JP2003285436A - Inkjet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that there is no inkjet recording head for varying a discharge amount by setting a plurality of electrothermal converting elements within one nozzle and which discharges (records) under a discharge condition optimum to a use purpose or a use state of the head. <P>SOLUTION: The head having two heaters arranged within one nozzle while distances from a discharge opening are made different from each other is provided with a discharge amount mode, a printing mode and a detecting means for a temperature within a body (temperature sensor). The head conforms to a selected desired mode, and at the same time changes over the heater to be driven in accordance with the temperature within the body, thereby discharging under a condition fit for the changed over heater. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus for recording characters, images and the like on a recording medium by using an inkjet recording head which discharges a recording liquid toward a recording medium by inputting an electric signal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Most ink jet recording apparatuses are known as printing apparatuses in printers, facsimiles, word processors, copiers, etc. Among them, thermal energy is used as energy used for ejecting ink, and bubbles generated by this are used. Ink jet recording apparatuses of the type that ejects ink have become popular recently.

Further, as another application of this type of ink jet recording apparatus, it is recently being used in an ink jet textile printing apparatus for printing a certain pattern, a picture or a composite image on a cloth.

In the ink jet head used in the ink jet recording apparatus as described above, an electrothermal converting element (hereinafter, also referred to as "heater") is used to generate heat energy, but in many cases, one ejection port is used. Corresponding to, a configuration including one heater is adopted. On the other hand, from the following points of view, a heater provided with a plurality of heaters corresponding to one discharge port has been conventionally known.

That is, first, there is known one in which a plurality of heaters are driven alternately or one by one for the purpose of prolonging the life of the ink jet head. Secondly, a plurality of heaters are used for the purpose of increasing the range in which the ink ejection amount is changed. In this case, the ejection amount is selected by selecting the heaters to be driven (that is, the heaters that generate heat) and the number thereof. Is changing.

In the latter case, as a more specific structure,
By disposing a plurality of heaters in the ink discharge direction in the liquid flow path communicating with the discharge port of the inkjet head and selecting the heaters to be driven or the number of heaters to be driven, the distance between the discharge port and the center of the driven heater is made different. It is known that the discharge amount is changed by this.

As another configuration, a plurality of heaters having different surface areas are arranged in the liquid flow path, and the same as above.
It is known to change the amount of ink discharged by changing the number of heaters to be driven or the number thereof.

[0008]

However, there are some problems in realizing an ink jet recording apparatus in which the ejection amount is variable.

One problem is that when ejecting a small ejection amount of ink, since the bubbling is performed by a heater having a small ejection power, that is, a heater having a small heater area, not only the ejection amount but also the ejection speed is reduced. Of particular importance, there may be a problem with so-called preliminary ejection, which is performed as part of the ejection recovery process.

That is, the preliminary ejection generally means ejecting the ink not related to recording from the ink jet head at a predetermined location of the apparatus, whereby the thickened ink or the like in the ink jet head is removed and the ink is ejected. Can be kept good. Such preliminary discharge is
Usually, it is performed immediately after the power of the apparatus is turned on or at regular time intervals during printing.

However, when printing is performed with a small discharge amount setting, it is necessary to shorten the interval of preliminary discharge. That is, if the interval is set too long, the power of the small ejected ink droplets is small, and there is a possibility that the thickened ink cannot be stably ejected depending on the degree of thickening of the ink due to the evaporation of water in the ejection port. is there. In particular, it is necessary to shorten the interval of preliminary ejection performed at regular time intervals during printing, and the printing throughput also decreases.

Further, as another problem, when printing is performed with a small discharge amount setting, the resolution is high, the amount of image data is large, and the number of print dots is large. I can't do it fast.

The above-mentioned problems are greatly affected by the type of ink.

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to use an ink jet recording head having a plurality of electrothermal converting elements in one nozzle with a relatively simple structure. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording head and an ink jet recording apparatus that can perform ejection (recording) in which the ejection amount is variable, under ejection conditions optimal for the purpose or usage.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a plurality of electrothermal conversion elements arranged in an ink flow path communicating with an ejection port, and two electrothermal conversion elements of the electrothermal conversion elements are provided. The elements are arranged such that the distance from the ejection port to the electrothermal conversion element is different, and the two electrothermal conversion elements have substantially the same droplet ejection amount when driven independently of each other. An ink jet recording apparatus using a recording head, characterized by having a switching means for switching and driving the two electrothermal conversion elements based on the temperature of the head.

Particularly, it is preferable that the switching means drives the electrothermal conversion element on the side closer to the ejection port when the temperature of the head main body is low.

Further, the present invention has a plurality of electrothermal conversion elements arranged in the ink flow path communicating with the ejection port, two electrothermal conversion elements of which are respectively from the ejection port to the electrothermal conversion element. Are placed at different distances to the above 2
Each of the electrothermal conversion elements is an ink jet recording apparatus using an ink jet recording head in which the ejection amount of liquid droplets when driven independently of each other is the same as the above two elements. It has a switching means for switching and driving the electrothermal conversion element. In this case, when the type of the recording liquid is an ink that is easier to dry than the normal ink, the switching unit preferably drives the electrothermal conversion element on the side closer to the ejection port.

In the ink jet recording apparatus of each of the above inventions, it is preferable that the switching means changes the drive frequency of the electrothermal conversion element in accordance with the switching of the electrothermal conversion element. In this case, it is preferable that the switching unit changes a preliminary ejection condition according to switching of the electrothermal conversion element, and the switching unit changes a PWM table according to switching of the electrothermal conversion element. It is preferable to change the ejection timing according to the switching of the electrothermal conversion element.

In the ink jet recording apparatus of each of the above inventions, it is preferable that the plurality of electrothermal converting elements arranged in the ink flow path are the two electrothermal converting elements.

Further, the present invention also provides an ink jet recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium by detachably mounting the above ink jet recording head, reciprocatingly moving the same, and ejecting ink from the ink jet recording head according to a desired drive signal. Belong to

The invention as described above has a plurality of electrothermal conversion elements arranged in the ink flow path communicating with the ink ejection ports, and two of the electrothermal conversion elements are electrically connected from the ejection ports. An ink jet recording apparatus using an ink jet recording head which is arranged with different distances to the heat converting element and has substantially the same droplet ejection amount when the two electrothermal converting elements are driven independently of each other. Therefore, by switching the electrothermal conversion element to be driven, the ejection speed increases as the position of the electrothermal conversion element approaches the ejection port, and the refill frequency is opposite to the ejection speed, By making maximum use of the ejection characteristics that the position becomes smaller as it gets closer to the ejection port,
It is possible to perform ejection under optimal ejection conditions for various information.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention has been made from a novel point of view as a result of studying practical application as a recording device in a head mode described below.

First, the structure of the ink jet recording head according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an ink jet recording head. This recording head is called an edge shooter type, and the nozzle array density is 360 DPI.
Has become.

As shown in the figure, an element substrate 23 provided with a plurality of heaters, which are electrothermal conversion elements, is arranged on a support 41 made of metal such as aluminum.

The top plate 101 is provided with an orifice 40 which is an ejection port for ejecting ink, and a nozzle groove portion which is constituted by the nozzle wall 5 and communicates with the orifice 40. As shown in FIG. 1, the nozzle 104 and the ink chamber 105 are formed by joining the element substrate 23 and the top plate 101.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the arrangement of heaters on the element substrate 23 shown in FIG. In one nozzle between the nozzle walls 5, two heaters, a front heater 3 and a rear heater 4, are respectively arranged at a distance O from the orifice 40 to the heater.
They are arranged with different Hs, and are partially arranged side by side (direction perpendicular to the ejection direction on the substrate surface). Each of the heaters 3 and 4 is connected through a through hole 2 to a common wiring 1 under the interlayer insulating film below the heater, and a voltage is applied from the common wiring 1. The wirings 6 and 7 are connected to the front heater 3 and the rear heater 4, respectively.

That is, from the ink chamber 105 to the nozzle 10
Ink is supplied to the nozzle 4, and the heater provided in the nozzle 104 heats up due to the signal current to heat and foam the ink in the nozzle 104, and the foaming causes the ink in the nozzle 104 to be ejected from the orifice 40 toward the recording medium. It is composed.

Next, the ejection characteristics of the above-mentioned ink jet recording head will be described.

The distance O between the heater and the orifice shown in FIG.
H is a large factor that affects the ejection characteristics. When the distance OH is set as a parameter within a range set to be somewhat short, the droplet discharge amount Vd (pl; picoliter) and the discharge speed v
(M / s) and the refill frequency fr (KHz) have been found by examination to have the characteristics described below.

Here, it is assumed that two heaters 3 and 4 having substantially the same size and the same length are arranged in the nozzle. When the front heater and the rear heater are independently driven, the discharge amount V of the small droplets (small dots)
d is set to be approximately the same at about 20 pl. Further, it is assumed that by driving the above-mentioned two heaters at the same time, a discharge amount of a large droplet (large dot) of about 40 pl, which is about double, is discharged.

When the front and rear heaters have the same size, it is better to drive the rear heater 4 farther from the discharge port (the one with longer OH) as shown in FIG.
r will be much better. That is, since the meniscus return time is shortened, the refill frequency fr is increased. Therefore, when the rear heater 4 is driven independently, high speed printing is possible. However, the ejection speed v becomes slow as shown in FIG. Conversely, when the front heater 3 closer to the discharge port (shorter OH) is driven alone, the discharge speed is significantly improved as shown in FIG. 4, but on the other hand, as shown in FIG. The refill frequency becomes low.
In this way, it was found that the ejection speed and the refill frequency have a contradictory relationship. At this time, since the ejection amount Vd is substantially constant with respect to the OH distance as shown in FIG. 3, any OH distance may be selected as long as the OH distance is in a range in which the ejection amount Vd is substantially constant. I do not care.

Depending on the setting method, for example, FIG.
The OH distances such as the middle points B2 and A2 are set so that the heater size of the rear heater 4 is slightly larger than the heater size of the front heater 3 (the same length is used and the width is slightly widened). By doing so, it is possible to make the ejection amount almost the same when each heater is driven independently, and conversely, by setting the OH distances such as points B1 and A1 in FIG. The heater size of the front heater 3 may be larger than that of the rear heater 4. Even in such a case, it is basically known that the above-mentioned ejection characteristics do not change much.

By the way, at the discharge port, the ink thickens as the water vaporizes. Therefore, a nozzle that does not perform ejection for a while may not be able to perform stable ejection at the time of the next ejection, and the ejection direction may be bent or ejection may not be performed. If the ink temperature is low, the viscosity of the ink itself depends on the temperature, and the viscosity becomes high.

Therefore, in the ink jet recording apparatus, the stable ejection is maintained by performing the preliminary ejection to the non-printing portion at a predetermined time interval during printing. However, when the environment is low temperature / low humidity, the interval of the preliminary ejection is changed. Need to be short.
Moreover, the preliminary ejection is time-consuming because it is performed in a predetermined non-printing portion. Therefore, even if the ejection frequency is increased, the substantial printing time may be lengthened. Moreover, if it is performed frequently, the ink consumption due to the preliminary ejection is not negligible.

Here, in addition to the above-mentioned ejection characteristics, O in the case where the head body is in a normal temperature environment and in the case of low temperature / low humidity
FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the H distance and the preliminary ejection interval and the ejection stable area immediately after the ejection of the small dots is stopped. As shown in the figure,
It can be seen that if the OH distance is short, the preliminary ejection interval t can be dramatically lengthened. In this way, the preliminary ejection interval and the ink refill frequency have a contradictory relationship.

However, as shown in FIG. 6, it can be seen that in the normal temperature environment, even if the OH distance is relatively long, the preliminary discharge interval does not become so short as to cause a problem.

As described above, the head of the present invention has two heaters with different OH distances in one nozzle, and each drive drives small droplets (small dots) of substantially the same ejection amount.
However, it was found that the ejection characteristics differ depending on the driven heater.

Therefore, various embodiments will be described below in which the ejection characteristics of the head as described above are utilized to the maximum extent.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining the first embodiment of the ink jet recording head provided in the recording apparatus of the present invention.

This embodiment is an example in which the heater to be driven is switched according to the temperature environment information of the main body. As shown in FIG. 7, this head has a discharge amount mode, a print mode,
Equipped with a means for detecting the temperature inside the body (temperature sensor), according to the desired mode selected at the same time according to the temperature inside the body,
The heaters to be driven are switched, and ejection is performed under conditions suitable for the switched heaters.

First, the discharge amount mode will be described. This discharge amount mode basically has two modes, a small discharge amount mode and a large discharge amount mode. The driven main heater is switched according to these discharge amount modes. In the small discharge amount mode, a first small discharge amount mode that drives only the rear heater and a second small discharge amount mode that drives only the front heater and discharges the same amount as the discharge amount in the first small discharge amount mode. Discharge rate mode. The large discharge amount mode is a mode in which both the front heater and the rear heater are driven.

Next, the print mode will be described. The print mode includes, for example, a basic density print mode of 360 dpi, a high density print mode of 720 dpi, a smoothing mode for smoothing unevenness of the print contour, and a multi-value recording mode.

In the basic density printing mode, printing of 360 dpi is performed in the large ejection amount mode using all the nozzles.
In the high-density printing mode, basically all nozzles are used in the small discharge amount mode, and interlaced printing in the sub-scanning direction, that is, printing that fills the print dot interval in the feed direction of the recording medium that is orthogonal to the head scanning direction. By 720x
Printing at 720 dpi is performed. In the smoothing mode, for the contour of the print in the basic density print mode of 360 dpi, a discharge amount less than the discharge amount in the basic density print mode (here, a small discharge amount mode) is used to smooth the unevenness of the print contour. . In the multi-value recording mode, large dots in the large ejection amount mode and small dots in the small ejection amount mode are switched for each pixel. At this time, by using paper with a low ink bleeding rate, it is possible to effectively achieve ternary gradation expression (no dot, large dot, small dot) for one pixel.

Next, the case where the desired mode is selected will be specifically described.

(1). When the basic density printing mode is selected, both the two heaters are driven in the large discharge amount mode (see FIG. 8A), and printing is performed at a driving frequency of 6 KHz. The discharge amount at this time is 70 pl for black ink and 4 for color ink.
It was set to 0 pl.

(2). When the high-density printing mode is selected, either the first small discharge amount mode or the second small discharge amount mode is used.

In the case of the first small discharge amount mode, it becomes possible to perform high-speed printing at a drive frequency of 12 KHz, which is twice the basic density printing, by using the rear heater. This operation mode is called "high-speed printing mode". The ejection amount at this time was set to 35 pl for black ink and 20 pl for color ink. The scanning speed of the head is the same as that of the basic density print mode of 360 dpi.

In the case of the second small discharge amount mode, the front side heater is driven and 8 KH, which is slightly lower than that in the high speed printing mode.
Although printing is performed at the z drive frequency, it is possible to perform printing with a higher ejection speed, that is, higher ejection power than in the high-speed printing mode. This operation mode is referred to as "ejection reliability-oriented mode". The ejection amount at this time is the same as the ejection amount in the first small ejection amount mode, and the black ink is
1 and the color ink was set to 20 pl. The scanning speed of the head was set to 2/3 of that in the high speed printing mode.

The switching between the "high-speed printing mode" and the "ejection reliability-oriented mode" in the case of the high-density printing mode described above is performed depending on the temperature environment of the head monitored by the detection means (temperature sensor) (FIG. 8 (b). )reference).

That is, when the head is in the normal environment, printing is performed in the "high speed printing mode". However, in this high-speed print mode, the rear heater is driven, so
When the head is in a low-temperature / low-humidity environment, it becomes necessary to considerably shorten the preliminary ejection interval due to the effect of thickening of the ink, as can be seen from the graph shown in FIG. Preliminary ejection is a time-consuming operation because it is performed in a predetermined non-printing portion. Therefore, even if the ejection driving frequency is set high in the high-speed printing mode, the preliminary ejection interval must be set to be considerably short, which results in a substantial printing time. Moreover, if the preliminary ejection is frequently performed, the ink consumption is also large.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, when it is detected by the temperature sensor in the head body such as the thermistor that the head is in a low temperature or low humidity environment, it is possible to prevent the ink from becoming difficult to eject due to the thickening of the ink at the ejection port. Therefore, the mode is switched to the “ejection reliability priority mode”, and printing is performed by the front heater having high ejection power.

According to this ejection reliability-oriented mode, the ejection driving frequency of the head is 8K which is slightly lower than that in the high-speed printing mode.
As shown in the graph of FIG. 6, the interval of the preliminary discharge can be increased even in the case of Hz, so that the time required for the preliminary discharge can be shortened, and as a result, the printing speed is substantially increased. In addition, the consumption of ink is also reduced.

(3). When the smoothing mode is selected, for the nozzles that eject small dots that are less than the ejection amount in the basic density printing mode with respect to the contour of dot printing in the basic density printing mode, as in the above high density printing mode, the head body High-speed printing mode that drives only the rear heater when the inside is in a normal temperature environment (first small discharge amount mode)
When the inside of the head body is in a low temperature / low humidity environment, the mode is switched to the ejection reliability priority mode (second small ejection amount mode) in which only the front heater is driven.

(4). Even when the multi-value recording mode is selected,
For nozzles that eject small dots, high-speed printing mode that drives only the rear heater when the head body is in a normal temperature environment, and ejection reliability that drives only the front heater when the head body is in a low temperature / low humidity environment Switch to sex-oriented mode.

By the way, when the ejection amount mode is switched by one nozzle as described above, ink droplets of different ejection amounts are ejected from the same nozzle, and the ejection speed changes between the large ejection amount mode and the small ejection amount mode. To do. Therefore, when you select the smoothing mode or multi-valued recording mode above,
Since the large dots and the small dots are mixed and ejected during the forward scanning of the head, it is considered that the landing accuracy is deteriorated due to the difference in the ejection speed of the large dots and the small dots. Therefore, in this embodiment, by changing the ejection timing of the ink droplets according to the ejection amount mode, the center positions of landing of large and small dots are aligned.

Specifically, since the larger the ejection amount is, the faster the ejection speed is, the ejection timing of the large dots is delayed. However, when the front heater is driven even in the case of small dots (in the case of the second small discharge amount mode), the discharge speed of small dots can be increased and the difference in discharge speed with large dots can be made small, so the discharge timing does not change. There are times when it is okay.
As described above, even in the smoothing mode or the multi-valued recording mode in which large and small dots are mixedly ejected while the head is forward scanning, the ejection timing is changed according to the switching of the heater, so that an image with good accuracy can be obtained. can get.

Even if the head configuration is such that the large dots and the small dots cannot be switched in a short time while the head is being forward scanned when the smoothing mode or the multi-value recording mode is selected, the forward scanning direction of printing By ejecting a large dot and a small dot in the backward scanning direction, an image with good accuracy can be obtained.

Further, the heater is normally subjected to so-called preheat PWM control by double pulse for stabilizing the discharge amount, but when the position of the heater in the nozzle is different, the characteristic of the change in discharge amount due to the preheating condition is also different. . Therefore, in this embodiment, the PWM table is changed according to the position of the heater to be driven to correct and stabilize the difference in the ejection characteristics due to the double pulse due to the position of the heater.

According to the embodiment described above, when an ink droplet smaller than the ejection amount of the basic density printing is used, the problem caused by the thickening of the ink during the preliminary ejection due to the temperature environment of the head main body is Whether to eject small dots by the front heater with high ejection power (ejection speed) according to the environment,
This can be solved by selecting whether to eject the small dots by the rear heater having a high ejection driving frequency.

A recording device such as a printer to which this embodiment is applied is compatible with the environment and season of the region to which the recording device is destined, even if the specifications of the head are not decided in advance before shipment in accordance with the environment of each country. Therefore, a good image can be provided.
In this case, the print mode may be switched on the panel of the apparatus main body or the screen of the personal computer or the like depending on the environment and the season.

Here, an example in which the heater position to be driven is switched according to the temperature environment of the head main body has been described, but in the present invention, when the accuracy of landing and the reliability of ejection are important even if the printing speed is somewhat slow, ejection is performed. A front heater that can perform high-power (ejection speed) ejection can be selected, and a rear heater with a high ejection drive frequency can be selected when high printing speed is important even if landing accuracy and ejection reliability are slightly inferior. For the purpose of providing a new ink jet recording head, the heater position to be driven may be switched depending on the purpose of use of the head regardless of the above head temperature information.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 9 is a block diagram for explaining the second embodiment of the ink jet recording head provided in the recording apparatus of the present invention.

This embodiment is an example in which the heater to be driven is switched depending on the type information of the ink used in the head when printing with small dots. That is, in some cases, an ink that is easier to dry than an ordinary ink may be provided as an option. When such an ink is used, as can be seen from the graph shown in FIG. 4, since the ejection power (ejection speed) is small when the small ejection amount is set by the rear heater, it is usually depending on the degree of thickening of the ink at the ejection port. It is necessary to shorten the interval of preliminary ejection as compared with the case of the above ink. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the special ink is used, the driving is switched to the driving of the front heater having high ejection power (ejection speed).

In this case, for example, an ID (identifying means) is provided on the head side or the tank side using the special ink, such as a notch, to use the heater on the front side or the rear side, and this ID is provided on the main body. By detecting, the heater to be driven may be switched to, and the drive frequency, the preliminary ejection condition, and the PWM table may be switched according to the switched heater. Further, when ink is selected on the panel of the recording apparatus main body or the screen of a personal computer or the like, the heater to be driven and the driving frequency according to the switched heater may be switched.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 10 is a block diagram for explaining the third embodiment of the ink jet recording head provided in the recording apparatus of the present invention.

In this embodiment, in the case of printing with small dots, depending on the type of recording apparatus main body in which the head is used,
It is an example of switching the driven heater. As a product form, there is a case where the main body is small and the cost is low even if the printing speed is a little slow. That is, although the head is the same, the type of the recording apparatus main body may be changed.

For example, if the moving speed of the carriage on which the head is mounted is reduced to make the carriage smaller, the torque of the motor for moving and driving the carriage can be reduced, so that the cost of the motor is reduced and the power supply capacity is reduced. Since the size is small, the power supply can be cheap. In this case, it is set to use only the front heater having a low ejection driving frequency.

As described above, depending on the type of the apparatus main body, when the printing speed is slightly slower but the product cost is important, the front heater having a low ejection driving frequency is selected, and the landing accuracy and the ejection reliability are slightly inferior or high. When importance is attached to the printing speed, the rear heater having a high ejection drive frequency may be selected.

(Other Embodiments) In this embodiment, a head in which a plurality of electrothermal converting elements are arranged in one nozzle efficiently drives these electrothermal converting elements and the size of the element substrate is reduced. A circuit of the element substrate for achieving the above will be described. In addition, the term "on the substrate" used in this embodiment is used as a word including the inside near the surface of the substrate.

FIG. 11 shows the arrangement of elements constituting the element substrate according to another embodiment of the ink jet recording head provided in the recording apparatus of the present invention. A nozzle wall 5 is provided on the element substrate, and an electrothermal conversion element (hereinafter referred to as “ejection heater”) 2a and an ejection heater 2b are provided in one ejection nozzle between the nozzle walls 5. Discharge heater is first
Are arranged under the conditions described in the embodiment. Each of the discharge heaters is connected to the common wiring 1 under the interlayer insulating film below the discharge heater via the through hole 4, and a voltage is applied from the common wiring 1. Wiring 6,
7 are the discharge heater 2a and the discharge heater 2b, respectively.
And the switching transistors 11 and 10 are connected via a through hole 16.

Switching transistors 10 and 11
Is also disposed under the heater and below the interlayer insulating film. Further, in order to control ON / OFF of the transistors 10 and 11, signal wirings 17 and 18 are connected to the transistors 10 and 11 and shift register / latch circuits 19 and 20, respectively. As a result, the driving of the heater is limited by turning on / off the transistor according to the data taken in by the shift register / latch circuit. The ground wirings 12, 13, 14 and 15 are connected to the emitters of the switching transistors 8, 9, 10 and 11, respectively. Although the configuration for two nozzles is shown in FIG. 11,
FIG. 12 shows the arrangement configuration of the entire substrate. In FIG. 12, the element substrate 1 is formed by continuously arranging the cells 25 that are formed once. The common wire 42 is connected to the contact 24 by the common vertical wire 22 and receives a supply from an external power source. Ground wiring 12,
13, 14, and 15 are connected to a contact 24 by a ground vertical wiring 21. Equivalent circuits of FIGS. 11 and 12 are shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, respectively. FIG. 13 shows the shift register / latch circuits 19 and 20 in detail. A CLK signal line 37 and a serial data line 35 are input to the shift register 36, and serial data is expanded in the shift register 36 by a clock signal. The data input to the shift register 36 is held in the latch 33 by the latch signal from the latch signal line 34. Next, the enable signal 32 is connected to the AND gate 31, and the timing signal for applying the data of the latch 33 to the transistor 11 is input. Since there are two enable signals 32, the discharge heaters 2a and 2b can be driven at the same time or at different timings. FIG. 14 is an equivalent circuit of the overall structure of a substrate in which the cells of FIG. 13 are continuously arranged. Here, there are a decoder circuit 38 and a decoder signal line 39, but this is for varying the driving timing, so that it is possible to drive at many timings with a small number of contacts without having a plurality of enable signals 32. it can. These basic timing charts are shown in FIG.

FIG. 16 shows an ink jet head 500 used in the recording apparatus of the present invention and an ink container 5 holding ink to be supplied to the ink jet head 500.
11 is a perspective view showing an inkjet head cartridge IJC in which 01 and 01 are separably connected.

The ink may be injected into the ink container forming the ink jet head cartridge as follows.

It suffices to form an ink introducing path for introducing the ink by connecting an ink supply pipe or the like to the ink container, and inject the ink into the ink container through the ink introducing path. As the ink supply port on the ink container side, a supply port to the ink jet head side, an atmosphere communication port, a hole formed on the wall surface of the ink container, or the like may be used.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of an example of an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with the ink jet recording head having the above structure. This inkjet recording apparatus IJRA has a lead screw 2040 that rotates via driving force transmission gears 2020 and 2030 in association with forward and reverse rotations of a drive motor 2010. A carriage H on which an inkjet head cartridge IJC in which an inkjet recording head and an ink tank are integrated is placed.
C is the carriage shaft 2050 and the lead screw 2
It has a pin (not shown) that is supported by 040 and engages with the spiral groove 2041 of the lead screw 2040, and is reciprocally moved in the directions of arrows a and b as the lead screw 2040 rotates. The paper pressing plate 2060 holds the paper P in the platen roller 20 in the carriage movement direction.
Press against 70. Photocouplers 2080 and 2
Reference numeral 090 denotes a lever 2100 provided on the carriage HC.
In order to switch the rotation direction of the motor 2010 after confirming its existence in this area, it operates as home position detecting means. Cap member 2 for capping the front surface of the recording head
110 is supported by a support member 2120. The suction means 2130 for sucking the inside of the cap performs suction recovery of the recording head through the opening in the cap. Cleaning blade 21 for cleaning the end surface of the recording head
40 is provided on a member 2150 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction, and these are supported by a main body support plate 2160. Needless to say, the blade 2140 is not limited to this form, and a known cleaning blade can be applied to this example. Further, a lever 2170 for starting suction for suction recovery has a cam 2180 that engages with the carriage HC.
The movement of the driving force from the driving motor 2010 is controlled by known transmission means such as clutch switching.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 2040 when the carriage HC reaches the home position side area. Any of the present embodiments can be applied as long as the desired operation is performed at the timing. Each of the above-described configurations is an excellent invention, either alone or in combination, and shows a preferred configuration example for the present invention.

The relationship between the arrangement of the front heaters and the rear heaters and the ejection characteristics described in the first to third embodiments will be described in more detail.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the relationship between the discharge amount Vd of droplets, the discharge velocity v, the product of the discharge port area So and the distance OH from the discharge port to the tip of the heater, and the distance OH. 19 is a diagram showing a relationship between the distance OH and the result of dividing the discharge speed v by the discharge amount Vd. Figure S1 and Figure S
In 2, the singular points a and b are defined, and the distance OH is divided into three areas: an area A equal to or greater than a, an area B equal to or less than b, and an area C between a and b.

As a peculiar tendency of each region, in the region A, the ejection velocity v and the ejection amount Vd are in a substantially proportional relationship as the distance OH increases, and v / Vd becomes almost constant. In the region B, the ejection amount Vd is equal to the ejection area So.
And the distance OH, the discharge amount Vd is substantially constant in the region C.

Further, the above-mentioned respective areas A to C are the discharge amount Vd,
Considering each of the ejection speeds v, the following definition can be made.

<Viewed from Ejection Volume Vd> Area A: Sectional Area in which Ejection Volume Vd Decreases with Increase in Distance OH Area B: Sectional Area C in which Emission Volume Vd Increases in Proportion to Distance OH: Ejection Section where the amount Vd is almost constant with respect to the distance OH <When viewed from the discharge amount v> The distance O over all sections
Although the ejection speed v decreases with an increase in H, the amount of change is gentle in the region C, in particular.

It is preferable that the front heater is arranged in the B area and the rear heater is arranged in the B area or the C area.

[0084]

As described above, according to the present invention, two electrothermal conversion elements are arranged in one nozzle at different distances from the discharge port to the electrothermal conversion element, and
An ink jet recording head having substantially the same discharge amount of liquid droplets when each electrothermal conversion element is driven independently, and the ejection speed is changed by switching the electrothermal conversion elements to be driven. , The refill frequency is opposite to the ejection speed, and the refill frequency is smaller as the position of the electrothermal conversion element is closer to the ejection port. It is possible to perform ejection under optimal ejection conditions for information.

In particular, when switching the driven electrothermal converting elements, by selecting the front heater, it is possible to perform ejection with high ejection power (ejection speed), which improves landing accuracy and ejection reliability, even if the printing speed is somewhat slow. By selecting the rear heater, it is possible to perform ejection with a high drive frequency that increases the printing speed even if the landing accuracy and ejection reliability are slightly inferior. It is possible to perform ejection (recording) under various ejection conditions.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a configuration of an inkjet recording head suitable for a recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement of heaters on the element substrate shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the distance from the orifice to the heater and the ejection amount, of the ejection characteristics of the inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a relationship between a distance from an orifice to a heater and an ejection speed, among ejection characteristics of an inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a relationship between a distance from an orifice to a heater and a driving frequency, among ejection characteristics of an inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a relationship between the distance from the orifice to the heater and the preliminary ejection interval when the head body is in a room temperature environment and in a low temperature / low humidity environment, among ejection characteristics of the inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention. It is a graph which shows.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining the first embodiment of an inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart when the basic density print mode is selected as the print mode and when the high density print mode is selected in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram for explaining a second embodiment of an inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram for explaining a third embodiment of an inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing an arrangement of elements constituting an element substrate according to another embodiment of an inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing an arrangement configuration of an entire element substrate according to another embodiment of an inkjet recording head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

13 is an equivalent circuit of the element substrate shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is an equivalent circuit of the overall configuration of the element substrate shown in FIG.

15 is a basic timing chart in the equivalent circuit of the element substrate shown in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing an inkjet head cartridge in which an inkjet head suitable for the recording apparatus of the present invention and an ink container holding ink to be supplied to the inkjet head are detachably connected.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of an example of an inkjet recording apparatus equipped with an inkjet recording head according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a relationship between a discharge amount Vd of a droplet, a discharge speed v, a product of a discharge port area So and a distance OH from a discharge port to a heater tip, and a distance OH.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the relationship between the distance OH and the result of dividing the discharge speed v by the discharge amount Vd.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 common wiring 2, 16 through holes 2a, 2b Discharge heater 3 Front heater 4 Rear heater 5 nozzle wall 6, 7 wiring 8, 9, 10, 11 switching transistors 12, 13, 14, 15 Ground wiring 17, 18 signal wiring 19, 20 Shift register / latch circuit 21 Ground vertical wiring 22 common vertical wiring 23 element substrate 24 contacts 25 cells 31 AND Gate 32 enable signal 33 Latch 34 Latch signal line 35 Serial data line 36 shift register 37 CLK signal line 38 Decoder circuit 39 Decoder signal line 40 orifice 41 Support 42 common wiring 101 top plate 104 nozzles 105 ink chamber 500 inkjet head 501 ink container 2010 drive motor 2020, 2030 Driving force transmission gear 2040 lead screw 2050 Carriage axis 2060 Paper holding plate 2070 Platen roller 2080, 2090 Photo coupler 2100, 2170 lever 2110 Cap member 2120 Support member 2130 suction means 2140 cleaning blade 2150 member 2160 Main body support plate 2180 cam

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] June 18, 2003 (2003.6.1)
8)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0017

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In the above ink jet recording apparatus,
The temperature of the head is preferably the ambient temperature of the head.

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0020

[Correction method] Delete

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C056 EA01 EB07 EB30 EB45 EC37                       EC41 EC42 EC54 EC72 EC80                       FA03 FA10 HA05                 2C057 AF01 AF21 AF75 AL25 AM15                       AM16 AM17 AN01 AR18 BA13

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of electrothermal conversion elements arranged in an ink flow path communicating with an ejection port, two electrothermal conversion elements of which each have a distance from the ejection port to the electrothermal conversion element. An ink jet recording apparatus that uses ink jet recording heads that are arranged differently and that have substantially the same droplet discharge amount when driven independently of each other, and An ink jet recording apparatus comprising a switching means for switching and driving the two electrothermal conversion elements based on the above. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switching unit drives the electrothermal conversion element on the side closer to the ejection port when the temperature of the head body is low. 3. A plurality of electrothermal conversion elements arranged in an ink flow path communicating with the ejection port, two electrothermal conversion elements of which are each a distance from the ejection port to the electrothermal conversion element. An ink jet recording apparatus using ink jet recording heads, which are arranged so as to be different from each other, and in which the two electrothermal conversion elements have substantially the same discharge amount of droplets when driven independently, An ink jet recording apparatus comprising a switching means for switching and driving the two electrothermal conversion elements based on the information of 1. 4. When the type of the recording liquid is an ink that dries more easily than a normal ink, the switching means drives the electrothermal conversion element on the side closer to the ejection port. Item 5. The inkjet recording device according to item 3. 5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switching unit changes a driving frequency of the electrothermal conversion element according to switching of the electrothermal conversion element. 6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the switching unit changes a preliminary ejection condition according to switching of the electrothermal converting element. 7. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the switching unit changes the PWM table according to switching of the electrothermal conversion element. 8. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the switching unit changes the ejection timing according to switching of the electrothermal converting element. 9. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrothermal conversion elements arranged in the ink flow path are the two electrothermal conversion elements. . 10. The ink jet recording head is detachably mounted, reciprocally moved, and ink is ejected from the ink jet recording head in accordance with a desired drive signal to perform recording on a recording medium. The inkjet recording device according to item 1.