JPH02187362A - Ink jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve cleaning capability of an ink discharge port and to stably discharge ink by providing a coating member for coating a whole surface of an orifice plate having an ink discharge port except the ink discharge port and the edge of an ink jet recording head. CONSTITUTION:A front face seal 1 coats an orifice plate 6 except the ink discharge port 2 of the orifice plate 6 and front upper and lower edges of an ink jet recording head. Thus, when the ink discharge port 2 is cleaned, it prevents a wiring member from being deleted due to contact of the wiping member moving in a direction (c) to (a) indicated by arrows with the front upper and lower edges of the ink jet recording head, the deviation, peeling of the orifice plate due to the movement of the wiping member. Therefore, when the movement of the wiping member is in a direction parallel to the ink discharge port array, the front right and left edges are coated with the front face seal 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording head having an orifice plate that performs recording by ejecting liquid and forming flying droplets.

[Conventional technology]

In the inkjet recording method (liquid jet recording method), recording is performed by causing droplets of a recording liquid called ink to fly and adhere to a recording material. Inkjet recording devices usually have ejection ports (
orifice), a liquid flow path that communicates with each orifice and has an energy generator that forms flying droplets, and a liquid chamber that communicates with each liquid flow path and stores liquid to be supplied to these flow paths. A common structure is that the recording material is fixed on a carriage that can relatively scan the recording material.

Now, the structure of a conventional recording head and its manufacturing method will be briefly described below with reference to the drawings.

First, as shown in FIG. 3(A), a third
As shown in Figure (B), the ink flow path wall 33 and outer frame 34 made of a cured film of photosensitive resin are formed in advance, and the ink supply hole 3
An ink channel wall cover 35 having a filter 37 bonded to the substrate 6 is laminated on the substrate 31. This laminate is cut and divided along line C-C' in order to optimize the distance between the ink ejection opening (orifice) and the ink ejection pressure generating element 32.

Thereafter, the orifice plate 38 is joined to the cut surface as shown in FIG. 3(C). The orifice plate 38 is made of, for example, resin or metal, and is provided to improve ink ejection characteristics.

The head made as described above is incorporated into the main body of the apparatus to form an inkjet recording apparatus.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The conventional inkjet recording head described above has the following problems.

(+) Cleaning with a wiping member is required at the ink ejection port to prevent twisting, non-ejection, density unevenness, etc. due to adhesion of ink, dust, etc. The orifice plate may come into contact with the plate, causing the orifice plate to separate or
Also, the cleaning member may be scraped off at the end of the head.
Dust such as scraps from the wiping member is generated, reducing durability.

(2) Since the orifice plate is bonded to the head using an adhesive, the adhesive tends to sneak into the ink flow path, resulting in a low manufacturing yield and poor mass productivity.

(3) In order to prevent the adhesive from entering the ink flow path as described above, eliminating the adhesive layer around the ink ejection ports
A gap forms between the orifice plate and the head, causing ink to accumulate and ejection to become unstable.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional techniques described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording head that can improve the cleaning performance of ink ejection ports and perform stable ink ejection.

[Means to solve the problem]

The inkjet recording head of the present invention includes: an ejection port plate for forming ejection ports for ejecting ink; an inkjet main body having an ink path communicating with the ejection ports;
An inkjet recording head comprising: a covering member that covers the entire surface of the ejection port plate excluding the peripheral edge of the ejection port and at least a pair of opposing edges of the inkjet printhead main body, and The ejection port plate is mechanically fixed to the inkjet recording head main body by the covering member.

[Effect]

In the inkjet recording head of the present invention, the covering member covers the entire surface of the orifice plate having the ink jetting ports connected to the ink flow path except for the ink jetting ports, and the covering member further covers at least one pair of opposing inkjet recording heads. The orifice plate is fixed to the inkjet recording head by covering the edges, and the orifice plate is prevented from shifting or peeling without using an adhesive for fixing the orifice plate.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inkjet recording head of this embodiment has an aluminum base plate 9 and a heater board lO.
An ink flow path wall (not shown) and an outer frame 4 (not shown) made of a cured film of a photosensitive resin and an ink supply hole for supplying ink in a chip tank 8 to the ink flow path are provided on a substrate 5 formed of After laminating the cover 3 for the ink flow path wall, the orifice plate 6 in which the ink discharge ports 2 are formed is fixed to the front surface of the inkjet recording head with a front seal 1 which is a covering member. The front face seal 1 covers the orifice plate 6 except for the ink ejection ports 2 of the orifice plate 6, and also covers the upper and lower edges of the front face of the inkjet recording head. by this,
When cleaning the 2 parts of the ink ejection port, the arrows (
c) = Prevents the wiping member from being scraped due to contact between the wiping member (not shown) moving in the direction of (a) and the upper and lower edges of the front surface of the inkjet recording head, and also prevents the orifice plate from shifting or peeling due to the movement of the wiping member. This is to prevent Therefore, if the wiping member moves in a direction parallel to the row of ink ejection ports, the front face seal 1 covers the left and right edges of the front face.

Next, the shape of the opening 7 of the front seal l is determined by considering the moving direction of the wiping member and the ability to remove ink, dust, etc. when cleaning the ink discharge ports 2.
It is desirable that they be formed with a space between them.

Here, the optimum dimensions of the opening 7 with respect to the ink discharge port 2 are shown in Table 1 in correspondence with the moving direction of the wiping member.

Table 1 In this example, since the wiping part and material are in the direction (C) → (A) in FIG. 1, A≧0.3 mm, A'≧
0.3 mm, B≧1 mm, and B'≧0.3 mm.

Furthermore, considering the removability of ink, dust, etc. during cleaning, it is desirable that the opening 7 of the front seal 1 has no level difference with respect to the orifice plate 6, and in this embodiment, it is shown in FIG. 2(A). As in, wiping direction (c) →
In contrast to (A), a tapered part 12 is provided at the edge of the opening 7 on the (C) side of the front seal l, and a step is provided on the orifice plate 6 on the (A) side.
The surface of the front seal 1 is aligned evenly with the surface of the front seal 1. This eliminates dust accumulation due to the difference in level between the front seal 1 and the orifice plate 6 in the wiping direction, and also prevents the wiping member from being scraped due to contact between the edge of the opening 7 of the front seal 1 and the wiping member. .

In addition, when the wiping member moves back and forth in the directions (A) and (C), as shown in FIG. Similarly, it is possible to eliminate dust accumulation and prevent the wiping member from being scraped.

Next, an embodiment in which the orifice plate is integrated with the cover 3 of the ink flow path wall will be described with reference to FIG. 2(C). In this case, the orifice plate portion 13 is formed by extending the cover 3 of the ink flow path wall. This orifice plate portion 13 is provided with a step at the joint portion with the heater boat lO and the aluminum base plate 9.
The stepped portion is covered with a front seal 1 by making the surface even. Furthermore, the front seal 1 is aligned at the step between the chip tank 8 and the orifice plate portion 13 of the cover 3 of the ink flow path wall, and covers the upper edge of the front surface of the inkjet recording head main body. According to this embodiment, the upper orifice plate has an integral structure with the cover 3 of the ink flow path wall, so even if the orifice plate is not covered with the front seal l, the orifice plate part will not shift or peel off. Furthermore, the lower orifice plate 6
Since it is flush with the front seal 1, the wiping direction during cleaning can be moved back and forth in the direction orthogonal to the ink ejection port arrangement, and the removal of ink and dust and prevention of scraping of the wiping member were discussed above. It is possible to obtain the same effect as in the embodiment described above.

As described above, in this embodiment, the moving direction of the wiping member was explained as being perpendicular to the row of ink ejection ports of the inkjet recording head, but even when the moving direction of the wiping member is parallel to the row of ink ejection ports, A similar effect can be obtained by making the front seal 1 cover the inkjet recording head at the left and right edges of the front surface, and by providing a portion of the taper of the opening 7 of the front seal 1 at the left and right opening edges.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a covering member that covers the entire surface of an orifice plate having ink ejection ports except for the ink ejection ports and the edge of the inkjet recording head. Since the wiping member is not scraped due to contact between the edge portion of the recording head and the wiping member, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the performance of the inkjet recording head due to scraped dregs, etc., and it is possible to provide an inkjet recording head with high durability.

Furthermore, since the orifice plate is mechanically fixed to the inkjet recording head by the covering member, there is no need for a fixing adhesive, and there is no need for adhesive to enter the ink flow path, and the orifice plate is fixed by the movement of the wiping member. This prevents misalignment and peeling, and ensures stable ink ejection.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the inkjet recording head of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a conventional example. l...Front seal, 2...Ink discharge port,
3... Ink channel wall cover, 4... Outer frame, 5... Substrate, 6...
Orifice plate, 7... Opening, 8... Chip tank,
9... Aluminum base plate, lO... Heater board, 11... Ink channel, 12... Taper part, 13... Orifice plate part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An inkjet recording head comprising an ejection orifice plate for forming ejection orifices for ejecting ink, and an inkjet recording head main body having an ink path communicating with the ejection orifices. An inkjet recording head comprising a covering member that covers the entire surface of the outlet plate excluding the peripheral edge of the ejection opening and at least a pair of opposing edges of the inkjet recording head main body. 2. The inkjet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the ejection port plate is mechanically fixed to the inkjet recording head main body by the covering member.