EP1291181A1 - Dispositif d'actionnement d'une tête à jet d'encre à plusieurs buses - Google Patents

Dispositif d'actionnement d'une tête à jet d'encre à plusieurs buses Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1291181A1
EP1291181A1 EP02078765A EP02078765A EP1291181A1 EP 1291181 A1 EP1291181 A1 EP 1291181A1 EP 02078765 A EP02078765 A EP 02078765A EP 02078765 A EP02078765 A EP 02078765A EP 1291181 A1 EP1291181 A1 EP 1291181A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
fingers
actuator
electrodes
group
support
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.)
Granted
Application number
EP02078765A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1291181B1 (fr
Inventor
Franciscus Richard Blom
André Jozef Christiaan Gerardus Erren
Hans Reinten
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.)
Canon Production Printing Netherlands BV
Original Assignee
Oce Technologies BV
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 Oce Technologies BV filed Critical Oce Technologies BV
Priority to EP20020078765 priority Critical patent/EP1291181B1/fr
Publication of EP1291181A1 publication Critical patent/EP1291181A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1291181B1 publication Critical patent/EP1291181B1/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
    • B41J2/015—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process
    • B41J2/04—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand
    • B41J2/045—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers
    • B41J2/04501—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits
    • B41J2/04568—Control according to number of actuators used simultaneously
    • 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
    • B41J2/015—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process
    • B41J2/04—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand
    • B41J2/045—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers
    • B41J2/04501—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits
    • B41J2/04581—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits controlling heads based on piezoelectric elements
    • 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
    • B41J2/14201—Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements
    • B41J2/14274—Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements of stacked structure type, deformed by compression/extension and disposed on a diaphragm

Definitions

  • the invention relates to an actuating device for a multi-nozzle ink jet printhead comprising a linear array of electromechanical transducers some of which are configured as actuator fingers associated with the nozzles of the printhead while others are configured as support fingers intervening between the actuator fingers, wherein each transducer has a first and a second electrode and is adapted to expand and contract in accordance with a voltage applied between the first and second electrodes.
  • the electromechanical transducers are formed by piezoelectric elements and are disposed on one side of a channel plate in which a plurality of parallel ink channels are formed which each lead to a nozzle of the printhead.
  • Each of the transducers serving as an actuator is disposed adjacent to one of the ink channels, so that, by contraction and expansion of the actuator finger, ink is sucked into the ink channel from an ink reservoir and is then expelled from the associated nozzle.
  • the support fingers intervening between the actuator fingers are connected to dam portions separating the individual ink channels.
  • the ends of the support fingers and actuator fingers opposite to the channel plate are interconnected by a backing plate which, together with the support fingers, has the purpose to absorb the reaction forces of the contraction and expansion strokes of the actuator fingers.
  • the cited document proposes an arrangement with one support finger for two actuator fingers.
  • the support fingers are passive. It is mentioned however that these support fingers may be formed also by piezoelectric transducers which could then be controlled actively in order to compensate the reaction forces of the actuator fingers.
  • an electronic control system permitting to control each of the active support fingers individually would considerably add to the complexity of the system.
  • the backing plate is caused to vibrate, especially when a large number of nozzles of the printhead are activated simultaneously, and this leads to the production of noise, at a frequency in the order of 10 kHZ for example, to an increased power consumption and to cross-talk phenomena causing the volumes and velocities of the ink droplets expelled from the various nozzles to become non-uniform,
  • the totality of said transducers consists of at least one group which includes a plurality of actuator fingers and a plurality of support fingers, and control means are associated with each group for applying a voltage, that depends on the number of active actuator fingers in this group, to the first electrodes of all support fingers in the group.
  • the totality of the transducers may form only a single group, so that not more than one control signal is required for all actuator fingers.
  • the first electrodes of all actuator fingers and all support fingers belonging to the same group are interconnected with each other and are held on a floating potential. Then, electrically, the actuator fingers and the support fingers form a network of impedance elements with the actuator fingers connected in parallel with each other and the support fingers also connected in parallel with each other but with the actuator fingers and the support fingers connected in series, with the floating potential between them.
  • the support fingers are actively controlled by the voltage drop between the common potential and their respective second electrode, and the common potential will automatically depend on the number of active actuator fingers in the group.
  • the impedances (i.e. capacitances in case of piezoelectric elements) of the support fingers in relation to the impedances of the actuator fingers may be adjusted in order to achieve an optimal compensation of the reaction forces.
  • the first electrodes of all support fingers within a group are kept at exactly the same voltage. However, if impedances in the lines interconnecting the first electrodes of the various support fingers are considered, the voltages applied to the individual support fingers may deviate from one another. If only a single actuator finger of the group is activated, then the voltages applied to the first electrodes of the support fingers will decay with increasing distance from the activated actuator finger. On the other hand, the deflection or bending stress of the backing plate caused by the reaction force of the active actuator finger will also decay with increasing distance from this actuator finger. As a result, it is possible to adjust the impedances between the adjacent first electrodes of the transducers so as to map the decay of the stresses in the backing plate. In this way, it is even possible to attenuate a local deflection of the backing plate, although the support fingers are not controlled individually.
  • a multi-nozzle ink jet printhead 10 comprises a channel plate 12 with a large number of parallel ink channels 14 (shown in cross-section), each of which leads to a nozzle 16 of the printhead.
  • the ink channels 14 are covered by a flexible plate 18 fixed to the top surface of the channel plate 12, and a piezoelectric actuating device 20 is fixed on the top surface of the flexible plate 18.
  • the actuating device 20 has a comb-structure of piezoelectric material forming a plurality of electromechanical transducers 22, 24 interconnected by a backing plate 26 at their ends remote from the channel plate 12.
  • the transducers 22 serve as actuator fingers and are each disposed right above one of the ink channels 14, whereas the transducers 24 serve as support fingers and are disposed above dam portions 28 of the channel plate.
  • the backing plate 26 is fixedly connected to the assembly of the flexible plate 18 and the channel plate 12 through the support fingers 24.
  • Each actuator finger 22 has a first electrode 30 and a second electrode 32, and the piezoelectric material between them is polarized so that, when a voltage is applied between the electrodes 30, 32, the actuator finger 22 expands or contracts, depending on the polarity of the voltage.
  • first electrode 30 and one second electrode 32 are shown in figure 1, it is understood that the actuator finger 22 may include a plurality of internal electrodes serving alternatingly as first electrode and second electrode, as is well known in the art.
  • the support fingers 24 have the same electrode structure as the actuator fingers 22 and, thus, each comprise a first electrode 34 and a second electrode 36.
  • the first and the fourth are inactive, whereas the second and the third one have been activated so as to perform an expansion stroke. Accordingly, the flexible plate 18 has been deflected downwardly into the corresponding ink channels 14, so that the ink contained therein is compressed and ink droplets are expelled from the corresponding nozzles 16. Due to the expansion of the active actuator fingers 22, the backing plate 26 is subject to upwardly directed reaction forces indicated by arrows A in figure 1. The backing plate 26 is supported against these reaction forces by the support fingers 24. Since these support fingers are also formed by electromechanical transducers, they may be energized to actively counterbalance the reaction forces of the actuator fingers 22 by performing contraction or expansion strokes opposite to the respective strokes of the actuator fingers. In the example shown in figure 1, all three support fingers 24 are energized to perform contraction strokes so as to counterbalance the reaction forces A by downwardly directed forces B. As a result, the backing plate 26 as a whole will be held stable and will be prevented from vibrating.
  • first and second electrodes 30, 32 of each actuator finger 22 may be considered as a capacitor. The same applies to the first and second electrodes 34, 36 of the support fingers 24.
  • Figure 2 shows the electric circuit of the actuating device shown in figure 1, with the actuator fingers 22 and the support fingers 24 being represented by capacitors.
  • the second electrodes 32 of the actuator fingers 22 are each connected to a terminal 38, so that they may be energized individually by applying a voltage pulse 40 which, as is well known in the art, is generated by a control circuit in accordance with the printing instructions.
  • the second electrodes 36 of the support fingers 24 are grounded.
  • the first electrodes 30 and the first electrodes 34 of the actuator fingers 22 and the support fingers 24 are all interconnected by a common line 42.
  • Ohmic resistances and other impedances (capacitances and inductivities) between the neighboring first electrodes 30, 34 are represented by impedance elements 44.
  • first electrodes 30, 34 of the actuator fingers and support fingers are kept at a common potential which depends upon the balance between the voltage drops at the parallel circuit formed by the various actuator fingers 22 on the one hand and the parallel circuit formed by the various support fingers 24 on the other hand.
  • the potential of the common line 42 relative to ground increases in proportion with the number of actuator fingers 22 to which energizing pulses 40 are applied, and the potential of the line 42 and hence the potential of the first electrodes 30, 34 will always be between the potential of the second electrodes 32 of the active actuator fingers and ground.
  • the electric field generated between the first and second electrodes 34, 36 of the support fingers 24 will always be opposite to the electric field generated between the first and second electrodes 30, 32 of the actuator fingers 22.
  • the piezoelectric material of all transducers i.e. of the actuator fingers 22 and of the support fingers 24
  • the piezoelectric material of all transducers i.e. of the actuator fingers 22 and of the support fingers 24
  • the first electrodes 30 and 34 of the actuator fingers 22 and the support fingers 24 are disposed on the same level, these electrodes may easily be interconnected by a conductor forming the common line 42.
  • the sections of the line 42 interconnecting the neighboring first electrodes 30, 34 will have a certain impedance (resistance, capacitance and inductivity), and this will cause a certain drop or decay of the potential of the line 42 with increasing distance from the actuator finger or fingers that have been energized. Due to a certain flexibility of the backing plate 26, a similar decay will be observed in the reaction forces transmitted from an active actuator finger 22 to the support fingers disposed at increasing distances therefrom.
  • the impedances of the impedance elements 44 it is possible to match the decay of the potential on the line 42 with the decay of the forces transmitted through the backing plate 26, so that the reaction forces A caused by individual actuator fingers 22 are compensated with high accuracy over the whole length of the array of transducers.
  • figure 1 shows an alternating arrangement of actuator fingers 22 and support fingers 24, the invention is also applicable to other arrangements, in which the number of actuator fingers is different from that of the support fingers 24.
  • Figure 3 shows an embodiment in which the array of transducers is subdivided into groups 46, 48 which comprise each a certain number of adjacent transducers.
  • the group 46 comprises a total of six transducers, i.e. three actuator fingers 22 and three support fingers 24.
  • the first electrodes 34 of the support fingers 24 are interconnected by a line 50 the potential of which is not floating but is actively controlled by an output of a control circuit 52 which is preferably the same as the control circuit which applies the energizing pulses to the second electrodes 32 of the actuator fingers 22.
  • the first electrodes 30 of the actuator fingers 22 are grounded in this embodiment.

Landscapes

  • Micromachines (AREA)
  • Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)
EP20020078765 2001-09-07 2002-08-27 Dispositif d'actionnement d'une tête à jet d'encre à plusieurs buses Expired - Lifetime EP1291181B1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP20020078765 EP1291181B1 (fr) 2001-09-07 2002-08-27 Dispositif d'actionnement d'une tête à jet d'encre à plusieurs buses

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP01203561 2001-09-07
EP01203561 2001-09-07
EP20020078765 EP1291181B1 (fr) 2001-09-07 2002-08-27 Dispositif d'actionnement d'une tête à jet d'encre à plusieurs buses

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1291181A1 true EP1291181A1 (fr) 2003-03-12
EP1291181B1 EP1291181B1 (fr) 2007-07-25

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EP20020078765 Expired - Lifetime EP1291181B1 (fr) 2001-09-07 2002-08-27 Dispositif d'actionnement d'une tête à jet d'encre à plusieurs buses

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Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7322663B2 (en) 2003-09-29 2008-01-29 Fujifilm Corporation Image forming apparatus having prevention of movement of ink pressure chambers
CN112544599A (zh) * 2020-12-30 2021-03-26 山东省果树研究所 一种山区果树管理用农药精准喷洒装置及其喷洒方法

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2646252B1 (fr) 2010-11-30 2015-06-17 Reinhardt Microtech AG Actionneur piézoélectrique pour têtes d'impression à jet d'encre

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4381515A (en) 1981-04-27 1983-04-26 Xerox Corporation Reduction of pulsed droplet array crosstalk
JPH03258550A (ja) * 1990-03-09 1991-11-18 Sharp Corp インクジェット記録ヘッド
EP0820869A1 (fr) * 1996-07-18 1998-01-28 Océ-Technologies B.V. Tête à buse à jet d'encre

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4381515A (en) 1981-04-27 1983-04-26 Xerox Corporation Reduction of pulsed droplet array crosstalk
JPH03258550A (ja) * 1990-03-09 1991-11-18 Sharp Corp インクジェット記録ヘッド
EP0820869A1 (fr) * 1996-07-18 1998-01-28 Océ-Technologies B.V. Tête à buse à jet d'encre
EP0820869B1 (fr) 1996-07-18 2000-05-10 Océ-Technologies B.V. Tête à buse à jet d'encre

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 016, no. 069 (M - 1212) 20 February 1992 (1992-02-20) *

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7322663B2 (en) 2003-09-29 2008-01-29 Fujifilm Corporation Image forming apparatus having prevention of movement of ink pressure chambers
CN112544599A (zh) * 2020-12-30 2021-03-26 山东省果树研究所 一种山区果树管理用农药精准喷洒装置及其喷洒方法
CN112544599B (zh) * 2020-12-30 2022-03-04 山东省果树研究所 一种山区果树管理用农药精准喷洒装置及其喷洒方法

Also Published As

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