JP2002067299A - Ink-jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To produce a pressure chamber, a common ink chamber, or the like into desired shapes and to ensure the rigidity necessary for a channel forming substrate. SOLUTION: A nozzle plate 8 with a nozzle opening 10 formed, a pressure chamber 12 communicating with the nozzle opening 10, a channel forming substrate 70 with an ink supply opening 13 and a common ink chamber 11 formed successively, and a vibration plate 9 to be deformed for pressuring the pressure chamber 12 are provided so that a channel unit 30 is provided by laminating the components. The channel forming substrate 70 comprises a base material plate 72 made of a reinforcing material, and a resin part 71 provided on the surface of the base material plate 12 for sectioning and forming at least a part of the ink channel. The resin part 71 is produced by exposing and developing a photo-curing type resin coated on the base material plate 72 for eliminating the resin in an unnecessary part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head suitably used for a printer, a plotter or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional ink jet recording head, for example, an ink jet recording head using a piezoelectric vibrator as an electromechanical transducer, a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzle openings formed in a row and a common ink chamber are provided. A flow path unit that includes a flow path forming substrate that forms an ink flow path that communicates with the nozzle opening via the pressure chamber, and a diaphragm that is a part of a partition of the pressure chamber; And a configuration in which this flow path unit is joined to a case. The flow path forming substrate is manufactured by, for example, etching a silicon wafer. A stainless steel nozzle plate is bonded to one surface of the flow path forming substrate, and a vibration plate is bonded to the other surface. . This diaphragm is made of, for example, a composite plate material in which a resin film is laminated on a stainless steel support plate.

[0003]

In the flow channel unit having such a structure, the flow channel forming substrate made of silicon has a limitation in the direction of etching, and the silicon crystal (11)
1) It is necessary to etch so as to leave a surface. For this reason, there is a problem in that the shape of the pressure chamber, the common ink chamber, and the like formed in the flow path forming substrate is restricted, and it is difficult to obtain a desired shape.

Further, the flow path forming substrate is cut off from a silicon wafer, and thus has a problem in that it is limited in size and is not suitable for enlargement.

Further, there is a difference between the linear expansion coefficient of silicon used for the flow path forming substrate and the linear expansion coefficient of the stainless steel plate used for the support plate of the diaphragm and the nozzle plate. Therefore, there is also a problem that the flow path unit is bent.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to form a pressure chamber, a common ink chamber, and the like into a desired shape.
In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording head capable of securing rigidity required as a flow path forming substrate.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to achieve the above-mentioned object. According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a series of inks communicating from a common ink chamber through a pressure chamber to a nozzle opening. On one surface of the flow path forming substrate on which the flow path was formed, a nozzle forming substrate in which a plurality of nozzle openings were arranged was arranged, and on the other surface, an elastic plate for sealing a part of the pressure chamber was arranged. In an ink jet recording head including a flow path unit and an electromechanical transducer for changing the volume of a pressure chamber by displacing an elastic plate, the flow path forming substrate may be a base plate and a surface of the base plate. And a resin portion that forms at least a part of the ink flow path, wherein the resin portion is made of a photocurable resin.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording head according to the first aspect, the base plate is made of a material having a Young's modulus larger than that of the cured photocurable resin. It is.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printer according to the first or second aspect, wherein the base plate is made of a material having a density higher than that of the cured photocurable resin. It is a type recording head.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the base plate is made of a material having a linear expansion coefficient equal to or less than that of a cured photocurable resin. 2. The ink jet recording head according to item 1.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink jet recording head according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the base plate is made of a stainless steel plate.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink jet recording head according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the base plate is made of ceramics.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the thickness of the base plate is set to be at least half the thickness of the flow path forming substrate. An inkjet recording head according to any one of the preceding claims.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the neutral line of the base plate and the neutral line of the flow path forming substrate for bending in the thickness direction are aligned. Or an ink jet recording head.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the linear expansion coefficient of the flow path forming substrate and the linear expansion coefficient of the nozzle forming substrate are made equal. Is an ink jet recording head.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the linear expansion coefficient of the flow path forming substrate and the linear expansion coefficient of the elastic plate are equalized. This is an ink jet recording head.

According to the eleventh aspect, the ink flow path is formed by connecting the common ink chamber and the pressure chamber by an ink supply port, and connecting the pressure chamber and the nozzle opening by a nozzle communication port, The ink jet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the common ink chamber and the nozzle communication port are formed in the base plate.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the substrate plate has a long nozzle side opening in the direction in which the nozzle openings are arranged, and the inside of the nozzle side opening is partitioned by a photocurable resin to form a plurality of nozzles. The ink jet recording head according to claim 11, wherein the communication ports are arranged in a row.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the pressure chambers are arranged side by side in the direction in which the nozzle openings are arranged, and a partition for partitioning adjacent pressure chambers is formed of a photocurable resin. An inkjet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the ink flow path, the common ink chamber and the pressure chamber communicate with each other through an ink supply port, and the pressure chamber and the nozzle opening communicate with each other through a nozzle communication port. The ink jet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the common ink chamber, the pressure chamber, and the ink supply port are defined by a photocurable resin.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the electromechanical transducer is constituted by a piezoelectric vibrator of a longitudinal vibration mode which expands and contracts in a direction perpendicular to the direction of an electric field, and a tip of the piezoelectric vibrator is provided on a surface of an elastic plate. The ink jet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the ink jet recording head is in contact with the ink jet recording head.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the electromechanical transducer is constituted by a piezoelectric vibrator of a transverse vibration mode displaced in the direction of an electric field, and the piezoelectric vibrator is provided on a surface of an elastic plate. An inkjet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the ink jet recording head 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the recording head 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 2.

The illustrated recording head 1 includes a plurality of piezoelectric vibrators 21, a fixed plate 22, and a flexible cable 2.
The vibrator unit 4 includes a vibrator unit 4, which is a unit, a case 2 capable of storing the vibrator unit 4, and a flow path unit 30 joined to a front end surface of the case 2. The case 2 is a block-shaped member made of a synthetic resin in which an accommodation space 5 whose both front and rear ends are open is formed, and the vibrator unit 4 is accommodated and fixed in the accommodation space 5. The vibrator unit 4 has a posture in which the comb-teeth-shaped tip of the piezoelectric vibrator 21 faces the tip-side opening of the accommodation space 5 and the fixed plate 2
2 is adhered to the wall surface of the storage space 5.

The piezoelectric vibrator 21 is a kind of electromechanical transducer, and has a comb shape elongated in the vertical direction, for example, 50 μm to 50 μm.
It is cut into a needle having an extremely thin width of about 100 μm. The piezoelectric vibrator 21 is a laminated piezoelectric vibrator formed by alternately laminating piezoelectric bodies and internal electrodes, and is a longitudinal vibration that can expand and contract in a vertical direction perpendicular to the lamination direction (that is, the electric field direction). The mode is a piezoelectric vibrator. And
Each of the piezoelectric vibrators 21 has a base end portion bonded to a fixed plate 22, and a free end of the piezoelectric vibrator 21 is fixed to the fixed plate 22.
It is attached in a state of a cantilever projecting outward from the edge of. Further, the comb-shaped tips of the piezoelectric vibrators 21 are fixed in contact with the island portions 16 which are predetermined portions of the flow path unit 30 (the surface of the vibration plate). The opposite side of the base end side of the vibrator is electrically connected to the piezoelectric vibrator 21.

In the flow path unit 30, the nozzle plate 8 is disposed on one side of the flow path formation substrate 70 with the flow path formation substrate 70 interposed therebetween, and the vibration plate 9 is on the opposite side to the nozzle plate 8. It is configured by arranging and laminating on the other surface side. Each of these plate members 8, 70, 9
Are bonded and integrated by an adhesive or the like.

The nozzle plate 8 is a member functioning as the nozzle forming substrate of the present invention, and is a thin plate made of stainless steel having a plurality of nozzle openings 10 arranged in rows at a pitch corresponding to the dot forming density. In the present embodiment, 96 nozzle openings 10 at a pitch of 180 dpi are provided.
Are formed, and a nozzle row is constituted by these nozzle openings 10. Then, a plurality of nozzle rows are formed corresponding to the colors of ink that can be ejected.

The flow path forming substrate 70 includes a common ink chamber 11,
Ink supply port 13, pressure chamber 12, and nozzle communication port 18
Is a plate-like member having a series of ink flow paths formed of the same. In the present embodiment, the flow path forming substrate 70 is formed of a plate-shaped base plate 72 and a resin portion 7 provided on the base plate 72 to partition and form at least a part of the ink flow path.
1. And this resin part 71
It is manufactured by exposing and developing a photocurable resin (a type of photoresist) coated on the base plate 72 to remove unnecessary portions of the resin. The flow path forming substrate 70 will be described later in detail.

The diaphragm 9 is a member functioning as an elastic plate of the present invention, and is provided on a support plate 15 made of a stainless steel plate.
This is a double-layer composite plate material obtained by laminating a resin film 14 (elastic film) such as PS (polyphenylene sulfide). The vibration plate 9 functions as a sealing portion that seals one opening surface of the pressure chamber 12 and also functions as a compliance portion that seals one opening surface of the common ink chamber 11. A portion functioning as a sealing portion, that is, a portion corresponding to the pressure chamber 12 is provided with a piezoelectric vibrator 21.
Is formed to form an island portion 16 for abutting and fixing the front end portion. For example, the island portion 16 is formed by removing the surrounding stainless steel portion in an annular shape by etching. This island part 1
6 is a nozzle opening 10 similar to the planar shape of the pressure chamber 12.
It is a block that is elongated in the direction perpendicular to the row direction,
The resin film 14 around the island 16 is elastically deformed. The portion functioning as a compliance portion, that is, the portion corresponding to the common ink chamber 11 is removed by etching the stainless steel plate to remove the resin film 1.
Only 4

In the recording head 1 having the above configuration, the island portion 16 is pressed toward the nozzle plate 8 by extending the piezoelectric vibrator 21 in the longitudinal direction of the vibrator, and the resin film 14 around the island portion is deformed. The pressure chamber 12 contracts. When the piezoelectric vibrator 21 is contracted in the vibrator longitudinal direction,
The pressure chamber 12 expands due to the elasticity of the resin film 14.
By controlling the expansion and contraction of the pressure chamber 12, the ink pressure in the pressure chamber 12 fluctuates and the nozzle opening 1
An ink droplet is ejected from 0.

Next, the flow path forming substrate 70 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 2, this flow path forming substrate 70
It is a plate-shaped member in which a plurality of cavities serving as pressure chambers 12 are formed corresponding to the respective nozzle openings 10 in a state of being partitioned by partition walls, and the vacant portions serving as the ink supply ports 13 and the common ink chamber 11 are formed. .

The pressure chamber 12 is a chamber elongated in the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the nozzle openings 10 are arranged (nozzle row direction), and is formed as a flat concave chamber partitioned by a weir portion 19. The weir portion 19 is formed from the outlet of the common ink chamber 11 to the inlet of the nozzle communication port 18, and the weir portion 19 forms the ink supply port 13 in the form of a narrow portion having a narrow flow path width. . The nozzle communication port 18 communicates with the pressure chamber 12 and the nozzle opening 10, and communicates with one end of the pressure chamber 12, that is, a position farthest from the common ink chamber 11 in the pressure chamber 12. The common ink chamber 11 is a chamber for supplying ink stored in an ink cartridge (not shown) to each of the pressure chambers 12 and communicates with the other end of the corresponding pressure chamber 12 through an ink supply port 13. I have. The common ink chamber 11 is a space that is long in the direction in which the nozzle openings 10 are arranged. In the present embodiment, the common ink chamber 11 is formed by an opening that penetrates in the thickness direction. In addition, an ink supply pipe 6 communicates with a substantially central portion of the common ink chamber 11 in the longitudinal direction, and ink from the ink cartridge is introduced into the common ink chamber 11 through the ink supply pipe 6, and then the ink supply It is supplied to the pressure chamber 12 through the passage.
As described above, the common ink chamber 11,
Ink supply port 13, pressure chamber 12, and nozzle communication port 18
Are formed, and a common ink chamber 11 and nozzle openings 10 are formed by the ink flow path.
And communicate with.

The flow path forming substrate 70 includes a base plate 72 that also functions as a reinforcing member, and a resin portion 71 formed on the surface of the base plate 72. The base plate 72 is provided at a position corresponding to the row of the nozzle communication ports 18 and forms a part of the common ink chamber 11 with the substantially rectangular nozzle-side opening 20 which is long in the row direction of the nozzle openings 10. It is a plate member made of stainless steel and has an ink chamber side opening 11b, and its thickness is slightly larger than half the thickness of the flow path forming substrate 70, for example, about 100 to 300 microns. The resin portion 71 is formed by coating a photocurable resin (hereinafter simply referred to as a resin) such as an ultraviolet curable resin with a predetermined thickness, and then performing exposure and development to remove unnecessary portions of the resin. .
The resin portion 71 is provided mainly on the surface on the side of the diaphragm 9, and is provided on the ink chamber side opening 11 b of the base plate 72.
An ink chamber-side opening 11a that forms a common ink chamber 11 in communication with the ink supply port 13 and a pressure chamber 12 and a space that functions as a nozzle communication port 18 are defined.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ink chamber side opening 11a of the resin portion 71 is slightly larger than the ink chamber side opening 11b of the base plate 72, and surrounds the ink chamber side opening 11b. It is open. Pressure chamber 12
Are arranged side by side in the direction in which the nozzle openings 10 are arranged.
Adjacent pressure chambers are partitioned by a partition wall 73 made of resin. The nozzle communication port 18 is an empty space whose one end side of the pressure chamber 12 is defined by a dam portion 19 and the other portion is defined by a resin, and whose cross section in a width direction (a direction orthogonal to the flow of ink) has a substantially arch shape. is there. That is, the wall surface facing the weir portion 19 is curved in a semicircular shape. This nozzle communication port 1
8 communicates between the pressure chambers 12 and the corresponding nozzle openings 10, and a plurality of the openings 8 are formed along the direction in which the nozzle openings 10 (pressure chambers 12) are arranged. In the present embodiment, the nozzle communication ports 18 are arranged in rows by partitioning the inside of the nozzle-side opening 20 of the base plate 72 with resin.

As described above, the flow path forming substrate 70 is made of the base plate 72 and the resin portion 71 because the rigidity required for the flow path forming substrate 70 is maintained while securing the degree of freedom of the shape of the ink flow path. This is to ensure. That is, since a part of the common ink chamber 11, the pressure chamber 12, the ink supply port 13, and the nozzle communication port 18 are defined by resin, the ink flow path can be formed in a relatively free shape, and the ink flow path can be made relatively high. Can be manufactured with dimensional accuracy. In addition, since most of the contact portions with the ink in the ink flow path, such as the ink chamber opening 11b and the pressure chamber 12, of the resin portion 71 are made of resin, the ink wettability of the resin portion 71 is uniform. And the ink can be stably flowed.

On the other hand, since a reinforcing plate made of a stainless steel plate is used as the base plate 72, the rigidity and weight, which tend to be insufficient with resin alone, can be supplemented by the base plate 72. Thus, the required rigidity and weight can be obtained even with the flow path forming substrate 70 having a limited thickness.
For this reason, it is possible to prevent deformation due to an external force acting on the flow path forming substrate 70 by the operation of the piezoelectric vibrator 21,
Ink ejection can be stabilized. That is, it is possible to prevent a problem that the ink ejection becomes unstable due to the deformation of the flow path forming substrate 70. Further, since the size and thickness of the base plate 72 can be appropriately selected, it is possible to easily cope with an increase in the size of the recording head 1. Further, since the base plate 72 can be manufactured by press working, it can be manufactured in a large amount in a short time, which contributes to the cost reduction of the recording head 1.

As the resin, various types of photocurable resins represented by ultraviolet curable resins can be used. In short, any resin that can be cured by light irradiation can be used. Further, the substrate plate 72 may be any material that can provide the required rigidity and weight, and a metal material other than stainless steel, for example, a sintered metal or a ceramic may be used. When ceramics is used for the base plate 72, it is protected by the resin provided on the surface of the base plate 72, so that even ceramics having relatively low toughness can be suitably used as the base plate 72. it can.

As described above, the resin constituting the flow path forming substrate 70 mainly guarantees the shape and dimensional accuracy of the ink flow path, and the base plate 72 mainly guarantees the rigidity of the entire flow path forming substrate. Therefore, the base plate 72 is selected so as to satisfy the following conditions.

First, regarding the Young's modulus, the base plate 72
In this case, a material having a Young's modulus higher than the Young's modulus of the cured resin is used. As for the density, a material having a higher density than that of the cured resin is used. This is to ensure the required rigidity and weight of the entire flow path forming substrate. That is, as the piezoelectric vibrator 21 expands and contracts, the recording head 1 ejects ink droplets. During this ejection operation, the piezoelectric vibrator 21 moves with the joint surface between the case 2 and the flow path unit 30 supported. I do. Further, since the lines of force due to the movement of the piezoelectric vibrator 21 pass through the inside of the flow path forming substrate 70, stress acts on the flow path forming substrate 70. Here, if the rigidity and weight of the flow path forming substrate 70 are insufficient,
Since the flow path forming substrate 70 bends easily, crosstalk is likely to occur. In addition, the natural oscillation period when the flow path forming substrate 70 bends becomes short, so that the ink droplet ejection may become unstable. For this reason, the Young's modulus and the density of the base plate 72 are determined as described above, so that the flow path forming substrate 70 is hardly bent and the natural vibration period at the time of bending is lengthened. From this point of view, it is desirable that the thickness of the base plate 72 be at least half the thickness of the flow path forming substrate 70.

As for the coefficient of linear expansion (coefficient of linear expansion), the base plate 72 is made of a material having a coefficient of linear expansion equal to or less than the coefficient of linear expansion of the resin in the cured state. That is, since the nozzle plate 8 is joined to one surface of the flow path forming substrate 70 and the diaphragm 9 is joined to the other surface, the nozzle plate 8
And a three-layer structure including the flow path forming substrate 70 and the diaphragm 9. Here, if there is a difference in the linear expansion coefficient between the nozzle plate 8 and the flow path forming substrate 70 or between the flow path forming substrate 70 and the vibration plate 9, distortion occurs when thermal stress is applied and the thickness increases. The flow path unit 30 warps in the vertical direction, and the flow path unit 30 is bent and deformed. Therefore, in order to prevent this bending deformation,
It is desirable that the nozzle plate 8, the flow path forming substrate 70, and the diaphragm 9 have the same linear expansion coefficient.

Generally, a resin material such as a photocurable resin tends to have a higher linear expansion coefficient than a metal material. A general photo-curable resin is 30 × 10 ^{−6 to} 60 × 1 when cured.
0 ^- has a linear expansion coefficient of about ^6, stainless steel used for the support plate 15 of the nozzle plate 8 and the diaphragm 9, 11
It has a linear expansion coefficient of about × 10 ^{−6 to} 17 × 10 ⁻⁶ . Therefore, if a material having a coefficient of linear expansion equal to or less than that of the resin is used for the base plate 72, the coefficient of linear expansion of each plate material can be made uniform.

The vibration plate 9 is a composite plate composed of the support plate 15 and the resin film 14.
4 is sufficiently thinner than the support plate 15, the diaphragm 9
Is determined depending on the linear expansion coefficient of the support plate 15. Similarly, the linear expansion coefficient of the flow path forming substrate 70 is determined depending on the linear expansion coefficient of the base plate 72. Focusing on this point, in the present embodiment, these nozzle plate 8, base plate 72, and support plate 15
Were made of the same metal material, a stainless steel plate.
This is because it is most preferable to use members made of the same material in terms of making the linear expansion coefficients of the respective plate members uniform.

Next, the procedure for manufacturing the flow path forming substrate 70 will be described. As described above, the flow path forming substrate 70 is manufactured by exposing and developing a photocurable resin coated on the surface of the base plate 72. To a constant thickness. That is, a resin layer having a predetermined thickness (for example, about 60 μm) is formed on one surface of the base plate 72. The resin is filled into the nozzle-side opening 20 and the ink-chamber-side opening 11b of the base plate 72 by this coating process. In addition, this coating process is performed using various coaters, such as a spin coater and a spray type coater. The resin used for coating may be a positive type in which the photosensitive portion is soluble in a solvent, or a negative type in which the photosensitive portion is insoluble in a solvent.

After the resin is coated, a mask is then arranged on the surface side of the coated resin, that is, on the side of the connection surface with the diaphragm 9 (masking process). This mask may be placed in close contact with the surface of the coated resin, or may be placed slightly away from the surface. The masking pattern provided on the mask is different between the positive resin and the negative resin.
The resin becomes soluble in the common ink chamber 11, the ink supply port 13, the pressure chamber 12, and the nozzle communication port 18, and the resin becomes insoluble in the partition wall 73. After disposing the mask, an exposure process is performed. That is, light (in the case of a positive type) that makes the resin soluble with the masking pattern interposed therebetween,
Alternatively, the resin is irradiated with light (in the case of a negative shape) that makes the resin insoluble. After performing the exposure processing, the developing processing is performed. In this development processing, an unnecessary resin portion is removed by a solvent. That is, the resin is dissolved and removed from the solvent in the common ink chamber 11, the ink supply port 13, the pressure chamber 12, and the nozzle communication port 18 which are soluble after the development. Through the development process, the flow path forming substrate 70 in which the common ink chamber 11, the pressure chamber 12, and the like are formed is obtained. Note that the surface of the resin portion 71 may be subjected to secondary processing before and after exposure to obtain a desired smooth surface.

The flow path forming substrate 70 thus obtained is
Then, the thickness of the resin to be coated becomes the height of the pressure chamber 12 and the ink supply port 13. Since the thickness of the resin layer can be defined with high accuracy in the above-described coating process, the depth accuracy of the pressure chamber 12 and the ink supply port 13 formed in the resin portion 71 can be improved. further,
Since the thickness of the resin layer can be relatively freely determined in the coating process, a plurality of types of flow path forming substrates 70 having different depths such as the pressure chambers 12 can be easily formed. Accordingly, it is possible to easily manufacture a plurality of types of recording heads 1 according to the purpose.

In the above-described embodiment, the nozzle-side opening 20 of the base plate 72 has been described as having a rectangular shape surrounding the row of the nozzle communication ports 18. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of circular nozzle-side openings 20 ′ may be provided corresponding to the respective nozzle communication ports 18. Providing the nozzle side opening 20 'for each nozzle communication port 18 as described above has an advantage that adjacent crosstalk can be prevented. That is, when the ink is ejected, a pressure fluctuation occurs in the ink in the ink flow path, and the pressure fluctuation also acts on the nozzle communication port 18. When a nozzle-side opening 20 ′ is provided for each nozzle communication port 18 as in the embodiment of FIG. 5, a part of the base material plate 72 exists between the nozzle communication ports 18, 18. The rigidity of the portion is increased, pressure can be prevented from being transmitted from the adjacent nozzle communication port 18, and interference between the nozzle communication ports 18, 18 can be reduced.

Although the flow path forming substrate 70 of the first embodiment is provided in a state where the resin portion 71 is laminated on the surface of the base plate 72, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the thickness of the base plate 75 is made equal to the thickness of the flow path forming substrate 70 ′,
By partitioning the internal space of the base plate 75 with a photo-curable resin or the like, the common ink chamber 11, the ink supply port 13, the pressure chamber 12, and the nozzle communication port 18 are provided in the internal space.
May be formed. Hereinafter, a second embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The flow path forming substrate 70 'of this embodiment includes a base plate 75 provided with a rectangular opening 75A in which an ink flow path is formed penetrating in the thickness direction, and a rectangular opening 75A. 75A, and is made of a photo-curable resin that becomes the partition wall 73 that defines the ink flow path. In the rectangular opening 75A of the base plate 75, a first partition member 76 and a second partition member 77 each having a prism shape arranged in parallel with each other are integrally bridged with the base plate 75.

The first partition member 76 is a member serving as the weir portion 19, and is provided at a position separated from the opening edge on one side of the rectangular opening 75A by the width W1. And the first partition member 7
The width W2 of 6 is defined corresponding to the width of the pressure chamber 12. The surface of the first partition member 76 on the nozzle plate 8 side is flush with the surface of the base plate (nozzle plate side surface), and the surface on the diaphragm 9 side is higher than the surface of the base plate (diaphragm side). It is located at the depth d1 of the pressure chamber 12 at the back.

The second partition member 77 is a member for partitioning the common ink chamber 11 and the ink supply port 13. The second partition member 77 is parallel to the first partition member 76, and has an opening edge on the other side of the rectangular opening 75A. Is slightly larger than the width of the common ink chamber 11 from W
It is provided at a position separated by three. Further, the width W4 of the second partition member 77 is defined according to the flow path length of the ink supply port 13. The surface of the second partition member 77 on the nozzle plate 8 side is closer to the ink supply port 13 than the surface of the base plate.
And the surface on the diaphragm 9 side is flush with the surface of the base plate. Then, on the inner wall of the common ink chamber 11, a resin film 78 is formed on three surfaces excluding a communication surface with the ink supply port 13. Adjacent pressure chambers 12, 12 and nozzle communication ports 18, 18 are partitioned by a first partition 73a formed in a direction orthogonal to the nozzle row direction, and the adjacent ink supply is formed by a second partition 73b. The mouths 13 and 13 are partitioned.

In this embodiment having such a structure,
Since the base plate 75 can be made sufficiently thick,
The rigidity of the flow path forming substrate 70 'can be increased, and as a result, the rigidity of the flow path unit 30 can be increased. Furthermore, since the first partition member 76 and the second partition member 77 provided in the internal space function as if they are beams, the rigidity of the flow path unit 30 is further increased by these partition members 76 and 77. Further, one surface of the second partition member 77 is provided on the base plate 75 (that is, the flow path forming substrate 7).
Since it is flush with the surface on the diaphragm side in 0), the second partition member 77 can directly receive an external force due to the movement of the piezoelectric vibrator 21. For this reason, the bending deformation of the flow path unit 30 due to the movement of the piezoelectric vibrator 21 can be effectively prevented. As described above, by increasing the rigidity of the channel unit 30, the ejection of the ink droplets can be stabilized.

Further, in the flow path forming substrate 70 ', the neutral line of the base plate 75 for bending in the thickness direction and the neutral line of the flow path forming substrate 70' are aligned and substantially coincide with each other. In addition, it is possible to prevent the flow path forming substrate 70 'from being bent and deformed due to thermal stress. That is, temporarily, the base plate 7
In the case where the neutral line 5 is displaced from the neutral line of the flow path forming substrate 70 ′, distortion occurs when thermal stress is applied due to a difference in linear expansion coefficient between the base plate 75 and the resin. Therefore, there is a possibility that the flow path forming substrate 70 ′ warps in the thickness direction. When the neutral line of the base plate 75 substantially coincides with the neutral line of the flow path forming substrate 70 'as in the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent warpage in the thickness direction due to thermal stress.

Next, the procedure for manufacturing the flow path forming substrate 70 'will be described. First, a coating process is performed to coat the surface of the base plate 75 with a resin. This coating process is performed so that the resin is filled in the internal space of the base plate 75, that is, in the rectangular opening 75A. After performing the coating process, masks are arranged on both surfaces of the base plate 75 (masking process). That is, a mask is arranged on one surface of the base plate 75 on the nozzle plate 8 side and on the other surface on the diaphragm 9 side. On the mask arranged on one side surface, for example, a pattern for forming the ink supply port 13 by leaving the partition wall 73b is formed. On the other hand, on the mask arranged on the other surface, a pattern for forming the nozzle communication port 18, the pressure chamber 12, and the common ink chamber 11 by leaving the partition wall 73a, for example, is formed. After disposing the mask, an exposure process is performed.
Here, in the present embodiment, both surfaces of the base plate 75 are exposed. After the exposure processing, the developing processing is performed to remove unnecessary resin portions, and the common ink chamber 1 is removed.
A flow path forming substrate 70 'in which the pressure chambers 1 and the pressure chambers 12 are formed is obtained.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but is based on the claims.
Various modifications are possible.

For example, a bending vibration type piezoelectric vibrator may be used as the electromechanical transducer. This piezoelectric vibrator
The piezoelectric body is sandwiched between an upper electrode and a lower electrode. The piezoelectric body bends in the direction of the electric field and changes the volume of the pressure chamber 12 according to the potential difference between the upper electrode and the lower electrode. Further, the electromechanical transducer is not limited to the piezoelectric vibrator, and may be any element that causes mechanical deformation by applying a drive signal, and may be, for example, a magnetostrictive element.

Further, the base plate 72 may be configured so that both sides of the base plate 72 are coated with a resin, and the base plate 72 is disposed between the resin layers.

[0057]

According to the present invention as described above, the following effects can be obtained. That is, the flow path forming substrate is constituted by a base plate and a resin portion provided on the surface of the base plate and forming at least a part of the ink flow path,
Since the resin portion is made of a photocurable resin, the ink flow path can be made in a relatively free shape and can be made with high dimensional accuracy. Further, the ink can be stably flowed. In addition, the base plate can be used as a reinforcing plate, which can supplement the rigidity that tends to be insufficient with resin alone,
The required rigidity can be obtained even with a flow path forming substrate having a limited thickness. Therefore, external force acting on the flow path forming substrate due to the operation of the electromechanical transducer can be counteracted, and ink ejection can be stabilized. further,
The flow path forming substrate can be manufactured by exposing and developing a photo-curable resin coated on a base plate, so that it is easy to manufacture and mass-produced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an ink jet recording head according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the recording head shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB of the recording head shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a modification of the first embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an ink jet recording head according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line DD of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording head 2 Case 4 Vibrator unit 5 Storage space 6 Ink supply pipe 8 Nozzle plate 9 Vibration plate 10 Nozzle opening 11 Common ink chamber 12 Pressure chamber 13 Ink supply port 14 Resin film 15 Support plate 16 Island part 18 Nozzle communication port Reference Signs List 19 Weir section 20, 20 'Nozzle side opening section 21 Piezoelectric vibrator 22 Fixing plate 24 Flexible cable 30 Flow path unit 70, 70' Flow path forming board 71 Resin section 72 Base plate 73 Partition wall 75 Base plate 76 First section Member 77 Second partition member 78 Resin coating

Claims (16)

[Claims] A nozzle forming substrate having a plurality of nozzle openings arranged on one surface of a flow passage forming substrate in which a series of ink flow passages communicating from a common ink chamber to a nozzle opening via a pressure chamber is formed. And an ink jet recording apparatus including, on the other surface, a flow path unit in which an elastic plate that seals a part of the pressure chamber is arranged, and an electromechanical transducer that displaces the elastic plate to change the volume of the pressure chamber. In the head, the flow path forming substrate includes a base plate, and a resin portion provided on a surface of the base plate and forming at least a part of the ink flow path. An ink jet recording head comprising a resin. 2. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the base plate is made of a material having a Young's modulus larger than that of the photocurable resin in a cured state. 3. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the base plate is made of a material having a density higher than that of the photocurable resin in a cured state. 4. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the base plate is made of a material having a linear expansion coefficient equal to or less than that of a cured photocurable resin. . 5. An ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein said base plate is made of a stainless steel plate. 6. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein said base plate is made of ceramics. 7. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the base plate is set to be at least half the thickness of the flow path forming substrate. 8. The ink jet type recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a neutral line of the base plate and a neutral line of the flow path forming substrate for bending in the thickness direction are aligned. head. 9. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein a linear expansion coefficient of the flow path forming substrate and a linear expansion coefficient of the nozzle forming substrate are made equal. 10. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the linear expansion coefficient of the flow path forming substrate and the linear expansion coefficient of the elastic plate are made equal. 11. The ink flow path is formed by connecting a common ink chamber and a pressure chamber with an ink supply port, and connecting the pressure chamber and a nozzle opening with a nozzle communication port. The common ink chamber and the nozzle communication port The inkjet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein is formed in a base plate. 12. The base plate has a long nozzle side opening in a direction in which the nozzle openings are arranged, and a plurality of nozzle communication ports are arranged in a row by partitioning the inside of the nozzle side with a photocurable resin. The ink jet recording head according to claim 11, wherein: 13. The pressure chamber according to claim 1, wherein the pressure chambers are arranged side by side in the direction in which the nozzle openings are arranged, and a partition for partitioning adjacent pressure chambers is formed of a photocurable resin.
An ink jet recording head according to claim 1. 14. The ink flow path is formed by connecting a common ink chamber and a pressure chamber with an ink supply port, and connecting the pressure chamber and a nozzle opening with a nozzle communication port. 2. The ink supply port defined by a photo-curable resin.
An ink jet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 10. 15. An electromechanical transducer comprising a piezoelectric vibrator in a longitudinal vibration mode which expands and contracts in a direction perpendicular to the direction of an electric field, and wherein a tip of the piezoelectric vibrator is brought into contact with a surface of an elastic plate. The ink jet recording head according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein: 16. The device according to claim 1, wherein the electromechanical transducer is constituted by a piezoelectric vibrator in a transverse vibration mode displaced in the direction of an electric field, and the piezoelectric vibrator is provided on a surface of an elastic plate. Item 15. An ink jet recording head according to any one of items 14.