JPH01110155A - Printer head for thermal ink jet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable ink to fly effectively by a method wherein a heating material of a shape having a plurality of projections and micro holes keeping ink contained in a sliding free ink sheet above the projections come into contact with each other in a pair form. CONSTITUTION:A projected pattern of a heating resistor 11 is formed on an insulating substrate 10 so that an area of the heating resistor 11 become several times an area of micro holes 15a of an ink sheet 15, and lead electrodes 12 are formed thereon. Further, there is a sliding free ink sheet 15 having many micro holes 15a on a heating material having a plurality of projections on which an oxidation preventive film 13 and an abrasive resistant film 14 are respectively formed. Ink 16 is kept in those micro holes 15a. For a printer head for thermal ink jet, the ink sheet 15 slides, and the ink kept in the micro holes 15a generates bubbles by a recording electric pulse signal at parts where the micro holes 15a are located above the projected heating material 17a to be flown.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is directed to an ink sheet in which a large number of micropores in an ink sheet are filled with ink, which is efficiently ejected to a recording paper by heat from a plurality of protruding heating elements. The present invention relates to a thermal inkjet print head.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention relates to a print head for thermal inkjet, and has a structure in which a plurality of protruding surfaces of a heating element are formed on an insulating base material, each having a heating resistor, a lead electrode, an oxidation prevention film, and an abrasion resistant film. It becomes. Further, there is a slidable ink sheet having a large number of micropores on top of the ink sheet, and the ink is held in the micropores of the ink sheet. Further, the plurality of protruding portions on the surface of the heating element and each of the micropores of the slidable ink sheet having a large number of micropores located above the portions are configured to contact each other in pairs. With the configuration described above, the energy consumption required to cause the ink in the micropores in the ink sheet to bounce and fly is reduced by applying a recording electric pulse signal to the print head, and efficient flying is possible. Become.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, inkjet methods, thermal methods, etc. have been proposed as non-impact recording methods, but a new type of recording method uses fine holes in the ink sheet as nozzles and brings a heating element such as a thermal head into contact with the ink sheet. , by heating the ink held on this ink sheet, bubbles are generated in the heated ink, and the bubbles are caused to fly by bumping to form a predetermined print.
No. 71260 is out.

In addition, as shown in a cross-sectional view in FIG. 3, in a print head used in a conventional thermal inkjet, a heating resistor 2, a lead electrode 3, an anti-oxidation film 4, an abrasion-resistant film 5 are provided on an insulating base material 1. An ink sheet 6 having a large number of micropores 6a and an ink 7 are held on the heating element. By applying a recording electric pulse signal to this print head,
The ink 7 in the micropores 6a of the ink sheet 6 is rapidly heated and bubbles are generated, and the pressure of the ink 7 causes the ink 7 to fly from the ink sheet toward the recording paper and adhere thereto, thereby performing recording.

However, as shown in the front view of FIG. 4, the print head used in the conventional thermal inkjet has a structure in which a plurality of fine holes 6a of the ink sheet 6 are lined up in contact with the surface of the heating element 8. Because of this, the heat that should be used to heat the ink 7 propagates to the ink sheet 6 and is not used effectively, leading to problems such as extremely low efficiency, such as increased energy consumption required to cause the ink 7 to flash. there were.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As described above, the print head used for conventional thermal inkjet is not configured for thermal inkjet, so the heating element surface propagates to the ink sheet and is not used effectively, resulting in the energy consumption required to cause the ink to bump and fly. There was a problem that the number of units was too large, which was very inefficient.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has a configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

That is, the surface of the heating element 17 in which the heating resistor 11, the lead electrode 12, the anti-oxidation film 13, and the wear-resistant film 14 are respectively formed on the insulating base material 10 has a structure in which a plurality of protrusions are formed, and the upper part of the heating element 17 has a protruding structure. There is a slidable ink sheet 15 having a large number of micropores 15a, and the ink 16 is held in the micropores 15a of the ink sheet 15. Further, the plurality of protruding heating elements 17a on the surface of the heating element 17 and the fine holes 15a of the slidable ink sheet 15 having a large number of fine holes 15a above the heating elements 17a are configured so as to be in contact with each other in pairs. There is.

[Effect]

By configuring as above, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2
The heating element 17 shown in the figure has a plurality of protruding surfaces.
Since the part 8 and the fine holes 15a of the slidable ink sheet 15 having a large number of fine holes 15a on the upper part are configured to be in contact with each other, a recording electric pulse signal is applied to the print head. By doing so, less energy is required to cause the ink 16 in the fine pores 15a of the ink sheet 15 to fly by bumping, and efficient flying becomes possible. It also has an effect on the lifespan of the heating element.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a thermal inkjet print head of the present invention.゛This thermal inkjet print head has a heating resistor 11 on an insulating base material 10 and a fine hole 1 of an ink sheet 15.
A protruding pattern is formed to have an area several times that of 5a, and a lead electrode 12 is formed on it. Furthermore, there is a slidable ink sheet 15 having a large number of micropores 15a on a plurality of protruding heating elements each having an anti-oxidation film 13 and an abrasion-resistant film 14 formed thereon, and the ink 16 enters the micropores 15a. The configuration is maintained.

At this time, the number of micropores 15a of the ink sheet 15 is 10~
The ink sheet has a diameter of 200 μm and is made of nickel.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the positional relationship between the fine holes and the protruding heating element of this thermal inkjet print head. To explain with reference to the figure, the area of the protruding heating element 17a is several times the area of the micropore 15a of the upper ink sheet 15, and each pinch is formed with a thickness of 40 to 100 microns.

In the thermal inkjet print head configured as described above, the ink sheet 15 slides, and the ink 16 held in the micro holes 15a is heated by electric pulses for recording at the portion where the micro holes 15a are located above the protruding heating element 17a. A bubble is generated by the signal and sent flying. It has been found that this recording electric pulse signal consumes approximately 10 to 30% less energy than a conventional print head, ie, one in which the entire surface of the heating element is in contact with the ink sheet.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the heating element having a shape in which a plurality of heating elements are protruded and the fine holes holding ink in the slidable ink sheet above the heating element are brought into contact with each other in pairs. , the heat heated to the ink sheet does not escape, allowing the ink to fly efficiently. In other words, the energy consumption due to the recording electric pulse signal required for printing is reduced.

This also extends the life of the heating element and reduces changes in print quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a thermal inkjet print head according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of a thermal inkjet printhead according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional thermal print head, and FIG. 4 is a conventional thermal print head. FIG. 3 is a front view of the head. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Insulating base material 11... Heat generating resistor 12... Lead electrode 13... Anti-oxidation film 14... Wear-resistant film, 15... Ink sheet 15a... Fine pores 16...・Ink 17...Heating element 17a...Protruding heating element Applicant: Seiko Electronic Industries, Ltd. Figure 1 Front view of the print head Figure 2

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a thermal inkjet print head consisting of a heating element array composed of a plurality of heating elements and a slidable ink sheet having a large number of micropores on the top thereof,
A thermal inkjet print head characterized in that the heating element has a structure in which a plurality of surfaces protrude. (2) It is characterized in that a plurality of protruding parts on the surface of the heating element and each micropore of the slid ink sheet having a large number of micropores on the surface thereof are configured so as to be in contact with each other in pairs. A thermal inkjet print head according to claim 1.