JPH07202388A - Pressure applying member and information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a pressure applying member which can apply pressure in a small space and, further, which is simple in construction and low in cost by a method wherein the member is made of a wire which is partially coiled and pressure is obtained by the distortion of the coiled part or the bent of the part other than the coiled part. CONSTITUTION:A step part 1b is provided on the part of a recording head 1 to which a pressure is applied by a pressure applying member 3. When the recording head 1 is attached, as the step part 1b exists, a partial pressure which presses the recording head 1 downward is applied to the recording head 1 by the pressure applying member 3 and the recording head 1 is pressed against the bottom of a carriage 2. With this constitution, a proper click feeling can be obtained when the recording head 1 is attached, so that the attaching/ detaching operation of the recording head 1 to/from the carriage 2 can be improved. Further, even if an unexpected force pushing up the recording head 1 is applied, the head 1 is not easily detached from the carriage 2, so that the compression contact state between the electrodes of the head 1 and the carriage 2 is stable and the electrical connection is not deteriorated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pressure-applying member, and more particularly to a pressure-applying member for press-connecting opposing electric contacts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a method has been proposed in which opposing electrical contacts are pressed into electrical contact to be electrically coupled. For example, in a recording device such as a printer, the replaceable electrical contacts on the recording head side and the recording head are used. The following method has been proposed as a method for press-contacting and electrically connecting to an electric contact on the side of a carriage that detachably mounts. This will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 51 is a recording head for recording on a recording medium, and a signal is transmitted from a control unit (not shown) on the apparatus main body side via a cable 52 to operate. The cable 52 has an electrode portion 54 that is electrically coupled to the electrode portion 53 of the recording head 51.
54 is arranged on a carriage 56 via a rubber pad 55. A plurality of electrodes 53a are provided on the electrode portion 53 on the head side, and a plurality of electrodes 54a are provided on the electrode portion 54 on the main body side. Further, a rubber pad 55 interposed between the electrode portion 54 and the carriage 56 is provided with a boss portion 55a at a position corresponding to the electrode 54a. Therefore, when the recording head 51 is moved in the direction of the arrow, the head side electrode 53a and the corresponding main body side electrode 54a are brought into pressure contact with each other, and the boss portion 55a of the rubber pad 55 is elastically deformed, so that the electrodes 53a, 54a are They are electrically coupled (conducted) to each other in a stable state. The recording head 51 stops its movement by a stopper (not shown) and is positioned and held at a predetermined position. Further, the pressure is controlled by controlling the deformation amount of the boss portion 55a of the rubber pad 55.

Here, pressure applying means for urging the recording head 51 in the arrow direction is required.
If there are 30 electrodes for 50 gf, 1500 gf of urging force is required. Conventionally, such a biasing force has been obtained by a tension coil spring, a compression coil spring, a leaf spring, or the like.

[0005]

However, in the pressure applying means using the tension coil spring or the compression coil spring, it is difficult to directly abut the spring itself on the recording head because of the shape of the spring. In many cases, pressure is applied through the members, which increases the number of parts and causes a cost increase. Further, in the pressure applying means, in many cases, due to the spring configuration, an operating lever or the like is provided to apply and release the pressure by operating the lever, so that the operation of mounting the recording head on the carriage is performed. Was inconvenient due to multiple operations. Furthermore, since the space for the lever is required, it has been an obstacle to development in recent years as the size of the device has been reduced.

In many cases, the pressure applying means using the leaf spring is constructed so that the leaf spring is brought into direct contact with the recording head to apply pressure. The score is small and the configuration is simple. However, using leaf springs, for example,
In order to obtain a pressure of 1500 gf or more, a leaf spring having a certain size is required, which is difficult to apply to a small recording device. Further, unlike the coil spring described above, the leaf spring can obtain a large pressure with a small displacement, but the spring constant becomes large, so that it is not suitable to manage the variation in pressure. A large displacement of the leaf spring can be used to suppress the spring constant to a low level, but it is difficult to secure a space in a small recording device.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to apply a stable pressure even in a small space, and a simple structure and low cost. It is to provide a member.

[0008]

A typical structure of the present invention for achieving the above object is to provide a pressure applying member for applying pressure to press-connect electrical contacts, and a wire member of which a part is a coil shape. It is characterized in that the pressure is obtained by twisting the coil portion or bending the portion other than the coil portion.

[0009]

In the pressure applying member having the above-mentioned structure, pressure is obtained by twisting the coil portion of the wire material having a part of a coil, so that a large and stable pressure can be applied in a small space. Moreover, since the number of parts is small, the structure is simple and the cost can be reduced.

[0010]

【Example】

[First Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall outline of a recording apparatus as an information processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a replaceable recording head as an operating portion, which operates in response to a signal from the main body of the apparatus. The recording head in this embodiment is integrally formed with the ink tank. In addition, the present apparatus uses an inkjet recording method in which ink is ejected from a recording head to perform recording. That is, this recording head has a fine liquid discharge port (orifice), a liquid passage and an energy acting portion provided in a part of this liquid passage, and an energy generating means for generating a droplet forming energy that acts on the liquid in the acting portion. And so on.

As the energy generating means for generating such energy, a recording method using an electromechanical transducer such as a piezo element, electromagnetic waves such as a laser are irradiated to generate heat, and droplets are ejected by the action of the heat generation. There are a recording method using an energy generating means, a recording method using an energy generating means that heats a liquid by an electrothermal converter such as a heating element having a heating resistor, and ejects the liquid.

Among them, a recording head used in an ink jet recording method for ejecting a liquid by thermal energy has a high density of liquid ejection ports (orifices) for ejecting recording liquid droplets to form ejection liquid droplets. Since they can be arranged, high resolution recording is possible. Among them, the recording head using the electrothermal converter as the energy generating means can easily be made compact, and has the advantages of the IC technology and the microfabrication technology, which have been remarkably improved in technology and reliability in the recent semiconductor field. This is advantageous because it can be used in two parts, high-density mounting is easy, and the manufacturing cost is low.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a carriage as a mounting portion, which is removably mounted with the recording head 1 and reciprocates in the main scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the recording medium conveyance direction). Reference numeral 3 denotes a pressure applying member, which is for electrically contacting the electric contact on the recording head side with the electric contact on the carriage side when the recording head 1 is mounted on the carriage 2 so as to electrically connect the two. The pressure contact of the electric contacts by the pressure applying member will be described later. A lead screw 6 is engaged with a spiral groove 6a and a pin (not shown) of the carriage 2, and the carriage 2 is scanned in the main scanning direction by the forward and reverse rotations of the lead screw 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes a conveying roller, and 8 denotes a pinch roller that comes into pressure contact with the conveying roller 7, and conveys the recording medium inserted through the insertion port 9 in the sub-scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the carriage movement direction). 10 is a recovery system,
Prevents clogging of the ink discharge port of the recording head 1,
In addition, the discharge port is capped so as not to dry. The position of the recovery system 10 becomes the home position.

Next, the control system of the recording apparatus constructed as described above will be explained. In FIG. 2, in FIG.
Is a PPI (Programmable Peripheral Interface), which receives command signals and recording information signals sent from a host device such as a computer in parallel and transfers them to the MPU 12, which will be described later, and controls the console 13 and home position sensor. Performs 14 input processes.

Reference numeral 12 denotes an MPU (micro processing unit), which controls each unit in the recording apparatus. Reference numeral 15 is a RAM for storing received signals, 16 is a font generating ROM for outputting images such as characters and symbols, and 17 is the MPU 12
This is a control ROM that stores the processing procedure executed by the.
Each of these units is controlled by the MPU 12 via an address bus 18 and a data bus 19.

Reference numeral 20 is a carriage motor that serves as a drive source for moving the carriage, 21 is a carry motor that serves as a drive source for rotating the carry roller that carries the recording medium, and 22.
Is a capping motor that serves as a drive source for driving a recovery system for shutting off the ink ejection ports of the recording head from the outside air. 23 is a motor driver for driving the carriage motor 20, 24 is a motor driver for driving the carry motor 21, and 25 is a motor driver for driving the capping motor 22.

The console 13 is provided with a keyboard switch, a display lamp and the like. The home position sensor 14 is provided near the recovery system 10 shown in FIG. 1 and detects that the carriage 2 carrying the recording head 1 has reached the home position. A sheet sensor 26 detects whether or not a recording medium is present, and detects whether or not the recording medium is supplied to the recording unit. Reference numeral 27 denotes a head driver for driving the recording head 1 according to the recording information signal. Reference numeral 28 denotes a power supply unit that supplies power to each of the above units, and has an AC adapter and a battery as a drive power supply device.

In the above configuration, the MPU 12 is the PPI 11
It is connected to a host device such as a computer via a computer, and stores commands and recording information signals sent from the host device, the processing procedure of the program stored in the control ROM 17 and the recording information stored in the RAM 15. The recording operation is controlled based on this.

Next, the electrical contacts of the recording head 1, the electrical contacts of the carriage 2, and the pressure applying member 3 for pressing the electrical contacts will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 4 is an electrode portion as an electric contact on the recording head 1 side, and a plurality of electrodes 4a are formed as conductor portions.
5 is an electrode portion as an electric contact on the carriage 2 side,
A plurality of electrodes 5a are formed as conductor portions. still,
The electrode portion 5 of the carriage 2 is provided on a part of a flexible cable (not shown) made of polyimide or the like, and the cable is connected to the control system described above. Further, the electrode 5a on the carriage side is the electrode 4a on the recording head side.
It is projected so that it is easy to contact with. Further, the electrode portion 5
A rubber pad (not shown) as an elastic body is provided between the carriage 2 and the carriage 2. The pressure applying member 3 for press-contacting the electrode 4a on the recording head side and the electrode 5a on the carriage side is formed by bending a wire material (stainless steel, piano wire, etc.) into a U-shape to deform the arm portion 3a. The coil portion 3b is formed, and both ends thereof are processed into a coil shape to form a coil portion 3b, and the end portion 3c is linearly extended. In the pressure applying member 3, the coil portion 3b is fitted into a boss (not shown) of the carriage 2, and an end portion 3c linearly extended from the coil portion 3b is fixed to the carriage 2.

Next, the attaching / detaching operation of the recording head 1 with respect to the carriage 2 will be described with reference to FIG. First, FIG.
As shown in (a), the recording head 1 is inserted into the carriage 2 from diagonally above so that the electrodes contact each other.
When the vicinity of the knob 1a of the recording head 1 is pressed from this state, the chamfered portion (R shape in this embodiment) of the recording head 1 moves downward while being guided by the arm portion 3a of the pressure applying member 3,
Finally, as shown in FIG. 4B, the recording head 1 is mounted on the carriage 2. At this time, pressure is generated while the coil portion 3b of the pressure applying member 3 is twisted, and when the recording head 1 is mounted on the carriage 2 as shown in FIG. And the electrical contacts of are electrically pressed and connected. In order to take out the recording head 1 from the carriage 2, first, the knob 1a of the recording head 1 is pulled up to release the pressure by the pressure applying member 3 and then held in an inclined state as shown in FIG. 4 (a). The portion of the recording head 1 protruding from the carriage 2 is pinched and taken out.

As shown in FIG. 4C, the recording head 1
By providing the step portion 1b at the pressure applying portion by the pressure applying member 3, the recording head 1 receives the component force of pressing downward by the pressure applying member 3 when the recording head 1 is mounted, and is pressed against the bottom surface of the carriage 2. As a result, an appropriate click feeling can be obtained when the recording head 1 is mounted, and the operability of the recording head 1 is improved. Further, even if a force that pushes up the recording head 1 unexpectedly is not applied, the recording head 1 does not easily come off from the carriage 2, the pressure contact state of both electrodes is stable, and the electrical connection is not impaired.

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the spring made of a wire member partially having a coil shape is used as the pressure applying member, the spring displacement can be made large in a small space, and the spring constant can be increased. It is much smaller than a leaf spring, etc., and a large pressure can be obtained in a small device. Moreover, the spring itself plays a role of a guide when the recording head 1 is attached to the carriage 2, and the attachment / detachment to / from the carriage 2 can be easily performed, and a simple and low-priced device with extremely excellent operability is provided. You can A guide, which is a separate member made of resin or the like, may be provided on the guide portion of the recording head 1 at the tip of the spring.

Further, in the present invention, since the direction in which the electrodes on the recording head side and the electrodes on the carriage side are pressed and coupled is substantially the same as the direction in which the pressure applying member 3 applies pressure, the pressure of the pressure applying member 3 is extremely high. It can be efficiently transmitted to the electrode contact portion. Further, in the present embodiment, since the direction in which the recording head 1 is attached to the carriage 2 and the direction in which the electrodes on the recording head side and the electrodes on the carriage side are pressure-bonded to each other are substantially vertical, the attaching / detaching operation force of the recording head is extremely high. It is possible to provide a device that is small and has excellent operability.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, only the pressure applying member, which is a feature of the invention, will be described, and other configurations are substantially the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and therefore detailed description thereof is omitted here.

As shown in FIG. 5, both ends 3c of the pressure applying member 3 in this embodiment are supported by a shaft 30 (highly rigid material such as metal) as a supporting member. The shaft 30 has an end portion 3 of the coil portion 3b of the pressure applying member 3.
c is pre-twisted and passed through, that is, the arm 3a
It is in a state of being sandwiched between the end portion of the and the end portion 3c,
The spring itself has already been stressed. That is, in the above-described embodiment, the carriage receives the load generated at the end portion near the coil portion of the pressure applying member 3 when the recording head is mounted, but according to the present embodiment, the shaft 30 receives the load. Therefore, damage to the carriage formed of resin or the like can be reduced. Furthermore, the assemblability is also improved.

[Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, only the pressure applying member, which is a feature of the invention, will be described, and other configurations are substantially the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and therefore detailed description thereof is omitted here.

As shown in FIG. 6, the pressure applying member 3 in this embodiment is constructed so that the arm portion 3a bends to generate pressure before the coil portion 3b is twisted. This is because the bending of the arm portion 3a of the pressure applying member 3 should be taken into consideration when the length of the arm portion 3a of the pressure applying member 3 needs to be long because of the device. The pressure applying member that generates pressure due to the bending of the arm has a larger spring constant than the pressure applying member that generates pressure due to the twisting of the coil. Therefore, in this embodiment, the arm 3a bends as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the spring constant is reduced by giving the pressure applying member 3 a displacement amount enough to twist the coil portion 3b.

According to this embodiment, since a relatively large load corresponding to the bending of the arm portion is added to the load of the spring, the allowable stress of the spring can be increased and the degree of freedom in design can be increased. is there.

[Other Embodiments] Further, although the ink jet recording system is used as the recording means in the above-mentioned embodiments, the heat energy applied by the electrothermal converter is energized in accordance with the recording signal. Therefore, it is more preferable to perform the recording by ejecting the ink from the ejection port due to the growth and contraction of the bubbles generated in the ink by utilizing the film boiling generated in the ink.

With regard to its typical structure and principle, it is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but in the case of the on-demand type in particular, it is arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path holding the liquid (ink). By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal transducer, which corresponds to the recorded information and gives a rapid temperature rise beyond nucleate boiling,
This is effective because heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter to cause film boiling on the heat acting surface of the recording head, and as a result bubbles in the liquid can be formed in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal. Due to the growth and contraction of the bubbles, the liquid is ejected through the ejection openings to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape, because the bubble growth and contraction are immediately and appropriately performed, so that particularly excellent liquid ejection can be achieved.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124, which is an invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface, are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the ejection port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. The present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. Nos. 4,558,333 and 4,459,600, which disclose configurations in which the heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.

Further, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium which can be recorded by the recording apparatus. As such a recording head, a combination of a plurality of recording heads may be used to satisfy the length thereof or a single recording head integrally formed.

In addition, even the above-mentioned serial type head is a replaceable chip type recording head which can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can be supplied with ink by being attached to the carriage. Alternatively, the present invention can be effectively applied to a case where a cartridge type recording head in which an ink tank is integrally provided in the recording head itself is used.

Further, it is preferable to add a recovery means for the recording head, a preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a constituent of the recording apparatus of the present invention, because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. More specifically, a capping unit, a cleaning unit, a pressurizing or sucking unit for the recording head, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a preheating unit using a combination thereof is added. Alternatively, it is also effective to perform stable recording by performing a preliminary ejection mode in which ejection different from recording is performed.

Regarding the type and the number of recording heads mounted on the carriage, for example, only one is provided corresponding to a single color ink, and a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities are supported. And a plurality of them may be provided. That is, for example, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but the recording head may be integrally configured or a plurality of combinations may be used. , Or a device provided with at least one of full colors by color mixing.

In addition, although the ink is described as a liquid in the above-described embodiments, it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and softens or liquefies at room temperature, or in the ink jet recording system. 30 inks
Generally, the temperature is controlled in the range of ℃ to 70 ℃ to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is within the stable ejection range. good. In addition, it is possible to prevent the temperature rise due to thermal energy from being positively used as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or to use ink that solidifies when left standing for the purpose of preventing ink evaporation. In any case, heat such as ink that is liquefied by the application of heat energy according to the recording signal and liquid ink is ejected or that has already started to solidify when it reaches the recording sheet. It is also applicable when using an ink that has the property of being liquefied only by energy.

The ink in such a case is disclosed in JP-A-54-568.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 47 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 60-71260, a form in which the electrothermal converter is opposed to the concave portion or the through hole held in the liquid sheet as a liquid or solid substance. Also good. The most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the exchangeable recording head detachably mounted on the carriage is exemplified as the operating portion which operates in response to the signal from the apparatus main body side by the electric coupling. The present invention is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a read head or the like.

[0041]

As described above, in the pressure applying member of the present invention, the pressure is obtained by twisting the coil portion of the wire material having a part of the coil shape, so that a large space can be obtained in a small space. Moreover, a stable pressure can be applied. Moreover, since the number of parts is small, the structure is simple and the cost can be reduced. Further, since a part of the pressure applying member serves as a guide when the recording head is mounted on the carriage, it is possible to provide a small-sized information processing device with excellent operability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall outline of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of the recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing electric contacts between a carriage and a recording head.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing an operation of attaching / detaching a recording head to / from a carriage.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a pressure applying member according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a pressure applying member according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of sign]

1 ... Recording head, 1a ... Knob, 1b ... Step part, 2 ... Carriage, 3 ... Pressure applying member, 3a ... Arm part, 3b ... Coil part, 3c ... End part, 4, 5 ... Electrode part, 4a, 5a ... Electrodes, 6 ... Lead screw, 6a ... Spiral groove, 7 ... Conveying roller, 8 ... Pinch roller, 9 ... Inserting port, 10 ... Recovery system,
11 ... PPI, 12 ... MPU, 13 ... Console, 14 ... Home position sensor, 15 ... RAM, 16 ... Font generation R
OM, 17 ... Control ROM, 18 ... Address bus, 19 ... Data bus, 20 ... Carriage motor, 21 ... Conveyor motor, 22 ...
Capping motor, 23, 24, 25 ... Motor driver, 26
… Seat sensor, 27… Head driver, 28… Power supply, 30
…shaft

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication location H01R 13/639 Z 9173-5E 23/02 Z 6901-5E (72) Inventor Hideki Yamaguchi Ota, Tokyo 3-30-2 Shimomaruko-ku, Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Akira Kida 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Takeshi Iwasaki 3-chome Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 30-2 Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Takashi Nojima 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Hideaki Kawakami 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Akira Miyagawa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A pressure applying member for applying pressure to press-connect an electric contact, wherein a part of the pressure applying member is formed of a coiled wire, and the pressure is applied by twisting of the coil portion or bending of a portion other than the coil portion. A pressure-applying member configured to obtain. 2. The pressure applying member according to claim 1, wherein the pressure applying member has a displacement amount such that a portion other than the coil portion is bent and the coil portion is further twisted. 3. The pressure applying member according to claim 1, wherein the support member supporting both ends of the coil portion of the pressure applying member can support the coil portion in a twisted state. . 4. An information processing apparatus comprising a mounting portion for removably mounting an operating portion which operates in response to a signal from the apparatus body side, wherein an electrical contact on the operating portion side and an electrical contact on the mounting portion side are provided. An information processing apparatus, comprising the pressure applying member according to claim 1 as a pressure applying means for pressure-bonding and connecting. 5. The pressure applying direction by the pressure applying member is substantially the same as the direction in which the electric contact on the actuating portion side and the electric contact on the mounting portion side are press-contacted and coupled to each other. Information processing equipment. 6. The mounting direction of the actuating portion with respect to the apparatus main body is substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the electric contact on the actuating portion side and the electric contact on the mounting portion side are pressure-bonded to each other. The information processing device described. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a part of the pressure applying member serves as a guide when the operating unit is mounted on the mounting unit. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the operating unit is a recording unit that records on a recording medium, and the mounting unit is a carriage that detachably mounts the recording unit. The information processing device according to 1. 9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the information processing apparatus is an inkjet recording system in which a recording unit ejects ink in accordance with a signal to perform recording. 10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the information processing apparatus includes an electrothermal converter for the recording unit to generate thermal energy for ejecting ink. 11. The information processing apparatus, wherein the recording means uses thermal energy applied by the electrothermal converter,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the ink is ejected from the ejection port by utilizing film boiling generated in the ink.