JPH09187940A - Ink-jet recording head, ink-jet recording head cartridge and ink-jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow an ink-jet recorder to surely distinguish characteristics of ink-jet recording heads with a simple construction. SOLUTION: A supporting member 11 made of resin has heater board holding protrusions 12 to hold a heater board 15 from both sides and relay wiring substrate holding protrusions 13 to hold a relay wiring substrate 19 from both sides and those lugs 12 and 13 are molded as integral parts of the supporting member 11. Two or more electricity-heat converters to generate heat energy for spraying ink are provided on the heater board 15. A top panel 16 is fixed on the heater board 15 so that ink flow paths and ink spouting nozzles are formed corresponding to the electricity-heat converters. One of the relay wiring substrate holding protrusions 13 is divided into two or more segments and three of them serve as distinguishing protrusions 14a-14c. Specified ones among the distinguishing protrusions 14a-14c are cut off corresponding to the characteristic of a recording head. Therefore, the characteristic of the recording head is distinguished by detecting the presence and absence of the protrusions 14a-14c.

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 head, an ink jet recording head cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus that perform recording by ejecting ink from an ejection port and adhering it to a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ink jet recording head for recording by ejecting ink from an ejection port, there is one using an electrothermal converter as an energy generating element for generating energy for ejecting ink. As one configuration of this ink jet recording head, a substrate on which the electrothermal converter is formed is joined to a top plate on which grooves for forming ink flow paths and the like provided corresponding to the electrothermal converter are formed. There is. FIG. 9 shows an example of a cartridge type in which such an ink jet recording head is integrated with an ink tank. FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of an example of an inkjet cartridge in which a conventional inkjet recording head and an ink tank are integrally provided. Further, FIG. 10 shows a plan view of the main part of the inkjet recording head cartridge shown in FIG.

The ink jet recording head cartridge shown in FIG. 9 includes an ink jet recording head 1040 and an ink jet recording head 1040 which eject ink by generating thermal energy in response to an electric signal to cause film boiling of the ink. The ink tank 1054 stores the ink to be supplied.

First, the ink jet recording head 1040 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. The inkjet recording head 1040 includes a metal support 1011 that is positioned and fixed to a cartridge body 1052 that forms a casing of the ink tank 1041, a heater board 1015 and a relay wiring board 10 that are bonded onto the support 1011.
19, and a presser spring 1025 on the heater board 1015.
And a ink supply member 1026 for supplying ink from the ink tank 1041 to the common liquid chamber 1016b formed by pressure bonding between the heater board 1015 and the top plate 1016.

The heater board 1015 is made of a silicon substrate, and on its surface, a plurality of electrothermal converters 1015a, which are composed of heating resistors and are arranged in a row, and electric wiring (such as Al) for supplying electric power to these are provided. (Illustration) and an electrode pad 1015b that serves as an input / output terminal with the outside are formed by a film forming technique. The relay wiring board 1019 corresponds to the electrode pad 1015b of the heater board 1015, and the wiring 1019b connected by the bonding wire 1020,
It has a pad 1019a located at the end of the wiring 1019b and receiving an electric signal from the recording apparatus, and relays the electrical connection between the heater board 1015 and the inkjet recording apparatus. The top plate 1016 is provided for each electrothermal converter 1015a.
Ink channel 1016a and ink channel 101 corresponding to
A common liquid chamber 10 for temporarily holding the ink to be supplied to 6a.
A groove for forming 16b is formed, and the common liquid chamber 1 receives the ink supplied from the ink tank 1041.
Ink receiving port 1018 for introduction into 016b, and a plurality of ejection ports 1 opened at the tip of each ink flow path 1016a.
An orifice plate having 017 is integrally provided.

The presser spring 1025 has an M-shape, and the center of the M-shape presses the portion of the common liquid chamber 1016b of the top plate 1016, and the front salve portion similarly corresponds to the ink channel 1016a of the top plate 1016. The part to be pressed is pressed by line contact. The foot portion of the presser spring 1025 passes through the hole of the support body 1011 and is engaged with the back surface side of the support body 1011 while sandwiching the heater board 1015 and the top plate 1016. As a result, the top plate 1016 is crimped and fixed to the heater board 1015 by the pressing spring 1025.

The ink supply member 1026 has a connecting pipe having one end penetrating the hole 1011a of the support 1011 and the other end communicating with the ink receiving port 1018 of the top plate 1016, and is fixed to the support 1011. Then, by fixing the support 1011 to the cartridge body 1052, one end of the connecting pipe communicates with the inside of the cartridge body 1052 and guides the ink in the ink tank 1041 to the common liquid chamber 1016b. A seal member is provided at each of the connecting portion of the connecting tube with the cartridge body 1052 and the connecting portion with the top plate 1016 to prevent ink leakage. Lid member 103
0 forms the outer wall of the ink jet recording head cartridge, and the ink jet recording head 1040
It forms the part to store.

Next, the ink tank 1041 will be described. The ink tank 1041 is the cartridge body 10
52 and the cartridge body 10 that absorbs and holds ink
The ink absorber 1053 is arranged inside the unit 52, and a lid 1054 for sealing the ink absorber 1053. Further, the cartridge body 1052 is provided with an atmosphere communication member 1055 in order to communicate the inside of the ink tank 1041 with the atmosphere.

Based on the above construction, the ink jet recording head cartridge is mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus,
By applying a recording signal from the inkjet recording device, thermal energy is generated in the electrothermal converter 1015a, film boiling occurs in the ink in the ink flow path 1016a, and bubbles are formed. Then, due to the growth of the bubbles, ink is ejected from the ejection port 1017 and recording is performed.

Here, at the time of manufacturing the heater board 1015, the minimum voltage required to generate bubbles in the ink, that is, the foaming threshold voltage, due to variations in the film thickness of the electrothermal converter 1015a and the electrical wiring. However, it differs for each inkjet recording head. Therefore, if the applied voltage from the inkjet recording device is constant regardless of the bubbling threshold voltage, the applied voltage is too low to cause normal ink bubbling, or vice versa. As a result, an excessive load is applied to the electrothermal converter, which may impair the life of the inkjet recording head.

Therefore, conventionally, the foaming threshold voltage of each ink jet recording head is obtained in the process of manufacturing the ink jet recording head, and the ink jet recording head is classified into a plurality of ranks according to the foaming threshold voltage. The drive voltage and drive pulse width of the inkjet recording head are changed according to the rank. Then, in order to identify the rank on the ink jet recording apparatus side, a dedicated wiring is provided on the relay wiring board 1019, and a predetermined portion of the wiring is cut according to the rank,
It has been necessary to change the electrical connection state with the inkjet recording apparatus, or to provide a memory element in the inkjet recording head, input data relating to the rank, and read the data on the inkjet recording apparatus side.

Further, in addition to the foaming threshold voltage, it is possible to identify the characteristics of the ink jet recording apparatus, which require different driving conditions, by the same method.

[0013]

However, when the above-mentioned means is used to make it possible to identify the driving conditions of the ink jet recording head on the ink jet recording apparatus side, there are the following problems. First, in the case of providing a dedicated wiring for identification and cutting it according to the characteristics of the inkjet recording head, a special tool for cutting the wiring is also required and the work becomes complicated,
In some cases, cutting chips generated at the time of cutting may infiltrate into the discharge port or the ink flow path and cause clogging. Also, in the case of providing a memory element, the number of steps and manufacturing cost increase with the mounting of the memory element. Furthermore, unless sufficient countermeasures against static electricity are applied to the memory element, the memory element is destroyed by static electricity during manufacturing or during handling. In some cases, the recording device may not be able to read data normally.

By the way, in recent years, interest in environmental problems has been increasing, and it is required to sort and dispose of different kinds of materials when disposing of them. The inkjet recording head is no exception, and it is necessary to be able to disassemble each different material when disposing of the used inkjet recording head. However, since the heater board, the relay wiring board, and the support are fixed by an adhesive, when these parts are discarded, they have to be discarded as a unit, which is becoming a major environmental problem.

Therefore, the present invention provides an ink jet recording head, an ink jet recording head cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus which can surely identify the characteristics of each ink jet recording head on the side of the ink jet recording apparatus while having a simple structure. To aim. A second object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily disassemble a component such as a substrate that needs to be sorted at the time of disposal.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet recording head of the present invention is fixed to a substrate provided with an energy generating means for generating energy for ejecting ink from an ejection port, and the substrate. An ink jet recording head which ejects ink from the ejection port by driving the energy generating means, the substrate is formed of resin, and the substrate is formed by an individual ink jet recording apparatus. In order to identify the characteristic of the ink jet recording head and control the driving condition of the energy generating means according to the characteristic, at least one identification protrusion cut according to the characteristic is integrally molded.

Further, a substrate holding projection for holding the substrate on the support may be integrally formed on the support so as to be rupturable. In this case, the identification projection is It may be a part of the substrate holding projection.

A relay wiring board for relaying electrical connection between the substrate and the ink jet recording apparatus is mounted on the support body, and a relay wiring board holding means for holding the relay wiring board on the support body. The projection for projection may be formed integrally with the support so as to be breakable, and in this case, the projection for identification may form a part of the projection for holding the relay wiring board. .

Further, the energy generating means may be an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy used for ejecting ink, and in this case, the characteristic depends on the electrothermal converter. The minimum voltage required to eject ink from the ejection port by the applied thermal energy, the temperature characteristic that represents the change in the ink ejection amount with respect to temperature, and the temperature of the substrate provided to heat the substrate. It may be the characteristics of the heat-retaining heater, the characteristics of the temperature sensor provided on the substrate for measuring the temperature of the substrate, the type of ink used, or the manufacturing lot of the inkjet recording head.

The ink jet recording head cartridge of the present invention comprises:
And an ink tank for storing ink to be supplied to the inkjet recording head.

An ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention comprises the above-mentioned ink jet recording head of the present invention, and a detection means for detecting the presence or absence of an identification protrusion on the support of the ink jet recording head. Accordingly, the driving conditions of the ink jet recording head are controlled, and ink is ejected from the ejection port of the ink jet recording head based on the recording signal to perform recording.

In the ink jet recording head of the present invention configured as described above, the support on which the energy generating means is mounted is provided with at least one identification protrusion that is cut according to the characteristics of the ink jet recording head. Therefore, the characteristics of the inkjet recording head are identified by detecting the presence / absence of the identification protrusion by the inkjet recording device. As described above, since the inkjet recording head recording device only has the severable protrusions for identifying the characteristics of the inkjet recording head, the structure is simple and the identification by the inkjet recording device is reliable. Become. Moreover, since the identification protrusion is formed integrally with the support made of resin, it can be easily formed and cut.

Further, in the case where the substrate holding projection for holding the substrate on the supporting body is integrally formed on the support so as to be rupturable, the substrate holding projection is disposed when the used ink jet recording head is discarded. And the substrate and the support are disassembled and discarded. This facilitates separate disposal of different materials. The same applies when the relay wiring board is provided on the support.

[0024]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the first embodiment of the ink jet recording head of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows FIG.
3 is a view of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG. 1 from the heater board side, and FIG. 3 is a view of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG. 1 from the relay wiring board side.

As shown in FIG. 1, the support 11 has a heater board 15 made of a silicon substrate and a relay wiring board 1
9 and are installed. Since the heater board 15 and the relay wiring board 19 are the same as the conventional ones described above, detailed description thereof will be omitted, and the support 11 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mounting portion of the heater board 15 of the support 11 is provided with recesses 11a into which the heater board 15 is fitted, and further, the recesses 11a are fitted on both sides of the recess 11a. A heater board holding projection 12 for holding the heater board 15 is provided. The heater board 15 is fixed to the support body 11 by sliding it from one end of the support body 11 (the left end in FIG. 1) below each of the heater board holding projections 12 into the recess portion 11a and fitting it into the recess portion 11a. It

As shown in FIG. 3, the mounting portion of the support 11 on which the relay wiring board 19 is mounted is provided with recesses 11b into which the relay wiring board 19 is fitted. Further, the recesses 11b are formed on both sides of the recess 11b. A relay wiring board holding protrusion 13 for holding the relay wiring board 19 fitted therein is provided. The relay wiring board 19 slides in the recess 11b from the other end (the right end in FIG. 1) of the support body 11 under the projections 13 for holding the relay wiring board, and then the recess 11b.
By being fitted inside, it is fixed to the support 11.

Further, one of the projections 13 for holding the relay wiring board is divided into a plurality of parts as shown in FIG. 1, and three of them are identification projections 14-a, 14-b, 14-.
c. That is, the identification protrusions 14-a, 14
-B and 14-c form a part of the protrusion 13 for holding the relay wiring board, and thereby the support 11 is downsized. These identification protrusions 14-a, 14-b, 14-c
As described later, a predetermined one is cut according to the characteristics of each inkjet recording head, and this can be detected by the inkjet recording apparatus side. In addition,
A pad 19a for electrically connecting the inkjet recording head to the inkjet recording apparatus is provided at an end of the relay wiring board 19.

The support 11 is integrally formed of resin, including the heater board holding projection 12, the relay wiring board holding projection 13 and the identification projections 14-a, 14-b and 14-c. Is. Therefore, the heater board holding projection 12, the relay wiring board holding projection 13, and the identification projections 14-a, 14-b, and 14-c have elasticity, so that the heater board 15 and the relay wiring board 19 are supported by the support member 11. It is possible to easily fit the heater board 15 into the concave portion 11a and the relay wiring board 19 into the concave portion 11b while pressing it firmly to fix it. Further, the heater board holding projection 12, the relay wiring board holding projection 13 and the identification projections 14-a, 14-b, 14-
Since c is made of resin, it can be easily broken by applying a certain load or more when disassembling, and the heater board 15 and the relay wiring board 1
The heater board 15 and the relay wiring board 19 are not damaged when 9 is fitted into the recesses 11a and 11b, respectively.

On the other hand, on the heater board 15, the top plate 1
6 are installed. The top plate 16 is a presser spring (not shown).
It is sandwiched between the support body 11 and and is fixed on the heater board 15 by pressure. The top plate 16 and the presser spring are also the same as the conventional ones described above, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted. As the top plate 16 is pressure-bonded and fixed on the heater board 15 in this manner, the heater board 15
An ink flow path (not shown) and a common liquid chamber (not shown) corresponding to each electrothermal converter (not shown) are configured. And
By heating the ink supplied from the ink receiving port 18 of the top plate 16 and held in the ink flow path by driving the electrothermal converter, the ink is foamed and ejected from the ejection port 17.

When the parts shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 are assembled based on the above structure, the foaming threshold voltage, which is one of the characteristics of the ink jet recording head, is measured. Since the bubbling threshold voltage varies depending on the ink jet recording head, the ink jet recording head is divided into several ranks according to the measured values, and predetermined identification protrusions 14-a, 14-b, and Cut 14-c.

For example, the identification protrusions 14-a, 14-b, 14- to be cut when divided into ranks 1 to 8
It is assumed that c is defined as shown in FIG. Then, the inkjet recording head obtained by cutting the predetermined identification protrusions 14-a, 14-b, and 14-c is mounted on the inkjet recording device, and the identification protrusions 14-a and 14 on the inkjet recording device side are detected by a detecting unit described later. If the presence or absence of -b and 14-c is detected, the rank of the inkjet recording head can be identified. This identification is simply the identification protrusion 1
Since it is only necessary to detect the presence / absence of 4-a, 14-b, 14-c, there is no risk of data being destroyed as in the case of providing a conventional storage element, and reliable identification is possible.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, for example, the identification projection 1
Only 4-a is detected, and the other identification protrusions 14-b, 14-
If c is not detected, the inkjet printhead rank is identified as 5. The ink jet recording apparatus determines the drive voltage and the drive pulse width of the ink jet recording head based on the identification result as in the conventional case, and performs recording under the optimum drive condition according to the foaming threshold voltage of each ink jet recording head. .

In this way, the identification protrusion 1 is cut on the support according to the characteristics of the individual ink jet recording head.
With an extremely simple structure in which 4-a, 14-b, and 14-c are provided, it is possible to obtain an inkjet recording head that can be surely identified on the inkjet recording device side. Moreover,
Since the support 11 is formed of resin, the identification protrusions 14-a, 14-b, 14-c can be easily integrally formed on the support 11, and a simple tool such as a nipper is used for cutting the protrusions 14-a, 14-b, 14-c. Alternatively, it can be easily performed by the force of the operator's own finger. In addition, since the removed protrusions are of a certain size, they can be easily discarded and
It is possible to prevent adverse effects on the manufacturing process and the inkjet recording head.

Further, since the heater board 15 and the relay wiring board 19 are held by the heater board holding projections 12 and the relay wiring board holding projections 13 which are integrally formed with the support body 11, respectively, the used ink jet recording When the head is discarded, the heater board 15 and the relay wiring board 19 can be easily disassembled from the support body 11, and the parts made of different materials can be sorted and discarded. The support 11 and the heater board 15 may be disassembled by completely pulling out the heater board 15 from the recess 11a of the support 11, or pulling out the heater board 15 halfway and then in this state, the heater board 15 is recessed.
Alternatively, the heater board holding protrusion 12 may be damaged by pulling it up from a. The same applies to the disassembly of the relay wiring board 19 and the support 11.

The pressing force of the heater board 15 by the heater board holding projection 12 and the pressing force of the relay wiring board 19 by the relay wiring board holding projection 13 are in the range of 300 gf to 5 kgf, preferably 500 gf.
It is desirable to set it in the range of 1 kgf. This allows
Support 11 for heater board 15 and relay wiring board 19
The workability at the time of disassembling is not impaired while it is securely fixed to.

In this embodiment, the identification protrusions 14-a, 1
Although the example in which 4-b and 14-c form part of the relay wiring board holding projection 13 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and the identification projection is formed so as to form part of the heater board holding projection 12. You may form.

When the support 11 is made of resin, the heat dissipation of the ink jet recording head is lowered as compared with the conventional case where it is made of metal. However, in an ink jet recording head having good ejection efficiency (ejection energy with respect to input energy) or an ink jet recording head having a small number of ejection ports, the cooling effect is not particularly required, so that heat storage does not pose a problem. On the contrary, it is also known that an appropriate heat storage can reduce the input energy and bring about an energy saving effect.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a main portion of a second embodiment of the ink jet recording head of the present invention and a view seen from the relay wiring board side. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the inkjet recording head shown in FIG. 5, taken along the line AA.

In this embodiment, a plurality of relay wiring board holding projections 23 are provided upright on the mounting surface of the relay wiring board 29 of the support 21. The relay wiring board holding projection 23 is formed integrally with the support 21. Then, the relay wiring board 29 is fixed to the support body 21 by inserting the relay wiring board holding projection 23 into the through hole provided in the relay wiring board 29, and then fixing the tip end portion of the relay wiring board holding projection 23. It is performed by crushing with heat and heat welding. In addition, a recess 21c is formed at the end of the support 21 so that the back surface of the relay wiring board 29 is exposed. Although not shown, the fixing of the heater board and the support 21 may be performed in the same manner as the fixing of the relay wiring board 29 and the support 21 of the present embodiment, or may be performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. You may go.

A hollow portion 21d is formed on the side of the mounting portion of the relay wiring board 29 of the support body 21, and three identification protrusions 24-a, 24-- are formed in the hollow portion 21d.
b and 24-c are integrally formed and provided. These identification protrusions 24-a, 24-b, and 24-c are predetermined according to the rank when the inkjet recording head is divided into a plurality of ranks according to individual characteristics, as in the first embodiment. Things are cut. Then, in the inkjet recording apparatus, the identification protrusions 24-a, 24-b, 24-c
The rank of the ink jet recording head is recognized by detecting the presence / absence, and the driving condition is controlled according to the rank.

On the other hand, when discarding the ink jet recording head of this embodiment, by inserting a finger into the concave portion 21c of the support 21 and pushing up the relay wiring board 29, the relay wiring board holding projection 23 is damaged and supported. The body 21 and the relay wiring board 29 are disassembled.

In this embodiment, since the relay wiring board 29 is fixed to the support 21 by heat welding the relay wiring board holding projections 23, the relay wiring board 29 can be fixed more reliably. Further, the tip end portion of the relay wiring board holding projection 23 is crushed by heat, and the identification projections 24-a and 24-
Since b and 24-c are also provided in the hollow portion 21d, the thickness can be made smaller than that in the first embodiment.

In each of the above-mentioned two embodiments, each three
Although an example in which one identification protrusion is provided has been described, the number of identification protrusions can be increased or decreased according to the number of ranks of the inkjet recording head.

In the above two embodiments, the foaming threshold voltage is taken as an example of the characteristics of the ink jet recording head, and the ink jet recording head is ranked based on the foaming threshold voltage. The characteristics of the recording head include the following characteristics in addition to the foaming threshold voltage. In addition,
The inkjet recording heads may be classified based on the foaming threshold voltage or any one of the following various characteristics, or a combination of two or more characteristics.

(A) Temperature Characteristic Normally, in the ink jet recording head, the ink ejection amount changes depending on the environmental temperature and the temperature of the head itself. The relationship between the temperature and the ejection amount is called the temperature characteristic of the head. Then, the inkjet recording heads are classified into ranks according to the temperature characteristics, and the inkjet recording apparatus side applies an appropriate pulse calculated from the environmental temperature and the temperature of the head itself according to the ranks, and controls so that fluctuations in the ejection amount are reduced. .

(B) Heat-retaining heater characteristics In order to improve the responsiveness of ink ejection, a heat-retaining heater similar to the electrothermal converter may be provided on the heater board to heat the heater board. Since the heat retaining heater heats the entire heater board, it requires about 50 times the area of the electrothermal converter. Therefore, the same output cannot be obtained even if the same voltage is applied because the film thickness and the wiring resistance are slightly different for each lot of heater boards. Therefore, the inkjet recording heads are ranked according to the characteristics of the heat-retaining heater, and the ink-jet recording apparatus side heats the heater board by controlling the applied voltage and application time to the heat-retaining heater according to the rank.

(C) Temperature sensor characteristics In order to control the driving conditions according to the temperature characteristics of the ink jet recording head, a temperature sensor such as an Al resistance sensor or a diode sensor is provided on the heater board, and the temperature sensor is fixed from the ink jet recording apparatus side. In some cases, the temperature of the head itself is measured by passing an electric current and using the output voltage from the temperature sensor. This temperature sensor also has different characteristics due to wiring resistance due to variations in film thickness and wiring width. Therefore, ink jet recording heads are ranked according to the characteristics of this temperature sensor,
On the inkjet recording device side, the measurement result is corrected according to the rank. Then, an appropriate pulse is given to the inkjet recording head based on the corrected temperature.

(D) Kind of Ink There are various kinds of ink for ink jet recording.
The ejection characteristics differ depending on the type of ink. Therefore,
The ink jet recording heads are classified into ranks according to the type of ink used, and the ink jet recording apparatus side controls the drive voltage and the drive pulse width according to the ranks.

(E) Manufacturing Lot of Inkjet Recording Head The constituent parts and manufacturing process may change depending on the lot of the inkjet recording head, and the foaming threshold voltage and the above characteristics may change. In such a case, if the characteristics of each lot are known, the inkjet recording heads are ranked according to the lot, and the above-described various measures are taken on the inkjet recording apparatus side according to the rank.

Next, the ink jet recording head cartridge of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the ink jet recording head cartridge of the present invention.

This ink jet recording head cartridge is the ink jet recording head 40 of the present invention described above.
It has. An ink tank 41 that stores ink supplied to the inkjet recording head 40 is detachably or inseparably connected to the inkjet recording head 40. Then, recording is performed by ejecting the ink supplied from the ink tank 41 from the ejection port 42. The ink tank 41 may be one that stores a single color of ink in accordance with the inkjet recording head 40, or may be one that integrates ink storage units for a plurality of colors, for example, yellow, magenta, and cyan.

Next, the outline of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described.

An overview of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention is shown in FIG. The lead screw 205 in which the spiral groove 204 is engraved is interlocked with the forward and reverse rotations of the drive motor 213, and is rotationally driven via the drive force transmission gears 211 and 209. The carriage HC mounts the inkjet recording head cartridge 200, and is engaged with the spiral groove 204 by a pin (not shown) provided on the carriage HC. Further, the carriage HC is a guide rail 2
03 is slidably guided so that it can reciprocate in the directions indicated by arrows a and b.

On the carriage HC, a pad (not shown) electrically connected to the relay wiring board of the ink jet recording head when the ink jet recording head cartridge 200 is mounted, and a detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of the identification protrusion are provided. (Not shown). When there are a plurality of identification protrusions, the detection unit can detect at which position the identification protrusion is cut and at which position the identification protrusion remains. Then, the driving condition of the inkjet recording head is controlled according to the detection result. As a result, the inkjet recording head can be driven under optimum conditions according to the characteristics of the inkjet recording head. A micro switch, an optical sensor, or the like can be used as the detection means.

The paper pressing plate 202 holds the recording medium 230 in the platen roller 20 over the moving direction of the carriage HC.
Press against 1.

The photocouplers 207 and 208 constitute a home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the lever 206 of the carriage HC in this area and performing reverse rotation of the rotation direction of the drive motor 213. The cap member 222 that caps the front surface of the inkjet recording head is supported by the support member 216 and further includes the suction means 215, and performs suction recovery of the inkjet recording head through the cap internal opening 223. A support plate 218 is attached to the main body support plate 219, and the cleaning blade 217 slidably supported by the support plate 218 is moved in the front-rear direction by a driving unit (not shown). The form of the cleaning blade 217 is not limited to that shown in the figure, and it goes without saying that a known one can be applied to this example. The lever 206 is for starting the suction recovery operation, and moves with the movement of the cam 220 that contacts the carriage HC, and the driving force from the drive motor 213 is transmitted by a known transmission means such as the gear 210 or clutch switching. Movement controlled.

Each of the capping, cleaning, and suction recovery processes is performed at the corresponding position by the action of the lead screw 205 when the carriage HC reaches the home position side area. If a desired operation is performed at a known timing, any of the embodiments can be applied.

In the recording apparatus described above,
The image forming apparatus further includes a control unit that includes a recording signal supply unit that supplies a recording signal for driving the mounted inkjet recording head to the inkjet recording head, and includes a control unit that controls driving of the inkjet recording apparatus. The control of the driving conditions of the inkjet recording head based on the detection result of the detection means is performed by this control unit.

Further, although the ink jet recording head cartridge 200 is shown as being integrated with the ink jet recording head, the present invention is not limited to this, and the ink tank and the ink jet recording head are separate bodies, and the ink is supplied through the ink supply path. The inkjet recording head may be supplied to the inkjet recording head, or the inkjet recording head unit and the ink tank unit may be detachable.

[0062]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

The ink jet recording head and the ink jet recording head cartridge of the present invention are provided with at least one identification protrusion that is cut according to the characteristics of the ink jet recording head on the support, so that the ink jet recording apparatus in the ink jet recording apparatus is provided. It is possible to surely identify the characteristics of the recording head with a simple structure. Moreover, since the identification protrusion is integrally formed with the resin-made support, it can be easily formed and can be easily cut.

Further, by integrally molding the substrate holding projection with the support so that the support can be broken, the support and the substrate can be easily disassembled when the used ink jet recording head is discarded, so that different materials can be separated. It is possible to provide an inkjet recording head that can be easily discarded. This is the same when the relay wiring board is provided on the support.

Since the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention is provided with the detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of the identification protrusion of the ink jet recording head of the present invention, the characteristics of the ink jet recording head of the present invention can be surely identified and the characteristics thereof can be identified. The inkjet recording head can be driven under optimum conditions according to the above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of an inkjet recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG. 1 viewed from a heater board side.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the inkjet recording head shown in FIG. 1 viewed from a relay wiring board side.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of a cutting pattern of identification protrusions when an inkjet recording head is divided into eight ranks.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a main part of an ink jet recording head according to a second embodiment of the present invention and a view seen from a relay wiring board side.

6 is an A- of the ink jet recording head shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the inkjet recording head cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of an example of an inkjet cartridge in which a conventional inkjet recording head and an ink tank are integrally provided.

10 is a plan view of a main part of the ink jet recording head cartridge shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 21 Supports 11a, 11b, 21c Recesses 12 Heater board holding projections 13, 23 Relay wiring board holding projections 14-a, 14-b, 14-c, 24-a, 24-b,
24-c Identification protrusion 15 Heater board 16 Top plate 17 Discharge port 18 Ink receiving port 19 Relay wiring board 19a Pad 21d Cutout part

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Torakata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yu Ikeda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Kya Non-Incorporated (72) Inventor Kazuaki Masuda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A substrate having an energy generating unit for generating energy for ejecting ink from an ejection port, and a support to which the substrate is fixed, the ejection unit being driven by the energy generating unit. In an inkjet recording head that ejects ink from an outlet, the support is formed of a resin, and the characteristic of each inkjet recording head is identified by an inkjet recording device on the support, and the drive condition of the energy generating means is determined by the characteristic. To control
An ink jet recording head, characterized in that at least one identification protrusion that is cut according to the characteristics is integrally molded. 2. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein a substrate holding protrusion for holding the substrate on the support is integrally formed on the support so as to be rupturable. 3. The ink jet recording head according to claim 2, wherein the identification protrusion constitutes a part of the substrate holding protrusion. 4. A relay wiring board for relaying electrical connection between the substrate and the inkjet recording device is mounted on the support, and a relay wiring board holding for holding the relay wiring board on the support. The inkjet recording head according to claim 2, wherein the projection is integrally formed with the support in a breakable manner. 5. The ink jet recording head according to claim 4, wherein the identification protrusion constitutes a part of the relay wiring board holding protrusion. 6. The ink jet recording head according to claim 1, wherein the energy generating means is an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy used for ejecting ink. 7. The ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic is a minimum voltage required to eject ink from the ejection port by thermal energy applied by the electrothermal converter. 8. The ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic is a temperature characteristic that represents a change in ink ejection amount with respect to temperature. 9. The ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic is a characteristic of a heat retaining heater provided on the substrate for heating the substrate. 10. The ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic is a characteristic of a temperature sensor provided on the substrate for measuring the temperature of the substrate. 11. The ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic is a type of ink used. 12. The ink jet recording head according to claim 6, wherein the characteristic is a manufacturing lot of the ink jet recording head. 13. An inkjet recording head cartridge comprising the inkjet recording head according to claim 1 and an ink tank for storing ink to be supplied to the inkjet recording head. 14. The inkjet recording head according to claim 1, and a detection unit that detects the presence or absence of an identification protrusion on a support of the inkjet recording head. An inkjet recording apparatus which controls a driving condition of an inkjet recording head according to a detection result, and ejects ink from an ejection port of the inkjet recording head based on a recording signal to perform recording.