JP4923774B2 - Method for manufacturing liquid discharge head, liquid discharge head, and liquid discharge device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is mounted on a manufacturing method of an assembly including a plurality of members, a liquid material discharging device such as an ink jet recording device, a display manufacturing device, an electrode forming device, and a biochip manufacturing device, and a liquid material discharging device. The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head and a manufacturing method thereof.

  In recent years, liquid discharge heads having minute nozzles for discharging liquid have been widely used for printing and industrial applications. For example, in the liquid discharge head disclosed in Patent Document 1, a resin ink supply needle (liquid introduction member) for receiving supply of ink (liquid) from the outside is attached to a resin case (base) at the flange portion. It has a joined structure.

JP 2000-2111130 A

  By the way, although the above-mentioned liquid material introduction member and base are formed by injection molding, orientation may occur in the molecular structure of the resin depending on the flow direction of the resin at the time of injection molding. In particular, when crystalline resin is used, this tendency is strong, and the shape of the molded part may be distorted due to the deviation of the shrinkage rate depending on the orientation. Or the like, leading to a decrease in reliability related to bonding strength and sealing performance.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. An assembly manufacturing method for manufacturing an assembly having excellent reliability, a liquid discharge head having excellent reliability, a manufacturing method thereof, and the liquid It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid material ejection device equipped with a body ejection head.

A manufacturing method of a liquid discharge head according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate on which a supply passage for a liquid is formed, and a liquid introduction member for introducing the liquid into the supply passage. In the method of manufacturing a liquid discharge head, the base and the liquid introduction member are formed of a material containing a crystalline resin, and the material is allowed to flow into the first cavity of the first mold as a molten resin. A step of forming the substrate by injection molding, a step of flowing the material into the second cavity of the second mold as a molten resin, and forming the liquid material introduction member by injection molding, and the first on the substrate. The main flow direction of the molten resin in the second cavity is identified by the mark on the substrate and the liquid material introduction member formed so that the main flow direction of the molten resin in the cavity can be identified. A mark formed liquid material introduction member so as to be positioned, characterized in that it and a step of bonding the liquid material introduction member and the substrate.
A liquid discharge head according to an embodiment of the present invention is produced by the above-described method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head.
In addition, a liquid discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is equipped with the above liquid discharge head.
One embodiment of the present invention is a method of manufacturing an assembly including a first member and a second member, the step of forming the first member by injection molding, and the step of forming the second member by injection molding. And combining the first member and the second member so that the direction related to the injection molding in the first member and the direction related to the injection molding in the second member substantially coincide with each other. It is characterized by having.

  According to the assembly manufacturing method of the present invention, the first member and the second member are combined so that the direction related to the injection molding in the first member and the direction related to the injection molding in the second member substantially coincide with each other. It is supposed to be. As a result, the first member and the second member are coupled in a state in which the orientation directions related to the molecular structure thereof substantially coincide with each other, so that an assembly with excellent reliability can be manufactured.

  The present invention is a method for manufacturing a liquid material discharge head comprising a base body on which a liquid material supply channel is formed, and a liquid material introducing member for introducing the liquid material into the supply channel, the injection molding method Substantially forming the step of forming the substrate by injection molding, the step of forming the liquid material introduction member by injection molding, and the direction of injection molding of the substrate and the direction of injection molding of the liquid material introduction member. A step of joining the first member and the second member so as to coincide with each other.

  According to the manufacturing method of the liquid material discharge head of the present invention, the base body and the liquid material introducing member are arranged so that the direction related to the injection molding in the base material and the direction related to the injection molding in the liquid material introducing member are substantially matched. It comes to join. As a result, the base body and the liquid material introduction member are joined in such a state that the orientation directions related to the molecular structure thereof substantially coincide with each other, so that a liquid material discharge head having excellent reliability can be manufactured. .

Preferably, in the method for manufacturing the liquid material discharge head, the substrate or the liquid material introducing member is formed using a material containing a crystalline resin.
According to the method for manufacturing a liquid material discharge head of the present invention, a liquid material discharge head having excellent resistance to a liquid material due to high chemical stability of a crystalline resin and excellent reliability of a joint is manufactured. be able to.

Preferably, in the method of manufacturing a liquid material discharge head, the base body and the liquid material introducing member substantially have a direction related to the injection molding in the base material and a direction related to the injection molding in the liquid material introducing member. Positioning means for physically or visually defining the relative positional relationship between the substrate and the liquid material introducing member so as to be uniquely joined under such a state that they are physically matched. And
According to the manufacturing method of the liquid material discharge head of the present invention, the positioning unit can easily and suitably define the direction related to the injection molding in the substrate and the direction related to the injection molding in the liquid material introducing member.

  The present invention is a liquid discharge head comprising a substrate on which a supply passage for a liquid is formed, and a liquid introduction member for introducing the liquid into the supply passage, wherein the substrate and the liquid The body introduction member is formed from a material including a resin having an orientation with respect to the molecular structure, and the base and the liquid introduction member include an orientation direction related to the base and an orientation direction related to the liquid introduction member. Are joined to each other so as to substantially coincide with each other.

  According to the liquid discharge head of the present invention, the substrate and the liquid introduction member are bonded in a state where the orientation directions related to the molecular structure thereof substantially coincide with each other. Is excellent.

The liquid material discharge apparatus of the present invention is equipped with the liquid material discharge head.
Since the liquid discharge apparatus of the present invention is equipped with the liquid discharge head, it has excellent reliability.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The embodiment described below is a preferred specific example of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. Unless otherwise stated, the present invention is not limited to these forms. In the drawings referred to in the following description, the vertical and horizontal scales of members or portions may be represented differently from actual ones for convenience of illustration.

(About the overall configuration of the liquid material discharge device)
First, the configuration of the liquid material discharge apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a liquid material discharge apparatus.

  In FIG. 1, a liquid discharge apparatus 100 includes a stage 102 for placing a substrate 101, a carriage 103 facing the substrate 101, a liquid supply mechanism 106 for supplying a liquid to the carriage 103, and a discharge control circuit. 107. The stage 102 is reciprocated in the horizontal direction in the figure with respect to the carriage 103 by the main scanning mechanism 104 (main scanning), and the carriage 103 is moved in the direction orthogonal to the main scanning by the sub scanning mechanism 105 (sub scanning). Is done. The main scanning mechanism 104, the sub-scanning mechanism 105, and the discharge control circuit 107 are comprehensively controlled by the control computer 108.

  The liquid supply mechanism 106 includes, for example, a container that stores a plurality of types of liquid, a transfer pipe that transfers the liquid from the container, and a pressure control unit that controls the supply pressure of the liquid under a certain level. . As the liquid used, liquids such as water and organic solvents, and solutions thereof, as well as liquids in which solid fine particles are dispersed in a liquid, can be employed.

  The carriage 103 includes a plurality of liquid discharge heads 10 (see FIG. 2), and discharges the liquid from the nozzle 20 (see FIG. 2) onto the substrate 101 in response to an electric signal from the discharge control circuit 107. To do. Details will be described later.

  The liquid material ejecting apparatus 100 can arrange (draw) the liquid material in a pattern on the substrate 101 by ejecting the liquid material from the carriage 103 to an arbitrary position of the substrate 101. Then, the arranged liquid material can be solidified by drying or the like to form various patterned functional films.

(About the configuration of the liquid discharge head)
Next, the configuration of the liquid material discharge head will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the liquid material discharge head. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the peripheral structure of the liquid material introduction member.

  The liquid discharge head 10 includes a case assembly 14 for introducing a liquid from a liquid supply mechanism 106 (see FIG. 1), a discharge assembly 15 for discharging the liquid, a discharge control circuit 107 (see FIG. 1), and a flexible wiring. And a circuit board 16 electrically connected via the board 110. The case assembly 14 includes a case 30 serving as a base body having a supply flow path 33 therein, and a liquid material introduction member 40 coupled to the outlet pipe 109 from the liquid material supply mechanism 106. The case assembly 14 of the present embodiment has a configuration in which two liquid material introduction members 40 having the same structure are attached.

  The liquid material introduction member 40 is a hollow needle-like member having an introduction hole 42 in the pointed end portion 41 and an introduction flow path 46 therein, and the opposite side of the pointed end portion 41 is a flange portion 43 having an expanded hem. . The liquid material introduction member 40 is joined to the case 30 at the flange portion 43 by ultrasonic welding.

  The case 30 includes a guide portion 31 that defines an outer peripheral surface 43 a on the outer periphery of the flange portion 43, and a flange attachment portion 32 that receives the lower surface of the flange portion 43 on the inner side of the guide portion 31. The liquid introduced through the introduction hole 42 is supplied to the discharge assembly 15 through the introduction flow path 46, the filter 50, and the supply flow path 33.

  The filter 50 is a member formed by braiding a metal wire into a mesh shape, and is welded to a surface where the communication channel of the supply channel 33 is formed. The filter 50 plays a role of trapping foreign matters contained in the liquid material supplied from the introduction flow path 46 to the supply flow path 33. Note that the width of the introduction channel 46 and the supply channel 33 on the filter 50 side is widened in order to increase the effective area of the filter 50 and reduce the flow resistance (loss head) of ink related to passage. .

  The liquid material introduction member 40 and the case 30 are made of a crystalline resin excellent in chemical stability, in the present embodiment, PPS (PolyPhenylene-Sulfide). This is a consideration for preventing erosion even by liquids of various chemical properties used in industrial applications. Moreover, it is also possible to reinforce strength and chemical resistance by using another material such as a glass material mixed with the above crystalline resin.

  The discharge assembly 15 includes nozzles 20 formed in a predetermined arrangement on one surface, cavities 22 communicating with each of the nozzles 20, and a reservoir 23 that supplies a liquid material to the cavities 22 for each corresponding liquid material type. . The canopy portion 24 of the cavity 22 is movable by the flexible film 25, and the liquid material is discharged from the nozzle 20 by driving the piezoelectric element 26 joined to the canopy portion 24. The drive control of the piezoelectric element 26 is performed for each nozzle 20 by an electrical signal transmitted through the flexible wiring board 110.

  In the joint portion 52, which is an overlapping region between the flange portion 43 and the flange mounting portion 32, a welding protrusion 44 (in FIG. 3, the tip is formed by welding) on the lower surface side of the flange portion 43 as an action portion during ultrasonic welding. Is formed). The welding projection 44 is formed so as to draw a loop along the outer peripheral surface 43a of the flange portion 43, and has a triangular cross-sectional shape as indicated by an imaginary line before joining.

  In the joint portion 52, a molten resin 51 as an intermediate member is interposed between the flange portion 43 (liquid material introduction member 40) and the flange mounting portion 32 (case 30). The molten resin 51 is formed by melting a part of the flange portion 43 (liquid material introduction member 40) and the flange mounting portion 32 (case 30) by ultrasonic welding. It also serves to seal the connection between the flow path 46 and the supply flow path 33.

  On the upper surfaces of the guide portion 31 and the flange portion 43, a mark 35 and a mark 45 are provided as positioning means formed by unevenness on the surface of the member. The marks 35 and 45 serve to define the positional relationship between the liquid material introduction member 40 and the case 30 when the case assembly 14 is assembled (described in detail later).

(About manufacturing method of liquid discharge head)
Next, a manufacturing method (assembly manufacturing method) of the liquid material discharge head will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a molding process of the case. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a molding process of the liquid material introducing member. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an assembling process of the case assembly. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an assembly process of the case assembly.

  The liquid material discharge head 10 shown in FIG. 2 is manufactured by assembling the case assembly 14, the discharge assembly 15, and the circuit board 16 that are separately assembled. Hereinafter, the assembly of the case assembly 14 will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the case assembly 14 is assembled after the case 30 as the first member and the liquid material introduction member 40 as the second member are formed by injection molding (step S1 and step S2 in FIG. 7), respectively. This is done by attaching the filter 50 and the liquid material introducing member 40 to the case 30. Here, the filter 50 is joined to the communication port forming surface 34 of the supply flow path 33 in the case 30 by ultrasonic welding or the like (step S3 in FIG. 7). The liquid material introduction member 40 is joined to the case 30 by ultrasonic welding or the like in a state where the outer peripheral surface 43a of the flange portion 43 is defined by the guide portion 31 and the lower surface portion 43b of the flange portion 43 is defined by the flange mounting portion 32. (Step S4 in FIG. 7).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the mold 60 used in step S <b> 1 includes a cavity 61 corresponding to the case 30 (see FIG. 6), an injection port 63 for injecting resin, and a flow path 64 for guiding the resin to the cavity 61. And a gate 65 that is a resin inlet in the cavity 61. In this embodiment, each mold 60 has two independent cavities 61, and a pair of gates 65 facing each other are formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction of each cavity 61. .

  As shown in FIG. 5, the mold 70 used in step S2 includes a cavity 71 corresponding to the liquid material introduction member 40 (see FIG. 6), an injection port 73 for injecting resin, and a resin cavity. A flow path 74 that leads to 71, and a gate 75 that is a resin inlet in the cavity 71. In the present embodiment, there are four independent cavities 71 for one mold 70, and a gate 75 is formed at one end of a region corresponding to the flange portion 43 (see FIG. 6) of each cavity 71. It has become.

  In step S <b> 1, the molten resin injected from the injection port 63 flows into the cavity 61 along the direction indicated by the arrow through the flow path 64 and the gate 65. In step S2, the molten resin injected from the injection port 73 flows into the cavity 71 through the flow path 74 and the gate 75 along the direction indicated by the arrow. In this embodiment in which PPS is used as the resin, the steps S1 and S2 are performed at a relatively high temperature of mold temperature: 150 ° C. and resin temperature: 300 ° C.

  When the resin is solidified in the cavities 61 and 71, the molecular structure has orientation in relation to the flow direction of the resin during injection molding (the direction of the arrow in the drawing). This is because, when the resin flows, the chain resin molecules are aligned along the flow direction and solidified while maintaining the alignment state.

  Such orientation of the molecular structure causes a deviation of the shrinkage rate at the time of solidification, and as a result, the shape of the molded member depends on the orientation related to the molecular structure. In the case of the present embodiment using PPS, since the shrinkage rate in the resin flow direction is relatively small, the molded member has a shape distorted relatively long in the direction with respect to the designed shape. Become.

  In FIG. 6, an arrow A displayed over the case 30 indicates a direction related to the injection molding in step S <b> 1, that is, a direction corresponding to the main flow direction of the resin in the cavity 61 (see FIG. 4). In other words, it indicates the main orientation direction. In addition, an arrow B displayed in a superimposed manner on the liquid material introduction member 40 in FIG. 6 indicates the direction corresponding to the injection molding in step S2, that is, the direction corresponding to the main flow direction of the resin in the cavity 71 (see FIG. 5). In other words, it can be said to indicate the main orientation direction of the resin.

  As illustrated, the liquid material introduction member 40, the guide portion 31 of the case 30 for defining the flange portion 43 of the liquid material introduction member 40, and the flange mounting portion 32 are shaped like a rotating body with respect to the central axis. Yes. For this reason, when the liquid material introducing member 40 is joined to the case 30 (step S4), if the relative rotational position of the liquid material introducing member 40 and the case 30 in the central axis direction is not specified, the mutual orientation is determined. The directional relationship becomes disjoint, and this may cause inconsistency in the shape of the members at the joint, and may reduce the strength and sealability of the joint.

  In view of such circumstances, in step S4, the relative rotational position in the central axis direction between both members is set so that the direction of the arrow A in the case 30 matches the direction of the arrow B in the liquid material introduction member 40. It is trying to regulate. In the case of the present embodiment, such positioning is visually achieved by using the mark 35 formed on the guide portion 31 of the case 30 and the mark 45 formed on the flange portion 43 of the liquid material introduction member 40. Can be easily performed.

  The marks 35 and 45 are integrally formed as the surface shape of the member when the case 30 and the liquid material introduction member 40 are molded (steps S1 and S2). The position is set so that the direction can be identified based on the main flow direction of the resin in the cavities 61 and 71.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the relative rotational position in the central axis direction between the case 30 and the liquid material introduction member 40 is defined using visual marks. The rotational position may be physically defined by forming concave and convex shapes that can be fitted to each other.
Further, in the molds 60 and 70 used for molding the case 30 and the liquid material introduction member 40, the position and number of the gates in the cavities 61 and 71 are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the gist of the present invention. Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope.
Moreover, the assembly manufacturing method of the present invention can be applied to the assembly (manufacture) of various assemblies having a plurality of members in addition to the assembly of the case assembly described above.
Moreover, each structure of embodiment can combine these suitably, can be abbreviate | omitted, or can combine with the other structure which is not shown in figure.

The figure which shows the whole structure of a liquid discharger. The figure which shows the whole structure of a liquid discharge head. Sectional drawing which shows the periphery structure of a liquid body introduction member. The figure which shows the molding process of a case. The figure which shows the formation process of a liquid body introduction member. The perspective view which shows the assembly process of a case assembly. The flowchart which shows the assembly process of a case assembly.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Liquid discharge head, 14 ... Case assembly, 30 ... Case as 1st member, 31 ... Guide part, 32 ... Flange mounting part, 33 ... Supply flow path, 35 ... Mark as positioning means, 40 ... 2nd Liquid introduction member as member, 43 ... flange portion, 43a ... outer peripheral surface of flange portion, 43b ... lower surface portion of flange portion, 44 ... welding projection, 45 ... mark as positioning means, 46 ... introduction flow path, 50 ... Filter, 51 ... Molten resin, 52 ... Joint, 60 ... Mold, 61 ... Cavity, 63 ... Inlet, 64 ... Channel, 65 ... Gate, 70 ... Mold, 71 ... Cavity, 73 ... Inlet, 74 ... Flow path, 75 ... Gate, 100 ... Liquid material discharge device.

Claims (3)

A manufacturing method of a liquid discharge head comprising a substrate on which a supply passage for a liquid is formed, and a liquid introduction member for introducing the liquid into the supply passage,
The substrate and the liquid material introduction member is formed of a material containing a crystalline resin,
The material allowed to flow into the first cavity of the first mold as a molten resin, and forming the substrate by injection molding,
The material to flow into the second cavity of the second mold as the molten resin, and forming the liquid material introduction member by injection molding,
The main flow direction of the molten resin in the second cavity is identified by the mark on the substrate and the liquid material introduction member formed so that the main flow direction of the molten resin in the first cavity can be identified on the substrate. Positioning the mark of the liquid material introduction member formed so as to be possible, and joining the base body and the liquid material introduction member;
A method for producing a liquid discharge head, comprising:   A liquid discharge head produced by the method of manufacturing a liquid discharge head according to claim 1.   A liquid material discharge apparatus equipped with the liquid material discharge head according to claim 2.

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