JPH07290711A - Ink jet head, ink jet head cartridge, ink jet head kit, ink jet recording apparatus, production of ink jet head and ink injection method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a long head at a low cost by providing a support having a plurality of element substrates provided with many emission energy generation elements provided thereto arranged to one side surface in a row-and providing a grooved member having many grooves for constituting, passages corresponding to the respective emission energy generation elements. CONSTITUTION:When an ink jet head having nozzles wherein the density of ink emitting orifices is 360 dpi and the number of them is 3008 is constituted, element substrates (heater boards) 100 having 128 emission energy generation elements 101 provided thereto at predetermined positions in density of 360 dpi and having signal pads 102 receiving a driving signal are provided. These heater boads 100 are bonded and fixed to a support (base plate) 300 so as to be arranged in a row. The heater boards 100 being grooved members are loaded with top plates 200 having grooves forming passages provided corresponding to the respective emission energy generation elements and the orifices communicating with the respective ink emitting passages.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head for ejecting a liquid for recording, an ink jet head using ink as the liquid, an ink jet head cartridge having the ink jet head, and an ink jet recording apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an inkjet head having a long length by arranging a plurality of element substrates on which ejection energy generating elements are arranged, an inkjet cartridge using the same, and an inkjet printer.

The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing the ink jet head and a method for injecting ink into the ink container.

Further, the present invention can be applied not only to printers used in offices but also to industrially usable printers such as printers as textile printing devices for recording on cloth.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Recording devices such as printers, copiers, and facsimiles use paper, plastic thin plates, or
An image composed of a dot pattern is recorded on a recording material such as cloth.

The recording device can be classified into an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, an electrophotographic type and the like depending on its recording type. Among them, the inkjet type (inkjet printing apparatus) is configured to eject and eject a recording liquid (ink) droplet from an ejection port of an inkjet recording head, and to adhere the recording liquid (ink) to a recording material for recording, thereby reducing noise. Since it is possible to perform high-speed recording, the recording medium has a high degree of freedom, and color image recording can be easily performed, it has been widely used in recent years.

Among them, a recording head of a system (bubble jet system) in which thermal energy is applied to ink and ink pressure is used to eject ink droplets has a high response to a recording signal and a high ejection port. It has advantages such as easy densification.

In addition, this thermal energy is used to eject the ink, and the ejection port and the electrothermal converter (ejection energy generating element) are substantially corresponding to the width of the recording material.
A full-line type recording head (full-line recording head) in which a plurality of lines are arranged and an inkjet printing apparatus using this recording head are highly expected in terms of high-speed performance.

However, in the above line recording head, it has been very difficult to process the ejection energy generating elements provided over substantially the entire width of the recording area without any defects.

That is, for example, 4 sheets of A3 size recording paper are used.
In a line recording head for recording with a recording density of 00 dpi (dot per inch 1 dot per ink), 4736 ejection energy generating elements (a pair of electrodes in the bubble jet method and a heating resistor provided between these electrodes) are used. The body had to be processed all over without any defects, and its manufacture was extremely difficult.
Therefore, the head cost was high and it was difficult to reach practical use.

Therefore, various methods have been proposed so far.

JP-A-55-132253, JP-A-2-2009, JP-A-4-229278,
JP-A-4-232749 and JP-A-5-24192
This is the case in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-135, in which the number of nozzles, such as 32 nozzles, 48 nozzles, 64 nozzles, and 128 nozzles, is relatively small and easy to manufacture. The method of arranging with high precision is adopted.

However, these heads relate to a method of forming one long ink jet head by accurately arranging the heads alternately on both surfaces of the support. In this method, since the small heads are arranged on both sides of the support, there is room in the arrangement between the heads on one side of the support. For this reason, the heads can be easily attached by the attaching means of the small heads, and there is relatively freedom in designing the heads to be arranged.

However, in the head having such a structure, it is necessary to supply the electric signals necessary for driving the head and the ink to be ejected to both sides of the support, resulting in a very high manufacturing cost. There was a drawback that it would end up. Further, since the small heads and the like are arranged on both sides of the support, the ink jet head as a whole becomes large. In addition, there are drawbacks in that the parts, especially the support on which the small head is placed, require many restrictions such as flatness on both sides, parallelism on both sides, and distance tolerance between both sides, which results in extremely high cost. It was

There is also a method of forming a long head by arranging small heads on one surface of one substrate with high precision as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-229278. Although this method partially eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, the ink supply system still has no choice but to supply ink individually, resulting in high cost. A more difficult part is prevention of ink leakage on both sides of the small head. In this long head, different small heads are arranged while keeping the nozzle pitch unchanged, and therefore, both sides of the individual small head can tolerate only a dimension less than half the nozzle pitch. That is, assuming 400 dpi (= 63.5 μ), the center of the nozzle and the side surface of the head are 1 ≦ 63.5 / 2 = 3.
0 μm, this dimension naturally includes the length of half the width of the nozzle, which is, for example, one half of the width of the nozzle 1
If the length is 2 μm, the remaining length is 18 μm or less. This size must be sealed to prevent ink from leaking. This is very difficult and has the drawback of increasing the manufacturing costs of the individual heads.

The problems to be solved by the two types of heads have been described above from the viewpoint of manufacturing, but from the viewpoint of design, there are the following problems to be solved. Since a plurality of small heads that are different from each other are arranged, each small head is always arranged with a tolerance, and there is a slight difference in the direction in which each small head ejects ink (including the front, rear, left, and right angles). As a whole, uneven printing occurs. At the same time, since the ejection amounts of the different heads are slightly different from each other, uneven printing occurs. Therefore, in order to obtain a better image, it is necessary to make one long head by repeating trial and error and exchanging individual heads, which inevitably increases the cost.

[0016]

The main requirements of the present invention for solving the above problems are as follows.

A plurality of element substrates provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting ink, a support for arranging the plurality of element substrates in a row on one surface side, and a plurality of elements It has a length corresponding to the array length of the board,
An inkjet head having: a grooved member having a plurality of grooves for forming flow paths provided corresponding to the ejection energy generating elements of the plurality of element substrates.

A plurality of element substrates provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting liquid, a support for arranging the plurality of element substrates in a row on one surface side, and a plurality of elements It has a length corresponding to the array length of the board,
A liquid ejecting head comprising: a grooved member having a plurality of grooves for forming flow paths provided corresponding to the ejection energy generating elements of the plurality of element substrates.

An ink jet head cartridge having the above ink jet recording head and an ink container for holding ink supplied to the ink jet recording head.

An ink jet recording apparatus having the above-mentioned ink jet recording head and a drive signal supplying means for supplying a drive signal for driving the ejection energy generating element.

An ink jet recording apparatus having the above-mentioned ink jet recording head and a recording medium conveying means for conveying a recording medium for receiving ejected ink.

An ink jet head kit comprising the above ink jet recording head, an ink container for holding ink supplied to the ink jet recording head, and an ink filling means for filling the ink container with ink.

Arranging a plurality of element substrates provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements on a support, and having a length corresponding to the arrangement length of the plurality of element substrates, And a grooved member having a plurality of grooves for forming a flow path provided corresponding to the ejection energy generating element is bonded onto the plurality of element substrates.

A method of injecting ink into the ink container of the ink jet head cartridge described above, comprising the steps of preparing an ink container of the ink jet head cartridge described above and injecting ink into the ink container.

With such a structure, a substrate with a high yield can be used with a small number of ejection energy generating elements such as 64 or 128 without using a single element substrate with a low yield. It is possible to improve the yield as a whole and reduce the cost.
Further, even if a plurality of element substrates are used in this way, since the grooved member is common, the direction of the flow path and the discharge port is made constant as compared with the configuration in which the small heads provided with the top plate are arranged for each element substrate. It is possible to provide a long head capable of obtaining a good image at low cost.

Further, by using the head of the present invention, it is possible to provide a compact and inexpensive recording apparatus capable of high-speed recording with high image quality.

Further, according to the method of manufacturing an ink jet head of the present invention, it is possible to easily manufacture an ink jet head which can perform good recording at high speed as described above with good yield and at low cost.

Further, the ink jet head kit of the present invention and the method of filling the ink in the ink container can repeatedly supply the ink to the ink jet head of the present invention, and the running cost can be reduced.

[0029]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the following description, ink is used as the liquid, but the present invention is not limited to this.

In the present invention, the term "recording" is used not only to record a character but also to describe a meaningful image, but also to record a meaningless image.

Further, the recording medium is not limited to paper, plastic sheet, plastic plate, and cloth including woven cloth,
Any thread, wood, leather, metal plate or the like can be used as long as ink can be applied by the head of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the ink jet head of the present invention so that the constitutions of main parts can be understood. In this embodiment, the density of the ink ejection ports is 360 dpi (7
An ink jet head having 3008 nozzles (printing width 212 mm) of 0.5 μm) ink ejection ports will be described.

In FIG. 1, an element substrate (hereinafter also referred to as a heater board) 100 is a discharge energy generating element 101.
128 in a predetermined position on the board at a density of 360 dpi
Ke is provided. Here, an example is shown in which a heating resistance element for applying heat to the ink is provided as an element. Further, on the heater board, there are provided a signal pad for receiving a signal for driving the ejection energy generating element 101 from the outside at an arbitrary timing, a power pad 102 for supplying electric power for driving the ejection energy generating element, and the like. It is provided. Further, the heater board is provided with a functional element such as a shift register which outputs a serially input signal to the ejection energy generating element side as a parallel signal. As the above-mentioned substrate, a plate-shaped member made of a material such as single crystal silicon, polycrystalline silicon, glass, metal or ceramics is used.

The heater board 100 is adhered and fixed to the surface of a support (base plate) 300 made of a material such as metal such as aluminum or stainless steel or ceramics with an adhesive.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view showing a state in which the heater boards 100 are arranged in a row on one surface side of the base plate 300 with a small gap. Base plate 300
Adhesive 301 applied to a predetermined place of the substrate with a predetermined thickness
The heater board 100 is bonded and fixed by
At this time, the discharge energy generating elements 101 provided on the heater board 100 have substantially the same pitch as the pitch P = 70.5 μm arranged on the heater board 100, and the pitch of the discharge energy generating elements of the adjacent heater boards becomes the same. Are arranged accurately. Further, the gap between the heater boards generated at this time may be left as it is as long as the ink does not leak, but in this embodiment, the sealing agent 302 is used.
It is sealed with.

In FIG. 1, the wiring board 400 is adhered to the base plate 300 as with the heater board 100. At this time, the pads 102 on the heater board 100 and the signal / power supply pads 401 provided on the wiring board are adhered and attached in such a positional relationship as to have a predetermined positional relationship. In addition, the wiring board is provided with a connector 4 for supplying print signals and driving power from the outside.
02 is provided.

Next, the top plate 200 which is a grooved member provided with a groove for forming a flow path will be described.

In FIG. 3, the top plate 200 is the heater board 100.
Groove 202 for forming a flow path provided corresponding to the ejection energy generating element 101 provided in the above, and each flow path for ejecting ink provided corresponding to each flow path toward the recording medium. The orifice 203 communicating with the flow path 20
A concave portion 201 for forming a liquid chamber that communicates with a plurality of flow paths for supplying ink to the second ink, and an ink for causing the ink supplied from an ink tank (not shown) to flow into the liquid chamber. It is composed of parts such as the supply port 204. The top plate 200 is configured to have a length (a length corresponding to the array length of a plurality of element substrates) that substantially covers the discharge energy generating element array provided by arranging a plurality of heater boards 100 in the length direction. .

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the top plate 200 has a predetermined positional relationship between the flow path 202 and the discharge energy generating element 101 on the heater board 100 arranged on the base plate 300. It is combined so that it becomes.

The material for forming the groove portion of the top plate 200 may be any resin that can accurately form the groove.
Further, it is desirable that it has excellent mechanical strength, dimensional stability, and ink resistance. As such a material, an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, a diglycol, a dialkyl carbonate resin, an unsaturated polyester resin, a polyurethane resin, a polyimide resin, a melamine resin, a phenol resin, a urea resin or the like is preferable, and particularly, its moldability and liquid resistance. From the viewpoint of the above, resins such as polysulfone and polyether sulfone are preferably used.

Here, the step of joining the top plate, which is a grooved member, to the support provided with a plurality of heater boards will be described.

A base body is prepared in which a plurality of heater boards 100 are adhesively bonded on a base plate 300 in a predetermined size.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the above-mentioned base is placed at a predetermined position on a base 205 provided in a joining machine (not shown in its entirety). This base arrangement position is the base 205
It is designed to be constant by the pin provided on the.
Next, the top plate 200 is placed on the hand 206 provided in the joining machine. The top plate 200 is also placed on the hand 206 at a predetermined position. As described above, by placing the base plate 300 and the top plate 200 on the base 205 and the hand 206, respectively, the positional relationship between them is set within a certain range. Next, the position is confirmed with a microscope provided in the bonding machine. First, 30 nozzle outlets
The position of the 1504th heater 101 corresponding to the half of 08 is confirmed by viewing it from the direction A. That is, an accurate position of the heater viewed from the direction A is first determined in the bonding machine by image processing. Next, the position of the orifice corresponding to the 1504th nozzle is confirmed by viewing it from the direction B. The x-direction position in the figure is adjusted so that the position viewed from the B direction is aligned with the position viewed from the A direction.

At this time, the positional adjustment accuracy of the welding machine itself is ± 2 μ.
Since it has m, alignment can be performed with this accuracy in the x direction. Subsequently, the hand 206 is lowered in the z direction while maintaining its accuracy, and the top plate 200 is attached to the heater board 10.
Join to 0. After that, the hand 206 is removed while pressing the top plate in the B direction (y direction) and fixed by a spring (not shown).

Here, as the joining method, the members are mechanically pressed by a spring or the like, but there are various methods such as fixing with an adhesive or combining them. With these, the top plate 200 and the heater board 10
0 is fixed in the relationship as shown in FIG.

It should be added that the top plate 200 described above can be manufactured by a known method such as machining by cutting or the like, a molding method, a casting method, or a method using photolithography.

As described above, with respect to the head member in which a plurality of heater boards each having a plurality of energy generating elements are arranged on one surface side of the base plate,
A head configuration was adopted in which a long top plate (grooved member) was attached so as to cover the discharge energy generating element rows of the plurality of heater boards.

In the ink jet recording head manufactured in this way, ink is filled in the flow path from the above-mentioned ink supply port 204 through the liquid chamber formed by the recess 201 of the top plate.

Ink is ejected as follows. An electric signal is applied to the ejection energy generating element arranged corresponding to the flow path, and the heat generated by the ejection energy generating element is applied to the ink. This heat causes a film boiling phenomenon of the ink, and the ink is ejected from the ejection port (orifice) 203 by the pressure accompanying the generation of the bubbles.

In this embodiment, a long head in which 10 heater boards are arranged and 1280 discharge energy generating elements are arranged is shown as an example, but the number of heater boards is two or more. Good.

With such a structure, unlike the case where a plurality of small heads each having a top plate attached to one heater board are arranged side by side, the ink supply system is not complicated, and miniaturization and cost reduction are achieved. The head can be provided with a high manufacturing yield. Also, by disposing the plurality of heater boards only on one surface side of the base plate, electrical wiring can be simplified. In addition, since a long top plate that covers the energy generating element rows of multiple heater boards is attached to the base, the flow path direction will be different for each small head as when the small heads are arranged. Is suppressed. In particular, when one top plate is used as described above, all the flow paths can be made to have the same direction by one-time alignment, and it is possible to easily obtain a long head without print misalignment. it can.

With such a structure, when viewed from the outside, the nozzles are arranged so that they are discharged from the nozzle orifices that are lined up in an integrated orifice plate, and the nozzles themselves are also integrated so that the discharge is uniform and the discharge direction is uniform. All of them are available, and it is possible to obtain the ejection performance of an integrated long head.

Further, in the case of a configuration in which small heads are arranged,
It is necessary to perform sealing for each small head in order to prevent the ink from getting wet, but in the case of a long top plate that covers the energy generating element rows of a plurality of heater boards, the number of times of sealing is small. Of course, in the case where there is one top plate as described above, this sealing is the easiest since it only needs to be done once.

As described above, the effect of the present invention can be sufficiently obtained even if a long head is formed by using a plurality of long top plates that cover the energy generating element arrays of a plurality of heater boards. As described above, the case of one top plate is most preferable.

In the previous embodiment, the top plate having an orifice surface provided with a through-hole-shaped orifice (ejection port) for ejecting ink was shown. When the orifice itself is provided on the top plate as described above, the ejection direction itself of the ink can also be determined on the top plate, so that a head capable of high-quality recording at high speed can be obtained most easily. In this way, the head has a form in which the top plate has no orifice,
Even with a head in which an orifice is formed by joining each heater board and the groove top, by using the long top plate of the present invention, it is possible to align the directions of the ink flow paths and stabilize the ink ejection direction. The property can be improved, and, in the end, a good image can be obtained. However, the top plate integrally provided with the orifice as the through-hole is superior because the ejection direction of the ink can be sufficiently aligned and the number of manufacturing steps can be simplified.

Next, the recording head of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. As explained so far, the orifice liquid flow path is different from the one in which a plurality of heater boards with discharge energy generating elements are accurately arranged and bonded on a base plate made of glass, silicon, ceramics, metal, etc. An inkjet head was manufactured by joining the built-in top plates. FIG. 6 schematically shows an inkjet cartridge to which such an inkjet head is applied. In this IJC, an inkjet head 500 and an ink container 501 capable of storing ink to be supplied to the inkjet recording head are integrally or separably formed. With such a configuration, it is possible to provide an inkjet cartridge having the effects of the above-described embodiment. Ink is filled in the ink container. Further, when the ink refilled with the ink is held, the service life of the head cartridge is extended, and the running cost can be reduced.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the description has been made with the head in the form of ejecting the ink in the direction along the surface of the element substrate, that is, the head having the ejection port at the contact of the flow path. The invention is not limited to this, and the invention has been described with respect to the head that ejects ink on the side facing the element substrate, but the invention is not limited to this and may be applied to a head that ejects ink on the side facing the element substrate. You can

The full line ink jet head of the present invention and a suitable color ink jet apparatus equipped with this head are shown below.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the construction of an ink jet device equipped with an embodiment of the ink jet head in which the features of the present invention are most apparent.

The ink jet device is, as shown in FIG.
A full line type head 201a to 201d having a plurality of ejection openings arranged in a length corresponding to the recording width of the recording medium is provided, and these full line type heads are parallel to each other with a predetermined interval in the X direction by a holder 202. It is fixedly supported. On the lower surface of each head, 3456 ejection openings are provided in a row in a row along the Y direction at intervals of 16 ejection openings / mm, which enables recording of a width of 218 mm.

These heads are provided with a plurality of element substrates as described in the above-mentioned embodiments, and are of a type in which the recording liquid is ejected by using thermal energy. The ejection is controlled by the head driver 220, which is a drive signal supply unit.

A head unit is constructed by including each of the heads and the holder 202, and the head unit is vertically movable by the head moving means 224.

Head caps 203a to 203d are arranged below and under the heads respectively corresponding to the heads. Each head cap has an ink absorbing member such as sponge inside.

The cap is fixed by a holder (not shown), and a cap unit is constructed by including the holder and the cap, and the cap unit can be moved in the X direction by the cap moving means 225.

Ink of each color of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black is supplied to each of the heads from the ink tanks 204a to 204d through an ink supply tube to enable color recording.

Further, this ink supply utilizes the capillarity of the head ejection port, and the liquid level of each ink tank is set lower than the ejection port position by a certain distance.

Further, this apparatus has a chargeable seamless belt 206 as a conveying means for conveying the recording paper or the cloth 227 as the recording medium.

The belt 206 is wound around a predetermined path by various rollers, and can be driven by a belt driving motor 2208 which is connected to the driving roller 2207 and driven by a motor driver 2221. Has become.

The belt 2206 has a head 2201.
It travels in the X direction immediately below the discharge ports a to 2201d, and here, the fixed support member 2226 suppresses the downward shake.

The head driver 220, head moving means 224, cap moving means 225, and motor drivers 221 and 2223 are all controlled by the control circuit 219.

The recording apparatus described here also includes a textile printing apparatus for printing on cloth and the like, a textile printing apparatus including pre-processing and post-processing equipment such as fixing equipment, and a copying machine having a reading device.

FIG. 8 shows a recording apparatus equipped with a small recording head having two heater boards arranged side by side. Figure 1
In the recording apparatus shown by 8, an ink jet recording head cartridge in which an ink tank portion 901 and a recording head portion 902 are detachably mounted is mounted on a carriage HC, and the carriage and a conveyance roller for conveying the recording medium 800. It has a motor 903 as a driving source for driving the above, a carriage shaft 904 for transmitting power from the driving source to the carriage, and the like. Further, it has a signal supply means for supplying a signal for ejecting ink to the inkjet recording head.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an ink jet head kit 700 of the present invention. The ink jet head 500 of the present invention, an ink container (ink tank) 501 which can be integrated with the head or separable from the head, and ink in the ink container. And an ink filling means 600 for filling the inside of the container 800. By configuring such an inkjet head kit, it becomes easy to reduce the running cost of the inkjet head of the present invention.

Next, a method of filling ink by the above-mentioned ink jet head kit will be described.

A part of the ink filling means is inserted into the atmosphere communication port 510 of the ink container which has consumed the ink, the connection portion with the head, or the hole opened in the ink container, and the ink is filled into the ink container from there. I do.

By such an ink filling method, the ink can be easily filled, and the running cost of the head cartridge can be reduced.

[0078]

With the configuration described above, a long ink jet recording head having a uniform discharge performance, which is obtained by joining an integral top plate to an integral substrate with an extremely small number of parts, is extremely simple. Can be obtained. Further, unlike the case of using an integrated element substrate, only good substrates can be selected and arranged, and a high yield can be sufficiently obtained, so that the device can be manufactured at low cost. or,
A small element substrate having a high yield can be used as compared with the case of forming a single long element substrate, and from this point as well, it is possible to provide a head head cartridge that achieves cost reduction.

Further, by using the head of the present invention, it is possible to provide a small size ink jet recording apparatus capable of high speed recording.

Further, the long head as described above can be easily manufactured by the method for manufacturing an ink jet head of the present invention.

Further, even when the ink of the ink jet head cartridge is used up, the ink can be refilled by the ink jet head kit and the ink filling method of the present invention, so that the running cost of the ink jet head cartridge can be reduced. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an inkjet head of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the arrangement of a heater board of the inkjet head of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a top plate of the inkjet head of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a process of manufacturing an inkjet according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the positional relationship between the heater board and the top plate of the inkjet head of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of an inkjet cartridge to which the inkjet head of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram conceptually showing a recording apparatus equipped with a full-line inkjet head and an inkjet recording head of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a recording apparatus equipped with an inkjet cartridge to which the inkjet head of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an inkjet head kit using the inkjet head of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Heater Board (Element Substrate) 101 Discharge Energy Generation Element 102 Pad 200 Top Plate 201 Liquid Chamber 202 Flow Path 203 Orifice 204 Ink Supply Port 300 Base Plate 301 Adhesive 302 Sealant 400 Wiring Board 401 Signal / Power Supply Pad 402 Connector 500 Inkjet recording head 501 Ink tank 600 Full line inkjet recording head 700 Recording medium conveying roller 800 Recording medium 901 Ink tank part 902 Recording head part 903 Motor 904 Carriage shaft

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication location B41J 3/04 103 H (72) Inventor Tsuyoshi Orikasa 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Kyano (72) Inventor Masaki Inaba, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor, Makiko Kimura, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Seiichiro Karita 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Ken Goto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Invention Toshio Kashino 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Haruhiko Terai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon (72) Inventor Masami Kasamoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (49)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of element substrates provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting ink; a support for arranging the plurality of element substrates in a row on one surface side; A grooved member having a length corresponding to the array length of the element substrate, and having a plurality of grooves for forming a flow path provided corresponding to the discharge energy generating elements of the plurality of element substrates, An inkjet head for recording by ejecting ink having 2. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the ejection energy generating element is an electrothermal converter. 3. The arrangement pitch of the ejection energy generating elements is substantially the same among a plurality of element substrates.
Inkjet head. 4. A gap is provided between the element substrates.
Inkjet head. 5. The inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the element substrate is provided with functional elements for driving the plurality of ejection energy generating elements. 6. The ink jet head according to claim 5, wherein the functional element is a shift register that outputs an image signal serially input to the ejection energy generating element side as a parallel signal. 7. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the grooved member has a concave portion that forms a common liquid chamber for supplying ink to the plurality of flow paths. 8. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the grooved member is made of a resin material. 9. The ink jet head according to claim 8, wherein the resin material is a resin mainly composed of polysulfone. 10. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the support is made of stainless steel or a metal material mainly containing aluminum. 11. The grooved member corresponds to the groove,
The inkjet head according to claim 1, further comprising a discharge port surface in which a plurality of hole-shaped discharge ports for discharging the liquid are arranged in a row. 12. The inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet recording head is configured to eject ink in a direction along a surface of the element substrate. 13. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet recording head has a form in which ink is ejected in a direction facing the element substrate. 14. The inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the ejection ports are provided in correspondence with the entire width of a recording medium that receives ink ejected by the inkjet recording head. 15. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein two element substrates are arranged. 16. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein eleven element substrates are arranged. 17. A plurality of element substrates provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements for ejecting liquid, a support for arranging the plurality of element substrates in a row on one surface side, A grooved member having a length corresponding to the array length of the element substrate, and having a plurality of grooves for forming a flow path provided corresponding to the discharge energy generating elements of the plurality of element substrates, A liquid ejecting head having: 18. The liquid jet head according to claim 17, wherein the ejection energy generating element is an electrothermal converter. 19. The liquid jet head according to claim 17, wherein the arrangement pitch of the ejection energy generating elements is substantially the same among a plurality of element substrates. 20. The liquid jet head according to claim 17, wherein there is a gap between the element substrates. 21. The liquid jet head according to claim 17, wherein the grooved member has a concave portion that forms a common liquid chamber for supplying ink to the plurality of flow paths. 22. The liquid jet head according to claim 17, wherein the grooved member is made of a resin material. The inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the element substrate is provided with functional elements for driving the plurality of ejection energy generating elements. 23. The grooved member corresponds to the groove,
18. The liquid jet head according to claim 17, further comprising a discharge port surface in which a plurality of hole-shaped discharge ports for discharging the liquid are arranged in a row. 24. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 17, wherein the liquid ejecting head is configured to eject the liquid in a direction along the surface of the element substrate. 25. The liquid-jet head according to claim 17, wherein the liquid-jet head is configured to eject liquid in a direction facing the element substrate. 26. The liquid-jet head according to claim 17, wherein the liquid-jet head is provided with a number of discharge ports corresponding to the entire width of the liquid receiver that receives the discharged liquid. 27. An ink jet head cartridge for ejecting ink for recording, comprising the ink jet recording head of claim 1 and an ink container for holding ink supplied to the ink jet recording head. 28. The ink jet head cartridge according to claim 27, wherein the ejection energy generating element is an electrothermal converter. 29. The grooved member corresponds to the groove,
28. The ink jet head cartridge according to claim 27, having an ejection surface in which hole-shaped ejection ports for ejecting liquid are arranged in a plurality of rows. 30. An inkjet head cartridge having a gap between the element substrates. 31. The ink jet head cartridge according to claim 27, wherein the ink jet recording head and the ink container are separable from each other. 32. The ink jet head cartridge according to claim 27, wherein the ink container is filled with ink. 33. The ink jet head cartridge according to claim 31, wherein the ink container is filled with ink. 34. The ink jet head cartridge according to claim 32, wherein the ink filled in the ink container is the ink refilled in the container. 35. An ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting ink to perform recording, comprising the ink jet recording head of claim 1 and a drive signal supply means for supplying a drive signal for driving the ejection energy generating element. 36. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the ejection energy generating element is an electrothermal converter. 37. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the grooved member has a concave portion forming a common liquid chamber for supplying ink to the plurality of flow paths. 38. The grooved member corresponds to the groove,
36. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 35, which has a discharge port surface in which hole-shaped discharge ports for discharging a liquid are arranged in a plurality of rows. 39. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the plurality of ejection ports are provided in correspondence with the entire width of the recording medium that receives the ink ejected by the ink jet recording head. 40. An ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting ink to perform recording, comprising the ink jet recording head according to claim 1 and a recording medium conveying means for conveying a recording medium receiving ejected ink. 41. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 40, wherein the ejection energy generating element is an electrothermal converter. 42. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 40, wherein the grooved member has a recess forming a common liquid chamber for supplying ink to the plurality of flow paths. 43. The grooved member corresponds to the groove,
41. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 40, which has a discharge port surface in which a plurality of hole-shaped discharge ports for discharging a liquid are arranged in a row. 44. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 40, wherein a plurality of the ejection ports are provided in correspondence with the entire width of the recording medium that receives the ink ejected by the ink jet recording head. 45. An ink jet head according to claim 1,
An inkjet head kit having an ink container for holding ink supplied to the inkjet head, and an ink filling means for filling the ink container with ink. 46. The inkjet head kit according to claim 45, wherein the inkjet head and the ink container are separable from each other. 47. The inkjet head kit according to claim 45, wherein the inkjet recording head and the ink container are integrated. 48. A step of arranging a plurality of element substrates provided with a plurality of ejection energy generating elements on a support, and a length corresponding to an arrangement length of the plurality of element substrates, A step of joining a grooved member having a plurality of grooves for forming a flow path provided corresponding to the discharge energy generating element of the substrate, onto the plurality of element substrates;
A method for manufacturing an inkjet head having the following. 49. A step of preparing an ink container of an inkjet head cartridge according to any one of claims 27 and 31, and a step of injecting ink into the ink container.
A method for injecting ink into an ink container of an inkjet head cartridge having the above.