KR20050031152A - Ink-cartridge with ink-filter and the method for manufacturing - Google Patents

Abstract

An ink cartridge with an ink filter and a method for manufacturing the ink filter are provided to filter impurities included in ink by preventing an influence on a frequency characteristic of a print head. An ink cartridge(200) includes a body of a cartridge(210), a print head(220), and ink filter(230). The body(210) of a cartridge includes ink. The upper part of the body(210) of the cartridge includes a groove part(210a) having a print head(220) and an ink filter(230). The print head(220) is used for spreading ink stored in the body(210) of a cartridge according to the control signal of print. The print head(220) includes a head chip(221) and a flexible circuit substrate(222). The head chip(221) includes a substrate, a plurality of nozzle plates, and a chamber plate.

Description

Ink cartridge with ink filter and manufacturing method therefor {INK-CARTRIDGE WITH INK-FILTER AND THE METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING}

The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly, to an ink cartridge having an ink filter for filtering foreign matter contained in the ink, and a manufacturing method thereof.

In general, an inkjet printer is a printer that performs printing by spraying liquid ink on a paper, and is classified into a piezoelectric element method and a bubble jet method according to a method of spraying ink.

1 and 2 are perspective views showing the main parts of the conventional ink cartridge and the ink cartridge.

As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional ink cartridge 100 includes a cartridge body 110 for storing ink and a print head 120 coupled to an end of the cartridge body 110. The print head 120 is for spraying ink stored in the cartridge body 110 according to an output signal, and includes a flexible circuit board 121 and a head chip 122. A conductive contact pad 121a is coupled to one side of the flexible circuit board 121, and the contact pad 121a is connected to the head chip 122 through a wiring (not shown). As shown in FIG. 2, the head chip 122 includes a substrate 123 on which an ink supply manifold 123a is formed and a nozzle plate 124 having a plurality of nozzles 124a (see FIG. 1). And a chamber plate 125 interposed between the substrate 123 and the nozzle plate 124 to form an ink chamber 125a which is a temporary storage space of ink. When the print head 120 is coupled to the cartridge body 110, an ink supply port (not shown) formed in the cartridge body 110 and an ink supply manifold 123a formed in the substrate 123 communicate with each other. . Therefore, the ink stored in the cartridge body 110 flows into the ink chamber 125a through the ink supply path 125b formed by the ink supply port, the ink supply manifold 123a and the chamber plate 125. Then, the ink in the ink chamber 125a is injected through the nozzle 124a by bubbles generated when the heating element 126 installed in the substrate 123 is heated.

On the other hand, the ink stored in the ink chamber (125a) may contain foreign matter, when the ink containing the foreign matter is moved to the ink supply path (125b) and the ink chamber (125a) without any filtering process, ink supply The problem that the furnace 125b or the nozzle 124a is blocked may occur. In order to solve this problem, Hewlett Packard has proposed an ink cartridge 100 having a plurality of islands 127 to filter foreign matters through US Patent No. 6,007,188. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of these islands 127 are provided between the ink supply manifold 123a and the ink chamber 125a, and the spacing D of these islands 127 is an ink supply. It is smaller than the width W of the furnace 125b. The foreign matter contained in the ink is caught by the plurality of islands 127 and cannot be moved to the ink supply path 125b or the ink chamber 125a. Here, reference numeral 128 denotes a restrictor for preventing bubbles generated in the ink chamber 125a from expanding to the ink supply manifold 123a.

However, in the conventional ink cartridge 100 having the above-described configuration, since the foreign material having a long elongated fiber shape cannot be filtered out, the problem that the ink supply path 125b or the nozzle 124a is blocked by such foreign matter is prevented. have.

In addition, since the portion for installing the islands 127 on the substrate 123 must be secured, the distance S from the heating element 126 to the ink supply manifold 123a is increased. When the distance S from the heat generating element 126 to the ink supply manifold 123a is increased, the frequency characteristic of the print head 120 is lowered. That is, during the printing process, bubbles are generated in the ink chamber 125a and then disappeared at a high speed of 10 KHz or more. The ink of the ink supply manifold 123a is transferred to the ink chamber 125a due to the increase in the distance S. If it does not flow quickly, the ink may not be ejected smoothly.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an ink cartridge and a method of manufacturing the same having an ink filter capable of filtering out various types of foreign substances contained in the ink without affecting the frequency characteristics of the printhead. Its purpose is to.

An ink cartridge having an ink filter according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes a cartridge body storing ink, a head chip having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink of the cartridge body, the cartridge body and the And an ink filter installed between the nozzles, wherein the ink filter includes a filter plate having at least one filter hole, and the filter hole is curved at a predetermined angle.

In the present invention having the above constitution, the filter hole may have an irregular cross-sectional area, that is, a tapered shape, and the cross-sectional area may be smaller than the cross-sectional area of the nozzle. In addition, the cross-sectional shape of the filter hole may have various shapes such as a circle or a polygon.

On the other hand, the method of manufacturing an ink cartridge having an ink filter according to the present invention comprises the steps of processing a first channel by irradiating a laser on one surface of the filter plate, and irradiating a laser on the other surface of the filter plate and the first channel and Forming a filter hole by processing a second channel connected to a predetermined inclination angle, and bonding the filter plate on which the first and second channels are formed between a head chip having a nozzle and a cartridge body in which ink is stored. Steps.

In the method of manufacturing an ink cartridge according to the present invention, in the step of irradiating a laser to the filter plate, a shape and a taper angle of the first and second channels may be adjusted using a plurality of masks.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an ink cartridge having an ink filter according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and a manufacturing method thereof.

Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an ink cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the main configuration of the ink cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 3, Figures 5a to Figure 5d is a cross-sectional view showing various embodiments of the ink filter of the ink cartridge according to the present invention.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the ink cartridge 200 having the ink filter according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cartridge body 210, the print head 220, the ink filter 230 It includes.

The cartridge body 210 stores ink therein, and a groove 210a on which the print head 220 and the ink filter 230 are mounted is formed on the cartridge body 210. An ink supply port 210b for discharging ink in the cartridge body 210 is formed at approximately the center of the groove portion 210a.

The print head 220 is for spraying ink stored in the cartridge body 210 according to a print control signal, and includes a head chip 221 and a flexible circuit board 222. As shown in FIG. 4, the head chip 221 includes a substrate 223 having an ink supply manifold 223a, a nozzle plate 224 having a plurality of nozzles 224a, and a substrate 223. And a chamber plate 225 interposed between the nozzle plate 224 and the ink plate 225a. The lower part of the ink chamber 225a is provided with a heating element 226 that generates heat by receiving power, and the heating element 226 is covered by the insulating layer 227. As shown in FIG. 3, the flexible circuit board 223 is provided with an electrically conductive contact pad 222a, which is electrically connected to the head chip 221 through the wiring 222b. Is connected. The ink discharged from the cartridge body 210 through the ink supply port 210b of the cartridge body 210 is filled in the ink chamber 225a through the ink supply manifold 223a and the ink inside the ink chamber 225a. Is injected through the nozzle 224a by bubbles generated when the heating element 226 generates heat.

The ink filter 230 is for filtering foreign matter contained in the ink stored in the cartridge body 210 so as not to be moved to the ink chamber 225a and the nozzle 224a. The filter plate 231 and the filter plate ( And a filtering unit 232 formed at 231. The filtering unit 232 is formed of a plurality of filter holes 233 smaller than the size of the nozzle 224a, and is formed in a size corresponding to the size of the ink supply port 210b of the cartridge body 210. The filter plate 231 may be formed of various materials, such as a silicon wafer, a plastic plate, a metal plate, and the like, which may process the filter hole 233. The filter hole 233 has a size of 1 ~ 100㎛ to be applied to all the inkjet printer.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the filter hole 233 includes a first channel 233a extending from one surface of the filter plate 231 to the inside of the filter plate 231 and a filter from the other surface of the filter plate 231. The second channel 233b extends inwardly of the plate 231, and the first channel 233a and the second channel 233b are connected to be inclined. Due to the unique shape of the filter hole 233, the foreign substance P in the form of an elongated fiber included in the ink is filtered by the filtering unit 232. The first channel 233a and the second channel 233b may be tapered or cylindrical.

In the filter hole 233 shown in FIG. 5A, the first channel 233a is tapered and the second channel 233b is cylindrical, and both the first channel 233b and the second channel 233b are filters. It is inclined to the inner side of the plate 231. The filter hole 234 shown in FIG. 5B is also a case where both the first and second channels 234a and 234b are inclined toward the inside of the filter plate 231, and the filter hole 233 shown in FIG. Alternatively, the length of the first channel 234a is longer than the length of the second channel 234b. In the filter hole 235 illustrated in FIG. 5C, a tapered first channel 235a is vertically formed inside the filter plate 231, and a cylindrical second channel 235b is formed in the filter plate 231. It is formed to be inclined toward the inner side. In contrast, the filter hole 236 illustrated in FIG. 5D is formed such that the cylindrical first channel 236a is inclined to the filter plate 231, and the tapered second channel 236b is formed in the filter plate 231. It is formed vertically. As such, in the filter holes 233, 234, 235 and 236, which are formed of a cylindrical channel and a tapered channel, the length of the cylindrical channel is the entire filter holes 233, 234, 235 and 236. It is preferable that the length is 1 to 70%, and the taper angle of the tapered channel is preferably 1 to 120 degrees.

In the ink cartridge 200 according to the present invention configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink stored in the cartridge body 210 (see FIG. 3) is transferred to the ink chamber 225a of the head chip 221. In the moving process, the foreign matter P or bubble V contained in the ink is filtered by the filtering unit 232 of the ink filter 230. Therefore, only the ink containing no foreign matter P or bubble V flows into the ink chamber 225a.

On the other hand, Figure 6 and Figure 7 shows the main configuration of the ink cartridge according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The ink cartridge according to another embodiment of the present invention is similar to the ink cartridge 200 according to the preferred embodiment except for the configuration of the head chip 240 and the ink filter 250. Therefore, a configuration not shown will be described with reference to FIG. 3, and a description of the remaining configurations of the cartridge body 210 constituting the ink cartridge and the print head 220 except for the head chip 240 will be omitted.

6 and 7, the ink cartridge according to another embodiment of the present invention is the head chip 240 and the ink filter 250 is integrally combined. That is, an ink filter 250 having a filtering unit 251 is stacked on the substrate 242 on which the heating element 241 is installed, and a chamber plate forming an ink chamber 243a on the ink filter 250. 243 are stacked. The nozzle plate 244 having the nozzle 244a is stacked on the chamber plate 243. Here, since the ink filter 250 covers the heating element 241, the ink filter 250 serves as an insulating layer. When the head chip 240 having the ink filter 250 integrated therein is coupled to the cartridge body 210, the ink supply holes 210b (see FIG. 3) formed on the cartridge body 210 and the substrate 242 are connected to the cartridge body 210. The formed ink supply manifolds 242a communicate with each other. Therefore, the ink stored in the cartridge body 210 flows into the ink chamber 243a through the ink supply manifold 242a. In this process, bubbles or foreign substances included in the ink are filtered by the filtering unit 251 including the plurality of filter holes 252 in the ink filter 250.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing an ink cartridge according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

The ink cartridge according to the present invention can be manufactured by a conventional method except for the ink filter 230. Therefore, the following description will focus on the manufacturing method of the ink filter 230.

As shown in FIG. 8, the ink hole 233 provided in the ink filter 230 is processed using the laser 300. In this case, the laser 300 that may be used includes an excimer laser or a DPSS laser (Diode Pumped Solid State Laser).

The filter plate 231 is supported by a so-called XYZ-R table (not shown) that can move the filter plate 231 to vary the angle of incidence of the laser light. The optical homogenizer 400, the projection lens 500, the mask box 600 or the contact mask 700 are positioned between the laser 300 and the filter plate 231. The optical homogenizer 400 makes the light density of the irradiated laser light uniform, and the projection lens 500 serves to focus the laser light. The mask box 600 and the contact mask 700 may be selectively used. The mask box 600 is provided with a plurality of photomasks having exposure holes having different sizes. When the mask box 600 is used, in order to form a tapered channel in the filter plate 231, the laser beam is irradiated while changing the photomask from the photomask having the large size of the exposure hole to the mask having the small size of the exposure hole. do. Even when the contact mask 700 is used instead of the mark box 600, the nozzle holes 233 are formed using the plurality of contact masks 700 having different sizes of exposure holes. The exposure hole formed in the photomask used as the mask box 600 or the contact mask 700 may have various shapes such as a circle or a polygon. The tapered inclined channel can be formed by moving the filter plate 231 to change the incident angle of the laser light with the use of a plurality of photomasks having different sizes of exposure holes.

After forming the first channel from one surface of the filter plate 231, the second channel is processed by rotating the filter plate 231 so that the other surface of the filter plate 231 faces the laser 300 side. The second channel is also formed on the other surface of the filter plate 231 by the same method as the processing of the first channel.

After the first and second channels are formed in the filter plate 231, cleaning is performed to improve the condition of the filter plate 231 processing surface. After the cleaning is finished, the ink filter 230 (see FIG. 4) having the filtering unit 232 is attached to the head chip 221. As the bonding method, various methods such as a method using a bonding agent may be used.

According to the present invention as described above, since the ink filter is provided with a curved filter hole, it is possible to filter foreign matter and bubbles of various shapes, including thin and elongated fibrous foreign matter. Therefore, the foreign matter does not flow into the ink chamber, thereby preventing the nozzle from being blocked by the foreign matter.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the islands do not need to be provided on the substrate as in the prior art, the distance from the heating element to the ink supply manifold does not have to be increased, so that the frequency characteristics of the printhead are not affected.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments for illustrating the principles of the invention, the invention is not limited to the construction and operation as shown and described. Rather, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, all such suitable changes and modifications and equivalents should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

1 is a perspective view showing a conventional ink cartridge,

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing an extract of the main portion of the conventional ink cartridge,

3 is an exploded perspective view showing an ink cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a cross-sectional view showing the main portion of the configuration of the ink cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.

5A to 5D are cross-sectional views showing various embodiments of an ink filter of an ink cartridge according to the present invention;

Figure 6 is a perspective view showing the main configuration of the ink cartridge according to another embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a main configuration of an ink cartridge according to another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 6;

8 is a view for explaining a method of manufacturing an ink cartridge having an ink filter according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

200; ink cartridge 210; cartridge body

220; printhead 221, 240; head chip

Flexible circuit boards 223 and 242;

224,244; Nozzle Plate 225,243; Chamber Plate

226,241; heating element 230, 250; ink filter

231; filter plate 232, 251; filtering unit

233,234,235,236,252; filter hole

Claims (5)

A cartridge body storing ink; A head chip having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink of the cartridge body; And And an ink filter installed between the cartridge body and the nozzle. The ink filter includes a filter plate in which at least one filter hole is formed, and the filter hole is an ink cartridge having an ink filter, wherein the filter is curved. The method of claim 1, An ink cartridge having an ink filter, wherein the cross-sectional area of the filter hole is smaller than that of the nozzle. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the filter hole is tapered. Irradiating a laser to one surface of the filter plate to process the first channel; Irradiating a laser on the other surface of the filter plate to process a second channel connected to the first channel at a predetermined inclination angle to form a filter hole; Adhering the filter plate on which the filter hole is formed between a head chip having a nozzle and a cartridge body in which ink is stored; and an ink cartridge having an ink filter. The method of claim 4, wherein The method of manufacturing an ink cartridge having an ink filter, characterized in that for adjusting the shape and taper angle of the filter hole using a plurality of masks in the step of irradiating a laser on the filter plate.