JP2010023259A - Manufacturing method for liquid jetting head, and manufacturing method for liquid jetting head module - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method for a liquid jetting head wherein an assembling accuracy at the time of assembling a plurality of the liquid jetting heads to form a module can be improved, and to provide a manufacturing method for the liquid jetting head module. <P>SOLUTION: The manufacturing method includes a nozzle alignment process and a positioning part arranging process. In the nozzle alignment process, an alignment substrate 40 with see-through properties is prepared. A first alignment mark 41 which regulates a position of a nozzle opening 30, and a second alignment mark 42 whose relative position to the first alignment mark is set are formed to the alignment substrate 40. In a state with a nozzle formation surface 26 of a unit head 11 and the alignment substrate arranged opposed to each other, the first alignment mark and the nozzle opening are agreed in position on a plane. In the positioning part arranging process, a positioning part 38 is arranged to a position on the unit head agreed in position on a plane with the second alignment mark. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid ejecting head such as an ink jet recording head and a method for manufacturing a liquid ejecting head module, and more particularly, improves assembly accuracy when a plurality of liquid ejecting heads are assembled into a module. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid ejecting head and a method for manufacturing a liquid ejecting head module.

  For example, a liquid ejecting apparatus is an apparatus that includes a liquid ejecting head capable of ejecting liquid and ejects various liquids from the liquid ejecting head. As a typical example of this liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, an ink jet recording head (hereinafter simply referred to as a recording head) as a liquid ejecting head is provided, and liquid ink is recorded on recording paper or the like from a nozzle opening of the recording head. An image recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer that records an image or the like by ejecting and landing on a medium (a target to be ejected) to form dots can be given. In recent years, liquid ejecting apparatuses have been applied not only to this image recording apparatus but also to various manufacturing apparatuses such as a manufacturing apparatus for color filters such as liquid crystal displays.

  In recent years, in an ink jet recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a printer) which is a kind of liquid ejecting apparatus, a recording head (unit head) having a nozzle group in which a plurality of nozzle openings are arranged and a recording medium move relatively. A head module having a head group in which a plurality of recording heads are arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the total length of the nozzle group formed by the head group corresponding to the maximum recording width of the recording medium is recorded. A configuration in which ink is ejected without being moved relative to a medium has been proposed. According to this configuration, it is not necessary to move the recording head in the main scanning direction. For example, an image or the like can be recorded only by transporting the recording medium in the sub-scanning direction. Recording time can be shortened.

  As described above, in a configuration in which a plurality of recording heads are arranged on a holding member such as a head holder to form a head module, it is important to arrange these recording heads on the holding member in a state of being positioned with high accuracy. In particular, it is necessary to attach each recording head in a state where the positions of the nozzle openings of the recording heads on the plane are aligned with high accuracy. For this reason, conventionally, various alignment methods have been proposed for the holding member (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the alignment method proposed in Patent Document 1, an alignment mark for defining the position of the nozzle opening is formed on a transparent plate material such as glass, and the plate material and the holding member are fixed in position. The recording heads are aligned using the upper alignment mark as a reference.

  In the configuration in which each recording head is attached by the above alignment method, the position of the nozzle opening of each recording head is positioned with high accuracy, so that the landing position deviation of the ink on the recording medium such as recording paper is prevented. As a result, it is possible to suppress degradation of image quality such as images.

JP 2004-322606 A

  However, in the head module obtained by the above alignment method, for example, when only some of the recording heads out of the plurality of recording heads are replaced, the above alignment is performed again. If it is not performed, there is a possibility that the position accuracy is lowered. However, since readjustment of alignment takes time and labor, it is not realistic to perform it at the time of repair. For this reason, in the above-described head module, it is assumed that the whole module is replaced when some of the recording heads fail, and there is a problem that the replacement cost increases accordingly.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is a liquid capable of improving the assembly accuracy of each head with respect to the head holder when a plurality of liquid ejecting heads are assembled into a module. It is an object to provide a method for manufacturing an ejection head and a method for manufacturing a liquid ejection head module.

The present invention has been proposed in order to achieve the above-described object, and has a nozzle opening for ejecting a liquid, and a plurality of modules are attached to the head holder while being positioned with respect to the head holder by a positioning portion. A method for manufacturing a liquid jet head,
A first alignment mark that defines the position of the nozzle opening and a second alignment mark that defines the relative position of the positioning portion with respect to the nozzle opening are formed, and a transparent alignment substrate is provided.
A nozzle alignment step of aligning the position of the first alignment mark and the nozzle opening on the plane in a state where the nozzle formation surface of the liquid jet head and the alignment substrate are disposed opposite to each other;
A positioning portion disposing step of disposing the positioning portion at a position on the liquid ejecting head that matches a position on the plane with the second alignment mark;
It is characterized by including.
Note that “on the plane” means a plane parallel to the nozzle forming surface.
“Arrangement” means that the positioning portion provided separately from the head body is fixed to the head body by bonding or the like, or a positioning hole or the like is formed as a positioning portion for the head body It means to include work to do.

  According to this configuration, the liquid ejecting head is attached to the head holder in a state in which each liquid ejecting head is positioned with high accuracy by disposing the positioning member whose relative position to the nozzle opening is determined with high precision in the liquid ejecting head. Can do. As a result, the nozzle openings of the respective liquid ejecting heads are arranged at the originally desired positions in the head holder. As a result, it is possible to suppress the deviation of the landing position of the liquid with respect to the injection target.

  In addition, when a problem occurs in some of the liquid ejecting heads in the head module, when replacing only the liquid ejecting head, a new liquid ejecting head is installed in the head holder using the positioning unit without performing an additional alignment step. It can be positioned with high accuracy just by attaching to the. That is, in a head module composed of a plurality of liquid ejecting heads, it is possible to deal with replacement of a single liquid ejecting head, and it is possible to reduce replacement costs.

In the above configuration, in the case where the positioning unit is disposed on a fixed surface provided at a position retracted toward the head base end side with respect to the nozzle forming surface on the head front end side in the liquid jet head,
A mediating member having a full length corresponding to a gap between the alignment substrate and the positioning portion on the fixed surface in a state in which the nozzle forming surface and the alignment substrate are arranged to face each other,
In the positioning portion disposing step, the position on the plane of the mediating member and the second alignment mark is aligned, and the positioning is performed at a position on the fixed surface where the position on the plane of the positioned mediating member matches. It is desirable to dispose the part.

  According to the above configuration, even when the positioning portion is disposed on the fixed surface provided at the position retracted toward the head base end side with respect to the nozzle forming surface on the head front end side, the mediating member and the second alignment mark The liquid ejecting head is fixed with reference to the second alignment mark by arranging the positioning portion at a position on the fixed surface where the position on the flat surface matches the position of the positioned mediating member. The arrangement position of the positioning portion with respect to the surface can be determined with high accuracy.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the embodiments described below, various limitations are made as preferred specific examples of the present invention. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following description unless otherwise specified. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In the present embodiment, an image recording apparatus that is one form of the liquid ejecting apparatus, and more specifically, a length corresponding to the maximum recording width of a recording sheet that becomes an ejection target (or recording medium) at equal intervals between nozzle openings. An ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer) equipped with a long liquid ejecting head (hereinafter simply referred to as a recording head) arranged in FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer 1 according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view around a head module 3 in the printer 1. The printer 1 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of recording papers 4 in the direction (hereinafter referred to as the second direction Y) orthogonal to the direction of conveyance of the recording paper 4 by the conveyance unit 7 (corresponding to the relative feed direction in the present invention; A head module 3 (a kind of liquid ejecting head module of the present invention) configured by arranging unit heads 11 (a kind of liquid ejecting head of the present invention) and a recording paper 4 (a kind of ejecting object) in a stacked state. A sheet feeding tray 5 comprising a sheet feeding tray 5a to be stored and a lower sheet feeding cassette 5b provided at the lower part of the apparatus, and a recording sheet 4 fed from these sheet feeding sections 5a and 5b pass under the head module 3. A transport unit 7 that transports the paper to the paper discharge tray 10 side, and a paper discharge tray 10 that holds the recording paper 4 on which recording is performed by the head module 3 and is discharged from the transport unit 7 side. It is configured to be able to record text or images, etc. to the full width of the recording area of the recording paper 4 without scanning the Lumpur 3 in the second direction Y.

  Although not shown, an ink cartridge (a type of liquid supply source) that stores ink is disposed inside the housing 2. The ink stored in the cartridge is supplied (pressure-fed) to each unit head 11 of the head module 3 through the ink supply tube by pressurization in the ink cartridge by an air pump or the like. It is also possible to employ a configuration in which recording is performed while the head module 3 is scanned in the second direction Y with respect to the recording paper 4.

  The paper feed tray 5a is configured to be movable in the vertical direction. The upper surface of the recording paper bundle (the upper surface of the uppermost recording paper 4) is always in contact with the pickup roller 6 with a constant pressure. The vertical position is controlled. Then, according to the execution timing of the recording operation by the head module 3, the recording paper 4 is pulled out from the uppermost part of the recording paper bundle by the pickup roller 6, separated one by one by the separation roller 12 and the separation pad 13, and downstream. It is to be fed to the side. After passing between paper sensors (not shown), the recording paper 4 abuts against the nip portion of the pair of upper and lower registration rollers 14a and 14b. The recording paper 4 from the lower paper feed cassette 5b reaches the nip portion of the registration rollers 14a and 14b after passing through a plurality of intermediate rollers 15. Thereby, the leading edge posture of the recording paper 4 is aligned, and the skew of the recording paper 4 is corrected. Thereafter, the registration rollers 14a and 14b feed the recording paper 4 one by one to the conveying unit 7 side by side with a predetermined timing, and the recording paper 4 reaches the conveying belt 17 of the conveying unit 7. The nip state is released at a predetermined timing.

  The transport unit 7 is stretched between a driving roller 18 rotated by a driving force of a driving motor (not shown), a driven roller 19 disposed upstream of the driving roller 18, and the driving roller 18 and the driven roller 19. The endless conveyor belt 17, the tension roller 20, and the presser roller 21 are configured. The tension roller 20 is disposed between the driving roller 18 and the driven roller 19, abuts against the conveyor belt 17 from the inside, and applies tension to the conveyor belt 17 by an urging force of an urging member such as a spring. . The pressing roller 21 is disposed directly above the driven roller 19 with the conveyance belt 17 interposed therebetween, and presses the recording paper 4 on the conveyance belt toward the conveyance belt 17 so that the adhesion of the recording paper 4 to the conveyance belt 17 is achieved. Increase.

  The driving roller 18 is configured to rotate the conveying belt 17 by being driven in synchronization with the recording operation of the head module 3 and to convey the recording paper 4 to the downstream side through the lower side of the head module 3. ing. Further, the rotation amount of the conveyor belt 17 is detected by an encoder. The encoder detection signal is output to the printer controller 9 as an encoder pulse.

  When recording is performed on only one side of the recording paper 4, the recording is performed from the transport unit 7 to the paper discharge tray 10 after the recording on one side is completed. On the other hand, when recording is performed on both sides of the recording paper 4, after recording on one side is completed, the recording paper 4 is transported to the paper reversing path R <b> 2 by the flapper 22 disposed downstream of the transport unit 7. After the recording paper 4 reaches the U-turn portion T of the paper reversing path, the conveyance direction is changed, and the recording paper 4 is sequentially sent again to the registration rollers 14a and 14b and the conveyance belt 17 to complete the recording on the other side. After that, the paper is discharged from the transport unit 7 to the paper discharge tray 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the head module 3 is configured by arranging a plurality of unit heads 11 in a second direction Y in a head holder 24 (a kind of head holding member). The plurality of head modules 3, in the present embodiment, the four head modules 3 a to 3 d are arranged on the module mounting frame 25 at a constant arrangement interval in the first direction X with the head longitudinal direction aligned in the second direction Y. It is attached.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the configuration of the unit head 11. The unit head 11 includes a flow path unit that forms an ink flow path including a pressure chamber that communicates with the nozzle opening 30, and pressure generating means such as a piezoelectric vibrator or a heating element that causes pressure fluctuations in the ink in the pressure chamber (both (Not shown) is provided in the head case 31, and by applying a drive signal from the printer controller 9 side to the pressure generating means to drive the pressure generating means, ink (a kind of liquid in the present invention) is supplied from the nozzle opening 30. ) Is ejected and landed on the recording paper 4.

  The head case 31 is a hollow box-like member, and a flow path unit is fixed to the tip side of the head case 31 with the nozzle forming surface 26 exposed. Further, pressure generating means and the like are accommodated in an accommodation space formed in the head case 31, and a drive signal from the printer controller 9 side is sent to the pressure generating means side on the base end surface side opposite to the front end surface. A cover member 33 is disposed that houses a part of the wiring member 35 for supplying the ink and the ink supply path 36 for supplying ink to the flow path unit. Further, on the base end side of the head case 31, flange portions 32 (32a, 32b) extending in the lateral direction are formed on both sides in the nozzle row direction. A positioning portion 38 for defining the position of the unit head 11 with respect to the head holder 24 is disposed on the surface on the nozzle forming surface side of each flange portion 32 (corresponding to a fixed surface in the present invention). Therefore, in one unit head 11, the total of the positioning portion 38a disposed on the flange portion 32a on one side in the nozzle row direction and the positioning portion 38b disposed on the flange portion 32b on the other side in the nozzle row direction. Two positioning portions 38 are provided.

  The positioning portion 38 in the present embodiment is a member composed of a cylindrical tubular portion 37 and a flange 39 formed on the proximal end side of the tubular portion 37, and is separate from the head case 31. ing. In contrast, a boss hole (not shown) into which the cylindrical portion 37 of the positioning portion 38 is fitted is formed on the upper surface of the head holder 24 for each unit head. Each unit head 11 is inserted into the boss hole provided for each arrangement area of each unit head 11 in the head holder 24 by inserting the cylindrical portion 37 of the positioning portion 38 so that the flange portion 39 is the peripheral edge of the boss hole. The arrangement position with respect to the head holder 24 is defined by being brought into contact with the portion. As described above, the positioning unit 38 is an important component related to the positional accuracy of the unit heads 11 on the head holder 24 and, consequently, the positional accuracy of the nozzle openings 30 of the unit heads 11. For this reason, it is important to dispose the positioning portion 38 with respect to the flange portion 32 of the head case 31 with high accuracy. Details of this point will be described later.

  A plurality of nozzle openings 30 for ejecting ink are arranged in the second direction Y on the nozzle forming surface 26 of each unit head 11 to form a nozzle row 27 (a kind of nozzle group). A plurality are formed in the direction X. One nozzle row 27 is composed of, for example, 360 nozzle openings opened at a pitch of 360 dpi. Each unit head 11 is formed with a total of two nozzle rows 27 arranged in the first direction X.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the first head module 3a and the second head module 3b form a pair, and the third head module 3c and the fourth head module 3d form a pair. It has become. The two head modules 3 forming a pair have an arrangement layout in which the unit heads 11 are alternately arranged in a two-stage zigzag pattern at an arrangement interval such that the nozzle openings are arranged in 360 dpi as a whole when viewed in the second direction Y. Yes. Note that the number of unit heads 11 in one head module 3 is determined according to the maximum size of the recording paper 4 that the printer 1 can handle. The module mounting frame 25 is a rectangular frame member, and is formed of metal or the like. The inside of the module mounting frame 25 is an empty portion 29, and each unit head 11 of the head module 3 is arranged in the empty portion 29.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the head holder 24 includes a base plate 24a that is long in the second direction Y, side wall portions 24b that stand upward from both longitudinal edges of the base plate 24a, and each side wall portion 24b. And a fixing portion 24c extending laterally (on the opposite side to the base plate 24a side). Each head module 3 is attached to the module attachment frame 25 by fixing portions 24c on both sides of the head holder. Here, the total length W1 in the longitudinal direction of the base plate 24a is designed to be slightly smaller than the inner dimension W2 in the second direction Y of the empty portion 29 of the module mounting frame 25, and the base plate 24a is disposed in the empty portion 29. It has come to be.

  Here, since the unit head 11 is configured by assembling a large number of parts, the total part tolerance tends to increase as the tolerances of the parts accumulate. For this reason, if each unit head 11 is simply attached to the head holder 24 without taking any measures, the relative position of the nozzle opening 30 may be shifted between the unit heads. As a result, the landing position of the ink on the recording paper 4 may be shifted, which may cause streaks in the recorded image or the like, thereby reducing the image quality. For this reason, conventionally, an alignment operation in which the unit head is arranged on the head holder in a state where the unit head is positioned with high accuracy has been performed in the manufacturing process. However, when only some of the unit heads attached to the same head holder have a problem such as defective ink ejection in some unit heads, the above alignment is readjusted. Otherwise, the position accuracy may be reduced. In view of such circumstances, in the head module 3 according to the present invention, when the unit head 11 is replaced as a single unit, a decrease in the positional accuracy of the unit head 11 before and after replacement is suppressed without performing separate alignment. . Hereinafter, this point will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a process of disposing the positioning portion 38 on the unit head 11. Since the positioning portion 38 is a member related to the position of the unit head 11 with respect to the head holder 24 as described above, it is necessary to dispose the positioning portion 38 in a state of being positioned with high accuracy with respect to the unit head 11. Therefore, as shown in the figure, a positioning unit for the unit head 11 using an alignment substrate 40 made of a plate material such as glass having a linear expansion coefficient as small as possible and having transparency (that is, transparent). 38 are arranged. The alignment substrate 40 is provided with a first alignment mark 41 that defines the position of the nozzle opening 30 and a second alignment mark 42 that defines the relative position of the positioning portion 38 with respect to the nozzle opening 30. . These alignment marks 41 and 42 are formed by sputtering or etching using a photomask.

The first alignment mark 41 in the present embodiment is a circular mark having the same size as the nozzle opening 30. A total of two first alignment marks 41 are provided on the alignment substrate 40 corresponding to the nozzle openings 30a and 30b located at both ends of any one of the plurality of nozzle rows 27. That is, the first alignment mark 41 a corresponding to the nozzle opening 30 a located at one end of the nozzle row 27 and the second alignment mark 41 b corresponding to the nozzle opening 30 b located at the other end of the nozzle row 27. Are formed on the alignment substrate 40. Hereinafter, the nozzle openings 30a and 30b serving as a reference for alignment are referred to as reference nozzle openings.
A reference mark whose relative position with respect to the nozzle opening 30 is defined with high accuracy is formed on the nozzle forming surface 26, and a first alignment mark 41 is formed on the alignment substrate 40 at a position corresponding to the reference mark. Can also be adopted.

  Further, the second alignment mark 42 in the present embodiment is a mark composed of a combination of a circle having the same size as the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 37 of the positioning portion 38 and a square circumscribing the circle. A total of two are formed on the alignment substrate 40 corresponding to the positioning portions 38a and 38b. That is, the second alignment mark 42a corresponding to the positioning part 38a on one side in the nozzle row direction and the second alignment mark 42b corresponding to the positioning part 38b on the other side in the nozzle row direction are provided on the alignment substrate 40. It has been.

The second alignment mark 42 is determined with high accuracy relative to the first alignment mark 41. This is obtained by forming a metal such as chromium on the alignment substrate 40 by sputtering and forming the first alignment mark 41 and the second alignment mark 42 by using a photomask. The relative positional relationship between the first alignment marks 41a and 41b and the second alignment marks 42a and 42b corresponds to the relative positional relationship between the reference nozzle openings 30a and 30b and the positioning portions 38a and 38b in the unit head 11. In addition, it corresponds to the relative positional relationship between the reference nozzle openings 30a and 30b and the boss holes when the unit head 11 is attached to the head holder 24. Accordingly, after aligning the positions of the nozzle openings 30a and 30b of the unit head 11 with the first alignment marks 41a and 41b, the positions of the positioning members 38a and 38b on the plane are aligned with the second alignments 42a and 42b. By fixing the positioning portions 38a and 38b to the flange portions 32a and 32b of the unit head 11 in the combined state, the relative position of the positioning portion 38 with respect to the nozzle opening 30 can be defined with high accuracy.
Note that the dimensions and shapes of the alignment marks 41 and 42 are not limited to those illustrated, and any alignment mark having an arbitrary size and shape (for example, a cross shape) can be employed as long as there is no problem in alignment.

  The alignment of the positioning unit 38 with respect to the unit head 11 is performed by aligning the first alignment mark 41 and the nozzle opening in a state in which the nozzle forming surface 26 of the unit head 11 and the alignment mark forming surface of the alignment substrate 40 are opposed to each other in an alignment apparatus (not shown). Nozzle alignment step for aligning the position on the plane with 30 and the position on the plane for the second alignment mark 42 and the positioning portion 38 in a state where the positions of the first alignment mark 41 and the nozzle opening 30 are aligned. In this state, a positioning portion disposing step of disposing (fixing) the positioning portion 38 on the flange portion 32 is performed.

  In the nozzle alignment process, the unit head 11 and the alignment substrate 40 are fixed to a jig, and the unit head is observed while observing through an imaging unit such as a camera disposed opposite to the nozzle formation surface 26 with the alignment substrate 40 interposed therebetween. 11 and the alignment substrate 40 are aligned in the X or Y direction with respect to the other while aligning the positions of the first alignment marks 41a and 41b and the corresponding nozzle openings 30a and 30b on the plane.

  Next, in the positioning portion disposing step, the positions of the second alignment marks 42a and 42b and the positioning portions 38a and 38b on the plane are aligned with the relative positions of the unit head 11 and the alignment substrate 40 being fixed. . Here, the fixing surface of the flange portion 32 for fixing the positioning portion 38 to the nozzle forming surface 26 provided on the front end surface side of the unit head 11 is provided at a position retreated to the base end side of the unit head 11. Yes. For this reason, in this state, alignment is performed in a state where the positioning portion 38 and the second alignment mark 42 are separated from each other, and there is a possibility that the positional accuracy is lowered.

  In view of this point, in the present embodiment, the mediation member 44 is disposed between the alignment substrate 40 and the positioning portion 38 to perform alignment, thereby suppressing a decrease in positioning accuracy. As shown in FIG. 5, the mediating member 44 is a cylindrical member, and a total of two (44a, 44b) are provided corresponding to the positioning portions 38a, 38b. The total length of the mediating member 44 is designed to be a length corresponding to the gap between the alignment substrate 40 in a state where the nozzle forming surface 26 and the alignment substrate 40 are arranged to face each other and the positioning portion 38 disposed on the flange portion 32. Has been. Further, the outer diameter of the mediating member 44 is approximately the same as the outer diameter of the flange 39 of the positioning portion 38, and the inner diameter of the mediating member 44 is designed to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 37 of the positioning portion 38. ing. Therefore, the positioning portion 38 can be attached to one end portion in the full length direction of the mediating member 44 by fitting the cylindrical portion 37 of the positioning portion 38 into the hole in the center of the mediating member 44.

  When performing the arrangement step of the positioning portion 38 using the mediating member 44, first, the positioning portion 38 is attached to one end portion as described above, and the positioning portion 38 is directed to the flange portion 32 of the unit head 11. Thus, the mediating members 44 a and 44 b are arranged on the second alignment marks 42 a and 42 b on the alignment substrate 40. At this time, the center hole position of the mediating member 44 is aligned with the second alignment mark 42. Thereby, the arrangement position of the positioning part 38 with respect to the flange part 32 of the unit head 11 can be determined with high accuracy using the second alignment mark 42 as a reference. In this state, the positioning portion 38 is fixed to the flange portion 32. As this fixing method, various fixing methods such as adhesion and screwing can be employed.

  In this manner, by arranging the positioning portion 38 in the unit head 11 using the alignment substrate 40, the relative position of the positioning portion 38 with respect to the nozzle opening 30 can be set with high accuracy.

  If the positioning portion 38 is disposed on the unit head 11, an attachment process is performed in which each unit head 11 is attached in a state of being positioned with respect to the head holder 24. In this attachment process, the arrangement position of the unit head 11 with respect to the head holder 24 is defined by fitting the cylindrical portion 37 of the positioning portion 38 into the boss hole provided in the head arrangement area of the head holder 24. In this positioning state, the unit head 11 is fixed to the head holder 24 by bonding or screwing.

  As described above, each unit head 11 is positioned with high accuracy with respect to the head holder 24 by disposing the positioning member 38 whose relative position to the nozzle opening 30 is determined with high accuracy with respect to the unit head 11. Can be installed in a state. As a result, the nozzle openings 30 of the unit heads 11 are arranged at the originally desired positions in the head holder 24. As a result, it is possible to suppress the landing position deviation of the ink with respect to the ejection target such as the recording paper 4 and to prevent the deterioration of the image quality of the recorded image.

  Further, when a problem occurs in some of the unit heads 11 in the head module 2, when replacing the unit head 11, the new unit head 11 can be replaced by using the positioning unit 38 without performing a separate alignment step. The unit head 11 is positioned with high accuracy with respect to the head holder 24 only by being attached to the holder 24. That is, in the head module composed of a plurality of unit heads 11, it is possible to deal with replacement of a single unit head, and it is possible to reduce replacement cost.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the positioning unit 38 is separated from the head main body is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the positioning portion disposing step, by forming a positioning hole at a position corresponding to the second alignment mark 42 in the flange portion 32, it is possible to cause this positioning hole to function as the positioning portion in the present invention. . In the case of this configuration, a positioning boss is projected from the head holder 24 and the positioning boss is fitted into the positioning hole, whereby the arrangement position of the unit head 11 with respect to the head holder 24 is defined.

  Moreover, if this invention is provided with the head module which consists of a some liquid ejecting head, the color material ejecting head used for manufacture of color filters, such as a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, FED (surface) Applied to other liquid ejecting heads such as an electrode material ejecting head used for forming electrodes such as a light emitting display), a bioorganic material ejecting head used for manufacturing a biochip (biochemical element), and a liquid ejecting apparatus including the same. can do.

It is sectional drawing explaining the structure of a printer. It is a top view which shows the structure of a head module. It is a perspective view explaining the structure of a unit head. It is sectional drawing explaining the structure of a head holder. It is a schematic diagram explaining the process of arrange | positioning the positioning part in a unit head.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer, 3 ... Head module, 4 ... Recording paper, 11 ... Unit head, 24 ... Head holder, 26 ... Nozzle formation surface, 30 ... Nozzle opening, 31 ... Head case, 32 ... Flange part, 37 ... Cylindrical part , 38 ... positioning part, 39 ... collar part, 40 ... alignment substrate, 41 ... first alignment mark, 42 ... second alignment mark, 44 ... mediation member

Claims (4)

A method of manufacturing a liquid ejecting head having a nozzle opening for ejecting liquid and being attached to the head holder in a state of being positioned with respect to the head holder by a positioning unit,
A first alignment mark that defines the position of the nozzle opening and a second alignment mark that defines the relative position of the positioning portion with respect to the nozzle opening are formed, and a transparent alignment substrate is provided.
A nozzle alignment step of aligning the position of the first alignment mark and the nozzle opening on the plane in a state where the nozzle formation surface of the liquid jet head and the alignment substrate are disposed opposite to each other;
A positioning portion disposing step of disposing the positioning portion at a position on the liquid ejecting head that matches a position on the plane with the second alignment mark;
A method of manufacturing a liquid ejecting head, comprising: In the case of disposing the positioning portion on a fixed surface provided at a position retracted toward the head base end side with respect to the nozzle forming surface on the head front end side in the liquid ejecting head,
A mediating member having a full length corresponding to a gap between the alignment substrate and the positioning portion on the fixed surface in a state in which the nozzle forming surface and the alignment substrate are arranged to face each other,
In the positioning portion disposing step, the position on the plane of the mediating member and the second alignment mark is aligned, and the positioning is performed at a position on the fixed surface where the position on the plane of the positioned mediating member matches. The method of manufacturing a liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein a portion is provided. A method of manufacturing a liquid ejecting head module in which a plurality of liquid ejecting heads having nozzle openings for ejecting liquid are attached to a head holder in a state where the liquid ejecting head is positioned with respect to the head holder by a positioning portion provided in the liquid ejecting head. And
A first alignment mark that defines the position of the nozzle opening and a second alignment mark that defines the relative position of the positioning portion with respect to the nozzle opening are formed, and a transparent alignment substrate is provided.
A nozzle alignment step of aligning the position of the first alignment mark and the nozzle opening on the plane in a state where the nozzle formation surface of the liquid jet head and the alignment substrate are disposed opposite to each other;
A positioning portion disposing step of disposing the positioning portion at a position on the liquid ejecting head that matches a position on the plane with the second alignment mark;
An attachment step of attaching the liquid jet head to the head holder in a state of being positioned with respect to the head holder by the positioning portion;
A method of manufacturing a liquid ejecting head module, comprising: In the case of disposing the positioning portion on a fixed surface provided at a position retracted toward the head base end side with respect to the nozzle forming surface on the head front end side in the liquid ejecting head,
A mediating member having a full length corresponding to a gap between the alignment substrate and the positioning portion on the fixed surface in a state in which the nozzle forming surface and the alignment substrate are arranged to face each other,
In the positioning portion disposing step, the position on the plane of the mediating member and the second alignment mark is aligned, and the positioning is performed at a position on the fixed surface where the position on the plane of the positioned mediating member matches. The method of manufacturing a liquid jet head module according to claim 3, wherein a portion is provided.

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