JP2002096477A - Laminating and bonding structure of laminated part - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a throttle part 16d having a small cross-sectional area in an ink-flow passage from being clogged due to flow of a bond when laminating and bonding a base plate 14 having an ink flow passage for an ink-jet printer head formed recessedly to a spacer plate. SOLUTION: Utilizing large capillary attraction that a liquid bond is attracted into a part of a smaller cross-sectional area, a relief groove 33c is recessedly formed almost in parallel with the throttle part 16d which communicates with an other end flow passage 16b of a pressure chamber 16 in the base plate 14. In this case, a cross-sectional area S1 of the relief groove 33c is arranged so as to be smaller than a cross-sectional area S2 of the throttle part 16d.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure for bonding and fixing a plurality of thin plate-like components used for an ink-jet printer head, electronic components and the like in a laminated manner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A prior art on-demand type impact type ink jet printer head is disclosed in
As described in JP-A-111758, a diaphragm plate is bonded to the back surface of a cavity plate composed of a plurality of operating plates integrally held via an adhesive in a laminated state via an adhesive, An ink jet printer head is disclosed in which an ejection pressure generating member such as a driving piezoelectric element is fixed on one surface of the diaphragm plate so as to correspond to the pressure chamber.

Each of the operation plates in the cavity plate includes a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzles, a base plate having a pressure chamber for each of the nozzles, and an ink supply source. It is composed of a manifold plate having an ink flow path to be connected and an ink chamber (manifold), and each plate is a thin metal plate having a thickness of about 200 μm or less.

The inventor has considered assembling the integrated cavity plate as follows.
First, as shown in FIG.
On a, a plate 101a as a thin plate-shaped component having a fixed pattern is formed in advance so as to be arranged at a fixed interval. That is, a pair of elongated frames 10
The side edge of each plate 101a and the inner edge of each frame 102 are connected by minute connecting pieces 106 so that the plates 101a are arranged at a fixed interval between the two 102. The left and right elongated frame 10
The tie bar 104 is connected to the tie bar 104 at an appropriate interval between 2 and 102 so as to facilitate the handling of the lead frame. Similarly, a plate 101b as a thin plate-shaped component on which another type of fixed pattern is formed is formed in advance so that a plurality of plates 101b are arranged at predetermined intervals on another lead frame 100b. Lead frame 10
A plurality of plates 101a to 101d having different patterns are arranged at regular intervals for every 0a to 100d.

[0005] The predetermined pattern is, for example, a pattern in which a predetermined number of nozzles (not shown) are formed at predetermined intervals in a nozzle plate.
A predetermined number of pressure chambers (not shown) are formed at predetermined intervals. Similarly, in the case of a manifold plate, the pattern is an ink flow path or an ink chamber (manifold).

The plurality of plates 101a to 101a are positioned so that each nozzle communicates with the ink flow path.
01d need to be stacked and fixed in a predetermined vertical position relationship. Therefore, as a conventional assembling method, the frame frame 102 in each of the lead frames 100a to 100d is used.
As shown in FIG. 9, feed holes 103a and 103b and one or more positioning holes (pilot holes) 105 are formed at regular intervals along the longitudinal direction of the plate 101a. An adhesive is applied in advance to a wide surface to be laminated vertically on the upper and lower layers of 101 to 101d, and then positioning pins are passed through the plurality of positioning holes 105 in order from the lower plate 101d to the upper plate 101a to perform positioning. In this state, the upper and lower plates 101a
The layers are fixed by applying a clamping pressure to 〜１０101d. When the fixing operation is completed, the pin is pulled out and the connecting piece 106
, And the integrated cavity plate is removed from the frame 102.

[0007]

When an adhesive is applied to the surfaces of the plurality of plates for lamination and fixing, the plurality of plates are sandwiched or pressed in a laminated state to form a layer on the surfaces of the plates. The adhesive is solidified in a state in which the excess adhesive stuck to the through holes and recesses of the pressure chambers and the ink passages in each plate protrudes.

When the solidification position of the adhesive is generated in a portion having a small cross-sectional area, such as an ink flow path or a through-hole formed in a part of the plate thickness of the plate, the ink flow path or the through-hole is formed. All or part of the cross-section of the is blocked by the solidified adhesive, making it impossible to distribute ink,
There is a problem that the required amount of ink cannot be obtained because the amount becomes extremely small.

Such a problem can occur when assembling an electronic component having a small pattern.

It is a technical object of the present invention to obtain a laminated and fixed (fixed) structure of thin plate-like parts which solves such a problem.

[0011]

In order to achieve this technical object, a laminated adhesive structure for a thin plate-shaped component according to the first aspect of the present invention has a liquid flow path having a predetermined pattern formed on at least one surface. In a structure in which a plurality of thin plate-shaped components including one thin plate-shaped component are laminated and bonded via an adhesive, an adhesive is applied to a position close to a narrowed portion having a reduced cross-sectional area in the liquid flow path. A relief groove is formed along the location, and the cross-sectional area of the relief groove is set smaller than the cross-sectional area of the throttle in the liquid flow path.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the laminate bonding structure of the thin plate-like component according to the first aspect, a plurality of liquid flow paths are formed on one surface of the thin plate-like component in a substantially parallel manner at appropriate intervals. The escape groove is formed between the adjacent liquid flow paths in a substantially parallel shape.

[0013] The invention described in claim 3 is the first invention.
Alternatively, in the laminated adhesive structure for a thin plate component according to claim 2, a relief hole is formed in the release groove so as to penetrate the thickness of the thin plate component.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink-jet printer according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the thin plate-like component has a plurality of nozzles. A head plate, wherein the liquid flow path is an ink flow path for passing ink from an ink supply source to each of the nozzles.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the laminating and bonding structure of the thin plate component according to the fourth aspect, the ink flow path includes a pressure chamber facing the ejection pressure generating member, and the pressure chamber is provided with the pressure chamber. And has the above-mentioned throttle portion in communication with one end of the above.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 8 show a piezoelectric ink jet printer head according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a plate type piezoelectric actuator 20 joined to a metal plate cavity plate 9 is shown.
A flexible flat cable 40 is overlapped and bonded with an adhesive to connect to an external device on the upper surface of the lower surface of the cavity plate 9 of the lowermost layer. It is assumed that ink is ejected.

The cavity plate 9 is shown in FIGS.
It is configured as shown in FIG. That is, the nozzle plate 10, the two manifold plates 11, 12, the spacer plate 13, and the five thin plates of the base plate 14 are each laminated by being overlapped with an adhesive and laminated. Except for the nozzle plate 10 described above, each of the plates 12, 13, and 14 is made of a 42% nickel alloy steel plate and has a thickness of about 50 μm to 150 μm. In the nozzle plate 10, nozzles 15 for ejecting ink having a very small diameter (about 25 μm in the embodiment) are provided in a staggered array of two rows along a first direction (long side direction) of the nozzle plate 10. Have been. That is, a large number of nozzles 15 are formed in a staggered arrangement at intervals of a minute pitch P along two parallel reference lines 10a and 10b extending in the first direction of the nozzle plate 10. The two manifold plates 11, 12 include:
Ink passages 12 a and 12 b are formed so as to extend along both sides of the row of the nozzles 15. However, the lower manifold plate 1 facing the nozzle plate 10
The ink passage 12b in FIG. 1 is recessed so as to open only above the manifold plate 12 (see FIGS. 3 and 4). These ink passages 12a, 12
b has a structure that is sealed by stacking the spacer plate 13 on the upper manifold plate 12. FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the nozzle plate 10, the manifold plates 11, 12, the spacer plate 13, and the base plate 14, each of which corresponds to the right end in FIG. FIG.

The base plate 14 has a plurality of narrow pressure chambers 16 extending in a second direction (short side direction) orthogonal to a center line along the long side (the first direction). Are drilled. When parallel longitudinal reference lines 14a and 14b are set on both left and right sides of the center line, the front end flow path 16 of the pressure chamber 16 on the left side of the center line is set.
a is located on the left longitudinal reference line 14a, and conversely, the tip flow path 16a of the pressure chamber 16 on the right side of the longitudinal center line is located on the right longitudinal reference line 14b, and the left and right pressure chambers are located on the right longitudinal reference line 14b. Since the 16 front end flow paths 16a are alternately arranged, the pressure chambers 16 on the left and right sides are alternately arranged so as to extend in opposite directions every other one.

The front end flow paths 16a of the pressure chambers 16 are formed in the staggered nozzles 15 of the nozzle plate 10 in the staggered arrangement of the spacer plate 13 and the two manifold plates 11, 12. Communication holes 17, 17, 1
7. On the other hand, the other end of each of the pressure chambers 16 is connected to the other end flow path 16b having a large diameter via an elongated narrow portion 16d as an ink flow path having a small cross-sectional area. Spacer plate 13
Are communicated with the ink passages 12a and 12b in the manifold plates 11 and 12 through through holes 18 formed in both right and left sides of the manifold plate. In addition, the other end flow path 16b and the elongated narrowed portion 16d are shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, the recess is formed so as to open only on the lower surface side of the base plate 14, and the diameter of the other end flow path 16b is substantially equal to the diameter of the through hole 18. The throttle section 16d has a smaller cross section than the pressure chamber 16 in order to prevent an excessive supply of ink to the pressure chamber 16 when the pressure actuator 20 is continuously driven.

Further, a continuous portion 1 having a thickness of about half the thickness of the base plate 14 is provided at an intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of each pressure chamber 16.
By providing 6c, the rigidity of the side walls of the pressure chambers 16 arranged in parallel is prevented from lowering.

The supply hole 19b formed at one end of the spacer plate 13 communicates with the ink passage 12a and also communicates with the supply hole 19a formed at one end of the uppermost base plate 14. I have. A filter 29 for removing dust in the ink supplied from the ink tank above the supply hole 19a is stretched over the upper surface of the supply hole 19a.

Next, a method of assembling the cavity plate 9 will be described. As in the conventional example, as shown in FIG. 9, four lead frames 100a to 100d are stacked and bonded and fixed.
In a to d, manifold plates 11, 12, a spacer plate 13, and a base plate 14, which are thin plate-shaped components having a predetermined pattern formed thereon, are continuously arranged at regular intervals. That is, the base plate 14 in the above embodiment is formed on the lead frame 100d as the lowermost layer so as to be arranged at regular intervals. The left and right elongated frames 102 are connected to the tie bar 104 at appropriate intervals. Similarly, spacer plates 13 are formed at the same intervals as above on the second-layer lead frame 100c from the bottom. Manifold plates 12 are formed at the same intervals as above on the third-layer lead frame 100b from the bottom. The other manifold plate 11 is formed on the uppermost lead frame 100a at the same interval as described above. The positioning holes 1 are provided at appropriate intervals in the frame 102 of each of the lead frames 100a to 100d.
05 is formed.

When stacking these lead frames,
As shown in FIG. 4, the lead frames are stacked so that the cavity plate 9 is upside down from the use state (a state in which ink nozzles are opened on the lower surface side). At this time, as shown in FIG.
4. Release grooves 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, 33e, and 33e for the adhesive formed on one surface of each of the second-layer spacer plate 13 and the manifold plate 12 from below.
4, 35 shall be arranged upward.

It should be noted that among the escape grooves 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d for the adhesive in the base plate 14,
As shown in FIG. 7, the relief groove 33c at a position adjacent to the throttle portion 16d of the pressure chamber 16 is formed substantially U-shaped in plan view, and extends substantially parallel to the elongated throttle portion 16d. A substantially linear relief groove 33d extends from the end of the relief groove 33c so as to pass between the adjacent other end channels 16b, 16b, and surrounds one side edge of the other end channel 16b. Is connected to the relief groove 33b. The elongate and substantially U-shaped relief grooves 33c in plan view are formed on both surfaces of the base plate 14 and communicate with each other through relief holes 36 penetrating the thickness of the base plate 14. Similarly, a relief hole 37 is formed in the substantially arc-shaped relief groove 33b so as to penetrate the thickness of the base plate 14.

In this state, a pin (not shown) for positioning is inserted from below into each lead frame 100a.
The positioning is performed by inserting it into the positioning hole 105 of the frame 102 of 100 d. In this case, an adhesive 39 is applied in advance to the laminated surfaces of the plates of the lead frames 100a to 100d, and after the pins are inserted, a pinching force or a pressing force is applied to the lowermost lead frame 100d and the uppermost lead frame 100a. It acts to adhere and fix.

As one method of applying the adhesive 39, the adhesive 39 is thinly applied on a flat surface of a jig in advance, and the lead frames 100a to 100a are applied to the applied surface.
By aligning the laminated surfaces of the plates d, for example,
Relief grooves 33a to 33e in the base plate 14,
The adhesive 39 can be transferred to a flat convex surface other than the concave portions such as the pressure chamber 16, the other end flow path 16b, the throttle portion 16d, and the relief holes 36 and 37. The transfer may be performed by pressing the laminated surface of the plate against the roller surface to which the adhesive 39 is applied.

When the plurality of lead frames to which the adhesive 39 has been transferred in this manner are pressed and bonded and fixed, the excess adhesive 39 is removed from the pressure chambers 16 which are recesses other than the relief grooves 33a to 33e, and the like. It may also flow into the end flow path 16b and the throttle 16d. In particular, when the adhesive 39 flows into the narrowed portion 16d having a small cross-sectional area, there is a problem that the entire cross section is blocked by the adhesive 39 and ink does not flow at all.

On the other hand, in the capillary phenomenon in which the liquid adhesive 39 passes through a narrow gap such as a mating surface of a plate (including the base plate 14 and the like, the same applies hereinafter), the capillary force is larger than that of a portion having a larger cross-sectional area, and The adhesive 39 is first drawn toward the smaller portion.

In the present invention, the above phenomenon is used. That is, the relief groove 33c is formed to be recessed at a position close to the aperture 16d, and the sectional area S1 of the relief groove 33c is set smaller than the sectional area S2 of the aperture 16d (see FIG. 7). As a result, the surplus adhesive 39 is drawn into the escape groove 33c first, so that the narrowed portion 16d can be prevented from being blocked by the adhesive 39.

The escape groove 33c is formed substantially parallel to the elongated narrow portion 16d, so that the capillary force can be exerted on the escape groove 33c in a long range, and the entire narrow elongated portion 16d is adhered. Agent 3
9 can be prevented from clogging.

Furthermore, if escape holes 36 and 37 are formed in the escape grooves 33c and 33d to penetrate the thickness of the plate, excess adhesive 39 passes through the escape holes 36 and 37 and forms a plate. Escape to the back (Fig. 8
(A)). In this case, if the escape groove 33c or the like is provided on the back surface of the plate, there is an effect that the escape can be ensured even if the surplus amount of the adhesive 39 is large.

The other end passage 16b having a large cross-sectional area is provided.
However, the relief grooves 33b, 3
By disposing 3d, the relief grooves 33b, 33
d, the adhesive 39 is first drawn into the other end flow path 16
The adhesive 39 does not flow into b. Such relief grooves are formed by the spacer plate 13, the manifold plate 11,
12 may be formed.

In the cavity plate 9 bonded and fixed as described above, the supply holes 19a, 1 formed in one end of the base plate 14 and the spacer plate 13 are provided.
The ink flowing from the ink passages 9b into the ink passages 12a and 12b is distributed from the ink passages 12a into the pressure chambers 16 through the through holes 18, and then from the pressure chambers 16 to the communication holes. Through 17, 17, 17,
It is configured to reach the nozzle 15 corresponding to the pressure chamber 16.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the piezoelectric actuator 20 has a structure in which a plurality of piezoelectric sheets 21 are stacked, similar to that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-341853. The lowermost piezoelectric sheet of the piezoelectric sheets 21 having a thickness of about 30 μm and the upper surface (wide surface) of the odd-numbered piezoelectric sheets counted upward correspond to the pressure chambers 16 in the cavity plate 9. Narrow individual electrodes (not shown) are formed in a row along a first direction (long side direction) at each of the positions, and each individual electrode is formed in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. Along each of the piezoelectric sheets to the vicinity of the long side edge. A common electrode (not shown) common to the plurality of pressure chambers 16 is formed on the upper surface (wide surface) of the even-numbered piezoelectric sheet from the bottom. The surface electrode 30 electrically connected to each of the individual electrodes and the surface electrode 31 electrically connected to each of the common electrodes are arranged along the edge of the long side. (See FIG. 1).

An adhesive sheet 41 made of an ink-impermeable synthetic resin material as an adhesive layer is formed on the entire lower surface (wide surface facing the pressure chamber 16) of the plate-type piezoelectric actuator 20 having such a configuration. Beforehand,
Next, the piezoelectric actuator 20 is bonded and fixed to the cavity plate 9 with its individual electrodes corresponding to each of the pressure chambers 16 in the cavity plate 9 (see FIGS. 5 and 6). The flexible flat cable 40 is overlaid and pressed on the upper surface of the piezoelectric actuator 20, so that various wiring patterns (not shown) of the flexible flat cable 40 are applied to the surface electrodes 3.
0 and 31 are electrically connected.

In this configuration, by applying a voltage between any of the individual electrodes 24 of the piezoelectric actuator 20 and the common electrode, the voltage of the individual electrode of the piezoelectric sheet 21 to which the voltage is applied is applied. Distortion in the stacking direction due to piezoelectricity occurs in the portion, and the internal volume of the pressure chamber 16 corresponding to each of the individual electrodes is reduced due to this distortion.
5 is ejected in the form of droplets to perform predetermined printing (FIG. 6).
reference).

In each of the above embodiments, the present invention is applied to the assembly of an ink jet head. However, when assembling an electronic component, a thin plate-like component such as a plurality of lead frames is used.
This is optimal for a structure in which a plurality of thin plate-shaped components are stacked and fixed when there is at least one thin plate-shaped component having a liquid flow path formed on at least one surface in a predetermined pattern.

[0038]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
The laminated adhesive structure of the thin plate-shaped component according to the invention described in the above, a plurality of thin plate-shaped components including at least one thin plate-shaped component having a liquid flow path of a predetermined pattern formed on at least one side, via an adhesive. In the structure of laminating and bonding, at a position close to the narrowed section having a reduced cross-sectional area in the liquid flow path,
Form a relief groove along the point where the adhesive is applied,
The cross-sectional area of the relief groove is set smaller than the cross-sectional area of the throttle in the liquid flow path.

In a capillary phenomenon in which a liquid adhesive passes through a narrow gap such as a mating surface of a thin plate-like part, a portion having a larger capillary force and a portion having a smaller cross-sectional area than a portion having a larger cross-sectional area have
The adhesive is drawn first. Therefore, by forming a relief groove at a position close to the narrowed portion and setting the cross-sectional area of the escape groove to be smaller than the cross-sectional area of the narrowed portion, the surplus adhesive is drawn into the relief groove first. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the restriction portion from being blocked by the adhesive.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the laminated adhesive structure for a thin plate-like component according to the first aspect, a plurality of liquid flow paths are formed on one surface of the thin plate-like component in a substantially parallel manner at appropriate intervals. By forming the relief groove between the adjacent liquid flow paths in a substantially parallel shape, the capillary force can be exerted on the relief groove in a long range, and the adhesive is clogged over the entire elongated narrow portion. This has the effect that it can be prevented.

Further, the invention described in claim 3 is the first invention.
Alternatively, in the laminated adhesive structure for a thin plate-shaped component according to claim 2, if the escape groove has a configuration in which a relief hole is formed to penetrate the thickness of the thin plate-shaped component, excess adhesive is released. It can escape to the back of the sheet-like part through the hole. In this case, if a relief groove is also provided on the back surface of the thin plate-shaped component, there is an effect that the relief can be reliably performed even if the surplus amount of the adhesive is large.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printer according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the thin plate-like component has a plurality of nozzles. A head plate, wherein the liquid flow path is an ink flow path for passing ink from an ink supply source to each of the nozzles. Therefore, the ink flow path formed in the plate for the ink jet printer head is reliably prevented from being blocked by the adhesive, and the required performance of the ink jet printer head can be secured.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the laminating and bonding structure of the thin plate component according to the fourth aspect, the ink flow path has a pressure chamber facing the ejection pressure generating member, and the pressure chamber is provided with the pressure chamber. Since the narrowed portion communicates with one end of the pressure chamber, the narrowed portion communicating with the pressure chamber and having a small area can be reliably prevented from being blocked with an adhesive for lamination.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a piezoelectric inkjet printer head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a cavity plate.

FIG. 3 is an exploded partial enlarged perspective view of a cavity plate.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a cavity plate arranged with the nozzle side facing upward.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line VV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing a state in which a flexible flat cable, a cavity plate, and a piezoelectric actuator are bonded and fixed.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of a main part showing a narrowed portion, a relief groove and the like in the base plate.

8A is a sectional view taken along line VIIIa-VIIIa in FIG. 7,
FIG. 8B is a sectional view taken along line VIIIb-VIIIb in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a stack of lead frames of the present invention and a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 9 Cavity plate 10 Nozzle plate 11, 12 Manifold plate 13 Spacer plate 14 Base plate 15 Nozzle 16 Pressure chamber 16b Other end flow path 16d Restrictor 17 Communication hole 18 Through hole 20 Piezoelectric actuator 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, 33e Release groove 36 , 37 Release hole 39 Adhesive

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A structure in which a plurality of sheet-like parts including at least one sheet-like part having a liquid flow path of a predetermined pattern formed on at least one surface are laminated and bonded via an adhesive, A relief groove is recessed along the location where the adhesive is applied at a position close to the throttle part with a reduced cross-sectional area in the path, and the cross-sectional area of the relief groove is set smaller than the cross-sectional area of the throttle part in the liquid flow path. A laminated adhesive structure for thin plate-shaped components. 2. A plurality of liquid channels are formed on one surface of a thin plate-shaped part in a substantially parallel manner at an appropriate interval, and the relief groove is formed between the adjacent liquid channels in a substantially parallel shape. The laminated adhesive structure for a thin plate-shaped component according to claim 1. 3. The laminated adhesive structure for a thin plate component according to claim 1, wherein a release hole penetrating through the thickness of the thin plate component is formed in the release groove. . 4. The thin plate-shaped part is a plate for an ink jet printer head having a plurality of nozzles,
The lamination bonding of the thin plate-shaped component according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the liquid flow path is an ink flow path for passing ink from an ink supply source to each of the nozzles. Construction. 5. The ink flow path according to claim 4, wherein the ink flow path includes a pressure chamber facing the ejection pressure generating member, and has the throttle section in communication with one end of the pressure chamber. Laminated bonding structure of thin plate parts.