JPS62268655A - Ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To equally supply recording ink to all of ink emitting parts, by a method wherein a groove is provided on a substrate, which has a large number of heat generators arranged to a recording head part in a row, to be used as a recording ink supply device. CONSTITUTION:A substrate 13 is bonded to a base 14 and an ink supply groove 22 is provided at the center of the substrate 13, and a gap plate 15 and a nozzle plate 16 are respectively bonded to the substrate 13. The recording ink supplied from an ink supply pipe 12 passes through the ink supply groove 22 to be supplied to the gap between the substrate 13 and the nozzle plate 16. Power is intermittently supplied to heat generators 17 by a switching element sW through electrodes 19 to generate Joule heat and, by the pressure change generated by the abrupt film boiling of the recording ink contacted with the surface of each that generator 17, ink droplets are emitted from each ink emitting orifice 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus used for inkjet (hereinafter referred to as thermal inkjet) recording in which ink droplets are ejected by changing the heating state of recording ink.

[Prior art] As a conventional example of a thermal inkjet recording device, the US HEW
The May 1985 issue of the LETT-PACKARD Company Journal introduces the structure of the recording device and recording head in detail, and it is an effective means for realizing an inkjet recording device that has a simple structure and is capable of high-speed, high-density recording. be.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the thermal inkjet recording device introduced in the above-mentioned document has one row of one row at a pitch of 2631 Jm in the head section.
To realize an inkjet recording device that can perform high-density recording at a pitch of about 1001.1 m with only two ink ejection sections, it is necessary to use multiple heads or to use a single head with many ink ejection sections. It is necessary to arrange multiple rows.

In the former case, the adjustment of the relative position of the heads is very delicate and difficult to manufacture. In the latter case, if multiple boards with heating elements are configured, it will be difficult to adjust the positional relationship between the boards as in the former case, and if multiple rows of heating elements are provided on a single board, , When high-speed response is performed, ink ejection parts that are far from the ink supply port are likely to cause ink ejection failure. Furthermore, in order to achieve high-speed response, it is necessary to use materials with poor thermal conductivity, such as glass, alumina, and silicon, for the substrate containing the heating element, but since these materials are extremely brittle, the ink supply port It is difficult to process, and when holes are formed by ultrasonic processing, the substrate is likely to be damaged, resulting in a decrease in fractionation during the manufacturing process of the head.

[Means for Solving the Problem] The present invention solves this problem by ejecting ink droplets from an ink ejection port by changing the heating state of the recording ink, and onto a recording paper facing the ink ejection port. An inkjet recording apparatus for recording dot images is characterized in that a recording ink supply path is a groove provided in a substrate having a plurality of heat generating elements arranged in a row in a recording head section in the direction of the row of the heat generating elements.

[Function] According to the present invention, it is no longer necessary to align a plurality of heating elements arranged in a row on a substrate in manufacturing a recording head, and grooves provided in the row direction of the heating elements are used as recording ink supply paths. Therefore, recording ink can be evenly supplied to all ink ejection sections.

Furthermore, the ink supply port, which was conventionally formed by ultrasonic processing of the substrate, can be replaced by cutting processing using a dicing saw or the like.

[Example] The present invention will be explained in detail based on examples.

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the recording head 1 receives a flood of recording ink from the ink tank 5 through the ink supply pipe 12, and moves in the direction of the arrow 2 while being guided by the carriage guide 6, and the platen 2 and the guide roller 4, inkjet recording is performed on the recording paper 3 which is fed intermittently with a line feed in synchronization with the recording head 1.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the recording head 1 of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of FIG. 2.

The operation of each part will be briefly explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIG. 2, a substrate 13 is bonded to a base 14, an ink supply groove 22 is provided in the center of the substrate 13, and a gap plate 15 and a nozzle plate 16 are bonded to the top of the substrate 13, respectively. Recording ink supplied from the ink supply pipe 12 in FIG. 3 passes through the ink supply groove 22 and is supplied to the gap between the substrate 13 and the nozzle plate 16. Returning to FIG. 2, heating element 17
Electric power is intermittently supplied by the switching element SW through the electrode 19 to generate Joule heat, and the recording ink in contact with the surface of the heating element 17 undergoes rapid film boiling, resulting in a pressure change that occurs as shown in FIG. Ink droplets are ejected from the ink ejection port 18.

Next, a method of manufacturing the recording head will be explained.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, a substrate 1 has a resin or metal base 14 equipped with an ink reservoir 23 and an ink supply pipe 12, and a thin film such as a heating element 17 and an electrode 19 formed on the surface.
3 are joined by adhesive or the like. Second, as shown in FIG. 5, the ink supply grooves 22 are cut and formed using a dicing saw 20. Furthermore, after bonding the gap plate 15 to the surface of the substrate 13 and the nozzle plate 16 to the surface of the gap plate 15 as shown in FIG. 6, the sealing portion 21 shown in FIG. 7 is closed with a thermosetting sealant or the like. The thermal inkjet recording head shown in Figure 2 is floating.

The recording head 1 produced by the above method can be manufactured easily, and the uniformity of the gap between the substrate 13 and the nozzle plate 16 is improved, and the recording head 1 is arranged near the heating element 17 and at an equal distance from any heating element. Since the ink supply groove 22 is provided, recording ink can be supplied to any ink discharge section under the same conditions.

Therefore, in the past, stable ink ejection conditions could only be obtained at a drive frequency of about 2KHz, but with a drive frequency of about 4KHz
However, we were able to obtain good ejection conditions with no missing dots or uneven ink amount. On the other hand, by cutting the ink supply port of the board, it is possible to process multiple pieces.
This enabled processing to be performed more effectively than conventional ultrasonic processing, and the manufacturing yield of recording heads could be improved.

Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to color inkjet recording devices. FIG. 8 shows an example of a recording head section when the present invention is applied to a color inkjet recording apparatus. The manufacturing process is the same as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7. According to Figure 8, heads for four colors, yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, can be manufactured from a single substrate, so each color can be manufactured to achieve good color mixing, which has been a problem with conventional color inkjet recording devices. It is possible to eliminate the need for positioning the ink ejection section.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention, the method for manufacturing the recording head section is simplified, and a thermal inkjet recording apparatus capable of stable high-speed response can be manufactured.

Furthermore, when applied to a color inkjet recording device, the above effects can be further exhibited, and the positioning of the ink ejection portions of each color, which was a problem in conventional color inkjet recording devices, is no longer necessary.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the general structure of an inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the recording head section of the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of FIG. 2. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are perspective views showing the manufacturing process of the recording head section of FIG. 2. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a recording head section when the present invention is applied to a color inkjet recording apparatus. 4... Guide roller 6... Carriage guide 8... Paper feed gear and above Applicant Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Tsutomu Mogami et al. Figure 2 Figure 3] 2 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an inkjet recording device that ejects ink droplets from an ink ejection port by changing the heating state of the recording ink and records a dot image on a recording paper facing the ink ejection port,
An inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that a recording ink supply path is a groove provided in a direction of the row of heat generating elements on a substrate having a plurality of heat generating elements arranged in a row in a recording head section.