JPH10193596A - Ink jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide constitution especially fitted to the reduction of the pitch of nozzles in an ink jet recording head utilizing shearing mode deformation. SOLUTION: A first channel group consisting of a large number of channels parallel to each other and a second channel group consisting of a large number of channels parallel to each other are formed on the surface of a piezoelectric ceramics plate so that the leading ends of the respective channels 9 constituting the first channel group and the leading ends of the respective channels 9 constituting the second channel group are positioned zigzag so as to provide an interval part having predetermined width and the respective channels 9 are covered with a cover member 12 having a large number of nozzles 5 arranged corresponding to the channels 9 constituting the first and second channels groups.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has a plurality of parallel channels separated by a partition made of piezoelectric ceramics, and the partition is formed in accordance with a driving voltage to a signal electrode formed on the partition of the channel. The present invention relates to an ink jet recording head which is deformed, and in accordance with the deformation, ink filled in the channel is selectively projected from a nozzle communicating with the channel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-2527
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50, an ink jet recording apparatus using a shear mode deformation of a piezoelectric element as an ink ejection principle has been considered. As shown in FIG. 4, this configuration mainly includes an actuator member 1 made of piezoelectric ceramics, a cover plate 3, a nozzle plate 2, and a printed wiring board 6. The actuator member 1 is formed with a plurality of parallel channels 9 cut by a diamond blade or the like. The partition between the channels 9 is subjected to polarization processing in the groove depth direction.

The channels 9 are of the same depth,
At the same time, as shown in FIG. 5, the depth of the channel 9 gradually becomes shallower toward the rear end face of the actuator member 1, and a shallow channel 10 is formed near the rear end face. The signal electrodes 4 are formed on the upper halves of both sides of each channel 9 by sputtering, vapor deposition, or the like. Similarly, the signal electrodes 4 are formed on the side and bottom surfaces of the channel shallow groove 10 by sputtering or vapor deposition. This makes channel 9
Signal electrodes 4 formed on both side surfaces of channel shallow channel 10
Are electrically connected by a signal electrode 4 formed on the bottom surface of the.

[0004] Next, the cover plate 3 is formed of a ceramic material or a resin material. The cover plate 3 has an ink supply port 7 formed by grinding or cutting. Then, the processing side surface of the channel 9 of the actuator member 1 and the cover plate 3 are bonded with an epoxy-based adhesive. In this way, the ink jet recording head is configured with a plurality of channels 9 as a plurality of ink flow channels having the same space in the horizontal direction by covering the upper surface of the channel 9. Channel 9
Is an elongated shape having a rectangular cross-section, and all channels are filled with ink from an ink supply port 7.

The nozzle plate 2 is bonded to the end surfaces of the actuator member 1 and the cover plate 3 such that the nozzle 5 is located at a position corresponding to the position of each channel 9. The nozzle plate 2 is formed of a plastic such as polyimide, polyetherimide, polyetherketone, polyethersulfone, and polycarbonate.

[0006] A printed wiring board 6 is adhered to the surface of the actuator member 1 opposite to the channel 9 with an epoxy adhesive or the like. The conductive pattern 8 is formed on the printed wiring board 6 at a position corresponding to the position of each channel. The conductive pattern 8 and the signal electrode 4 on the bottom of the channel shallow groove 10 are connected by a bonding wire 11.

[0007]

In the conventional structure as described above, the width of the groove and the partition formed by the dicer is required to form the nozzle. To shorten the nozzle pitch, the blade width of the dicer must be reduced. Since there is a problem of cutting means such as narrowing, it is not possible to realize a narrow pitch, and it has been difficult to produce a high-resolution shear mode type ink jet head.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording head having a first channel group including a plurality of parallel channels and a second channel including a plurality of parallel channels on a surface of a piezoelectric ceramic plate. The groups are formed such that the leading ends of the respective channels constituting the first channel group and the leading ends of the respective channels constituting the second channel group have an interval of a predetermined width and are positioned in a staggered manner. Each channel is covered with a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzles arranged corresponding to each of the channels constituting the first channel group and the second channel group. The channel group conventionally arranged in parallel is divided into a first channel group and a second channel group, and the first channel group is separated from the first channel group. Tunnels group and each channel of the second channel group, by forming the piezoelectric ceramic plate surface in a staggered manner alternately, it can be narrowed easily channel pitch.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Note that components that are substantially the same as those in the conventional example shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The feature of the embodiment of the present invention is that, as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, when a channel groove is formed in a conventional actuator member 1 made of a piezoelectric ceramic plate, all the conventional channels are arranged in parallel. Is divided into a first channel group and a second channel group, and the channels of the first channel group and the second channel group are alternately staggered in a piezoelectric ceramic plate. By forming it on the surface, the channel pitch can be easily narrowed.

First, on the surface of the actuator member 1,
As a first channel group, a groove width of about 75 μm and a depth of about 3
A channel 9 of 00 μm is formed at a pitch of about 70 μm, and the channel 9 forms a channel shallow groove 10 having a depth of about 30 μm for wire bonding as shown in FIG. . Next, the second end of each channel forming the first channel group and the second end of each channel forming the second channel group are staggered so as to have a predetermined width interval. Are formed in the same manner.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a cover member made of a photosensitive glass or the like, in which nozzles 5 corresponding to each of the first channel group and the second channel group are formed in a straight line, and the back surface thereof is etched. Thereby, a concave groove 5a connecting each nozzle 5 and one of the channels is formed. As shown in FIG. 2, the cover member 12 is bonded so that the rows of the linear nozzles 5 are located at the intervals between the first channel group and the second channel group. A material is fixed on the surface of the actuator member 1 so as to cover the respective channels. FIG.
The nozzle 5 is connected to the channel 9 through the concave groove 5a.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state of communication with one of FIGS.

After the actuator member 1 and the cover member 12 are attached, the ink supply path to each channel 9 is
On the surface opposite to the surface on which the channel 9 of the actuator member 1 is formed, about 1/3 of the depth of the channel 9 from the bottom of the channel 9 so as to cross each channel 9 of the first channel group and the second channel group. A pair of ink supply slits 13 serving as ink supply ports are formed by cutting means such as a dicer up to the point, and a pair of ink supply slits 15 serving as ink supply ports are also formed in the printed wiring board 6.

One end is an ink tank (not shown).
Supply holder 1 having an ink path 16 connected to the ink supply slit 15 at the other end.
4, the ink supply slit 13 formed in the actuator member 1, the ink supply slit 15 formed in the printed wiring board 6, and the ink path 16 of the ink supply holder 14 match as shown in FIG. Thus, the ink is supplied to each channel 9 via the ink supply holder 14 by bonding to the actuator member 1 via the printed wiring board 6.

The electrical connection to the signal electrode 4 is made by connecting the signal electrode 4 to the conductive pattern 8 on the printed wiring board 6 joined to the back surface of the actuator member 1 by a bonding wire 11 as in the prior art. Can be achieved by In this manner, the pitch of the channel, which has been restricted by the cutting means such as a dicer as in the related art, can be reduced to の of that in the related art, and a higher resolution shear mode ink jet head can be manufactured.

[0016]

According to the ink jet recording head of the present invention, the cutting means conventionally used can be used as it is, the number of nozzles can be increased with a narrow pitch, and the conventional nozzle plate and cover member can be integrated. By,
An inexpensive inkjet recording head can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an ink jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the inkjet recording head according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a plan view and a cross-sectional view of a main part of the inkjet recording head according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional inkjet recording head utilizing shear mode deformation.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part of an ink jet recording head using the conventional shear mode deformation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Actuator member 5 Nozzle 6 Printed wiring board 8 Conductive pattern 9 Channel 11 Bonding wire 12 Cover member 13 Ink supply slit 14 Ink supply holder 15 Ink supply slit 16 Ink path

Claims (3)

[Claims] The present invention has a plurality of parallel channels separated by a piezoelectric ceramic partition, and the partition is deformed in accordance with a drive voltage to a signal electrode formed in the channel. An ink jet recording head for selectively projecting ink filled in the channel from a nozzle communicating with the channel, a first channel group including a plurality of channels parallel to each other on a piezoelectric ceramic plate surface, A second channel group consisting of a plurality of channels parallel to each other is defined as a space between the leading end of each channel constituting the first channel group and the leading end of each channel constituting the second channel group. The first channel group and the second channel are formed so as to be staggered. In the nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzles arranged to correspond to each channel constituting a group, the ink jet recording head, characterized in that it covers the respective channels. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of nozzles are linearly arranged at positions of the nozzle plates opposed to each other in the space between the first channel group and the second channel group. The inkjet recording head according to claim 1. 3. The piezoelectric ceramic plate according to claim 1, wherein
A slit is provided for communicating the first channel group and the second channel group in a transverse direction, and ink is supplied to each of the first channel group and the second channel group through the slit. The inkjet recording head according to claim 1.