JPS59184665A - Recorder utilizing heat energy - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a heat energy utilizer capable of enabling high-speed and high-density recording to be performed faithfully by designating standard values for the resistance values of each electrode in a heat energy utilizer and the resistance values of a heating resistor layer in a heat generating section within a specific range. CONSTITUTION:A liquid jet recording is made up of a base plate 1, an electricity converter 2 provided on the base plate 1, front wall plates 6, 7, and 8 to form a liquid pathway 3, the first liquid chamber 4, and the second liquid chamber 5, a back wall plate 9, side wall plates inserted between both ends of these wall plates, an orific plate 12 with an orifice 11, ceiling plates 13 and 14, and a supply tube to supply liquid to the second liquid chamber 5. When the heating resistor layer 16 is energized through a selection electrode 17 and a common electrode 18, heat energy is mainly generated in the heat generating section 20 between these electrodes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording device that utilizes thermal energy, and particularly to a recording device that utilizes highly densely multiplied thermal energy.

As a recording device that utilizes thermal energy, a liquid jet recording device disclosed in, for example, German OLS Publication No. 2944005 is known. This liquid jet recording device can easily perform bi-speed color recording, and the recording head, which is the main part of the output section, has an ejection port ( Because it is possible to arrange the orifices in a high density, it is possible to obtain high resolution, and at the same time, it is possible to make the recording head more compact as a whole, and it is suitable for office use, and furthermore, as technology advances in the semiconductor field. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of devices that have become available due to the fact that it is easy to make them longer and planar (two-dimensional) by making full use of the advantages of IC technology and micro-processing technology. is attracting hot attention.

However, in a recording device that uses such a thermal energy key, when forming a full line on the short side (210 mm) of an A4 paper, for example, at a density of 12 electrothermal converters/'ram, the total number of electrothermal converters is becomes 2520 pieces. Therefore, when commercializing such a recording device, many problems arise in terms of device reliability, productivity, and mass production. In particular, the heating resistance layers installed in the heat generating part of the electrothermal converter are extremely thin and short, so the resistance values of these many heating resistance layers can be precisely controlled across all the heating resistance layers. It is extremely difficult to control the resistance value of the electrode. When the resistance value of the heating resistor layer is low, the amount of thermal energy generated in each electrothermal converter is low. control becomes difficult, making it impossible to perform desired printing.

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and its main object is to provide a recording device using thermal energy that can faithfully perform high-density and high-speed recording.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording device that has less variation in ink flight between ink ejection ports and is suitable for recording high-quality images.

That is, the recording device using thermal energy of the present invention includes at least a substrate and a plurality of electrothermal transducers as means for generating thermal energy provided on the substrate,
Each of the electrothermal converters includes a pair of electrodes, and a heat generating resistive layer connected to these electrodes and having a heat generating section that generates the thermal energy between these electrodes. In this case, the resistance value Re of each electrode and the standard value Rh of the resistance value of the heat generating resistive layer in the heat generating part satisfy the relational expression 0.5≦Re/Rh≦2.0. Features.

The recording device using thermal rays and rays of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration has a high fidelity of response to high-frequency recording signals with little irradiation of thermal energy generated in each electrothermal transducer. It delivers reliable and conservative performance.

The reason why the thermal energy recording device of the present invention exhibits excellent characteristics with little variation in the amount of thermal energy generated by each electrothermal converter is based on the following principle.

Let Rh be the standard value of the resistance value of the heat generating resistor layer in the heat generating part of a recording device that uses thermal energy, let ΔRh be the maximum value of the variation in resistance A1, and let the resistance of the electrode corresponding to the heat generating resistor layer be Rh. Let the value be Re. Since the power consumption required to obtain a certain amount of heat generation in the heat generating part is the same for all electrothermal converters, the standard heating resistance layer and the heating resistance layer with the largest variation in this case If the applied voltages are v and v+ΔV, respectively, then the following holds true. By expanding this equation (1), it can be obtained. FIG. 1 is obtained from this equation (2).

In other words, in FIG. 1, the horizontal axis shows the ratio of ΔRh to the standard value Rh of the resistance value of the heating resistor layer, and the vertical axis shows the ratio of the resistance value of the heating resistor layer whose resistance value differs by ΔRh to the heating resistor layer having the standard value Rh. The ratio of the difference ΔV between the amount of heat generated when V is applied and the voltage V required to obtain the same amount of heat generated when V is applied to the voltage V.

Re/Rh is used as a parameter, and Re/Rh is 0.
Curves are drawn for each case of 1, 0, 5, 1.0, and 2.0.

From this Fig. 1, the maximum value ΔRh of the variation in the heating resistance layer
Even if it is about ±30% of the standard resistance value Rh of the heating resistor layer, if Re/Rh is 1, the difference ΔV from the voltage to obtain the same amount of heat generation is extremely within about 1.5%. It becomes small. Therefore, when each electrothermal transducer is driven with the same voltage, variations in the amount of heat generated in each heating resistance layer can be made extremely small.

As is clear from the above explanation, in the recording device using thermal energy of the present invention, the resistance value Re of the electrode, which was hardly considered in the past, is increased by increasing the resistance value Re/Rh. Values can be placed within the aforementioned sieves.

As is clear from Fig. 1, the value of Ra/Rh is as follows:
It is most preferable to set the value to around 1.0, but by setting this value within the range of about 172 to 2, the technical concept of the present invention can be utilized to reduce the variation in the amount of heat generated in each heating resistor layer. Can be made smaller.

Hereinafter, the recording device using thermal energy of the present invention will be further described in accordance with the liquid jet recording device shown in FIG. 2 (schematic sectional view) and FIG. I will explain in detail.

This liquid jet recording apparatus includes a substrate 1, an electric converter 2 provided on the substrate 1, and a front wall plate 6 for forming a liquid flow path 3, a first liquid chamber 4, and a second liquid chamber 5. .7, 8, the rear wall plate 9 and the side wall plates 10 which are clamped to these wall plates at both ends;
and an orifice 11 provided corresponding to each electric converter.
an orifice plate 12 provided with an orifice plate 12, a top plate 13.14,
It is mainly composed of a supply pipe 15 for supplying liquid to the second liquid chamber 5.

The electrothermal converter 2 includes a heating resistance layer 16, a selection electrode 17, and a common electrode 18, which are provided on the substrate 1 in order from the substrate side in parallel to the heating resistance layer 16, excluding a part of the heating resistance layer I6. ,
At least a protective layer 19 is provided on a portion that directly contacts the liquid in the liquid chamber. The selection electrode 17 and the common electrode 18 are connected to the heating resistance layer 16 in the heat generation section 20.
It is easier to control the resistance value than in the case of FIG. It is set as follows.

The heating resistor layer 16 is energized through the selection type 8!17 and the common electrode 18, and thereby mainly generates thermal energy in the heat generating portion 20 between these electrodes. Heat action surface 21
This is where the generated heat acts on the liquid, and has a close relationship with the heat generating section 20. Bubbles are generated in the liquid due to the heat action on the heat action surface 21, and the pressure energy of the bubbles causes the liquid to be ejected from the orifice 11 in the form of flying droplets, thereby performing recording.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph for explaining the basis for numerically limiting the resistance value of the electrode in the recording device using thermal energy of the present invention and the standard value of the resistance value of the heat generating resistive layer in the heat generating part. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing an outline of a liquid jet recording device shown as an example of a preferred embodiment other than those shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. It is. 1: Jj; board 2: electric converter 3: liquid flow path
4: First liquid chamber 4: Second liquid chamber 6-8: Front wall plate 9: Rear wall plate 10: Side wall plate 11 Niorifice 12: First nozzle plate 13.1
4 Top plate 15: Supply pipe 16: Heat generating resistance layer 17 Two selection electrode 18: Common electrode 19: Protective layer

Claims (1)

[Claims] It comprises at least a substrate and a plurality of electrical and thermal converters provided on the substrate as means for generating thermal energy, each of the electrothermal converters having a pair of electrodes and , and a heat generating resistive layer connected to these electrodes and having a heat generating section that generates the thermal energy between these electrodes, the resistance value Re of each of the electrodes and the heat generating A recording device using thermal energy, characterized in that a standard value Rh of the resistance value of the heat generating resistive layer in the section satisfies the following relational expression: 0.5≦Re/Rh≦2.0.