JPH11348292A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording head capable of stably ejecting ink in a short cycle without generating crosstalk. SOLUTION: This ink jet recorder comprises a liquid passage wherein an ink having a coloring agent dispersed in a solvent is allowed to flow and records an image such that the ink wherein the coloring agent component is aggregated is ejected by an electrostatic field formed by a recording voltage which is selectively applied to electrodes provided to the passage, then the ink is adhered to a recording medium. The ink jet recorder includes a liquid passage (substrates 13, 12a, a spacer 11b) wherein an ink ejection electrode 15 is provided to a wall face and an ink guide member 14 is provided to a position in the vicinity of the electrode and a liquid passage (the substrates 13, 12a, a spacer 11b) wherein an ink ejection electrode 15 and an ink guide member are not provided to the wall face and the both of the passages are alternately provided. The ink ejection electrode and ink guide member provided to both side of the electrode are juxtaposed in the direction of ink flowing and the tip of each ink ejection electrode is projected more than the liquid passage wall face.

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 printing an image by depositing ink droplets discharged from electrodes of a recording head on a recording medium, and more particularly to a structure of the recording head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet recording apparatus that prints an image by ejecting a small amount of ink droplets from a minute ejection portion and depositing the ink droplets on a recording medium guides ink from an ink tank to each ejection portion. By applying kinetic energy to the ink, ink droplets are ejected from the ejection unit and adhere to the recording medium to form dots. As one of driving methods for giving kinetic energy to ink, there is a method in which a voltage is applied between an ejection electrode and a common electrode in contact with a recording medium, and the ink is ejected by electrostatic force. Since this method can control the amount of ink ejected on a recording medium by pulse width modulation of a voltage applied to an ejection electrode, it has been attracting attention as a method for realizing a high-definition inkjet printer. As an example of such a method, Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7-502218 discloses that
An ink in which a coloring agent is dispersed at a low concentration in a solvent is supplied to the ejection electrode surface, and a voltage is applied to the ejection electrode to form an electric field,
A technique is described in which a charged coloring material is caused to aggregate and fly on a recording medium. Also, JP-A-8-149253
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-20987 shows an improvement of the above-mentioned publication and discloses various head configurations.

[0003]

When the recording head is manufactured by the method of the above example, the recording head is placed on a carriage, and the recording is performed while moving the recording head in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording medium ( There is a method of scanning ink (a scanning head) and a method of ejecting ink from a head having the same width as a recording medium while the recording head is fixed (a line type head). Since home and office printers are firstly small in size, scanning heads are desirable, and industrial printers require high-speed printing, so line recording heads are desirable. A problem that must be solved when realizing an ink jet recording apparatus in either of the above-described heads is to prevent clogging due to volatilization of a solvent of ink around a discharge electrode of the recording head.
In the above example, the ink is circulated during printing, so
This is considered to be a configuration in which the solidification of the ink due to the volatilization of the solvent hardly occurs. With this configuration, clogging of the ink during printing can be prevented, and the next problem is to establish a method for stably flying an appropriate amount of ink on a recording medium in a short cycle. In order to cause the ink to fly stably in a short cycle, it is very important to concentrate the electric field on the tip of the member from which the ink is ejected and to quickly supply the ink to the tip of the ejection unit. When the electric field is concentrated at the tip of the member from which the ink is ejected, the electrostatic force acting on the colorant particles in the ink increases, and the ink easily flies. In addition, by improving the ability to supply ink to the ejection unit, it is possible to shorten the ink ejection cycle. In the method of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-502218, it is described that a voltage is applied to an electrode having a sharp tip to cause the ink to fly, but since there is no boundary between adjacent electrodes, the ink is ejected. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes when the ink is ejected, the ink is likely to fly (hereinafter referred to as crosstalk) from an adjacent electrode portion. Further, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-149253,
Since the ink ejection part is composed of only one electrode,
The configuration has a small ability to supply ink to the tip of the electrode, and is difficult to support high-speed printing.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus having a recording head in which crosstalk hardly occurs and which can discharge ink stably in a short cycle.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, an ink jet recording apparatus has the following configuration. That is, an ink in which a colorant component is aggregated by an electrostatic force formed by a recording voltage selectively applied to an ejection electrode provided in the flow path, which constitutes a flow path for flowing ink in which a colorant is dispersed in a solvent. In an ink jet recording apparatus that records an image by flying and adhering to a recording medium, a flow path in which an ink discharge electrode and an ink guide member are provided in close proximity to the discharge electrode on the flow path wall, A flow path without an ink guide member is formed to divide ink between adjacent ink ejection units. In addition, the ink ejection electrode and the ink guide member are arranged to form an ink meniscus therebetween, and the ink ejection portion electrode is projected from the flow channel wall surface. Is set higher than the wall surface of the flow path in which the ink discharge unit electrode is not provided, and ink is supplied to the ink discharge unit using the surface tension of the ink.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a housing, 2 is a recording head, 3 is a replenishment ink tank, 4 is an ink circulation system, 5 is an ink ejection section, 6 is a common electrode, 7 is a recording medium, 8 is a recording medium transport path, and 9 is a recording medium. It is a transport device. The ink jet recording apparatus includes a recording head 2, a common electrode 6, a recording medium transport path 8, and a recording medium transport device 9. The recording head 2 includes an ink tank 3, an ink circulation system 4, and a large number of ink ejection units 5 arranged at appropriate intervals in a part of the ink circulation system 4. They are arranged so as to intersect the transport direction. In addition,
In an ink jet recording apparatus capable of color printing, the recording heads 2 are arranged at least for each of the colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A common electrode 6 is arranged at a position where the ink ejection section 5 and the recording medium transport path 8 face each other. It is driven so that a voltage is applied. At that time, the colorant components in the ink circulated in the ink circulation system 4 aggregate and become
Discharge more. The coloring agent component reduced by the ink ejection is supplied from the ink tank 3. As the ink to be used, for example, an ink in which a charged pigment is dispersed together with a charge control agent in a petroleum-based solvent such as isoparaffin having a low viscosity of about 1 to 10 mPa · s can be used. The ink circulation method and the configuration of the recording head 2 will be described later in detail. The recording medium transport device 9 is driven by a motor (not shown) and transports the recording medium 7 on a recording medium transport path 8. In particular, before and after the common electrode 6, the recording medium 7 is transported linearly by rollers or the like. In this case, the surface of the recording medium 7 on which the ink does not adhere is the lower side, and the recording medium 7 is transported by the recording medium transport device 9 so as to be pressed against the recording medium transport path 8. Therefore, printing can be performed with the distance (about 1 mm) between the ink discharge unit 5 and the recording medium 7 kept constant. Further, since the printing surface does not contact the recording medium transport path 8, the image is not stained after printing.

Next, the ink circulation system 4 will be described.
FIG. 12 shows the configuration of the ink circulation system. The ink stored in the ink pool 31 from the replenishment ink tank 3 is conveyed to the ink flow control chamber 33 through the ink circulation paths 34 and 35 by the suction force of the pump 32a. The ink that has entered the ink flow control chamber 33 flows into the ink circulation path 5 in which the discharge electrodes are arranged due to the difference in the potential energy determined by the height difference between the ink flow control chamber 33 and the ink discharge unit 5. A part of the ink is supplied to the ink flow control chamber 33 by the pump 32b.
And the liquid level in the ink flow rate adjustment chamber 33 is kept constant. The ink discharged from the ink flow control chamber 33 passes through the ink circulation paths 36 and 37, and the ink pool 31
Return to The ink that has passed through the ink discharge unit 5 is collected by the pump 32 c and returns to the ink pool 31.

Next, the ink flow rate adjusting method will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the ink flow control chamber 33. When printing is started, ink circulation is started by the pumps 32a, 32b, and 33c. When the ink enters the ink flow control chamber 33 through the ink circulation path 35, the liquid level gradually rises. When an appropriate amount of ink is discharged from the ink flow control chamber 33 by the pump 32b while detecting the liquid level by the ink liquid level detector 42, the height difference between the ink liquid level and the ink discharge section can be kept constant. By sending the ink from the flow path 41 to the ink ejection unit 5 while keeping this height difference constant, the pressure of the ink transported to the ink ejection unit 5 can be kept constant. Then, after the ink pressure is stabilized, printing is started.

Next, the configuration of the recording head will be described.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view around the ink ejection section 5 of the ink jet recording apparatus used in the present invention. A common electrode 6 is provided at a position facing the ink discharge unit 5,
The ink is ejected onto the recording medium conveyed on the surface of the common electrode 6 by an electric field applied between the common electrode 6 and the common electrode 6. The ink circulates in the direction of the arrow, and a bias power supply 10 capable of applying a constant voltage (bias voltage) to the ink ejection unit 5 and a recording voltage pulse-width modulated according to an image signal when ejecting the ink. Is connected. By controlling the application time of the pulse voltage, the amount of ink to be ejected is adjusted to change the size for each dot.

Further, the configuration of the ink discharge section 5 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The ink discharge unit 5 includes the substrates 12, 1
3 and spacers 11 are alternately stacked. On the substrate 13, there are two columnar members 14 and another columnar member 15 located at a position sandwiched between the columnar members 14. The columnar member 15 is a member longer than the columnar member 14. The wall where the substrate 12 and the substrate 13 face each other serves as an ink flow path wall, and ink flows through a region surrounded by the substrates 12 and 13 and the spacer 11.

FIG. 4 shows a state where the ink 17 flows on the surface of the substrate 13. When the ink 17 flows as shown in FIG. 4, an ink meniscus 16 is formed between the columnar members 14 and 15 having a step on the substrate 13 due to the surface tension of the ink. The ink meniscus 16 serves to supply ink to the tip of the columnar member 15. This type of inkjet recording apparatus discharges ink by electrostatic force due to an electric field,
In the present invention, the following two voltage application methods can be implemented. The first method is a method in which a voltage is applied using the columnar member 15 on the substrate 13 as an ejection electrode, and the columnar member 14 is used as a guide member. In the case of this configuration, the electric field is most concentrated at the tip of the sharpened columnar member 15 and the ink is supplied so as to gather at that position, so that the coloring agent component in the charged ink aggregates. Ejection is facilitated, and the density of one dot can be increased. Furthermore, by changing the width of the pulse voltage applied to the ejection electrode,
Since the diameter of one dot can be changed, an image with high contrast can be obtained. The second method is a method in which a voltage is applied using the columnar member 14 on the substrate 13 as an ejection electrode, and the columnar member 15 is used as a guide member.
In the case of this configuration, since the tip of the columnar member 14 is covered with ink, the concentration of the electric field is reduced as compared with the first method. Therefore, the force for moving the colorant component to the tip of the columnar member 15 is reduced, but since two aggregates are supplied to the tip of the columnar member 15, the density of one dot is equivalent to that of the first method. . Further, since the tip of the columnar member 15 is an insulator at the discharge point, there is an advantage that the discharge is hardly generated.

FIG. 5 is a view of the ink discharge section 5 as viewed from the counter electrode 6 side. The ink flows in the direction of the arrow as a flow path, and the ink discharge portions (the columnar members 15a, the columnar members 14-1a, the columnar members 14-2a, and the columnar members 15a) are formed on the wall surface.
b, the columnar member 14-1b, and the columnar member 14-2b) (the substrate 13a, the substrate 12a, the spacer 11a, and the substrate 13b, the substrate 13b, the substrate 12b, and the spacer 11c), and the ink ejection portion do not exist. Channel (substrate 13
b, the substrate 12a, the spacer 11b and the substrate 13c, the substrate 12b, and the spacer 11d. ) Exists. The ink flows over the spacer 11 and circulates. As described above, the ink is discharged from the columnar member 15 by the electrostatic force.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line aa 'in FIG. The ink has the spacer 11 as the bottom surface and the substrate 1
An ink meniscus 16 is formed between the columnar member 15 and the substrate 12, and between the substrate 12 and the substrate 13, which flows with the walls 2 and 13 as the wall surface and ejects the ink in which the colorant components are aggregated. In the present embodiment, since the ink flowing through the flow channel is always supplied to the tip of the columnar member 15 by surface tension, several kHz to several tens of kHz (for example, 5 to 10 kHz)
Hz), that is, a short period (0.1 to 0.2
μs), the ink can be ejected. Here, the spacers 11b and 11d serving as the bottom surfaces of the flow paths where the columnar members 15 do not exist are set lower than the spacers 11a and 11c serving as the bottom surfaces of the flow paths where the columnar members exist, so that the depth of the flow paths is set deeper. . By setting in this way, the height of the liquid surface of the flow path where the columnar member does not exist becomes low,
An ink meniscus is not formed between the columnar members of the adjacent flow paths. The case where no flow path having no columnar member is provided will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view when the substrate 12 does not exist in FIG. With this configuration, even if the ink is sucked on the downstream side of the ink circulation path from the discharge unit, when the upper part of the substrate 13 is wet with the ink, an ink meniscus is formed between the adjacent columnar members 15. . Since it is very difficult to keep the upper portion of the substrate 13 in a dry state, this configuration is liable to cause crosstalk. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, by providing a flow path without a columnar member, crosstalk can be prevented.

Next, the dimensions of the ink circulation path near the ink discharge section will be described with reference to FIG. The width of the ink flow path is determined by the thicknesses a and c of the spacer 11 and the thickness b of the substrate 12, but if a, b, and c are too small, even if a hard material such as ceramic is used for the substrate 12, Since warpage occurs, a, b, and c are all set to 50 μm or more. However, when a and c are set to 500 μm or more, when the ink has a vertical component and flows as shown in FIG. 3, a problem occurs that the ink leaks from the inside of the flow path and contaminates the inside of the ink jet recording apparatus. . On the other hand, if a, b, and c are excessively large, the dot interval at the time of printing is widened. The thickness of the columnar member 15 is set to several tens μm together with the columnar member 14,
An ink meniscus is formed between the two. Further, the tip of the columnar member 15 is manufactured by protruding by d from the substrate 13. Thus, by making the columnar member 15 protrude from the substrate, it becomes possible to supply a thin layer of ink to the tip of the columnar member 15. If the tip of the columnar member 15 does not protrude from the substrate, a considerably large voltage needs to be applied because a surface tension acts on the tip of the columnar member 15 to prevent the ejection of ink at the time of ink ejection. When a power supply with a high voltage is used, discharge may occur in the print head or other parts in the printing apparatus due to disturbance such as dirt or dust. Therefore, it is important to reduce the voltage required at the time of ink ejection. As described with reference to FIG. 6, the ink meniscus also exists in the flow channel width direction. If the tip of the columnar member 15 is made higher than the substrate 12 by an appropriate size, the ink is displaced due to surface tension.
Will be supplied to the tip. In addition, by providing a height difference e between the substrate 12 and the substrate 13, the occurrence of an ink meniscus between the tips of the columnar members 15 is eliminated. d,
When e is 50 μm or more, the above-mentioned effects are obtained. However, when d + e is twice or more of the flow path width a, a problem occurs that ink is not supplied to the tip of the columnar member 15. e is determined depending on the channel width. It is necessary to set the depth f of the flow path so that the ink meniscus shown in FIG. 6 is formed. If f is too small, no ink meniscus is formed. On the other hand, if it is too large, the flow resistance of the ink increases, making it difficult for the ink to flow. From these, it is preferable that the appropriate range of f is set to be twice or more and five times or less of the channel width a.
The height difference g between the spacers 11a and 11b is preferably 50 μm or more in order to prevent the ink meniscus between the columnar members 15. Here, the specific numerical values described above are numerical values obtained under the following experimental conditions. Pigment concentration in ink 2-5 wt% Ink concentration 1-2 mPa · s Surface tension of ink 23-25 dyne / cm Voltage applied to electrode Bias voltage 1.5-2.5 kV Pulse voltage 0.3-0.8 kV Head Number of electrodes 4 rows Pump capacity to collect ink that has passed through the discharge unit 50 ml / min Length of ink flow path open to the atmosphere (see Fig. 2) 3 mm

Next, a method of manufacturing the columnar members 14 and 15 will be described. FIG. 9 shows columnar members 14 and 15 on a substrate 13.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process for manufacturing the ink ejection unit 5, as in FIG. 5, when the ink discharge unit 5 is viewed from the counter electrode 6 side. First, as shown in FIG. 9A, the surface of a substrate 13 is coated with an insulator 22 such as polyimide, and a metal layer 23 such as copper, nickel, or aluminum is formed thereon. The thickness of the insulator 22 is several tens of μm, and the thickness of the metal is about several μm. Unnecessary portions of the metal are etched with an acid or the like using the photomask 24, resulting in a structure having the shapes of the metals 25a, 25b, and 25c as shown in FIG. 9B. Next, the insulator 2 is dry-etched using plasma.
The structure shown in FIG. 9C having the shapes of 6a, 26b and 26c is obtained. By the way, two types of voltage application methods at the time of ink ejection have been described with reference to FIG.
In the case of the first method in which a voltage is applied using the upper columnar member 15 as an ejection electrode and the columnar member 14 is used as a guide member, the metal 25b is removed after the state shown in FIG. The configuration shown in FIG. A voltage is applied by using the columnar member 14 on the substrate 13 as an ejection electrode, and the columnar member 15
In the case of the second method using as a guide member, FIG.
After the state shown in the above, the metals 25a and 25c are removed,
The configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 shows the state of the power supply line on the substrate shown in FIG. FIG. 10A shows the surface of the substrate 13 shown in FIG. 9D, and FIG. 10B shows the surface of the substrate 13 shown in FIG. 9E. In FIG. 10A, the tip of the columnar member 15 is 26b in FIG.
The left end of the drawing (left) is 25a and 26a in FIG. 9D, and the front end of the columnar member 14 (right in the drawing) is 25c in FIG. 9D.
26c. In FIG. 10B, the tip of the columnar member 15 is 25b, 26b in FIG. 9E, and the tip of the columnar member 14 (left in the drawing) is 26a in FIG. The tip of (right) corresponds to 26c in FIG. 9 (e). 19 represents a conductor.

Next, a method of supplying a voltage during ejection will be described. FIG. 11 shows a substrate 13 and a spacer 1 when a head is manufactured by the first voltage application method using FIG.
1 shows the shape of FIG. In FIG. 11, (a), (c),
(E) is the substrate 13 and (b), (d) and (f) are the spacers 11. First, on the substrate 13 shown in FIG.
Are adhered. A substrate 12 (not shown) having a notch similar to that shown in (b) is adhered thereon, and a notch similar to that shown in (b) is further formed thereon, and as shown in FIG. The spacer 11 whose tip height is lower than that of the spacer 11 by g) is bonded. The substrate 13 shown in FIG.
The spacer 11 shown in FIG.
The spacer 11 is bonded. Similarly, they are bonded to (e) and (f), and further to the substrate 12 and the spacer 11. When the layers are stacked by such a method, the power supply unit 51 in (a), the power supply unit 52 in (b), and the power supply unit 53 in (c).
Can connect the power supply line from the power supply.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Construct a flow path for flowing ink in which a colorant is dispersed in a solvent,
In an ink jet recording apparatus that records an image by causing an agglomerated colorant component to fly by an electrostatic force formed by a recording voltage selectively applied to an ejection electrode provided in a flow path and to adhere to a recording medium, Forming a flow path in which a discharge electrode and a guide member are provided in proximity to the discharge electrode on the wall surface, and forming a flow path in which the discharge electrode and the guide member are not provided, and separating ink between adjacent ink discharge units;
By providing a liquid level difference by changing the height of the spacer depending on the presence or absence of the ink discharge unit, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of crosstalk. In addition, the discharge electrode and the guide member are arranged to form an ink meniscus between the two, and the ink discharge member is made to protrude from the wall surface of the flow path. By setting the height higher than the wall surface of the flow path where the ink is not provided, it is possible to stably supply the ink to the ink ejection unit by utilizing the surface tension of the ink. In addition, the surface of the substrate on the flow path wall surface is coated with an insulator, a metal layer is formed thereon, and then unnecessary portions of the metal and the insulator are removed, so that the ink ejection electrode and the ink guide member are formed on the substrate. Can be easily formed on a surface.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view around an ink ejection unit of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an ink ejection unit of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of an ink meniscus near an ejection electrode of the ink jet head of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the ink discharge unit shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the ink discharge unit shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a side view of an ink ejection section showing an undesirable ink meniscus shape.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a shape of an ink ejection unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for manufacturing an ink ejection section of an inkjet head according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a form of a power supply unit of the ink ejection unit illustrated in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a power supply method for an inkjet head according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an ink circulation system of the inkjet head of the present invention.

13 is a view for explaining a method for adjusting the ink pressure of the ink circulation system shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Housing, 2 ... Recording head, 3 ... Ink tank, 4 ... Ink circulation system 5 ... Ink ejection part, 6 ... Common electrode, 7 ... Recording medium, 8 ...
Recording medium transport path 9: Recording medium transport device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Atsushi Onose 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshinobu Fukano 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture No. 1 Inside the Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A flow path for flowing ink in which a colorant is dispersed in a solvent is formed, and the colorant components are aggregated by an electrostatic field formed by a recording voltage selectively applied to an electrode provided in the flow path. In an ink jet recording apparatus that records an image by flying ink and attaching the ink to a recording medium,
An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a flow path having an ink ejection electrode and an ink guide member at a position close to the electrode on a wall surface; and a flow path having no ink discharge electrode and an ink guide member on the wall surface. 2. An ink jet apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a flow path having an ink ejection electrode and an ink guide member on the wall surface and a flow path having no electrode and the ink guide member on the wall surface are alternately arranged. Recording device. 3. An ink discharge electrode according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an ink discharge electrode is provided on the flow path wall surface and ink guide members are arranged on both sides of the electrode in the ink flow direction, and the tip of the ink discharge electrode is moved away from the flow path wall surface. An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein 4. An ink guide member according to claim 1, wherein an ink guide member is provided on a wall surface of the flow path, and ink discharge electrodes are arranged on both sides of the ink guide member in a direction of ink flow. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by projecting from a wall surface. 5. The ink discharge electrode and the ink guide member according to claim 3, wherein the surface of the substrate forming a part of the flow path wall surface is coated with an insulator, and a metal layer is formed thereon. Thereafter, an unnecessary part of the metal is removed, and an unnecessary part of the insulator is further removed to form the ink jet recording apparatus. 6. The flow channel according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the flow path where the ink discharge electrode and the ink guide member are not present on the wall surface is the flow path where the ink discharge electrode and the ink guide member are present on the wall surface. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by being deeper than the depth of the ink jet recording head. 7. The flow path according to claim 1, wherein the wall height of the flow path where the ink discharge electrode and the ink guide member are present on the wall surface is equal to the flow path where the ink discharge electrode and the ink guide member are not present on the wall surface. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by being higher than a road wall.