JPH058393A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an electrostatic ink jet recorder capable of setting an optimum recording condition with a simplified structure. CONSTITUTION:An insulating thin plate 202 is provided with a recessed opening 203 having a diameter phi2. An ink delivery port 204 having a diameter PHI1 is further formed at the center of the bottom of the opening 203. Electrodes 206 and 207 are respectively provided around these openings. The ink delivery port 204 is connected to an ink chamber 205. Where a distance from the surface of the ink delivery port 204 to the electrode 206 around the recessed opening 203 is L, relations of 2<=phi2/phi1<=10 and 1<=L/phi1<=20 are met. In this manner, an electrostatic ink jet recorder capable of setting optimum recording characteristics with a simplified structure can be obtained with a superiority with respect to a cost, an assembling method, and a reliability.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for recording characters, figures and the like on an object to be recorded by ejecting ink from minute openings.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a printer using an ink jet recording system has been widely used as a terminal device for personal computers and CAD. In this ink jet recording system, an ink jet recording apparatus in which air flow and electrostatic force are used to eject ink from a minute opening is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-120452 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-201205.
A configuration as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-146860 is known. Hereinafter, a conventional inkjet recording device will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic partial sectional view of an ink jet recording apparatus. An air nozzle plate 102 made of an insulating material is attached to the tip of the outer wall of the body member 101, an ink nozzle plate 103 made of an insulating material is attached to the tip of the inner wall, and an air chamber 104 is provided between the outer wall and the inner wall of the body member 101. An air flow path 105 that is formed and communicates with the air chamber 104 is formed between the air nozzle plate 102 and the ink nozzle plate 103, and an ink chamber 106 is formed inside the ink nozzle plate 103. The ink nozzle plate 103 has an ink ejection port 107.
Are formed, and the ink discharge port 10 is formed on the air nozzle plate 102.
The air discharge port 108 is formed so as to oppose to 7. An electrode 109 is provided on the outer surface of the air nozzle plate 102 at the outer circumference of the air ejection port 108. In addition, the ink chamber 10
An electrode 114 is provided around the ink ejection port 107 in the nozzle 6. The air chamber 104 is connected to an air supply source 112 by an air supply pipe 110, and the ink chamber 106 is connected to an ink supply source 113 by an ink supply pipe 111. The electrodes 109 and 114 are connected to the signal source 115.

Next, the operation of the above structure will be described. Air is supplied from the air supply source 112 to the air chamber 114.
Is sent to the air flow path 105 as an air layer at a constant flow velocity while making a sharp bend, and this air makes a sharp bend near the air ejection port 108 and the ink ejection port 107, It is flowing out from 108. On the other hand, ink is supplied from the ink supply source 113 to the ink chamber 106, and the ink supply source 113 and the ink chamber 106 are supplied by the air pressure sent from the air supply source 112.
A constant pressure is applied to the ink inside. As a result, when the ink jet recording apparatus is not recording, the air pressure in the vicinity of the ink ejection port 107 caused by the air flow and the ink pressure in the ink ejection port 107 become substantially equal, and the meniscus of the ink generated in the ink ejection port 107 is kept stationary. Will be done. Then, when a potential difference is generated between the electrode 109 and the electrode 114, the meniscus of the ink generated in the ink ejection port 107 is extended toward the air ejection port 108 by the electrostatic force due to this potential difference. Ink ejection port 10
Since an abrupt change in the pressure gradient is caused by the air flow in the air flow path 105 from 7 to the air ejection port 108, the ink meniscus of the ink ejection port 107 is rapidly accelerated when it is stretched for a certain length or more, It flies in the air flow flowing out from the air discharge port 108.

[0005]

In the ink jet recording apparatus using the air flow and electrostatic force described above,
As for the recording characteristics, it is driven at a relatively low voltage (500 V or less) in spite of using electrostatic force, and the response is good (10
~ 20 kHz), and further fine dot formation (20-3
0 μmφ) is extremely excellent.

However, there are some problems other than the recording characteristics. First of all, an air supply system including the air supply source 112 and the air supply pipe 110 is required.
The existence of this will definitely raise the cost. Furthermore, the reliability problem of the air supply system arises. That is, the problem of dust existing in the supply air, the problem of constant air pressure, and the like correspond to this. In order to deal with these, a method of using a filter or a method of detecting air pressure and controlling by applying electric feedback is taken, but the apparatus becomes complicated correspondingly and the cost is further increased. ..

Secondly, there is a problem regarding the construction method. In the assembly, when the ink ejection port 107 and the air ejection port 108 are arranged on the coaxial concentric circle, it is necessary to keep the interval of the air flow paths 105 constant with high accuracy. This interval is a little less than 100 μm, and highly accurate parallelism is required, and the variation must be within several μm. This is because this interval greatly affects the air pressure in the vicinity of the ink ejection port 107. That is, as the distance increases, the air pressure in the vicinity of the ink ejection port 107 rises and approaches the pressure in the ink chamber 106, and the ink meniscus formed in the ink ejection port 107 is no longer held in a shape pushed out to the air ejection port 108 side. The ink ejection amount and the responsiveness also decrease. On the other hand, when this interval becomes narrow, both the ink ejection amount and the responsiveness increase, but the ejection becomes unstable. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain an optimum air flow path interval that can balance these.

As described above, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, there are problems such as the cost due to the existence of the air supply system and the need for high technology because high accuracy is required at the time of assembly. It was a big issue.

In another electrostatic suction type ink jet recording system, for example, a structure (not shown) as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-208062, a gap between the ink ejection opening and the electrode opening is wider than each opening. Since it is composed of a spatial area of an area, it is extremely disadvantageous when nozzles are arranged at high density in the multi-nozzle system. In addition, if fine dust, ink, or the like enters this space region, the state of the electric field changes, and as a result, the ejection state becomes unstable, and reliability tends to be a problem. In addition, from the viewpoint of stability of recording characteristics, there is a problem in that alignment between the ink ejection openings and the electrode openings, securing parallelism, and difficulty in assembly are involved.

[0010]

The present invention solves the above problems.
To determine the diameter of the opening formed in a thin plate of insulating material φ ₂
And the diameter of the opening formed in the center of the bottom
₁Ink discharge port and the first electrode arranged around the concave part
A second electrode arranged near the ink ejection port, and a first electrode
And the signal source connected to the second electrode and the ink ejection port.
The ink chamber that passes through the
2 ≤ φ, where L is the distance to the electrode ₂/ Φ₁≤1
0,1 ≦ L / φ₁A structure that satisfies the relationship of ≦ 20
Is.

[0011]

According to the present invention, by applying a signal voltage between the electrodes in the above-mentioned structure, the ink meniscus formed at the ink ejection port is extended and the ink is stably ejected to the outside through the recessed portion opening. In addition, it is possible to record with high accuracy, eliminate the need for highly accurate assembly, and reduce the cost.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the opening of FIG. Thin plate made of insulator 2
02, a concave opening 203 is formed, and a fine ink ejection port 204 is formed in the center of the bottom portion thereof. Concave opening 2
A first electrode 206 is arranged on the peripheral surface of 03, and a second electrode 207 is arranged on the back surface in the vicinity of the ink ejection port 204, and each is connected to a signal source 212. The ink ejection port 204 is adjacent to and communicates with the ink chamber 205 formed by the body member 201. The ink chamber 205 is further connected to an ink tank 209 via an ink supply pipe 208. In addition, as shown in FIG.
The ink-repellent substance 213 is applied to the inner wall and the periphery of the ink ejection port 204 and the outer periphery of the ink ejection port 204.
The ink meniscus is held by the outer edge of the. A recording paper 212 is arranged on the front surface of the thin plate 202 at a relatively short distance (2 mm or less). Ink ejection port 20
4, the diameter of the concave opening 203 is 2 to 10 μm.
It is set to about double.

In the above structure, when a signal voltage is applied from the signal source 211 between the first electrode 206 and the second electrode 207, an electric field is concentrated on the surface of the ink meniscus formed at the tip of the ink ejection port 204, and the ink is electrostatically generated. Is drawn out, becomes a string shape, and flies outward along the center line of the concave opening 203 and adheres to the recording paper 212. Recording paper 212
When the distance between the thin plate 202 and the thin plate 202 is too large, the flying ink returns and is attracted to and adheres to the first electrode 206. Therefore, this distance must be narrowed as described above.

The factors that determine the recording characteristics include the shapes of the ink ejection openings 204 and the concave openings 203, the thickness and relative permittivity of the thin plate 202, and the physical properties of the ink. Thin plate 202
The effective range of the relative permittivity is about 1 to 8. The smaller the value, the better the response and the lower the driving voltage. The specific resistance is important in the physical properties of the ink, and a stable stringing state is obtained in the range of 10 ⁴ to 10 ⁸ Ωcm.

The ink-repellent substance 213 applied to the inner wall and the periphery of the concave opening 203 and the outer periphery of the ink ejection port 204 shown in FIG. 2 is used in addition to holding the ink meniscus at the outer edge of the ink ejection port 204. It also has the effect of not staining the part with excess ink. If ink adheres to and stains this portion, the applied state of the electric field may change subtly, and the recording characteristics may be affected. However, when the material of the thin plate 202 already has ink repellency such as Teflon, the application of the ink repellant substance 213 is unnecessary.

Next, the characteristics of this head will be shown. Figure 3 is the diameter phi ₁ of the ink discharge port 204, shows the relationship between the diameter phi ₂ and the recording characteristics of the concave opening 203. Diameter ratio φ ₂ / on the horizontal axis
φ ₁ (φ ₁ = fixed at 0.06 mm) is taken, and the vertical axis shows electric field strength and ejection stability. The electric field strength represents the energy for drawing ink and is related to the signal voltage. The ejection stability represents the probability that the ejected ink swing angle will be 0.5 degrees or less, and the closer it is to 1, the more stable recording can be performed. From FIG. 3, the electric field strength decreases inversely with the quadratic function with φ ₂ / φ ₁ . On the other hand, the ejection stability sharply drops below φ ₂ / φ ₁ = 2 and below. SEQ density of to the φ ₂ / φ ₁ considering the range of the nozzle from the figure is about _{2 ≦ φ 2 / φ 1 ≦} 10 is said to be effective.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the diameter φ _{1 of} the ink ejection port 204, the distance L from the upper surface of the ink ejection port 204 to the first electrode, and the recording characteristics. Horizontal axis shows ratio to diameter L / φ
₁ (fixed at φ ₁ = 0.06 mm) is taken by a log scale, and the vertical axis shows the minimum voltage at which ink can be ejected, that is, the threshold voltage and ejection stability (described above). When the threshold voltage is around L / φ ₁ = 20, the degree of increase becomes stronger when the threshold voltage exceeds L / φ ₁ = 20, and the ejection stability sharply decreases when L / φ ₁ = 1 and below. From the above, L /
The range of phi ₁ can be considered as _{1 ≦ L / φ 1 ≦ 20} .

The recording characteristics of the present invention are slightly inferior to the conventional example shown in FIG. 5 in both responsiveness and drive voltage, but the structure is simple and extremely advantageous in the assembling method, and simplification and cost reduction are achieved. At the same time, the optimum recording characteristics can be set at the same time.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, a concave opening having a diameter of φ ₂ is formed in a thin plate of an insulating material, and an ink ejection opening having a diameter of φ ₁ is further formed at the center of the bottom portion, and the periphery of each opening is formed. When the distance from the upper surface of the ink ejection port to the electrode around the concave opening is 2 ≦ φ ₂ / φ ₁ ≦ 10, 1 ≦ L
By satisfying the relationship of / φ ₁ ≦ 20,
It is possible to provide an electrostatic suction type inkjet recording device that is simple and can set the optimum recording characteristics, and has excellent advantages in cost, assembly method, and reliability, and the effect is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an opening in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between φ ₂ / φ ₁ and the electric field strength and ejection stability.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between L / φ ₁ , threshold voltage, and ejection stability.

FIG. 5 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a conventional inkjet recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Body Member 102 Air Nozzle Plate 103 Ink Nozzle Plate 104 Air Chamber 105 Air Flow Path 106 Ink Chamber 107 Ink Ejection Port 108 Air Ejection Port 109 Electrode 110 Air Supply Pipe 111 Ink Supply Pipe 112 Air Supply Source 113 Ink Supply Source 114 Electrode 115 Signal source 201 Body member 202 Thin plate 203 Recessed opening 204 Ink ejection port 205 First electrode 206 Second electrode 207 Ink chamber 208 Ink supply pipe 209 Ink tank 210 Air vent hole 211 Signal source 212 Recording paper 213 Ink repellent substance

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shuko Kanematsu 3-10-1 Higashisanda, Tama-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Matsushita Giken Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

What is claimed is: 1. An opening diameter φ ₂ formed in a thin plate of an insulating material.
And the diameter of the opening formed in the center of the bottom
₁ ink discharge port, a first electrode arranged around the concave portion, a second electrode arranged in the vicinity of the ink discharge port, and a signal source connected to the first and second electrodes , 2 ≦ φ ₂ / φ ₁ ≦ 10, ₁ ≦ L / φ _{1 where} L is the distance from the upper surface of the ink ejection port to the first electrode, the ink chamber communicating with the ink ejection port Inkjet recording apparatus characterized by satisfying a relationship of ≤20