JP2010167394A - Method of manufacturing filter, and liquid spraying head and liquid spraying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of manufacturing a filter, and a liquid spraying head and a liquid spraying apparatus, wherein cost is reduced. <P>SOLUTION: In the method of manufacturing the filter, a punch 57 where a plurality of punch parts 57a are lined and a lower receiving die are used and a plurality of through-holes 52 are formed on a plate 51 to be worked. When perforating the through-holes 52 on the plate 51 to be worked by making the punch parts 57b pass through the plate 51 to be worked mounted on a dieless part 58 and pushing punched pieces 62 inside the dieless part 58, the punch parts 57b are heated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a filter in which a plurality of through holes are provided in a work plate, a liquid ejecting head including the same, and a liquid ejecting apparatus.

  A liquid jet head typified by an ink jet recording head is provided with a flat plate-like filter for removing bubbles or foreign matters in the flow path. As this filter, a thin plate provided with a plurality of through holes by punching has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-272631 A

  However, with the long-term use of the punch, there is a problem that the punch is damaged, such as bending or bending, and frequent replacement is required, resulting in high costs.

  Such a problem is not limited to a filter mounted on a liquid ejecting head such as an ink jet recording head, and similarly exists in a filter mounted on another apparatus.

  In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a filter manufacturing method, a liquid ejecting head, and a liquid ejecting apparatus with reduced costs.

  An aspect of the present invention that solves the above-described problem is a method for manufacturing a filter in which a plurality of through holes are provided in a work plate using a punch in which a plurality of punch portions are arranged and a receiving die. The punch portion is heated when the through hole is drilled in the processed plate by penetrating the punch portion into the processed plate placed thereon and pushing a punched piece into the dieless portion. The method of manufacturing a filter is characterized by the above.

  In such an embodiment, by heating the punch part, the dieless part is partially made flexible, and the dieless part is prevented from being brought close together, and the pressure applied in the direction crossing the punching direction due to the leaning is applied. Can be reduced.

  Here, it is preferable that the dieless portion is formed of a soft material having thermoplasticity. According to this, the dieless part can be plasticized by the heated punch part, and the stress applied to the punch part can be reduced.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said dieless part is formed with the material which melt | dissolves, and the said dieless part may be formed with ice or dry ice. According to this, the dieless part can be melted by the heated punch part, and the stress applied to the punch part can be reduced.

  According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting head including the filter manufactured by the manufacturing method according to the above aspect. In this aspect, a liquid jet head with reduced cost can be realized.

  According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus including the liquid ejecting head according to the above aspect. In this aspect, a liquid ejecting apparatus with reduced costs can be realized.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the recording head according to the first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the recording head according to the first embodiment of the invention. The top view of the filter concerning Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Sectional drawing which shows the metal mold | die apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. The perspective view which shows the punch which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the filter which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the filter which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the filter which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. The perspective view and top view which show the other example of the punch which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments.
(Embodiment 1)
Here, an ink jet recording apparatus which is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus including a filter manufactured by the filter manufacturing method of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus which is an example of the liquid ejecting apparatus of the invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an ink jet recording apparatus 1 that is a liquid ejecting apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of different colors such as black (B), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y). And an ink jet recording head 10 (hereinafter referred to as a recording head) to which an ink cartridge (liquid storing means) 2 having a storage chamber for storing the ink is mounted. The recording head 10 is mounted on the carriage 3, and the carriage 3 on which the recording head 10 is mounted is provided on a carriage shaft 5 attached to the apparatus main body 4 so as to be movable in the axial direction. Then, the driving force of the driving motor 6 is transmitted to the carriage 3 through a plurality of gears and a timing belt 7 (not shown), so that the carriage 3 is moved along the carriage shaft 5. On the other hand, the apparatus body 4 is provided with a platen 8 along the carriage shaft 5, so that a recording medium S such as paper fed by a paper feeding device (not shown) is conveyed on the platen 8. ing.

  Next, the recording head 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the recording head according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view thereof.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a cartridge case 11, which is an example of a head holder constituting the ink jet recording head 10, has a cartridge mounting portion 12 in which the above-described ink cartridge (not shown) is mounted. For example, in the present embodiment, each ink cartridge filled with black ink and a plurality of color inks is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion 12. Further, a plurality of ink communication paths (first liquid flow paths) 13 having one end opened to each cartridge mounting portion 12 and the other end opened to the head case side described later are formed on the bottom surface of the cartridge case 11. A tubular channel forming portion 14 is projected (see FIG. 3).

  A plurality of ink supply needles 15 inserted into the ink cartridge are provided on the upper surface side of the cartridge case 11, that is, on the opening portion of the ink communication path 13 of the cartridge mounting portion 12, to remove bubbles and foreign matters in the ink. 16 is fixed.

  A head member 19 is fixed to the lower surface side of the cartridge case 11 with the seal member 17 and the circuit board 18 interposed therebetween. The head member 19 according to the present embodiment includes a head case 21 that is a hollow box-shaped member for housing a piezoelectric element unit 20 having a plurality of piezoelectric elements, and the side of the head case 21 opposite to the cartridge case 11. And a head body 22 fixed to the end face of the head. The head main body 22 includes a nozzle plate 24 having a plurality of nozzles 23 formed therein, a flow path forming substrate 26 in which a flow path including a pressure generating chamber 25 communicating with the nozzles 23 is formed, and nozzles of the flow path forming substrate 26 It is comprised with the diaphragm 27 distribute | arranged to the surface opposite to the plate 24. FIG. The nozzle plate 24 and the vibration plate 27 and the flow path forming substrate 26 are bonded to each other by an adhesive. The head case 21 is provided with an ink supply path 28 having one end communicating with the pressure generating chamber 25 and the other end communicating with the ink communicating path 13 of the cartridge case 11. A connecting portion between the ink communication path 13 and the ink supply path 28 is sealed by a seal member 17.

  Thus, the seal member 17, the circuit board 18, the head case 21 constituting the head member 19 and the head main body 22 are arranged in this order on the lower surface side of the cartridge case 11, and the nozzles 23 of the head main body 22 are arranged outside these members. An ink jet recording head 10 is formed by fitting a frame 30 having a window portion 29 that exposes and fixing it to the cartridge case 11 with a screw 31.

  The filter 16 provided in the recording head 10 described above is manufactured by the manufacturing method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Here, the filter 16 will be described in detail. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the filter.

As shown in FIG. 4, the filter 16 includes a flat work plate 51 (for example, a thickness of 15 μm) made of a metal material such as stainless steel (SUS) and a large number of fine through holes 52 (for example, diagonal lines of square openings). of the 15μm hole length is obtained by cutting the circular drilled tens of thousands holes) to 1 cm ^2, the diameter is, for example, is about 8-9 mm. The inner diameter of the through hole 52 (here, the length of the diagonal line of the square opening) is set smaller than that of the nozzle 23. Note that the through-hole 52 of the filter 16 may be rectangular, hexagonal, circular, or the like. In this case, the diagonal length and the inner diameter may be set smaller than the nozzle 23. Further, the flat work plate 51 is formed with concavo-convex lines 53 extending in a lattice shape, and the curling force (residual stress in the bending direction based on the drilling of a large number of through-holes 52) is removed, and the flat state is obtained. Maintained. By providing the concavo-convex line 53, even the ultrathin filter 16 is curled and the flat state is maintained, the handling becomes easy, and the productivity during assembly can be improved.

  In the through hole 52, the pitch of the adjacent through holes 52 is set to about 4 μm, for example. As for the uneven | corrugated line 53, the height of a peak is set to about 20 micrometers-50 micrometers, for example, and the pitch of the adjacent uneven | corrugated lines 53 is set to about 60 micrometers, for example.

  Here, the manufacturing method of the filter 16 of this embodiment is demonstrated. Specifically, the filter 16 is formed using the mold apparatus 54 shown in FIGS. 5A is a cross-sectional view of a state in which punching is performed by a mold apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of a processed plate and a dieless portion after punching. FIG. 5C is a plan view of the processed plate and the dieless portion after punching. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the punch. Further, FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which punching is performed in the direction in which the punch portions are arranged side by side.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the mold apparatus 54 is provided with a punch 57 via a stripper 56 on the upper part of a flat plate-like lower receiving die 55 on which no irregularities are formed. A dieless portion 58 is provided on the upper surface. In this embodiment, the dieless portion 58 has a flat plate shape with no irregularities formed of a soft material having thermoplasticity. As the soft member having thermoplasticity used for such a dieless portion 58, a polymer material such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PC (polycarbonate), POM (polyacetal), ABS (ABS resin), PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) and the like is used. The hardness can be variously selected depending on the thickness of the work plate 51, the size of the through holes 52, the pitch, and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the punch 57 has a plurality of (five in the illustrated example) square punch portions 57b arranged in an end surface of a rectangular body 57a (comb-tooth type). One side of the tip of the punch portion 57b is provided corresponding to the through hole 52 of the filter 16, and the tip of the punch portion 57b is inserted into the dieless portion 58. For example, one side of the punch portion 57b is formed to be 13 μm, and the length of the diagonal line of the through hole 52 of the filter 16 is set to about 15 μm. In the present embodiment, the square punch portion 57b is illustrated, but it is needless to say that the punch portion 57b may be circular.

  The mold device 54 is provided with a heating means 100 for heating at least the punch portion 57b of the punch 57. In the present embodiment, the heating means 100 made of an electric heater is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the main body 57a of the punch 57. Of course, the heating means 100 is not limited to this. For example, the punch 57 may be energized to generate heat. Further, the heating unit 100 may not be in direct contact with the punch 57. For example, the punch portion 57b may be heated by irradiating the punch portion 57b with infrared rays or ultrasonic waves by a heating means that irradiates infrared rays or ultrasonic waves.

  Since the surface of the receiving die 55 on the dieless portion 58 side is flat and has no irregularities, the amount of pushing can be made uniform when the punched pieces 62 of a large number of workpieces 51 are pushed into the dieless portion 58. A large number of punched pieces 62 can be reliably retained inside the dieless portion 58.

  In order to manufacture the filter 16 using such a mold apparatus 54, the work plate 51 is placed on the dieless portion 58, and the punch portion 57 b of the punch 57 is passed through the work plate 51 to penetrate the through hole. Punch 52. At this time, the punch portion 57 b penetrating the work plate 51 is inserted into the dieless portion 58, and the punched piece 62 remains inside the dieless portion 58. That is, the state shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C is obtained. Therefore, the through hole 52 can be punched out without providing a recess for receiving the punch portion 57b of the punch 57 on the lower receiving die 55 side. At this time, the through hole 52 is formed in the processed plate 51 while heating the punch portion 57 b by the heating means 100. As a result, the dieless portion 58 made of a thermoplastic material can be plasticized, and when the punched piece 62 is embedded in the dieless portion 58, the stress on the punch portion 57b due to fleshing of the dieless portion 58 is reduced. be able to. That is, if the hardness of the dieless part 58 is high, the punching part 57b is deformed by the punching and the punching part 57b is pressed in the direction intersecting the driving direction, that is, in the in-plane direction of the surface of the dieless part 58. Is done. On the other hand, by plasticizing the dieless part 58 by heating, the pressure which presses the dieless part 58 can be reduced, and it can suppress that destruction, such as a curve and a fracture | rupture of the punch part 57b, arises. As shown in FIG. 7, when a punch 57 in which a plurality of punch portions 57b are arranged in a comb-like shape is used, a large stress is easily applied to the punch portions 57b at the end in the arrangement direction, and the punch portions 57b are easily damaged. By punching the through hole 52 while heating the punch portion 57b, the region between the adjacent punch portions 57b of the dieless portion 58 is plasticized, and in particular, the punch portion 57b at the end in the row direction is laterally ( It is possible to reduce the pressing force in the direction of the surface of the dieless portion 58 and suppress breakage.

  Further, since only the punch 57 (especially the punch portion 57b) is heated when the through hole 52 is drilled, only the periphery of the through hole 52 to be drilled is efficiently heated to suppress the burr of the dieless portion 58 to a minimum range. Thus, the highly accurate through hole 52 can be drilled. Incidentally, when a material that is relatively softer than that described above is used as the dieless portion 58, that is, when a dieless portion having the same hardness as that of the heated state described above at normal temperature is used, The entire dieless portion 58 sinks due to the pressing, and there is a possibility that a penetration failure of the through hole 52 may occur.

  Note that the thickness of the dieless portion 58 is at least twice the thickness of the processed plate 51, and is preferably about 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm. By setting the dieless portion 58 to about 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm, the punched piece 62 can be securely fastened inside the dieless portion 58 without increasing the thickness more than necessary, and the processed plate 51 Since it can be completely penetrated, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of burrs at the peripheral edge of the through hole 52 due to poor penetration or the like.

  Therefore, by using the mold device 54 described above, it is not necessary to form a recess for receiving the punch portion 57b of the punch 57 by holding the punched piece 62 inside the dieless portion 58 and drilling the through hole 52, and punching Therefore, it is not necessary to align the punch portion 57b and the concave portion 57, and the filter 16 including the processed plate 51 in which the through hole 52 is formed can be easily manufactured.

  A punching process using such a mold apparatus 54 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 8A, by moving the stripper 56 toward the receiving die 55, the punch portion 57b of the punch 57 is driven into the work plate 51, and the punch portion 57b and the punched piece 62 of the punch 57 are dieless. It is inserted into the part 58. With the stripper 56 raised and the punched piece 62 remaining in the dieless portion 58, the workpiece 51 is moved by one pitch together with the dieless portion 58 as shown in FIG. The portion 57b is driven into the work plate 51. By repeating this operation, a large number of through holes 52 are formed in the processed plate 51.

  Since the work plate 51 is moved by one pitch together with the dieless portion 58 and driven by the punch 57 is repeated, there is no possibility of occurrence of side burr such as crushing on the end face of the stripper 56 even if burr occurs. Incidentally, when a die having a recess into which the punch portion 57b of the punch 57 is inserted on the lower side is used, when the work plate 51 is moved, the burr is returned between the upper surface of the die other than the recess and the end surface of the stripper 56. May be crushed and the through hole 52 may be deformed. By using the mold apparatus 54 described above, there is no possibility that the through hole 52 is deformed. In particular, in the present embodiment, since the punch portion 57b is heated, it is difficult to generate burr on the work plate 51, and the effect that the through hole 52 is further difficult to deform can be obtained.

The operation of the curl removing process will be described with reference to FIG.
A processed plate 51 in which a large number of through holes 52 are formed is punched into the shape of the filter 16 by an oval die 65. Concavity and convexity portions 66 for forming the concavo-convex lines 53 are provided on the opposing surfaces of the upper die 65a and the lower die 65b of the oval punching die 65, respectively. 53 is formed. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4, the uneven line 53 can be formed on the entire surface of the filter 16. Further, the uneven line 53 may be formed in a state in which a bonding margin is left on the outer peripheral side of the filter 16.

  By using the oval punching die 65 in which the concavo-convex portion 66 is formed in this way, pressure correction can be performed simultaneously with omission. Therefore, it can be used as the filter 16 of the recording head 10 that captures foreign matter in the ink supplied to the pressure generation chamber 25 of the recording head 10 having the pressure generation chamber 25 and the nozzle 23.

  The punch is not limited to the punch 57 described above. Here, another example of the punch is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 10A, the punch 71 is provided with a plurality (16 in the illustrated example) of square tip portions 73 on the end face of the cubic body (sword mountain type). For example, one side of the distal end portion 73 is formed to 13 μm, and the length of the diagonal line of the through hole 52 of the processed plate 51 is set to about 15 μm as shown in FIG. In addition, the shape of the front-end | tip part 73 may be circular. By using the punch 71 shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of (16 in the illustrated example) through-holes 52 can be formed by one punching.

(Other embodiments)
As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, the basic composition of this invention is not limited to what was mentioned above. For example, in Embodiment 1 described above, a material having thermoplasticity is used as the dieless portion 58, but the dieless portion 58 is not particularly limited thereto. For example, the dieless portion 58 can be made of a material that dissolves by heating, such as ice or dry ice. That is, in the present invention, in order to punch the through hole 52 while heating the punch portion 57b, by using a dieless portion made of ice or dry ice, the dieless portion is dissolved simultaneously with the punching of the through hole 52, The punched piece 62 can be embedded in the dieless part. In addition, since the dieless portion is dissolved, the stress on the punch portion 57b due to fleshing can be reduced.

  Further, for example, in the above-described first embodiment, the filter 16 provided between the cartridge case 11 and the ink supply needle 15 has been described. However, the filter of the present invention is a liquid jet represented by the ink jet recording head 10. As long as the filter is used in the head, the installation location and the like are not particularly limited. Of course, the filter 16 may be mounted on a liquid ejecting apparatus represented by the ink jet recording apparatus 1 in addition to the ink jet recording head 10. As a filter mounted on the liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, a storage unit such as a storage tank for storing a liquid such as ink is not mounted on the carriage 3 but is fixed to the apparatus body 4. A filter or the like provided between the recording head 10 and the like may be used.

  Of course, in the ink jet recording apparatus 1 described above, the ink jet recording head 10 is mounted on the carriage 3 and moves in the main scanning direction. However, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto. The present invention can also be applied to a so-called line type recording apparatus in which printing is performed simply by moving a recording sheet S such as paper in the sub-scanning direction.

  In addition, the present invention is intended for a wide range of liquid ejecting heads, for example, for manufacturing recording heads such as various ink jet recording heads used in image recording apparatuses such as printers, and color filters such as liquid crystal displays. The present invention can also be applied to a coloring material ejecting head, an organic EL display, an electrode material ejecting head used for forming an electrode such as an FED (field emission display), a bioorganic matter ejecting head used for biochip production, and the like.

  The present invention is not limited to a method for manufacturing a filter mounted on a liquid ejecting head typified by an ink jet recording head, and can also be applied to a method for manufacturing a filter mounted on another apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet recording device (liquid ejecting apparatus), 10 Inkjet recording head (liquid ejecting head), 11 Cartridge case, 12 Cartridge mounting part, 13 Ink communication path, 14 Flow path formation part, 15 Ink supply needle, 16 Filter, 17 Seal member, 18 Circuit board, 19 Head member, 20 Piezoelectric element unit, 21 Head case, 22 Head body, 23 Nozzle, 24 Nozzle plate, 25 Pressure generating chamber, 26 Flow path forming substrate, 27 Vibration plate, 28 Ink supply Road, 29 Window, 30 Frame, 31 Screw, 51 Workpiece plate, 52 Through hole, 54 Mold device, 55 Base die, 56 Stripper, 57 Punch, 57a Main body, 57b Punch, 58 Dieless part, 62 Punching Fragment

Claims (6)

A method for manufacturing a filter in which a plurality of through holes are provided in a work plate using a punch and a receiving die provided with a plurality of punch portions,
When punching the through hole in the work plate by causing the punch part to penetrate the work plate placed on the dieless part and pushing a punched piece into the dieless part, the punch part A method for producing a filter, comprising heating the filter.   2. The method of manufacturing a filter according to claim 1, wherein the dieless portion is formed of a soft material having thermoplasticity.   The method for manufacturing a filter according to claim 1, wherein the dieless portion is formed of a material that melts.   The method for producing a filter according to claim 3, wherein the dieless part is formed of ice or dry ice.   A liquid ejecting head comprising a filter manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1.   A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising the liquid ejecting head according to claim 5.

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