JP2016032946A - Liquid droplet ejection head and liquid droplet ejection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid droplet ejection head which can be further reduced in size, by eliminating a wiring space for inputting a control signal around a drive circuit member.SOLUTION: A plurality of input terminals 21 for inputting a control signal are arranged near one of short sides of a drive circuit member 10 for applying drive voltage to each piezoelectric element, and a plurality of output terminals 22 for outputting all the input control signals are arranged near the other of short sides.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a droplet discharge head and a droplet discharge device.

  An inkjet recording apparatus (droplet ejection apparatus) such as an inkjet printer includes a droplet ejection head that ejects droplets onto a recording medium such as paper.

  A droplet discharge head includes a nozzle substrate in which nozzle holes are formed, a liquid chamber communicating with the nozzle holes, an electromechanical conversion element such as a piezoelectric element that generates pressure energy, and a drive circuit that drives the electromechanical conversion element And a liquid chamber substrate having members and the like, and by applying a driving voltage from the driving circuit member to the electromechanical conversion element, pressure is applied to pressurize the ink in the liquid chamber, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle holes. .

  By the way, in recent years, downsizing of droplet discharge heads, multi-nozzles and the like are progressing. For this reason, a plurality of drive voltage output terminals are provided near the end on the long side of the drive circuit member that drives the electromechanical conversion element, and each drive voltage output terminal is connected to each of the plurality of electromechanical conversion elements via wires. A liquid droplet ejection head (inkjet head) has been proposed that is configured to cope with downsizing of the entire head and multi-nozzle (for example, Patent Document 1).

  By the way, various control signals are input to the drive circuit member (drive IC) from the upper control unit. For this reason, since it is necessary to provide a plurality of wirings around the drive circuit member for inputting a control signal from the host control unit, it is necessary to secure a large wiring space around the drive circuit member, and the droplet discharge It was difficult to further reduce the size of the head.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a droplet discharge head and a droplet discharge device that can eliminate the wiring space for inputting a control signal around the drive circuit member and can be further miniaturized. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 includes a nozzle substrate having a plurality of nozzle holes from which droplets are discharged, a plurality of liquid chambers partitioned by side walls communicating with the nozzle holes, A plurality of electromechanical transducers for generating droplet ejection energy for ejecting the recording liquid filled in the liquid chamber as droplets from the nozzle holes, and a plurality of electromechanical transducers for applying a driving voltage to the electromechanical transducers. A liquid chamber substrate having a drive circuit member, and at least a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides facing each other on a side surface of the drive circuit member, along at least one side in the vicinity of the long side. In the droplet discharge head that applies the drive voltage to the electromechanical transducers from the plurality of drive voltage terminal portions arranged in a line via the wiring connected to the drive voltage terminal portion, one of the drive circuit members is provided. A plurality of input terminal portions for inputting a plurality of control signals are provided in the vicinity of the short side, and an output terminal portion for outputting all of the input control signals is provided in the vicinity of the other short side of the drive circuit member. It is characterized by providing a plurality.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the plurality of drive circuit members are provided by arranging at least two drive circuit members in series, and one of the two drive circuit members is provided. The input terminal portions provided on the other drive circuit member are electrically connected to the output terminal portions provided on the other side via a wiring member.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the vicinity of the end surface on one short side of the drive circuit member, a plurality of the input terminal portions arranged along the side direction are provided in a plurality of rows, and the other of the drive circuit members is provided. In the vicinity of the end surface on the short side, a plurality of the output terminal portions arranged in the direction of the side are provided in a plurality of rows, and the number of terminals in the row provided on the inner side of the drive circuit member is arranged on the outer side. It is characterized by being less than the number.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a high voltage terminal portion in which a high voltage flows to the input terminal portion and the output terminal portion of a row provided on the inner side of the short side of the drive circuit member, and the high voltage terminal portion Are arranged so as to have a predetermined insulation distance from the adjacent terminal portions.

  The invention described in claim 5 is characterized in that the wiring of the driving voltage is arranged on a substrate on which the driving circuit member is mounted.

  The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that the mounting method of the drive circuit member is a wire bonding method.

  The invention described in claim 7 is characterized in that the drive circuit member mounting method is a flip chip bonding method.

  In the invention according to claim 8, the terminal area of the terminal portion provided on the other short side is more than double the terminal area of the terminal portion provided on one short side, and the smaller terminal area is provided. 1st bonding is performed on the terminal portion, and 2nd bonding is performed on the terminal portion having the larger terminal area.

  The invention according to claim 9 is characterized in that a terminal portion having a smaller terminal area is the input terminal portion, and a terminal portion having a larger terminal area is the output terminal portion.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid droplet ejection apparatus equipped with a liquid droplet ejection head for ejecting liquid droplets from a nozzle hole, wherein the liquid droplet ejection head is a liquid according to any one of the first to ninth aspects. It is a droplet discharge head.

  According to the droplet discharge head according to the present invention, a plurality of input terminal portions for inputting a plurality of control signals are provided in the vicinity of one short side of the drive circuit member, and the vicinity of the other short side of the drive circuit member. A plurality of output terminal portions are provided for outputting all input control signals. This eliminates the need for a wiring space for inputting a control signal around the drive circuit member as in the prior art, thereby further reducing the size of the droplet discharge head. Furthermore, the size of the entire droplet discharge device can be reduced by further downsizing the droplet discharge head.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the main part of the droplet discharge head according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The top view which shows the drive circuit member installed between the piezoelectric material elements arrange | positioned facing. The figure which shows the side by which the terminal part of each drive circuit member was arrange | positioned. The top view which shows the drive circuit member which has each arrange | positioned the terminal part of 2 rows in both the short sides in Embodiment 2 of this invention. The top view which shows the drive circuit member which provided the high voltage terminal part in the terminal part side arrange | positioned inside in Embodiment 3 of this invention. The top view which shows the two drive circuit members in which the short sides which are arrange | positioned in series and which face each other in Embodiment 4 of this invention were connected by the wiring member. The top view which shows the drive circuit member which provided the terminal part from which each terminal area differs in both short sides. The figure which shows the wiring pattern of the drive power supply provided in the board | substrate side which mounted the drive circuit member in Embodiment 5 of this invention. FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a configuration of a main part in an ink jet recording apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing the configuration of the main part in an inkjet recording apparatus according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiments.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a main part of a droplet discharge head according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The droplet discharge head of this embodiment is a side shooter type that discharges droplets from nozzle holes provided on the substrate surface.

(Configuration of droplet discharge head)
As shown in FIG. 1, the droplet discharge head 1 of the present embodiment is configured such that a plurality of nozzle holes 2a are formed and the nozzle substrate 2, the liquid chamber substrate 3 and the protective substrate 4 are joined. . The nozzle substrate 2 is formed of, for example, a SUS substrate, and the liquid chamber substrate 3 is formed of, for example, a plane orientation (100) silicon substrate. Moreover, the protective substrate 4 is formed, for example with the glass substrate.

  The liquid chamber substrate 3 is formed with a common liquid chamber 5, a plurality of pressurized liquid chamber partitions 6, and a plurality of liquid chambers 7 partitioned by the pressurized liquid chamber partitions 6, and a piezoelectric element 8 that generates liquid discharge energy. A driving circuit member 10 for driving the diaphragm 9, the piezoelectric element 8, and the like are disposed.

  In the main part of the droplet discharge head 1 shown in FIG. 1, one drive circuit member 10 is assigned to each nozzle hole 2a arranged in two rows. A plurality of such configurations are formed. Therefore, a plurality of drive circuit members 10 are similarly arranged in the entire droplet discharge head 1.

  The piezoelectric element 8 and the drive circuit member 10 are provided in a concave opening 4 a formed inside the protective substrate 4. The diaphragm 9 is provided between each liquid chamber 7 of the liquid chamber substrate 3 and the protective substrate 4. The piezoelectric element 8 connected to the surface of the vibration plate 9 on the protective substrate 4 side faces the liquid chamber 7 with the vibration plate 9 interposed therebetween. The drive circuit member 10 is bonded to the surface inside the protective substrate 4 with an adhesive 11. It should be noted that the diaphragm 9 is open at the communication portion between the common liquid chamber 5 of the liquid chamber substrate 3 and the common liquid supply channel 12 of the protective substrate 4.

  The piezoelectric element 8 disposed on the upper surface of the vibration plate 9 includes a piezoelectric body (PZT) 13, an individual electrode 14 and a common electrode 15 connected so as to sandwich both surfaces of the piezoelectric body 13. A lead electrode 16 electrically connected to the drive circuit member 10 is connected to one end side of each individual electrode 14. Details of the drive circuit member 10 which is a feature of the present invention will be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the rectangular parallelepiped drive circuit member 10, the lead electrodes 16 are connected in the vicinity of both long side end faces. FIG. 2 shows a state where the protective substrate 4 is removed.

(Operation of the droplet discharge head 1)
In the droplet discharge head 1 formed as described above, ink droplets are discharged based on print data from a control unit (not shown) in a state where each liquid chamber 7 is filled with ink (recording liquid). A drive voltage is applied from the drive circuit member 10 to the individual electrode 14 of the piezoelectric element 8 corresponding to the nozzle hole 2a to be performed.

  By applying this drive voltage to the individual electrode 14, the piezoelectric body 13 of the piezoelectric element 8 is displaced in the thickness direction, thereby deforming (deflecting) the diaphragm 9 toward the liquid chamber 7. Due to the deformation of the vibration plate 9 toward the liquid chamber 7, the pressure in the liquid chamber 7 suddenly rises, the ink in the liquid chamber 7 is pressurized, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle holes 2 a communicating with the liquid chamber 7. It is discharged (injected).

  Then, by turning off the application of the drive voltage to the individual electrode 14, the deformed diaphragm 9 returns to the original position, so that the liquid chamber 7 has a negative pressure compared to the common liquid chamber 5. Accordingly, ink supplied from the outside is filled into the liquid chamber 7 through the common liquid supply channel 12 and the common liquid chamber 5. By repeating the above-described operation, ink droplets are continuously ejected from the nozzle hole 2a, and the recording medium (not shown) such as paper to be fed is based on print data from a control unit (not shown). An image (including characters) is formed.

(Configuration of the drive circuit member 10)
Next, the configuration of the drive circuit member 10 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the drive circuit member 10 of Embodiment 1 has a plurality of first terminal portions 20 along the side direction in the vicinity of both end faces 10a, 10b on the long side. Further, a plurality of second terminal portions 21 are provided along the side direction on the surface near the end face 10c on one short side of the drive circuit member 10, and the end face on the other short side of the drive circuit member 10 is provided. A plurality of third terminal portions 22 are provided along the side direction on the surface in the vicinity of 10d. The drive circuit member 10 shown in FIG. 3 shows the surface side to which the lead electrode 16 (see FIG. 1) is connected.

  A drive IC (not shown) is mounted in the drive circuit member 10, and a predetermined wiring pattern (not shown) or the like is electrically connected to each of the first, second, and third terminal portions 20, 21, and 22. It is connected to the.

  The first terminal portions 20 disposed in the vicinity of the end faces 10a and 10b provided on both long sides of the drive circuit member 10 are output terminal portions for outputting a drive voltage to the piezoelectric element 8 side. . In the droplet discharge head 1 shown in FIG. 1, the lead electrode 16 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) is provided on each first terminal portion 20 disposed in the vicinity of both end faces 10a and 10b on the long side of the drive circuit member 10. ) Are joined, and a drive voltage is output to the piezoelectric element 8 via the individual electrode 14.

  Each second terminal portion 21 arranged in the vicinity of the end surface 10c on one short side of the drive circuit member 10 is supplied with various data, latches, clocks, mode switching, output permission signals, and the like from a higher-level control unit (not shown). A terminal unit (control signal input terminal unit) for inputting a control signal and a terminal unit (power) for connecting the power source (electric power) such as a drive power source, a low voltage power source and a high voltage power source to the ground from a power source unit (not shown). Terminal portion, ground terminal portion).

  In addition, each of the third terminal portions 22 disposed in the vicinity of the end surface 10d on the other short side of the drive circuit member 10 receives the various control signals input to the second terminal portion 21 disposed in the vicinity of the end surface 10c. Are a terminal part (control signal output terminal part), a power terminal part, and a ground terminal part.

  Thus, in this drive circuit member 10, the second terminal portion 21 disposed in the vicinity of one end surface 10c on the short side is used as an input terminal portion to which all control signals are input, and the other short side is provided. The third terminal portion 22 disposed in the vicinity of the end face 10d is configured as an output terminal portion that outputs all control signals input to the second terminal portions 21.

  As a result, it is not necessary to provide wiring for passing control signals around the drive circuit member 10, so that no wiring space for passing control signals around the drive circuit member 10 is required, and the entire droplet discharge head 1 is not required. It is possible to reduce the size.

  In the present embodiment, both the second and third terminal portions 21 and 22 arranged on both short sides of the drive circuit member 10 are provided with terminal portions that connect the power-related input and the ground. However, the terminal connecting the power-related input and the ground does not need to be provided in both the second and third terminal portions 21 and 22, and may be provided only in one of the terminal portions.

  Also, the third terminal portion 22 side is an input terminal portion to which all control signals are input, and the second terminal portion 21 is an output terminal portion that outputs all control signals input to the third terminal portion 22. Also good.

<Embodiment 2>
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, second terminal portions 21 a and 21 b serving as input terminal portions are arranged in two rows along the side direction near the end surface 10 c on one short side of the drive circuit member 10. And a plurality of third terminal portions 22a and 22b as output terminal portions in two rows along the side direction in the vicinity of the end surface 10d on the other short side. Other configurations of the drive circuit member 10 and the configuration of the droplet discharge head are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The second terminal portion 21a is disposed closer to the end face 10c than the second terminal portion 21b. The number of second terminal portions 21b is set to be smaller than the number of second terminal portions 21a.

  The third terminal portion 22a is disposed closer to the end surface 10d than the third terminal portion 22b. The number of third terminal portions 22b is set to be smaller than the number of third terminal portions 22a.

  By the way, when wiring is connected to the second terminal portions 21a and 21b and the third terminal portions 22a and 22b by the wire bonding method, they are connected to the inner second and third terminal portions 21b and 22b. The wiring to be connected to the outer second and third terminal portions 21a and 22b is longer than the wiring connected to the outer second and third terminal portions 21b and 22b. However, workability is lowered, and the wire bonding work time becomes longer.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the second terminal portions 21a and 21b and the third terminal portions 22a and 22b are arranged in two rows in the vicinity of the end faces 10c and 10d on both short sides along the side direction. In addition, the number of inner second and third terminal portions 21b and 22b is smaller than the number of outer (end face side) second and third terminal portions 21a and 22a. Therefore, the work time for wire bonding the wiring to the inner second and third terminal portions 21b and 22b can be shortened, and the cost can be reduced.

<Embodiment 3>
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the second terminal portions are arranged in two rows in the vicinity of the end faces 10c, 10d on both short sides of the drive circuit member 10 along the side direction, as in the second embodiment. 21a, 21b and third terminal portions 22a, 22b are provided, and the second and third terminal portions on the inner side than the number of the second (third end) terminal portions 21a, 22a on the outer side (end surface side). The number of 21b and 22b is reduced.

  Further, two second and third terminal portions 21b ′ and 22b ′ provided on both sides (long side) of the inner second and third terminal portions 21b and 22b are connected to a high voltage ( The high-voltage terminal is connected to a high-voltage power source. Other configurations of the drive circuit member 10 and the configuration of the droplet discharge head are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In this embodiment, the arrangement interval between the second and third terminal portions 21b ′ and 22b ′ as the high voltage terminal portion is set larger than the interval between the terminal portions arranged around the second and third terminal portions 21b ′ and 22b ′. . Accordingly, the second and third terminal portions 21b ′ and 22b ′ connected to the high voltage (high-voltage power supply) can take a sufficient insulation distance from the adjacent peripheral terminal portions. Without increasing the size of the terminal 10, it is possible to satisfactorily ensure the withstand voltage of the second and third terminal portions 21b 'and 22b' connected to a high voltage (high voltage power supply).

<Embodiment 4>
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, two drive circuit members 10 and 10A are arranged in series, and third terminal portions 22a and 22b provided on one short side 10d side of the drive circuit member 10 and This is a configuration in which the wiring member 23 connects the second terminal portions 21a and 21b provided on the one short side 10c side of the drive circuit member 10A. The two drive circuit members 10 and 10A have the same configuration as the drive circuit member 10 of the second embodiment.

  A control signal from an upper control unit (not shown) is input to the second terminal portions 21 a and 21 b provided on the short side 10 c side of the drive circuit member 10 through the connected wiring member 24. The control signal input to the second terminal portions 21 a and 21 b of the drive circuit member 10 through the wiring member 24 is branched in the drive circuit member 10 and is provided on the short side 10 d side of the drive circuit member 10. 3 terminal portions 22a and 22b.

  Then, control signals are input from the third terminal portions 22a and 22b of the drive circuit member 10 through the wiring member 23 to the second terminal portions 21a and 21b provided on the short side 10c side of the drive circuit member 10A.

  The connection between the third terminal portions 22a and 22b of the drive circuit member 10 and the second terminal portions 21a and 21b of the drive circuit member 10A is basically one-to-one, and all control signals are transmitted to the drive circuit member 10 side. To the drive circuit member 10A. In FIG. 6, a terminal portion to which the wiring member 23 is not connected between the two drive circuit members 10 and 10A is a power supply (power) system terminal portion such as a drive power supply, a low-voltage power supply, or a high-voltage power supply, a ground terminal, or the like. .

  In this way, all the control signals output from the third terminal portions 22 a and 22 b provided near the end surface 10 d on one short side of the drive circuit member 10 are all transmitted through the wiring member 23 to the drive circuit member 10 </ b> A. Can be input to the corresponding second terminal portions 21a and 21b provided in the vicinity of the end face 10c on one short side. Therefore, a wiring space for inputting a control signal around each drive circuit member as in the prior art is not necessary, and the entire droplet discharge head can be reduced in size.

  In the present embodiment, the two drive circuit members 10 and 10A are arranged in series. However, even when three or more drive circuit members are arranged, they are similarly connected via the wiring member. be able to.

  Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 6, when the two drive circuit members 10 and 10A are connected by the wiring member 23, they can be mounted by a well-known wire bonding method or flip chip bonding method.

  In the case of the wire bonding method, the wiring member 23 shown in FIG. 6 is a conductive wire, and since the end portions of the two drive circuit members 10 and 10A can be directly connected to each other, these drive circuit members 10 and 10A. There is an advantage that a wiring pattern or the like of a driving power source can be freely wired on a substrate (not shown) on which is mounted.

  Further, when the wiring members are connected to the second terminal portions 21a and 21b and the third terminal portions 22a and 22b by the wire bonding method, as shown in FIG. 7, the terminals of the second terminal portions 21a and 21b The terminal areas of the third terminal portions 22a and 22b on the opposite side with respect to the area are formed about twice or more, and the first terminal bonding is performed on the second terminal portions 21a and 21b having the smaller terminal area, so that the terminal area is It is desirable to perform 2nd bonding to the larger third terminal portions 22a and 22b. With such a configuration, there is an advantage that the stability of wire bonding is increased.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the second terminal portions 21a and 21b having the smaller terminal area are set as the control signal input side, and the third terminal portions 22a and 22b having the larger terminal area are set as the control signal output side. It is desirable to assign to By adopting such a configuration, the bonding between the short side end of the drive circuit member 10 and the substrate is positive bonding (the first bonding is performed on the terminal having a higher position, and the second bonding is performed on the terminal having a lower position by 2nd bonding) Therefore, there is an advantage that the stability of bonding is increased.

  Further, in the case of the flip chip bonding method, the wiring member 23 shown in FIG. 6 is a wiring on the substrate on which the drive circuit members 10 and 10A are placed, so that the connection process is performed more efficiently than in the case of the wire bonding method. There is an advantage that the connection cost can be reduced.

<Embodiment 5>
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, in the case where the two drive circuit members 10 and 10A are connected by the wiring member 23, a substrate (not shown) on which these drive circuit members 10 and 10A are placed. The wiring patterns 30a, 30b, and 30c (shaded portions) of the driving power source that require a large current capacity are connected to the second terminal portions 21a and 21b and the third terminal portions of these driving circuit members 10 and 10A. Wiring is performed on the same side as the surface on which 22a and 22b are arranged. The configuration of the two drive circuit members 10 and 10A is the same as that of the fourth embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, wiring patterns 30a and 30b (shaded portions) of the driving power source that require a large current capacity are placed on the back surface of the driving circuit module 10 on a substrate (not shown) on which the driving circuit module 10 is mounted. It is provided so as to be located on the side (surface opposite to the surface on which the second terminal portions 21a and 21b and the third terminal portions 22a and 22b are arranged).

  As shown in FIG. 8, for example, a power supply or a ground may be wired at a position corresponding to the lower part of the drive circuit members 10 and 10A as in the central wiring pattern 30c. The pattern is not wired at a position corresponding to the bottom of the drive circuit members 10 and 10A.

  With such a configuration, the wiring pattern of the driving power source that needs to have a large electric capacity can be made large on the substrate (not shown) on which the driving circuit members 10 and 10A are mounted. The drive power supply pattern inside 10, 10A can be kept small. Therefore, the drive circuit members 10 and 10A as a whole can be reduced in size.

<Embodiment 6>
FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the main part in the ink jet recording apparatus as the liquid droplet ejection apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing the configuration of the main part in the ink jet recording apparatus. It is. The ink jet recording apparatus is equipped with a droplet discharge head having the configuration of any of the first to fifth embodiments.

  As shown in these drawings, the ink jet recording apparatus 40 includes a carriage 42 that can move in the scanning direction inside the apparatus main body 41, the droplet discharge head 1 mounted on the carriage 42, and ink to the droplet discharge head 1. A printing mechanism 44 including an ink cartridge 43 that supplies the ink is stored. A paper feed cassette 45 capable of stacking a large number of sheets P as a recording medium is attached to the lower part of the apparatus main body 41.

  Further, it has a manual feed tray 46 that is opened to manually feed the paper, takes in the paper P fed from the paper feed cassette 45 (or the manual feed tray 46), and records a required image by the printing mechanism unit 44. After that, the paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray 47.

  The carriage 42 has the droplet discharge head 1 for discharging ink droplets of each color of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (Bk), and a plurality of nozzle holes (ink discharge ports). The ink cartridges are mounted so that they are arranged in a direction crossing the main scanning direction and the ink droplet ejection direction is directed downward in FIG. In addition, each ink cartridge 43 for supplying ink of each color to the droplet discharge head 1 is replaceably mounted on the carriage 42.

  The ink cartridge 43 is provided with an air inlet communicating with the atmosphere above, a supply port for supplying ink to the droplet discharge head 1 below, and a porous body filled with ink inside. The ink supplied to the droplet discharge head 1 is maintained at a slight negative pressure by the capillary force of the porous body. In the present embodiment, four droplet ejection heads 1 that eject ink droplets of each color are used. However, one droplet ejection head having nozzles that eject ink droplets of each color may be used.

  The carriage 42 is slidably fitted to the main guide rod 48 on the rear side (paper conveyance downstream side), and is slidably mounted on the sub guide rod 49 on the front side (paper conveyance upstream side). In order to move and scan the carriage 42 in the main scanning direction, a timing belt 53 is stretched between a driving pulley 51 and a driven pulley 52 that are rotationally driven by a motor 50, and the timing belt 53 is attached to the carriage 42. It is fixed. The carriage 42 is driven to reciprocate by forward and reverse rotation of the motor 50.

  On the other hand, in order to convey the paper P set in the paper feed cassette 45 to the lower side of the droplet discharge head 1, a paper feed roller 54 and a friction pad 55 for separating and feeding the paper P from the paper feed cassette 45, and the paper P A guide member 56 that guides the paper P, a transport roller 57 that reverses and transports the fed paper P, a transport roller 58 that is pressed against the peripheral surface of the transport roller 57, and a feed angle of the paper P from the transport roller 57 And a leading end roller 59 for defining The transport roller 57 is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) connected to a gear train.

  In addition, a paper guide member 60 is provided at a position facing the nozzle hole side of the droplet discharge head 1 to guide the paper P to be conveyed. A conveyance roller 61 and a spur 62 for sending the paper in the paper discharge direction are provided on the downstream side of the paper guide member 60 in the paper conveyance direction, and a paper discharge roller 63 and a spur for feeding the paper to the paper discharge tray 47. 64 and guide members 65 and 66 for forming a paper discharge path are provided.

  At the time of recording by the above-described ink jet recording apparatus 40, the droplet discharge head 1 is driven according to the input image signal while moving the carriage 42, thereby discharging ink onto the fed paper P. The line is recorded, and then the next line is recorded after the paper P is conveyed by a predetermined amount. Upon receiving a recording end signal or a signal that the trailing edge of the paper reaches the recording area, the recording operation is finished, and the paper P is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 47.

  Further, a recovery device 67 for recovering the ejection failure of the droplet ejection head 1 is disposed at a position outside the recording area on the right end side in the movement direction of the carriage 42. The recovery device 67 has capping means, suction means, and cleaning means. The carriage 42 is moved to the recovery device 67 side during printing standby, and capping the droplet discharge head 1 by the capping unit to keep the nozzle hole in a wet state, thereby preventing discharge failure due to ink drying. Further, by ejecting ink that is not related to recording during recording or the like, the ink viscosity of all nozzle holes is made constant and a stable ejection state is maintained.

  Further, when an ink discharge failure occurs, the nozzle hole of the droplet discharge head 1 is sealed with a capping unit, and bubbles with the ink are sucked out from the nozzle hole with a suction unit through the tube and adhere to the nozzle hole. The ink, dust, etc., are removed by the cleaning means, and the ejection failure is recovered. Further, the sucked ink is discharged to a waste ink reservoir (not shown) installed at the lower part of the apparatus main body 41 and absorbed and held by an ink absorber inside the waste ink reservoir.

  As described above, the ink jet recording apparatus 40 according to the present embodiment includes the droplet discharge head 1 that can be further miniaturized as described above. Therefore, the entire ink jet recording apparatus 40 can be miniaturized.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Droplet discharge head 2 Nozzle board | substrate 2a Nozzle hole 3 Liquid chamber board | substrate 4 Protective substrate 7 Liquid chamber 8 Piezoelectric element (electromechanical conversion element)
9 Diaphragm 10, 10A Drive circuit member 16 Lead electrode 20 First terminal portion (drive voltage terminal portion)
21, 21a, 21b Second terminal portion (input terminal portion)
22, 22a, 22b Third terminal portion (output terminal portion)
40 Inkjet recording device (droplet ejection device)
42 Carriage 43 Ink cartridge 44 Printing mechanism

JP 2006-116767 A

Meanwhile, it is necessary to secure a large wiring space around the driving dynamic circuit member, it is difficult further miniaturization of the droplet discharge head.

Accordingly, the present invention is to reduce the wiring space of the ambient of the driving circuit members, and an object thereof is to provide a droplet ejection head and a droplet discharging apparatus which can achieve further downsizing.

The invention described in claim 1 in order to achieve the object, a nozzle substrate having a multiple nozzle holes, a plurality of liquid chambers partitioned by the side wall in communication with the nozzle hole, liquid in the respective liquid chambers liquid chamber substrate having a plurality electro-mechanical converting element, wherein each electromechanical transducer drive dynamic circuit member you apply a drive voltage to the element for generating liquid droplet ejection energy for ejecting droplets from the nozzle hole against The drive circuit member is disposed on the surface of the liquid chamber substrate opposite to the nozzle substrate, and at least a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides facing the side surface of the drive circuit member A plurality of input terminal portions for inputting a plurality of control signals are disposed along the short side direction in the vicinity of one short side of the drive circuit member. Connected to multiple input terminals A plurality of control signal wiring patterns and a drive power supply wiring pattern connected to a power terminal provided in the drive circuit member, and the plurality of control signal wiring patterns are connected to the drive circuit member. Are connected to the plurality of input terminal portions from the outside of the end surface of the one short side, and the driving signal is connected from the end surface of the one short side to the plurality of input terminal portions of the plurality of control signal wiring patterns. It faces the circuit member, and the wiring pattern for driving power supply extends along the long side direction of the driving circuit member, and has a pattern wired at a position facing the driving circuit member. It is characterized by.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of drive voltage terminal portions for applying a drive voltage to the electromechanical conversion element via a connected wiring are provided near a pair of long sides of the drive circuit member. Each of the drive power supply wiring patterns is disposed along the side direction, and the region facing the drive circuit member is the plurality of drive voltage terminal portions disposed near one long side and the other long side. It faces in the area | region pinched | interposed with these drive voltage terminal parts arrange | positioned in the vicinity .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control signal input from the input terminal portion in the vicinity of the other short side of the drive circuit member opposite to the one short side where the input terminal portion is disposed. Output terminal portions are arranged along the short side direction and correspond to a region sandwiched between the plurality of input terminal portions and the plurality of output terminal portions of the drive circuit member. The control signal wiring pattern is not wired in the area on the liquid chamber substrate .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, at least two of the drive circuit members are connected in series so that the short side on which the input terminal portion is disposed and the short side on which the output terminal portion is disposed face each other. The output terminal portion disposed on the one side drive circuit member and the input terminal portion disposed on the other side drive circuit member are disposed on the liquid chamber substrate. It is characterized by being connected via a wiring pattern wired above .

Droplet discharge apparatus according to claim 5 is characterized in that it comprises a droplet discharge head according to any one of 請 Motomeko 1 to 4.

According to the droplet discharge head according to the present invention, since the wiring space for providing the drive power supply wiring pattern around the drive circuit member can be reduced , the droplet discharge head can be further reduced in size. Furthermore, the size of the entire droplet discharge device can be reduced by further downsizing the droplet discharge head.

Claims (10)

A nozzle substrate having a plurality of nozzle holes from which droplets are discharged;
A plurality of liquid chambers partitioned by side walls communicating with the nozzle holes, and a plurality of electricity for generating droplet discharge energy for discharging the recording liquid filled in the liquid chambers as droplets from the nozzle holes A mechanical conversion element, and a liquid chamber substrate having a plurality of drive circuit members for applying a drive voltage to each electromechanical conversion element,
The side surface of the drive circuit member has at least a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides, and a plurality of drive voltage terminal portions arranged along the side direction in the vicinity of the long side on at least one side, In a droplet discharge head that applies the drive voltage to the electromechanical transducers via a wiring connected to a drive voltage terminal unit,
A plurality of input terminal portions for inputting a plurality of control signals are provided near one short side of the drive circuit member, and all the input control signals are output near the other short side of the drive circuit member. A droplet discharge head comprising a plurality of output terminal portions for the purpose.   The plurality of drive circuit members are provided by arranging at least two drive circuit members in series, and each of the two drive circuit members is connected to each output terminal portion arranged on one of the drive circuit members. 2. The liquid droplet ejection head according to claim 1, wherein each of the input terminal portions arranged on the drive circuit member on the other side is electrically connected via a wiring member.   Near the end face on one short side of the drive circuit member, a plurality of the input terminal portions arranged along the side direction are provided in a plurality of rows, and near the end face on the other short side of the drive circuit member, A plurality of the output terminal portions arranged along the side direction are provided in a plurality of rows, and the number of terminals in the row provided on the inner side of the drive circuit member is smaller than the number of terminals in the row provided on the outer side. The droplet discharge head according to claim 1 or 2.   A high voltage terminal portion through which a high voltage flows is provided in the input terminal portion and the output terminal portion of the row provided on the inner side of the short side of the drive circuit member, and the high voltage terminal portion is insulated from the adjacent terminal portion with a predetermined insulation. The droplet discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the droplet discharge head is disposed so as to take a distance.   5. The droplet discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the drive voltage wiring is arranged on a substrate on which the drive circuit member is mounted. 6.   6. The liquid droplet ejection head according to claim 1, wherein a mounting method of the driving circuit member is a wire bonding method.   The droplet discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the drive circuit member mounting method is a flip chip bonding method.   The terminal area of the terminal part provided on the other short side is more than double the terminal area of the terminal part provided on one short side, and 1st bonding is performed on the terminal part having the smaller terminal area, 7. The droplet discharge head according to claim 6, wherein the second bonding is performed on the terminal portion having the larger area.   9. The droplet discharge head according to claim 8, wherein a terminal portion having a smaller terminal area is the input terminal portion, and a terminal portion having a larger terminal area is the output terminal portion. In an image forming apparatus equipped with a droplet discharge head for discharging droplets from nozzle holes,
An image forming apparatus, wherein the droplet discharge head is the droplet discharge head according to claim 1.