JP3471887B2 - Liquid ejecting head, head cartridge having the liquid ejecting head, and liquid ejecting 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 liquid ejecting head for ejecting liquid for recording, a head cartridge having the liquid ejecting head, and a liquid ejecting apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head in which a plurality of element substrates on which ejection energy generating elements are arranged are arranged to increase the length, a head cartridge using the liquid ejecting head, and a liquid ejecting apparatus.

Further, the present invention can be applied not only to an apparatus such as a printer used in an office, but also to an industrial apparatus such as a printer as a printing apparatus for recording on cloth.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Recording devices such as printers, copiers, and facsimiles use paper, plastic thin plates, or
An image composed of a dot pattern is recorded on a recording material such as cloth.

The recording apparatus can be classified into an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, an electrophotographic type and the like depending on its recording method. Among them, the inkjet type (inkjet printing apparatus) is configured to eject and eject a recording liquid (ink) droplet from an ejection port of an inkjet recording head, and to adhere the recording liquid (ink) to a recording material for recording, thereby reducing noise. Since it is possible to perform high-speed recording, there is no particular limitation on the recording medium, color image recording can be easily performed, and the like, it has been widely used in recent years.

Above all, a recording head of a system (bubble jet system) in which thermal energy is applied to ink and ink droplets are ejected by utilizing pressure due to thermal expansion has a relatively simple structure and responds to a recording signal. It has the advantages of good responsiveness, relatively high speed, and high density of the discharge ports.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a main part of a liquid ejecting head used in such a liquid ejecting recording apparatus, in which a grooved member forming an ink path is removed for the sake of explanation. As shown in FIG. 11, the liquid ejecting head generally supplies a plurality of ejection ports 105 for ejecting a recording liquid such as ink, ink paths corresponding to these ejection ports 105, and a recording liquid to each ink path. A liquid chamber (not shown) for discharging the liquid, and a liquid ejection element 107 such as an electric pressure converter or an electrothermal converter that applies energy for ejecting the liquid to the recording liquid from the ejection port (here, an example of the electrothermal converter). Of the liquid ejecting head 107, the wiring 104 for supplying an electric signal to the liquid ejecting element 107 is arranged.

The liquid jet head substrate 111 using an electrothermal converter as the liquid ejection element 107 is generally used as the substrate 1.
03 is provided with the liquid ejection element 107 which is a heat generation resistance layer,
An electrothermal converter formed by stacking the wiring 104 made of a material having good electrical conductivity is provided on the liquid ejection element 107.

A plate-shaped member made of a material such as single crystal silicon, polycrystalline silicon, glass, metal or ceramics is often used as the substrate 103 constituting such a liquid jet head substrate 111.

On the other hand, an ink path is formed by joining a grooved member 102 having an ink path wall 101 forming an ink path to the liquid jet head substrate 111 as described above to obtain a liquid jet head. You can And as such a grooved member 102, a plate member made of glass or metal has been conventionally used.

However, for the plate-like member made of these materials, it is necessary to form fine grooves forming ink paths by cutting or etching, and when the grooves are formed by cutting, the cutting process is performed. If the inner wall surface of the ink passage is too rough, or if the groove is formed by etching, the ink passage may be distorted due to uneven etching rate, and the ink ejection characteristics of the liquid ejecting head after manufacturing However, there is a problem in that variations easily occur. Further, there is a problem that the plate-shaped member serving as the grooved member 102 is liable to be cracked or cracked during the cutting process, resulting in a decrease in yield.

From these circumstances, the grooved member 102 described above is used.
Various resin materials are used as the material for forming the grooved member, and the grooved member is formed by forming the groove by patterning by exposure and development or pouring the resin into the mold.

However, it has been found that the above-mentioned conventional liquid jet head has the following problems to be solved.

That is, with the widespread use of recording apparatuses to which the above liquid jet recording method is applied, these recording apparatuses have been used under various usage environments in recent years. When used in low temperature or high temperature environment, variations such as ink ejection may occur,
It was found that there are problems to be solved, such as the occurrence of nozzles that do not eject ink.

12 and 13 are schematic cross-sectional views of a conventional liquid jet head, particularly a long liquid jet head. FIG. 12 shows the state of the liquid jet head at room temperature. FIG. 13 is a schematic view, and FIG. 13 schematically shows a state of the liquid jet head under a high temperature state.
In FIGS. 12 and 13, 101 is an ink path wall forming an ink path, 105 is an ejection port for ejecting ink, 106 is an ink path, and 107 is electricity for generating energy used for ejecting ink. A liquid ejection element such as a heat conversion body or a piezoelectric element is shown.

In the liquid ejecting head near the temperature at the time of manufacturing the liquid ejecting head, that is, at room temperature, the arrangement of the ink passage wall 101 and the liquid ejecting element 107 forming the ink passage 106 is appropriate as shown in FIG. The arrangement intervals a and b are substantially equal), and the energy generated by the liquid ejection element 107 is sufficiently added to the ink in the ink passage 106, so that good ejection is performed.

However, when the operating environment temperature of the liquid ejecting head becomes high or when the temperature of the liquid ejecting head itself rises, the substrate on which the liquid ejecting element 107 is arranged and the ink path 106 are formed. Ink road wall 101
As shown in FIG. 13, the arrangement position of the ink passage 106 and the liquid ejection element 1 are determined from the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion with the grooved member having the groove.
There is a gap in the relative arrangement interval with respect to 07. For this reason, the distances a and b between the ink path wall 101 and the liquid ejection element 107 that form the ink path 106 are greatly deviated toward the end portion side of the liquid ejecting head as indicated by a1 and b1. The position of the ink in the ink path 106 to be added to the liquid changes, which causes the deviation of the ejected ink and the deterioration of the ink landing accuracy.

When the above-mentioned deviation is large, the liquid ejection element 107 comes to be positioned below the ink path wall 101 as shown in the left end and the right end of FIG. There is also a risk that the ejection energy of the ink may be insufficient because the ejection energy is not sufficiently applied to the existing ink.

These tendencies are strong in a so-called bubble jet recording method in which ink which is a liquid is ejected for recording by utilizing heat, and particularly, it has been developed to speed up recording as in recent years. This tendency is strong in the long liquid jet head which is being advanced, and it has been a particularly big problem to be solved in obtaining a recording apparatus which records high quality and high definition images at high speed.

To solve this problem, the inventors previously proposed a liquid jet head having a grooved member with a supporting member (Japanese Patent Application No. 5-318737). FIG. 1 shows the grooved member including the supporting member of this proposal. The grooved member is provided with a plurality of grooves which are made of resin and serve as the ink passages 4, and the support member 2 for supporting the resin portion is included therein. This support member is for alleviating the strain due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the liquid ejection head substrate on which the liquid ejection element is arranged and the portion where the liquid passage wall is formed. It has a close value and is provided in the grooved member in order to regulate the coefficient of thermal expansion of the grooved member to be close to the coefficient of thermal expansion of the substrate. The material of this support member is glass, alumina, sapphire, silicon, metal or the like. As a result, even when the liquid ejecting head is used in a low temperature or high temperature environment, it is possible to suppress the relative displacement between the liquid ejecting element disposed on the substrate and the liquid passage, and the liquid ejecting does not cause ink ejection deviation or ejection failure. The head is obtained.

On the other hand, for example, in a long liquid ejecting head in which a liquid ejecting element is provided over substantially the entire width of a recordable area, this liquid ejecting element, wiring, etc. can be processed without any defect. Needed, but this was very difficult.

That is, A3 size recording paper is set to 400 dpi.
In the case of a long liquid jet head which records at a recording density of (dot per inch 1 dot)
It is necessary to process 736 liquid ejection elements (a pair of electrodes and a heating resistor provided between these electrodes in the bubble jet recording method) over all of them without any defect. It was difficult to manufacture. Therefore, the production yield is low, that is, the head cost is high, and it is difficult to reach practical use.

As a method for solving such a problem, various methods have been proposed so far. JP-A-55-132
No. 253, No. 2-2009, No. 4-2009.
229278, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-232749,
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-24192 and the like are such, and these ideas are based on 32 nozzles, 48 nozzles, 64 nozzles,
A method of arranging a plurality of heads, such as 28 nozzles, which has a relatively small number of nozzles and is easy to manufacture, is arranged with high accuracy on one support in accordance with the nozzle array density.

However, these heads relate to a method of forming one long ink jet head by accurately arranging the heads alternately on both surfaces of the support. In this method, since the small heads are arranged on both sides of the support, there is a margin in the arrangement size of the heads when only one side of the support is seen. Therefore, it is possible to include means for increasing the placement accuracy, and there is a degree of freedom in the design for arranging the heads relatively.

However, it is necessary to supply the electric signals necessary for driving the heads and the ink to be ejected to both sides of the support, so that the electric supply system and the ink supply system necessary for almost one small head are provided. Since it is arranged on each surface, there is a drawback that the cost is very high. Further, since the small heads are arranged on both sides of the support, the size of the inkjet head as a whole becomes large. In addition, parts, especially the support on which the small head is placed, are required to have many restrictions such as flatness on both sides, parallelism on both sides, and distance tolerance between both sides.
There were drawbacks such as very high cost.

There is also a method of forming a long head by accurately arranging small heads on one surface of one substrate as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-229278. Although this method partially eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, the ink supply system still has no choice but to supply ink individually, resulting in high cost. What is even more difficult is the seal for preventing ink leakage on both sides of the head. In this long head, different nozzles are arranged while keeping the nozzle pitch unchanged, and therefore, both sides of the individual head can only allow a dimension less than half the nozzle pitch. That is, assuming 400 dpi (= 63.5 μ), the center of the nozzle and the side surface of the head are 1 ≦ 63.5.
/ 2 = 30 μm, and this dimension naturally includes the length of half the width of the nozzle, and if this is set to 12 μ, which is half the width of the nozzle, the remaining length becomes 18 μm or less. This size should be sealed to prevent ink leakage. This is very difficult and has the drawback of increasing the manufacturing costs of the individual heads.

Although the problems to be solved by the two types of heads have been described above from the viewpoint of manufacturing, there are the following problems to be solved from the viewpoint of design. Since a plurality of small heads that are different from each other are arranged, each small head is always arranged with a tolerance, and there is a slight difference in the direction in which each small head ejects ink (including the front, rear, left, and right angles). As a whole, uneven printing occurs. At the same time, since the ejection amounts of the different heads are slightly different from each other, uneven printing occurs. Therefore, in order to obtain a better image, it is necessary to make one long head by the work of repeating the trial and error and replacing the individual heads, which inevitably increases the cost.

[0027]

Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the background art, we first compare 64 and 128 pieces on a stainless steel base (hereinafter referred to as base plate or support). The required number of element substrates (henceforth heater boards) provided with a relatively small number of liquid ejection elements (in the bubble jet recording method, a pair of electrodes and a heating resistor provided between these electrodes) We arranged them well and made a head substrate for long lengths. Silicon is used as the material of the heater board, but glass, ceramics, or the like can be used as other materials. An ink jet head was prepared by attaching a grooved top plate (grooved member) made of polysulfone resin having ink paths corresponding to the liquid ejection elements of the plurality of element substrates to the head base.

When the ink jet head thus produced is used in various temperature environments and the ink ejection state is examined, when the temperature of the liquid ejecting head itself rises, the ink flow path and the liquid ejecting element are relatively moved. There is a gap in the layout,
Distortion of the ejected ink and deterioration of the accuracy of the landing point of the ink occurred, and when the temperature change further increased, even ink ejection failed.

Then, the head using the above-mentioned grooved top plate containing a supporting member of Pyrex glass was similarly used. However, even in the case of such a head, deviation of ink ejection and deterioration of accuracy of ink landing point occur as the temperature rises.

According to the present invention, a plurality of element substrates are arranged on these supports, and an ink flow path and a liquid ejection element in a long recording head formed by joining an integral grooved top plate onto the element substrates are heated. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet head which has an advantage of extremely low cost by solving the problem of deviation of relative arrangement relationship due to.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an ink jet head capable of supplying ink well to a plurality of ink flow paths while solving the problems associated with thermal expansion as described above. Another object is to provide a head cartridge and a liquid ejecting apparatus using these liquid ejecting heads.

[0032]

The main constitution of the liquid jet head of the present invention for achieving the above object is to provide an element substrate provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting liquid, A support having a plurality of element substrates arranged on one surface side and a plurality of grooves for forming flow paths corresponding to the ejection energy generating elements of the plurality of element substrates are provided, and the plurality of element substrates are arranged. On the supported support
Has a grooved member which is joined, wherein the grooved member, the
A resin member having a plurality of grooves and supporting the resin member
Used as a supply pipe for supplying liquid to the flow channel
And a supporting member that is provided with the supporting member.
The difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion from the support is
The material used is smaller than that of the resin material.
By doing so, the thermal expansion of the grooved member is adjusted .

According to this structure, by using a plurality of element substrates having a relatively high yield, it is possible to reduce the cost and improve the easiness of manufacturing.

Further, since the grooved member is compatible with a plurality of element substrates, the ink ejection directions can be easily aligned and a good image can be obtained. In addition, even in the type of head in which a plurality of element substrates are arranged as described above, a plurality of grooves for forming the flow paths are provided.
And a supporting member that supports the resin member.
The thermal expansion of the grooved member having the difference between the thermal expansion coefficient of the grooved member having the
In Rukoto conditioned by configured support member material having a low temperature or elevated a deviation of discharge energy generating elements (the liquid ejection elements) and the flow path caused by the thermal expansion is suppressed, there when you drop However, a good image can be obtained. With such a configuration, by using a plurality of element substrates having a relatively high yield, it is possible to reduce the cost and improve the ease of manufacturing. In addition,
Ink supply pipe for supplying liquid such as ink to the holding member
Long head with many flow paths
Even in the case of, stable ink supply can be performed.
Ejection, which can simplify the structure and reduce the size.
Heads, head cartridges and devices using the heads
Can be provided.

Further, since the head cartridge of the present invention integrally has the above-mentioned liquid ejecting head and the ink tank, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

Further, the liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention has the above-mentioned liquid ejecting head and a recording medium conveying means. Therefore, the effects as described above can be obtained,
Further, it is possible to provide a small-sized and inexpensive device capable of performing good recording at a higher speed.

[0037]

[0038]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference examples and embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an ink jet head of a reference example of the present invention so that the constitutions of main parts can be understood. In this reference example, the density of the ink ejection port is 360 dp.
An ink jet head having 3008 nozzles (printing width 212 mm) of i (70.5 μm) ink is described as an example.

In FIG. 2, an element substrate (hereinafter also referred to as a heater board) 100 is a discharge energy generating element 101.
128 are provided at predetermined positions at a density of 360 dpi. Here, an example is shown in which a heating resistance element for applying heat to the ink is provided as an element. Also, the discharge energy generating element 10 is provided on the heater board at an arbitrary timing by an electric signal from the outside.
A signal pad for driving 1 and a power pad or the like 102 for supplying electric power for driving the same are provided.

The heater board 100 is a support (base plate) 3 made of a material such as metal or ceramics.
00 is bonded and fixed on the surface of No. 00 with an adhesive.

FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of a plurality of heater boards 100 arranged on the base plate 300. The heater board 100 is adhered and fixed to a predetermined place of the base plate 300 with an adhesive 301 applied with a predetermined thickness. At this time, the discharge energy generating element 101 provided on the heater board 100 is attached to the heater board 1.
The pitch of the discharge energy generating elements of the heater board adjacent to the same pitch as the pitch P = 70.5 μm arranged on No. 00 is accurately arranged. Further, the gap between the heater boards generated at this time may be left as it is as long as the ink does not leak, but in this embodiment, it is sealed with the sealant 302.

In FIG. 2, the wiring board 400 is adhered to the base plate 300 as with the heater board 100. At this time, the pads 102 on the heater board 100 and the signal / power supply pads 401 provided on the wiring board 400 are bonded and attached so as to have a predetermined positional relationship. Further, the wiring board is provided with a connector 402 for supplying a print signal and driving power from the outside.

Next, the top plate 200 which is a grooved member provided with a groove for forming a flow path will be described.

In FIG. 4, the top plate 200 is the heater board 100.
A flow path 202 provided corresponding to the discharge energy generating element 101 provided in the flow path, an orifice 203 communicating with each flow path for discharging the ink provided corresponding to each flow path toward the recording medium, A liquid chamber 201 and a liquid chamber 20 that communicate with each flow path 202 to supply ink to each flow path 202.
1 is composed of components such as an ink supply port 204 for inflowing ink supplied from an ink tank (not shown). The top plate 200 is the heater board 10.
The length is set so as to substantially cover the ejection energy generating element array provided by arranging a plurality of 0s.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the top plate 200 has a predetermined positional relationship between the flow path 202 and the discharge energy generating element 101 on the heater board 100 arranged on the base plate 300. It is combined so that it becomes.

As a method of connecting the base having a plurality of element substrates arranged to the grooved top plate, it is mechanically pressed by a spring or the like, but various other methods such as fixing with a mounting agent and combining them are possible. There are various methods. By these, the top plate 200 and the heater board 100 are fixed in a relationship as shown in FIG.

Next, the structure of the top plate of the present invention will be described in detail.

As a material for forming the groove portion of the top plate 200, any resin can be used as long as it can accurately form the groove, but it is desirable that the material further has excellent mechanical strength, dimensional stability and ink resistance. . Such materials include epoxy resin, acrylic resin, diglycol, dialkyl carbonate resin, unsaturated polyester resin, polyurethane resin, polyimide resin, melamine resin, phenol resin,
A urea resin or the like is preferable, and a resin such as polysulfone or polyether sulfone is preferably used from the viewpoint of its moldability and liquid resistance.

These materials are resins and have a coefficient of thermal expansion of about 1 × 10 ^-5 to 1 × 10 ^-4 .

The top plate 200 has a support member 20 for adjusting the coefficient of thermal expansion of the top plate 200 as shown in the XX section of FIG. 4 (d).
5 is contained in the resin portion forming the groove of the top plate 200. Here, the material of the supporting member 205 is the base plate 30.
It is made of the same stainless steel as the base plate in the present reference example. Incidentally, the surface of the support member 205 of the present embodiment is blasting, surface treatment such as knurling are facilities, further improvement in adhesiveness between the resin portion of the top plate 200 is achieved. With the above-described structure, the coefficient of thermal expansion of the top plate 200 follows that of stainless steel. By doing so, the top plate 200 of the head and the base plate 300 have the same coefficient of thermal expansion.
00 and the base plate do not cause a large deviation.

It should be noted that the heater board 1 in units of 128 bits
Although there is a difference in thermal expansion between 00 and the top plate, this difference is very small and there is no hindrance to the discharge performance.

In the above reference example, the support member 2
Although 05 is shown inside the resin part, it is not necessary to completely enclose it, and a part (for example, both ends) may be opened outside the resin part.

Further, in the above-mentioned reference example, the supporting member 20 is used.
Although the surface of No. 5 is processed to improve the adhesiveness with the resin portion, it is not always necessary when the adhesiveness between the support member and the resin portion is good. However, the top plate was manufactured by injection molding with the support member inserted, but it is not always possible to obtain sufficient adhesion even by such injection molding, so as described above, It is desirable to provide unevenness on the surface of 205 to improve adhesion.

With regard to such an uneven shape, a digging groove of about 1 mm is directly provided by cutting, when the core material is cut, a cut surface is left as much as possible, or a surface is scratched by sandblasting. There are things to put on. In each case, the core material and the resin are mechanically difficult to fit in, and the resin follows the thermal expansion of the core material.

Incidentally, in order to improve the adhesion between the resin portion and the support member, a method of applying a coupling material such as a silane coupling material to the surface of the support member may be used in addition to providing such unevenness on the surface. Considering the influence on the ink, it is preferable to provide the above-mentioned uneven shape.

Further, in order to make the resin portion sufficiently respond to the thermal expansion of the supporting member, the thickness of the resin portion should be 2 mm from the supporting member.
Hereafter, it is preferable to set it to 1.5 mm or less.

In the above-mentioned reference example, the same stainless steel as that of the base plate is used as one having the same coefficient of thermal expansion as that of the base plate. An example in which the state of discharge performance is examined will be described.

Here, an experiment was carried out by shaking the types of aluminum and stainless steel for the base plate and the supporting member. In addition, not only the heater board is arranged on the base plate, but also it has to be processed into various shapes to be combined with the main body, and has good workability and heat dissipation characteristics for quickly releasing the heat generated from the heater board. Etc. are required, and aluminum is taken up here from these. As for the supporting member, stainless steel was taken up here in consideration of its mechanical strength and adhesion with the polysulfone resin.

The materials tested below and their thermal expansion coefficients,
In addition, calculated values of the displacement between the nozzle and the heater at 30 ° C, 40 ° C, 50 ° C, 60 ° C, and 30 ° C, 40 ° C, 50
The judgment of good / bad printing at ℃ is shown (Table 1). The calculation of the deviation between the nozzle and the heater is 360 dpi (= 70.5).
(μm) shows the deviation occurring at the 1st and 3008th nozzles of 3008 nozzles (3008 × 70.5 μm ×
(Each temperature −25 ° C.) × thermal expansion coefficient difference × 1/2.

Here, the temperature at the time of head assembly was 25 ° C., and the temperature difference was calculated by subtracting from each temperature.

The temperature of the head is usually controlled at about 35 ° C to 40 ° C. However, the printing rate is high, and it may occasionally reach 50 ° C. when printing for a long time or when the outside air temperature further rises. However, printing is normally stopped before the temperature reaches 60 ° C, and printing is not performed at this temperature.
However, since the head storage temperature is considered to be 60 ° C, it is shown for reference.

[0063]

[Table 1]

All of these are caused by the positional relationship between the nozzle and the heater. In this experiment, a head with a nozzle pitch (heater arrangement pitch) of 70.5 μm and a nozzle width of 50 μm was used. If the heater position deviation is 10 μm or less, the ejection performance is not affected at all.
Although some deterioration was observed at 0 μm or less, it was found that there was no problem in practical use.

From the above, as long as the thermal expansion coefficients (25 ° C. to 50 ° C.) of the base plate and the supporting member are equal within the difference of 10 × 10 ⁻⁶ or less, there is no problem in practical use and 7 × 1.
More preferably if equal 0 ^-6 difference the range of,
It is the best if the difference is equal to or less than 2.6 × 10 ⁻⁶ .

Although aluminum and stainless steel are used as the material of the base plate and the supporting member here,
The base plate may be selected from stainless steel, aluminum, ceramics, resin, etc., and the supporting member may be selected from stainless steel, aluminum, ceramics, glass, etc., according to the characteristics required for the head. It suffices if the two are equivalent within the range of the condition.

However, as described above, in consideration of workability, thermal conductivity and adhesiveness with resin, it is most preferable to use an Al-based material for the base plate and a stainless-based material for the support member. preferable.

With the above-described structure, even if the temperature of the head itself rises, there is a large deviation between the heater position of the base body having a plurality of element substrates arranged on the base plate and the groove position of the top plate. Since it does not occur, good recording can be stably performed.

In addition, the head of the present invention covers the energy generating element array of the plurality of heater boards with respect to the base on which the plurality of heater boards each having the plurality of energy generating elements are arranged on one surface side of the base plate. This is a head configuration with a long top plate (grooved member) attached.

Therefore, unlike the case where a plurality of small heads each having a top plate attached to one heater board are arranged side by side, the ink supply system is not complicated, and a head having a small size and a low cost is provided. can do. Also, by disposing the plurality of heater boards only on one surface side of the base plate, electrical wiring can be simplified. In addition, since a long top plate that covers the energy generating element rows of multiple heater boards is attached to the base, it is possible to prevent the flow direction from being different for each small head, as when the small heads are arranged. To be done. In particular, when one top plate is used as described above, all the flow paths can be made to have the same direction by one-time alignment, and it is possible to easily obtain a long head without print misalignment. it can.

With such a structure, when viewed from the outside, the nozzles are discharged from the nozzle orifices that are aligned with the integrated orifice plate, and the nozzles themselves are also integrated, so that the discharge is uniform and the discharge direction is All of them are available, and it is possible to obtain the ejection performance of an integrated long head.

Further, in the case of a configuration in which small heads are arranged,
It is necessary to perform sealing for each small head in order to prevent the ink from getting wet, but in the case of a long top plate that covers the energy generating element rows of a plurality of heater boards, the number of times of sealing is small. Of course, in the case where there is one top plate as described above, this sealing is the easiest since it only needs to be done once.

As described above, the effect of the present invention can be sufficiently obtained even if a long head is formed by using a plurality of long top plates that cover the energy generating element arrays of a plurality of heater boards. As described above, the case of one top plate is most preferable.

In the above reference example, a top plate provided with an orifice (ejection port) for ejecting ink was shown. When the orifice itself is provided on the top plate as described above, the ejection direction itself of the ink can also be determined on the top plate, so that a head capable of high-quality recording at high speed can be obtained most easily. Even if the head has such a form that the top plate does not have an orifice and the orifice is formed by joining each heater board and the groove, the long top plate of the present invention is used. Thus, the directions of the ink flow paths can be aligned, the stability of the ink ejection direction can be improved, and, in turn, a good image can be obtained.

Next, the recording head of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. As explained so far, the orifice liquid flow path is different from the one in which a plurality of heater boards with discharge energy generating elements are accurately arranged and bonded on a base plate made of glass, silicon, ceramics, metal, etc. An inkjet head was manufactured by joining the built-in top plates. FIG. 6 schematically shows an inkjet cartridge to which such an inkjet head is applied. In this IJC, an inkjet head 500 and an ink tank 501 capable of storing ink to be supplied to the inkjet recording head are integrally formed. With such a configuration, it is possible to provide an ink jet cartridge having an effect as described above.

FIG. 7 shows the most remarkable effect among the recording heads to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 1 is a schematic schematic explanatory diagram of a so-called full line type inkjet recording head in which orifices are arranged in a width corresponding to a recording width of a recording medium and an inkjet recording apparatus thereof.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 600 denotes a full-line ink jet recording head. From this ink jet recording head, ink is ejected toward a recording medium 800 such as paper or cloth conveyed to a recording medium conveying roller 700, This records. In the case of the inkjet recording head of the present invention, since the recording head is manufactured by arranging a plurality of heater boards provided with the ejection energy generating elements, it is possible to easily manufacture a long inkjet recording head such as a full line head.

FIG. 8 shows a recording apparatus equipped with a small recording head. In the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 8, an ink jet recording head cartridge in which an ink tank portion 901 and a recording head portion 902 are attachable / detachable is mounted on a carriage HC, and the carriage and a conveyance for conveying a recording medium 800. It has a motor 903 as a drive source for driving rollers and the like, a carriage shaft 904 for transmitting power from the drive source to the carriage, and the like. Further, it has a signal supply means for supplying a signal for ejecting ink to the inkjet recording head.

Further, in the recording apparatus described so far, the type or number of the ink jet recording heads to be mounted has been described with only one single color ink, but a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities are used. A plurality of units may be provided correspondingly. That is, it goes without saying that the head of the present invention is also used for a color recording apparatus equipped with a plurality of heads corresponding to inks of a plurality of colors. In addition, in the reference example of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid, but an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower, and may be one that softens or liquefies at room temperature, Alternatively, in the inkjet method, the temperature of the ink itself is generally adjusted within a range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is within a stable ejection range. You may use what makes a liquid. In addition, an ink that solidifies in a standing state and liquefies by heating may be used.

Further, in the present invention, a printing device, a printing device and a pretreatment device, which are particularly required to have a long recording head,
It is possible to provide a long head with no print unevenness even in a printing system incorporating a post-processing device, and to provide a printing device and system capable of high-definition and high-quality recording.

Further, by using this ink jet recording head, it is possible to obtain a recording device such as a facsimile machine, a copying machine, a printer or the like, in which the image is not disturbed.

Here, as another reference example, an example of the shape of the top plate will be shown. FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the top plate 200, and FIG.
Only the X-X cross section of is shown. The numbers from 201 to 205 are all the same as before. In FIG. 9, the support member 205 closes most of the inside of the top plate, and has a U-shaped cross section in shape. By doing so, the support member 2
The mechanical rigidity of No. 05 can be remarkably increased, and the warp of the top plate due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the resin portion forming the top plate and the support member can be prevented.

Further, as compared with the case of the supporting member as shown in FIG. 4, the coefficient of thermal expansion can be adjusted not only in the liquid flow passage but also in the liquid chamber portion, so that distortion in the liquid chamber portion is less likely to occur. It is possible to provide a head that can be used for a long period of time.

[0084] FIG. 10 shows the top plate by real施例of the present invention. The support member 205 in FIG. 10 has a pipe shape, and both sides thereof project from the top plate. The pipe is provided with a slit 206, and the inside of the pipe and the liquid chamber 2
01 is in communication. By doing so, the supporting member 205
The advantage is that the pipe itself can be used as a liquid chamber, and the end of the pipe can become an ink joint. Further, it goes without saying that the slits 206 may be holes formed at a certain interval. Further, by doing so, the mechanical rigidity of the supporting member 205 can be remarkably increased, and in order to use the supporting member as the ink supply pipe for preventing the warp of the top plate as well, the supporting member has the rigidity as the supporting member. In addition, it is required to have corrosion resistance to ink. In recent years, acidic and alkaline inks are often used, and materials that are sufficiently resistant to these inks are required, and low cost inks are desired.
Such materials include aluminum alloys and stainless steel. The aluminum alloys are corrosion-resistant aluminum alloys A5052, A5056, A6061, A606.
3 and the like. As stainless steel, SUS
303, 304, 430, 420 and the like. However, aluminum alloy is easier to use from the viewpoint of workability material cost, but stainless steel is preferable from the viewpoint of ink resistance.

Further, in this embodiment, one surface of the supporting member constitutes one surface of the common liquid chamber. With such a configuration, since ink can be directly supplied to the liquid chamber, good ink supply can be performed with a small number of parts.

[0086]

With the configuration described above, a long ink jet recording head having a uniform discharge performance, which is obtained by joining an integral top plate to an integral substrate with an extremely small number of parts, is extremely simple. Can be obtained. Further, unlike the case of using an integral substrate, only good substrates can be selected and arranged, and a high yield can be sufficiently obtained, so that the cost can be reduced.

Further, in the present invention, since the supporting member having the same coefficient of thermal expansion as that of the base plate is included in the grooved member which is the top plate, the temperature rise of the external environment when using the printer and the head It is possible to avoid the positional deviation between the ejection energy generating element and the nozzle due to the thermal expansion difference of the head due to the temperature rise due to the drive of itself, and it is possible to provide the head capable of performing good printing at any temperature.

Further, at this time, by improving the adhesion such as mechanical unevenness on the surface of the support member used for the top plate, the adhesion between the resin forming the top plate and the support member can be easily achieved,
A top plate that easily follows the thermal expansion of the support member at any temperature can be easily obtained.

Further, by forming this support member into a pipe shape, it can be used also as an ink supply pipe, the number of parts can be reduced, and the cost of the head can be further reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a grooved member with a supporting member.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an inkjet recording head according to a reference example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the arrangement of a heater board of the inkjet recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a top plate of an inkjet recording head according to a reference example of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the positional relationship between the heater board and the top plate of the inkjet recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of an inkjet cartridge to which the inkjet recording head of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram conceptually showing a full-line inkjet recording head of the present invention and a recording apparatus equipped with the inkjet recording head.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a recording apparatus equipped with an inkjet cartridge to which the inkjet recording head of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another reference example of a grooved member.

10 is a diagram showing the real施例of grooved member.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a conventional head.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a conventional head.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a conventional head.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 Heater board (element substrate) 101 ejection energy generating element 102 pads 200 top plate 201 Liquid chamber 202 flow path 203 Orifice 204 ink supply port 205 support member 206 slit 300 base plate 301 adhesive 302 sealant 400 wiring board 401 Signal / power supply pad 402 connector 500 inkjet recording head 501 ink tank 600 full line inkjet recording head 700 recording medium transport roller 800 recording media 901 ink tank 902 recording head section 903 motor 904 Carriage axis

Front page continued (72) Inventor Tsuyoshi Orikasa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Masaki Inaba 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Makiko Kimura 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Seiichiro Karita 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Invention Ken Goto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Toshio Kashino 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Haruhiko Terai Tokyo Canon Inc., 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Masami Kasamoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A-6-15824 (JP, a) European Patent application Publication 587346 (EP, a 2) ( 58) investigated the field (Int.Cl. ^7, D Name) B41J 2/05 B41J 2/175

Claims (14)

(57) [Claims] 1. An element substrate provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting a liquid, a support having a plurality of the element substrates arranged on one surface side, and an ejection energy generating element of the plurality of element substrates. A plurality of grooves for forming a flow path corresponding to each of,
A grooved member joined on a support on which the plurality of element substrates are arranged, the grooved member supporting the resin member having the plurality of grooves and the flow path A support member used as a supply pipe for supplying a liquid to the support member, the support member being a material forming the resin member, the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the support member and the support body being a material forming the resin member. A liquid jet head characterized in that the thermal expansion of the grooved member is adjusted by using a material smaller than that of the liquid jet head. 2. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the grooved member has a structure in which the support member is covered with the resin member in a state where both ends of the support member are open. 3. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the support and the support member is 10 × 10 ⁶ or less. 4. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the resin member is made of a resin mainly containing polysulfone. 5. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the support member is made of an aluminum-based metal, and the support member is made of stainless steel. 6. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the liquid is ink. 7. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the energy generator is a heating resistor. 8. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the grooved member has an ejection port provided corresponding to each of the grooves. 9. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the support body constitutes a part of an inner wall of the common liquid chamber. 10. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein the support member is a liquid supply pipe for supplying a liquid to the flow path. 11. The liquid jet head according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the element substrates are arranged so that the energy generating elements are arranged in a width corresponding to a recordable area of a recording medium. 12. A head cartridge which integrally includes the liquid ejecting head according to claim 1 and an ink tank for holding ink to be supplied to the liquid ejecting head. 13. The head cartridge according to claim 12, wherein the ink tank and the liquid ejecting head are detachably connected. 14. A liquid jet head according to any one of claims 1 to 11, a liquid ejecting apparatus having a conveying means for conveying the recording medium.