid from this head, good printing was obtained.

[Effects] As explained above, a multi-type recording head is constructed by juxtaposing two or more liquid jet recording heads each having one or more orifices, a discharge pressure generating element, a liquid flow roller, a liquid storage section, etc. In the liquid jet recording head, complementary fittings are formed in the adjacent portions of the individual liquid jet recording heads, and when the heads are juxtaposed, the heads are shaped so that they fit into each other, so that it is possible to directly A liquid jet recording head with a structure that allows the heads to be combined and fixed has the following effects.

(1) In the conventional structure, each head was fixed via a support plate, so the precision of head manufacturing was
Of course, it is necessary to use a support plate with extremely high precision, but according to the present invention, as long as the precision of manufacturing the heads can be ensured, the heads can be directly assembled.
Because they fit together, the accuracy of the support plate is not added to the positioning accuracy of each head, allowing for more accurate positioning and fixing.

(2) Since the precision of the support plate is not required, the cost can be kept low even when the support plate is used to assist in fixing.

(3) Since the individual heads are assembled by combining and fitting, the manufacturing process is extremely simple, work efficiency is improved, and the number of steps can be reduced, reducing man-hours and reducing costs. The effect is large.

In addition, multiple liquid jet recording heads that are connected to each other by a fitting part can be handled together with their sides joined and placed side by side, which greatly improves handling and operability. improves. Furthermore, it is also possible to remove individual heads from the fitting portion and replace, for example, only a predetermined head, thereby greatly improving the selectivity of individual heads.

(4) From the above, it is possible to provide a multi-type liquid jet recording head with good positioning accuracy, that is, good recording quality, and at low cost.

Therefore, it becomes possible to perform high-quality color recording with a simple head structure.

(5) In addition, when creating a multi-type head that can perform color recording by combining multiple individual heads and injecting liquids with different colors into each head, it is also possible to create a multi-type head that can perform color recording by combining a plurality of individual heads, each with a liquid of a different color. When a head is formed, the head for colored liquid can be easily identified due to its shape, which reduces assembly errors and liquid injection errors.
It is also very cost effective.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 illustrate an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a liquid jet recording head, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an individual liquid jet recording head, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an individual liquid jet recording head. A perspective view of a multi-type liquid jet recording head in an assembled state, and FIGS. 4 to 6 illustrate a reference example of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the liquid jet recording head, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the liquid jet recording head. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a multi-type liquid jet recording head in an assembled state, and FIGS. 7 to 10 are explanatory diagrams of different conventional multi-type liquid jet recording heads. 1... Orifice, 2... Heating resistor, 3...
Liquid supply pipe, 4...Liquid reservoir (storage part), 5...Liquid channel, 6...Cover, 7...Liquid supply hole, 8...Substrate,
9...Photosensitive resin cured product, 10,11,12,1
8, 31...Liquid jet recording head, 13...Cylindrical piezoelectric element, 14...Glass tube, 15...Filter, 16...Body, 17...Recording liquid, 32
...Support plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. A plurality of liquid jet recording heads arranged side by side with adjacent liquid jet recording heads joined side to side, for performing color recording by ejecting liquids of different colors, The liquid jet recording heads are connected to adjacent liquid jet recording heads by complementary fitting portions that are formed of concave portions and convex portions and are provided at different positions for each liquid jet recording head on the side surface. Liquid jet recording head. 2 Utility model registration claim 1, which is provided with an energy generator including a heating resistor that generates thermal energy used to discharge liquid
The liquid jet recording head described in .