EP0314388B1 - Tête d'impression pour imprimante à jet d'encre à la demande thermique - Google Patents

Tête d'impression pour imprimante à jet d'encre à la demande thermique Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0314388B1
EP0314388B1 EP19880309853 EP88309853A EP0314388B1 EP 0314388 B1 EP0314388 B1 EP 0314388B1 EP 19880309853 EP19880309853 EP 19880309853 EP 88309853 A EP88309853 A EP 88309853A EP 0314388 B1 EP0314388 B1 EP 0314388B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
heat
print head
heat conducting
electrical connection
conducting elements
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19880309853
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0314388A2 (fr
EP0314388A3 (en
Inventor
Robert Charles Durbeck
Jerome Michael Eldridge
Francis Chee-Shuen Lee
Graham Olive
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Lexmark International Inc
Original Assignee
Lexmark International Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Lexmark International Inc filed Critical Lexmark International Inc
Publication of EP0314388A2 publication Critical patent/EP0314388A2/fr
Publication of EP0314388A3 publication Critical patent/EP0314388A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0314388B1 publication Critical patent/EP0314388B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
    • B41J2/14016—Structure of bubble jet print heads
    • B41J2/14072—Electrical connections, e.g. details on electrodes, connecting the chip to the outside...
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
    • B41J2/14016—Structure of bubble jet print heads
    • B41J2/14088—Structure of heating means
    • B41J2/14112—Resistive element
    • B41J2/14129—Layer structure
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/14—Structure thereof only for on-demand ink jet heads
    • B41J2002/14379—Edge shooter

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a thermal drop-on-demand ink jet printer print head.
  • a thermal drop-on-demand ink jet printer is known to include a print head, in which a heater element is selectively energised to form a "bubble" in an adjacent mass of ink.
  • the rapid growth of the bubble causes an ink drop to be ejected from a nearby nozzle.
  • Printing is accomplished by energising the heater element each time a drop is required at that nozzle position, to produce an ink dot in a desired position.
  • the printer usually includes an array of nozzles.
  • thermal cross talk Depending on the frequency of operation and the density of the array of nozzles, adjacent nozzles may affect each other by the transfer of heat from each nozzle to an adjacent nozzle (thermal cross talk), although this has not been a substantial problem with thermal drop-on-demand ink jet printers that are currently marketed.
  • thermal cross-talk impedes print head performance since it creates an unsteady, non-uniform temperature field which can significantly alter the mechanism of bubble nucleation thereby leading to poor print quality.
  • US-A-4,502,060 shows a thermal ink jet printer in which barrier walls substantially surround the heater element resistors to define the capillary channels for feeding ink between a source and an orifice plate.
  • the barrier walls also serve to maintain a separation between adjacent resistors to inhibit hydraulic cross-talk.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide an improved thermal drop-on-demand ink jet printer print head in which thermal cross-talk is substantially eliminated.
  • the invention relates to a thermal drop-on-demand ink jet printer print head comprising a thermally conductive substrate member, a plurality of spaced apart heating elements on a surface of the substrate member, a first electrical connection member on the surface of the substrate member and in contact with all of the heating elements, a plurality of second electrical connection members on the surface of the substrate member, each of the second electrical connection members being in electrical contact with a respective one of the heating elements, and a heat shield for preventing the flow of heat between adjacent heating elements.
  • the print head is characterised in that the heat shield comprises a plurality of heat conducting elements on the surface of the substrate member and extending into the spaces between adjacent heating elements, each of the heat conducting elements being integrally connected to one of the electrical connection members, whereby the heat conducting elements conduct heat away from the spaces between the heating elements.
  • a print head for a thermal drop-on-demand ink jet printer comprises a suitable substrate member 10, upon one surface 11 of which is formed an array of resistive heater elements 12, only one of which is shown in Fig. 1.
  • Each of the resistive heater elements 12 is formed on a multilayer thin-film structure comprising a heat insulation layer 13 common to all the heater elements and a resistive heater film 14. Layer 13 must also be electrically insulating.
  • Each one of a plurality of control electrodes 16 makes electrical contact with a respective one of the heater films 14 and a common electrode 15 makes electrical contact with each of the resistive heater films 14 and electrically short circuits all parts of the heater films 14 except the portions between the electrodes 15 and 16 which form the resistive heater elements 12.
  • a passivation layer (not illustrated) may be deposited over the array of the resistive heater elements 12 and the associated electrodes 15 and 16 to prevent both chemical and mechanical damage to the resistive heater elements 12 and the electrodes 15 and 16.
  • the passivation layer is not shown in the drawings so that the underlying structure can be more easily shown.
  • a second substrate member 17 is fixed in position relative to the substrate 10 so that wall members 19 formed in the member 17 define a plurality of channels 21 each associated with a respective one of the resistive heater elements 12.
  • a nozzle 23 is provided formed by one end of each channel 21.
  • An ink supply (not shown) is provided to supply a marking fluid such as ink to each of the channels 21.
  • a data pulse is supplied to a selected control electrode 16 to energise the associated resistive heater element 12 resulting in the production of a bubble 25 in the ink adjacent to the heater element 12.
  • the inertial effects of controlled motion of the bubble to the right as shown by arrow 27 forces a drop 29 of ink from the associated nozzle 23.
  • a heat shield is provided which extends into the spaces between adjacent resistive heater elements 12 to eliminate thermal cross-talk between adjacent resistive heating elements 12.
  • the heat shield serves as a heat sink so that the lateral heat flow reaching the heat shield is conducted both along the electrodes and also down to the substrate member 10.
  • the heat shield 18 comprises an array of thin-film metal fingers 20 deposited on the surface of the heat insulation layer 13 within the spaces on layer 13 between the resistive heater elements 12.
  • the metal fingers 20 are of the same material as and are integrally connected to the common electrode 15, so that the metal fingers 20 can be produced very easily by a simple change in the mask used in the fabrication of the common electrode 15.
  • thin-film metal fingers 22 forming a heat shield 18 are attached to the control electrodes 16 and extend into the space on the surface of layer 13 between adjacent resistive heater elements 12.
  • the operation of these metal fingers 22 is similar to that of the previously described embodiment, in that heat is conducted to the substrate 10 by the fingers 22 and along the fingers 22 back to the control electrodes 16.
  • FIG. 6 A further embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 6 in which thin-film metal fingers 24 extend into some of the spaces between adjacent resistive heater elements 12 and these fingers are attached to the common electrode 15. Interleaved with these metal fingers 24 are thin-film metal fingers 26 which extend into the rest of the spaces between adjacent heating elements 12 and are attached to individual control electrodes 16.
  • the heat shield 18 described significantly decreases the thermal diffusion time constant with the result that the heat generated by the heater elements 12 is quickly diffused toward the periphery of the heater substrate 10 where heat sink structures (not shown) are available for absorbing the heat.
  • the resultant effect is that the thermal ink jet printer print head temperature can be maintained at a relatively low level so that thermal cross-talk is virtually eliminated.
  • the heat insulation layer 13 acts as a short-term thermal barrier, and this layer comprises a material such as SiO2, for example.
  • the heat shield 18 comprises a plurality of thin-film metal fingers 28 and the portions of the heat insulation layer 13 under the thin-film metal fingers 28 are removed by the use of an additional processing step using standard techniques such as reactive ion etching, for example. In this way the metal fingers 28 are deposited directly on the surface 11 of the substrate member 10 which has a much higher thermal conductivity than the heat insulation layer 13.
  • the substrate member 10 is electrically conductive, it may not be possible to remove completely the portion of the heat insulation layer 13 under the thin film metal fingers 28. However, in this case, additional cooling can be provided by substantially thinning the portion of the heat insulation layer 13 under the metal fingers 28. Still further thermal cooling can be accomplished by reducing the thickness of the portion of the heat insulation layer 13 in those areas under both the common electrode 15 and the control electrodes 16, as shown in Fig. 9.
  • heat insulation layer 13 entirely under the common electrode 15 so that heat flow into the substrate member 10 is maximised.
  • the heat insulation layer 13 under the common electrode 15 can be eliminated entirely when the substrate member 10 is not electrically conductive.
  • the layer 13 under the common electrode 15 can also be eliminated when the common electrode is maintained at ground potential without regard to whether or not the substrate member 10 is electrically conductive.
  • a simple change in print head substrate structure with the addition of metal cooling fingers, control electrodes metallurgically separated from the electrically and thermally conductive substrate member by a much thinner heat insulation layer, and common electrode areas directly in contact with the thermally conductive substrate member provides improved thermal cooling and minimises thermal cross-talk between adjacent heater elements.

Landscapes

  • Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)

Claims (8)

1. Tête d'impression pour imprimante thermique à jet d'encre à la demande, comprenant:
un substrat thermiquement conducteur (10),
une pluralité d'éléments chauffants mutuellement espacés (12) sur une surface dudit substrat,
un premier élément de connexion électrique (15), placé sur ladite surface dudit substrat et en contact avec tous les dits éléments chauffants,
une pluralité de deuxièmes éléments de connexion électrique (16) placés sur ladite surface dudit substrat, chacun desdits deuxièmes éléments de connexion électrique étant en contact électrique avec un élément respectif desdits éléments chauffants, et
un bouclier thermique (18) pour empêcher la transmission de chaleur entre les éléments chauffants adjacents, caractérisée en ce que
ledit bouclier thermique (18) comprend une pluralité d'éléments de conduction de chaleur (20; 22; 24, 26; 28) placés sur ladite surface et s'étendant dans les espaces compris entre des éléments chauffants adjacents (12), chacun desdits éléments de conduction de chaleur étant solidairement relié à un desdits éléments de connexion électrique de sorte que lesdits éléments de conduction de chaleur évacuent la chaleur des espaces compris entre lesdits éléments chauffants.
2. Tête d'impression suivant la revendication 1, caractérisée en ce que lesdits éléments de conduction de chaleur (12) sont tous reliés audit premier élément de connexion électrique (15).
3. Tête d'impression suivant la revendication 1, caractérisée en ce que chacun desdits éléments de conduction de chaleur (12) est relié à un élément respectif desdits deuxièmes éléments de connexion électrique (16).
4. Tête d'impression suivant la revendication 1, caractérisée en ce que les éléments de conduction de chaleur d'un premier groupe (24) sont reliés au dit premier élément de connexion électrique (15), les éléments de conduction de chaleur d'un deuxième groupe (26) sont reliés chacun à un élément respectif de ladite pluralité de deuxièmes éléments de connexion électrique (16), et les éléments desdits premier et deuxième groupes d'éléments de conduction de chaleur sont mutuellement intercalés.
5. Tête d'impression suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisée en ce qu'elle comprend une couche d'isolation thermique (13) déposée sur une surface dudit substrat (10), et en ce que lesdits éléments de conduction de chaleur (20; 22; 24, 26; 28) sont placés sur ladite couche d'isolation thermique.
6. Tête d'impression suivant la revendication 5, caractérisée en ce que ladite couche d'isolation thermique (13) a une épaisseur nominale, et en ce que l'épaisseur de ladite couche d'isolation thermique sous lesdits éléments de connexion électrique (15, 16) est inférieure à ladite épaisseur nominale, de sorte que lesdits éléments de connexion électrique ont une meilleure conduction thermique vers ledit substrat.
7. Tête d'impression suivant la revendication 5, caractérisée en ce que ladite couche d'isolation thermique (13) a une épaisseur nominale, et en ce que l'épaisseur de ladite couche d'isolation thermique sous lesdits éléments de conduction thermique (20. 22; 24, 26; 28) est inférieure à ladite épaisseur nominale, de sorte que lesdits éléments de conduction thermique assurent une meilleure conduction thermique vers ledit substrat.
8. Tête d'impression suivant l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes 1 à 4, caractérisée en ce qu'elle comprend une couche d'isolation thermique (13) déposée sur une surface dudit substrat (10), et en ce que les parties de ladite couche d'isolation thermique (13) situées sous lesdits éléments de conduction de chaleur (20; 22; 24, 26; 28) ont été enlevées de sorte que lesdits éléments de conduction de chaleur sont en contact thermique direct avec ladite surface dudit substrat.
EP19880309853 1987-10-27 1988-10-20 Tête d'impression pour imprimante à jet d'encre à la demande thermique Expired - Lifetime EP0314388B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US11427287A 1987-10-27 1987-10-27
US114272 1987-10-27

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0314388A2 EP0314388A2 (fr) 1989-05-03
EP0314388A3 EP0314388A3 (en) 1989-06-07
EP0314388B1 true EP0314388B1 (fr) 1991-11-21

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EP19880309853 Expired - Lifetime EP0314388B1 (fr) 1987-10-27 1988-10-20 Tête d'impression pour imprimante à jet d'encre à la demande thermique

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EP (1) EP0314388B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPH01115641A (fr)
DE (1) DE3866332D1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2752486B2 (ja) * 1989-12-29 1998-05-18 キヤノン株式会社 インクジェット記録ヘッドおよびその検査方法ならびにインクジェット記録装置
DE4009848A1 (de) * 1990-03-27 1991-10-02 Boehringer Mannheim Gmbh Verfahren zum nachweis von phosphoryliertes tyrosin enthaltenden proteinen
ATE191884T1 (de) 1993-07-29 2000-05-15 Canon Kk Tintenstrahldruckkopf, tintenstrahlkopf-kartusche und druckgerät

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4490728A (en) * 1981-08-14 1984-12-25 Hewlett-Packard Company Thermal ink jet printer
JPS60107361A (ja) * 1983-11-16 1985-06-12 Fuji Xerox Co Ltd サ−マルヘツド
JPS60204373A (ja) * 1984-03-30 1985-10-15 Canon Inc 液体噴射記録ヘツド

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0314388A2 (fr) 1989-05-03
JPH01115641A (ja) 1989-05-08
DE3866332D1 (de) 1992-01-02
EP0314388A3 (en) 1989-06-07

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