JP2872415B2 - Recording head, recording head cartridge, and ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording head, a recording head cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus having the same used for obtaining desired recording by discharging ink onto a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, OA devices such as personal computers and word processors have become widespread. One of the methods for outputting information input by these devices is to eject ink from recording means and attach it to a recording material. There is an ink jet recording method that obtains a desired record by using the method. This is a method in which mechanical or thermal energy is used to generate a state change in ink from an ink jet head having a plurality of ejection ports, and the ink is ejected from the ejection ports onto a recording material to perform recording. It is.

In such a recording method, there is an increasing demand for reproduction of a color photograph or a color original which is connected to a color image reading apparatus or a color video apparatus, and a color ink jet recording apparatus using a plurality of inks. It is being actively developed. In such color printing, printing of a halftone (halftone) image is required, and high-definition color image printing is also demanded. In order to satisfy these demands, it is required that all of the plurality of discharge ports have the same diameter, that the formed discharge ports have the same directionality, and that the discharge pressure be completely constant. .

[0004] However, at present, from the viewpoint of the structure or manufacturing, the ink jet recording head has a slight difference in the resistance value of a resistor in a head using a variation between head-specific discharge ports or a thermal head. Would. When ink is ejected from such a head, these factors have a synergistic effect, resulting in variations in the amount of ink ejected, irregular ink ejection, and the like. In such a discharge state, density unevenness is conspicuous particularly in a halftone recorded image, and it has not been possible to sufficiently cope with a demand for high-definition image recording.

In order to satisfy this demand, data relating to density unevenness of each head is measured at the time of manufacturing an ink jet head, and correction data for correcting head driving conditions and various characteristics when performing image processing are prepared in advance by a semiconductor. There has been proposed a method of improving the above-mentioned problem by writing in a memory (for example, a ROM), mounting the product on a product, and performing ejection control.

On the other hand, there has been proposed a recording head cartridge of a type in which a recording head section and an ink tank section are integrated and can be attached to and detached from the apparatus, aiming at low cost and high recording quality of the apparatus. With this type of head, matching between the apparatus main body and the cartridge cannot be performed in advance. Therefore, it has been proposed that a memory device storing the above-described head characteristics be provided in a cartridge.

By the way, in ink jet recording, recording is performed by discharging ink from a discharge port. However, when ink is discharged or adheres to a recording material, ink rebound causes an ink error. This may adhere to the ejection port forming surface and cause wetting by the ink, or paper dust and dust may be mixed and adhered to the ink mist. In such a state, clogging of the discharge port may occur, and good ink discharge cannot be performed, resulting in discharge failure.

In view of the above, an elastic plate or ink absorber, or both an ink absorber and an elastic plate are provided, and these are rubbed against the discharge port forming surface of the recording head and adhered to the aforementioned discharge port forming surface. A mechanism for cleaning ink droplets and dust is adopted. In particular, the use of an elastic plate material (cleaning blade) is effective.

[0009]

However, after the cleaning blade has been cleaned by rubbing the discharge port forming surface, when the cleaning blade is separated from the discharge port forming surface, the cleaning blade is wiped off during the restoring operation due to the elasticity of the blade. Ink and the like will be splashed off. There is a possibility that the inside of the device is stained by the ink splashed in this way, or the ink spills on the side surface of the head, and the ink adheres to a memory device provided in the head, thereby causing a malfunction or destruction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve these problems and to provide a print head, a print head cartridge, and an ink jet printing apparatus equipped with these, which can achieve high-quality printing.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and ink scattered when a cleaning member cleans a discharge port surface of a recording head or the like reaches a storage element. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording head, a recording head cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus which can reliably prevent the recording head from adhering to the recording medium, thereby achieving high reliability and high quality recording.

The recording head cartridge according to the present invention has a recording head portion having an ejection port for ejecting ink and an ink passage communicating with the ejection port to guide ink, and supplies the ink to the recording head portion. A recording head cartridge integrally provided with an ink tank section for storing ink to be discharged, wherein the recording head section is an energy generating element that generates energy used for discharging ink from the discharge ports. And a printed circuit board provided with electrical contacts connected to the energy generating element, the printed circuit board on which the energy generating element is located on one side of the printed circuit board, and the other of the printed circuit board On the side opposite to the side on which the energy generating element is located, and stores parameter information relating to ink ejection characteristics. The storage element, and a protection member disposed on the opposite surface of the printed circuit board and between the discharge port and the storage element, to prevent ink from flowing into the storage element, It is characterized by having. Further, the recording head of the present invention includes an ejection port for ejecting ink, an ink passage communicating with the ejection port to guide ink, and energy used for ejecting ink from the ejection port. An energy generating element to be generated, and a printed board provided with electrical contacts connected to the energy generating element, wherein the printed circuit board has the energy generating element located on one side of the printed board; A storage element provided on the other side of the printed board, opposite to the surface on which the energy generating element is located, and storing parameter information related to ink ejection characteristics; A protection member disposed on the side surface and between the ejection port and the storage element, for preventing ink from flowing around to the storage element. And butterflies.

One of the ink jet devices of the present invention is a discharge port for discharging ink, an ink passage communicating with the discharge port to guide ink, and a discharge port for discharging ink from the discharge port. A printed circuit board provided with an energy generating element for generating energy to be applied and electrical contacts connected to the energy generating element, wherein the printed circuit board has the energy generating element located on one side of the printed circuit board. A substrate, a storage element on the other side of the printed circuit board, the storage element being provided on a surface opposite to the surface on which the energy generating element is located, and storing parameter information relating to ink ejection characteristics; A protection member disposed on the opposite surface of the substrate and between the ejection port and the storage element, for preventing ink from flowing into the storage element; A print head cartridge integrally provided with a print head unit having a recording head unit and an ink tank unit for storing ink supplied to the print head unit, and the discharge ports of the print head unit are provided. A cleaning member that abuts on the set surface to clean the surface. Further, another ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention is used to discharge ink from the discharge port, an ink passage communicating with the discharge port to guide ink, and discharging ink from the discharge port. A printed circuit board provided with an energy generating element for generating energy, and electrical contacts connected to the energy generating element, wherein the printed circuit board has the energy generating element located on one side of the printed circuit board. A storage element disposed on the other side of the printed board, opposite to the surface on which the energy generating element is located, and storing parameter information related to ink ejection characteristics; and A protection member disposed on the opposite side of the surface and between the ejection port and the storage element, for preventing the ink from flowing into the storage element; A recording head equipped, characterized in that in contact with the surface on which the discharge ports are disposed in the recording head includes a cleaning member for cleaning the said surface, the.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent the ink scattered when the cleaning member cleans the ejection opening surface of the recording head from reaching the storage element and adhere to the storage element. It is possible to provide a recording head, a recording head cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus which can achieve high quality recording with high quality.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention and reference examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, in order to show the overall configuration of the present invention, FIG. 7 shows a liquid jet recording apparatus 100 using the present invention.

This apparatus is a serial color printer using a cartridge type head having 400 dpi and 128 nozzles using a method of causing a change in the state of ink by using thermal energy and discharging ink from a discharge port.
Color printing is made possible by using each color of C, M, Y, and K. C, M, Y, K cartridge heads 1
−C, M, Y, and K are detachable from the carriage 101 and have a head drive frequency f = 4 KHz. The carriage is driven by a stepping motor via a drive belt 9c on a support rod 9a of the carriage to move left and right to perform printing (a detailed description of the fine movement of the printer is omitted here).

Reference numeral 300 denotes a capping device for preventing the recording head from drying, and reference numeral 500 denotes a pump for recovering the recording head from clogging.

Next, a control system for driving each member of the recording apparatus will be described. This control system includes a CPU 20a such as a microprocessor, as shown in FIG.
A control system 20, an interface 21, an operation panel 22, and a motor 20 each including a ROM 20b storing a control program and various data of the CPU 20a and a RAM 20c used as a work area of the CPU 20a and temporarily storing various data. (A carriage driving motor 23, a sheet feeding motor driving motor 24, a first conveying roller pair driving motor 25, and a first conveying roller pair driving motor 26). Become.

The control unit 20 inputs various information (for example, character pitch, character type, etc.) from the operation panel 22, information on the remaining amount of ink to be recorded, and a storage signal from the external device 29 via the interface 21. Further, the control unit 20 inputs ON / OFF signals and signals for driving each motor via the interface 21 and drives each member by the image signal.

Here, the configuration of the recording head cartridge which is a main part according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is an external view of a printed board in a recording head according to a first reference example of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of an ink jet cartridge 1 of the present invention. Reference numeral 110 denotes a recording head, which discharges ink from a discharge port on the lower surface of 110 described later. Reference numeral 111 denotes an ink tank unit, and 112 denotes a printed board, which will be described later, and has electrical contacts exposed. 1
Reference numeral 13 denotes an ink absorber provided on a side surface of the head portion that is continuous with the ejection port forming surface.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 112 denotes a printed circuit board,
14 is an aluminum radiator plate, 115 is a heater board composed of a heating element and a diode matrix, 116 is an EEPROM (non-volatile memory) storing density unevenness information and the like in advance, and 117 is a contact electrode serving as a joint part with the main body. is there. Here, the line-shaped discharge port group is not shown.

As described above, on the printed circuit board 112 including the heating element of the ink jet recording head, the EEPROM for storing density unevenness information and the like unique to each recording head.
Implement M116.

Needless to say, 116 is another device,
For example, an EPROM or a battery backed up SRAM may be used.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show examples of ink stains on the head ejection surface.

FIG. 7A shows a capping apparatus 300 shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram of an ink mark 120 attached to a portion where a peripheral portion of the ink is in contact.

Reference numeral 121 denotes an ink ejection port. In this embodiment, 128 ink ejection ports are arranged in a line at a density of 400 dpi.

By the way, generally, in the recording head 1, a so-called wet state is generated on the ejection surface of the recording head 1 by the minute ink droplet 125 as described above.

(B) shows the discharge surface 122 generated during printing.
This shows the wet state of. In this case, the size of the ink droplet 125 varies, and the higher the ratio of the solid portion occupied by recording is, the easier it is to get wet. However, generally, a small one is several μm, and a large one is several hundred μm.

Next, a method of reducing the contamination of the discharge surface shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B and correcting it to a clean state as shown in FIG. 3C will be described with reference to FIGS. This will be described with (c). In FIG. 5A, reference numeral 102 denotes the above-described head, and the heads of the four colors shown in FIG. 113 is the aforementioned head 10
2 is an absorber added to the carriage 10;
Absorber added to 1.

The wiping member 124 is lifted in the direction of the arrow Y only when a wiping operation is required, and after a series of wiping operations on the recording head 102, it is lowered in the direction of the arrow Y 'to stand by. Keep. Therefore, first, at the start of recording, when the cap device 105 is separated from the ejection surface 122 of the recording head 102 and the carriage (not shown) moves from the home position in the direction of the arrow X, the cleaning device 124 is moved upward from the standby state. The recording head 102 comes into contact one after another. In this way, a clean ejection surface is generated as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of this state for easy understanding.
FIG. It can be seen that the ink droplets 125 on the head ejection surface are wiped off by the wiping member 124. The collected ink droplets are absorbed by the absorber 113 or 123 described above.

The problem here is that the ink blown off by the wiping member is not completely absorbed by the absorbers 113 and 123, and the head 10 is moved from between 113 and 123 in FIG.
2, the memory and the contact electrode 117 in FIG. 116 are contaminated, and there is a possibility that a short circuit or an element is broken. Therefore, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the head-added absorber 113 is added to the same surface as the memory mounting on the printed board (Surface A), so that ink droplets do not come up. In addition, the arrangement of the electrode portion and the memory at least 30 mm from the head ejection surface eliminates the influence of ink droplet scattering.

Embodiment FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

Compared to FIG. 2, 116 non-volatile memory is mounted on the opposite side of the printed board. Such a need arises due to restrictions on the routing of wiring on the printed board 112 and the like. However, the absorber 116 and the absorber 113 are located on the reflection side.

However, the lower part of the nonvolatile memory is covered with the aluminum plate 114 so that the scattered ink does not reach the 116.

Also, a hole is formed in the aluminum plate 114,
Needless to say, it is more effective if the entirety of the nonvolatile memory can be covered. The appearance of the head is the same as that of FIG. 1, and the absorber 113 for absorbing the ink scattered by the wiping member is also necessary.

[Second Reference Example] In the first reference example described above, an example was shown in which the ink absorber was provided only on one side surface. 2 shows a configuration for preventing ink from adhering thereto. As shown in FIG. 10, the absorber is provided on both sides of the head. That is, FIG.
, 124 is a blade, 121 is an ink ejection port,
Reference numeral 113 denotes an absorber that absorbs ink attached to the blade and cleans the blade, and 116 denotes a semiconductor element. The blade 124 is disposed at a position where the amount of intrusion is optimal for cleaning the discharge port surface 121 when the recording head returns to the home position. Therefore, assuming that the direction in which the print head returns is the X direction, the blade 124 first cleans the discharge port surface of the print head while rubbing it. Blade 1
The ink collected by the ink 24 is absorbed by the cleaning absorber 116 provided in the recording head. Next, the cleaned blade 124 performs wiping of the recording head, and the collected ink is absorbed by the cleaning absorber and the blade 124 is cleaned.

Hereinafter, the recording head is sequentially cleaned.
Next, when the carriage is reversed and starts scanning in the Y direction in the drawing, the ink collected when cleaning the recording head 1 is removed by the blade cleaning absorber 11 provided in the recording head 1.
3 to be absorbed. Then the cleaned blade 12
Reference numeral 4 denotes wiping of the recording head 1c, and the swept and collected ink is absorbed by the blade absorber 113C and the blade 124 is cleaned. Hereinafter, the recording heads 1b, 1
By performing the cleaning of a, it is possible to prevent the ink from scattering in the machine regardless of the wiping direction.

By providing the absorbers on both the upstream side and the downstream side in the cleaning direction of the recording head as described above, the ink of the blade can be cleaned well and the ink is scattered by the elasticity of the blade. This prevents ink from sneaking into the semiconductor elements mounted on the printhead, preventing malfunctions and destruction of the semiconductor elements, and also reduces the leakage of electrical back points between the head and the device and contamination inside the machine. it can.

By providing the absorber with grooves as shown in FIG. 11, the cleaning performance of the blade is dramatically improved, so that the cleaning characteristics of the discharge port are improved and the discharge reliability is improved.

Further, an absorber may be provided on the side surface of the discharge port in the sub-scanning direction. This is because the ink collected by cleaning the ejection openings may gradually become large ink droplets and flow down in the direction of gravity. Leaving the ink flowing down causes ink mist to be generated, causing in-machine contamination and destruction due to adhesion to semiconductor elements. Therefore, by disposing the absorber on the side surface of the ejection port in the sub-scanning direction, it is possible to absorb the ink that spills and prevent the above-mentioned adverse effects caused by the ink spilling inside the apparatus.

[Third Reference Example] In the above-described example, the object was to prevent malfunction or destruction caused by the ink swept by the blade adhered to the semiconductor element and the electrical contact.

This embodiment focuses on the ink mist which is generated by the reaction when the mist or the ink having an extremely small dot diameter generated separately from the main dot generated at the time of ejection lands on the recording material. .

Since the generation of ink mist is very small, there is no problem at the initial stage. However, the amount increases with time and the mass is low, so that the amount of ink mist is reduced by, for example, scanning of a carriage. The air scatters throughout the cabin. Therefore, the occurrence of the ink mist may cause a malfunction or destruction of the semiconductor element or the electric contact.

In the present embodiment, the ink mist is forcibly collected on the ejection port forming surface of the head, and the collected mist is moved to the absorber by a blade, thereby preventing the adverse effects of the mist.

That is, the ink is charged, the difference between the surface potential of the recording material and the potential between the recording heads is adjusted, ink mist is adhered to the recording head discharge port forming surface, collected, and adhered to the discharge port forming surface. The removed ink is wiped off with a blade and absorbed by an ink absorber.

Means for charging the ink mist, means for measuring the surface potential of the recording material, and means for adjusting the potential between the recording material and the ejection port forming surface of the head are described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-19 / 1990.
The configuration disclosed in No. 9101 can be used.

(Others) It should be noted that the present invention includes a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for discharging ink, particularly in an ink jet recording system. An excellent effect is obtained in a recording head and a recording apparatus of a type in which the state of ink is changed by the thermal energy. This is because according to such a method, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, to the electrothermal transducer disposed corresponding to the sheet or the liquid path in which is held, This is effective because thermal energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and the film is boiled on the heat-acting surface of the recording head. As a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) can be formed in one-to-one correspondence with the drive signal. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of a liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable. Examples of the drive signal in the form of a pulse include those described in U.S. Pat.
Suitable are those described in US Pat. No. 45,262. If the conditions described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface described above are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of a discharge port, a liquid path, and an electrothermal converter (a linear liquid flow path or a right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
A configuration using the specification of Japanese Patent No. 459600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 123670/1984 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an aperture for absorbing pressure waves of thermal energy. The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on JP-A-59-138461 which discloses a configuration corresponding to a discharge unit.

Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification is used. Either a configuration that satisfies the length or a configuration as one integrally formed recording head may be used, but the present invention can more effectively exert the above-described effects.

In addition, the recording head is replaceable with a print head of a replaceable chip type, which can be electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus or supplied with ink from the main body of the apparatus, or integrated with the recording head itself. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge-type recording head provided in a fixed manner is used.

It is preferable to add recovery means for the printhead, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like provided as components of the printing apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. To be more specific, a capping unit, a cleaning unit, a pressure or suction unit, a preheating unit using an electrothermal converter, another heating element, or a combination thereof, for the recording head. ,
Performing a preliminary ejection mode in which ejection is performed separately from printing is also effective for performing stable printing.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, and the recording head may be integrally formed or a combination of a plurality of recording heads. The present invention is also very effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of full colors by color mixture.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the description is made using the liquid ink. However, in the present invention, the ink which is solid at room temperature or the ink which becomes soft at room temperature is used. Can be used. In the above-described ink jet apparatus, the temperature of the ink itself is generally controlled within a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less so that the viscosity of the ink is controlled to be in a stable ejection range. It is sufficient if the ink is in a liquid state.
In addition, positively prevent the temperature rise due to thermal energy by using the energy of the state change of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or use ink that solidifies in a standing state to prevent evaporation of the ink. In any case, heat energy is applied by heat energy, such as one in which ink is liquefied and ejected as an ink liquid by application of heat energy according to a recording signal, or one which already starts to solidify when reaching a recording medium. The use of an ink that liquefies for the first time is also applicable to the present invention. In such a case, as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, the ink is held as a liquid or solid substance in the concave portion or through hole of the porous sheet, It is good also as a form which opposes an electrothermal transducer. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A recording head that can reliably prevent ink scattered during cleaning of the ejection port surface of the recording head by the cleaning member from reaching the storage element and adhere to the storage element, thereby achieving high reliability and high quality recording. And a recording head cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a recording head.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a printed board in a recording head.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of ink contamination on a recording head ejection surface.

FIG. 4 is an external view showing a printed board in a recording head according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of head surface wiping.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of a head surface wiping diagram.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an appearance of a recording apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a control system.

FIG. 9 is another head surface wiping diagram.

FIG. 10 is another head surface wiping diagram.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing the appearance of another head.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kentaro Yano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Hitoshi Sugimoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon (72) Inventor Norifumi Koitabashi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-2-238947 (JP, A) JP-A-2-78564 ( JP, A) JP-A-2-286349 (JP, A) JP-A-61-230949 (JP, A) JP-A-58-62651 (JP, A) JP-A-2-167755 (JP, A) JP Hei 2-78563 (JP, A) (58) Fields studied (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 2/01 B41J 2/165

Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] A recording head portion having an ejection port for ejecting ink and an ink passage communicating with the ejection port to guide ink; and for storing ink supplied to the recording head portion. A recording head cartridge integrally provided with an ink tank section, wherein the recording head section comprises: an energy generating element that generates energy used for discharging ink from the discharge port; A printed circuit board provided with electrical contacts to be connected, the printed circuit board having the energy generating element located on one side of the printed circuit board, and the energy generating element on the other side of the printed circuit board. A storage element arranged on a surface opposite to the surface on which is located, and storing parameter information related to ink ejection characteristics; And a protection member disposed on the opposite surface and between the discharge port and the storage element, for preventing the ink from flowing into the storage element. cartridge. 2. The storage element and the electrical contact are located at a distance of 30 m from a surface of the recording head unit on which the ejection openings are provided.
2. The recording head cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the recording head cartridge is provided in an area separated by m or more. 3. The recording head cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the protection member has a hole, and the storage element is disposed in the hole. 4. The recording head cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the protection member is an aluminum plate. 5. The energy generating device according to claim 1, wherein the energy generating element is an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy used for discharging ink from the discharge port.
4. The recording head cartridge according to item 1. 6. An ejection port for ejecting ink, an ink passage communicating with the ejection port to guide ink, and energy generation for generating energy used for ejecting ink from the ejection port. An element, a printed circuit board provided with electrical contacts connected to the energy generating element, wherein the printed circuit board has the energy generating element located on one side of the printed circuit board, and the other of the printed circuit board. A storage element arranged on a surface opposite to the surface on which the energy generating element is located, and storing parameter information relating to ink ejection characteristics; and on the opposite surface of the printed circuit board. And a protection member disposed between the ejection port and the storage element to prevent ink from flowing into the storage element. Head. 7. The storage element and the electrical contact are at least 30 mm from a surface of the recording head on which the ejection openings are provided.
The recording head according to claim 6, wherein the recording head is provided in the separated area. 8. The recording head according to claim 6, wherein the protection member has a hole, and the storage element is disposed in the hole. 9. The recording head according to claim 6, wherein the protection member is an aluminum plate. 10. The recording head according to claim 6, wherein the energy generating element is an electrothermal transducer that generates thermal energy used for discharging ink from the discharge port. 11. An ejection port for ejecting ink, an ink passage communicating with the ejection port to guide ink, and energy generation for generating energy used for ejecting ink from the ejection port. An element and a printed circuit board provided with electrical contacts connected to the energy generating element, wherein the printed circuit board has the energy generating element located on one side of the printed circuit board, and the other of the printed circuit board. A storage element that is disposed on a surface opposite to the surface on which the energy generating element is located, and that stores parameter information related to ink ejection characteristics, and on the opposite surface of the printed circuit board. A recording head unit provided between the ejection port and the storage element, and comprising a protection member for preventing ink from flowing into the storage element. A recording head cartridge integrally provided with an ink tank unit for storing ink supplied to the recording head unit; and a surface of the recording head unit which abuts on a surface on which the discharge port is provided. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a cleaning member that performs cleaning. 12. An ejection port for ejecting ink, an ink passage communicating with the ejection port to guide ink, and energy generation for generating energy used for ejecting ink from the ejection port. An element and a printed circuit board provided with electrical contacts connected to the energy generating element, wherein the printed circuit board has the energy generating element located on one side of the printed circuit board, and the other of the printed circuit board. A storage element that is disposed on a surface opposite to the surface on which the energy generating element is located, and that stores parameter information related to ink ejection characteristics, and on the opposite surface of the printed circuit board. A recording head, which is provided between the ejection port and the storage element and includes a protection member for preventing the ink from flowing into the storage element. An ink jet recording apparatus for a cleaning member for cleaning said surface the discharge port of the head is in contact with the disposed the surface, characterized by comprising a.