Patent Grant
10821730
The invention relates to an ink-jet head for printing by ejecting ink onto a print medium, and to an ink-jet printer having the ink-jet head.
In an ink-jet printer, an ink-jet head distributes ink supplied from an ink tank to pressure chambers. The ink-jet head selectively applies pressure to each pressure chamber to eject ink through a nozzle. As a means for selectively applying pressure to the pressure chambers, an actuator unit may be used in which ceramic piezoelectric sheets are laminated.
As an example, a generally known ink-jet head has one actuator unit in which continuous flat piezoelectric sheets extending over a plurality of pressure chambers are laminated. At least one of the piezoelectric sheets is sandwiched by a common electrode which is common to many pressure chambers and is being kept at the ground potential, and many individual electrodes, i.e., driving electrodes, disposed at positions corresponding to the respective pressure chambers. When a individual electrode on one face of the sheet is set at a potential different from that of the common electrode on the other face, the part of piezoelectric sheet being sandwiched by the individual and common electrodes and polarized in its thickness, is expanded or contracted in its thickness direction as an active layer by the so-called longitudinal piezoelectric effect. This causes the volume of the corresponding pressure chamber to change, so that the ink can be ejected toward a print medium through a nozzle communicating with the pressure chamber.
In the above-described ink-jet head, to ensure good ink ejection performance, the actuator unit must be accurately positioned to a passage unit so that the individual electrodes must be at predetermined positions corresponding to the respective pressure chambers in a plan view.
Generally, in an ink-jet head such as the one described above, the passage unit in which ink passages including pressure chambers have been formed is manufactured separately from the actuator unit. The passage unit is then bonded with an adhesive to the actuator unit so that the pressure chambers are close to the actuator unit. This bonding process is done by matching a mark formed on the passage unit against a mark formed on the actuator unit.
Generally, the piezoelectric sheets of the actuator unit are manufactured through a sintering process while the passage unit is laminated with metallic sheets. Therefore, as the size of the piezoelectric sheets increases, the positional accuracy of the electrodes decreases. Thus, the longer the head is, the more difficult the positioning process is between the pressure chambers in the passage unit and the individual electrodes in the actuator unit. As a result, the manufacturing yield for the printer heads is reduced.
Furthermore, because the actuator unit it is made of ceramic, it is an expensive and very brittle component. In particular, in the actuator unit having a polygonal shape, the corners can easily brake. The breakage loss causes the manufacture cost to increase. Further, the actuator unit requires very delicate handling to ensure that a corner does not collide against another component. This makes the ink-jet head assembling difficult.
An objective of the invention is to provide an ink-jet head in which an actuator unit has been accurately positioned relative to a passage unit.
Another objective of the invention is to provide an ink-jet head having an actuator unit that is difficult to brake.
According to one aspect of the invention, a printhead module includes a plurality of rows of printhead nozzles, at least some of the rows including at least one displaced row portion, the displacement of the row portion including a component in a direction normal to that of a pagewidth to be printed, wherein the displaced row portions of at least some of the rows are different in length than the displaced row portions of at least some of the other rows.
Various exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the following figures, in which:
With reference to
In the printer 101, an image recording medium transfer path is provided extending from the image recording medium feed unit 111 to the image recording medium discharge unit 112. A pair of feed rollers 105a and 105b is disposed immediately downstream of the image recording medium feed unit 111 for pinching and advancing an image record medium sheet, such as a paper. In various exemplary embodiments, the image recording medium includes, for example, a sheet of paper, card stock, photo paper, a transparency, or the like.
The image recording medium is transferred by the pair of feed rollers 105a and 105b from the left to the right in
Pressing members 109a and 109b are disposed at positions for feeding an image recording medium onto the belt roller 107 and taking out the image recording medium from the belt roller 106, respectively. Either of the pressing members 109a and 109b can be for pressing the image recording medium onto the transfer face of the transfer belt 108 so as to prevent the image recording medium from separating from the transfer face of the transfer belt 108. Thus, the image recording medium securely adheres to the transfer face.
A peeling device 110 is provided immediately downstream of the transfer belt 108 along the image recording medium transfer path. The peeling device 110 peels off the image recording medium, which has adhered to the transfer face of the transfer belt 108, from the transfer face to transfer the image recording medium toward the rightward image recording medium discharge unit 112.
Each of the four ink-jet heads 1 has, at its lower end, a head main body 1a. Each head main body 1a has a rectangular section. The head main bodies 1a are arranged close to each other with the longitudinal axis of each head main body 1a being perpendicular to the image recording medium transfer direction (perpendicular to
The head main bodies 1a are disposed such that a narrow clearance must be formed between the lower face of each head main body 1a and the transfer face of the transfer belt 108. The image recording medium transfer path is formed within the narrow clearance. In this construction, while an image recording medium that is being transferred by the transfer belt 108 passes immediately below the four head main bodies 1a in order, the inks are ejected through the corresponding nozzles toward the upper face, i.e., the print face, of the image recording medium to form a desired color image on the image recording medium.
The ink-jet printer 101 is provided with a maintenance unit 117 for automatically carrying out maintenance of the ink-jet heads 1. The maintenance unit 117 includes four caps 116 for covering the lower faces of the four head main bodies 1a, and a purge system (not shown).
During ink-jet printer 101 operation, the maintenance unit 117 is at a position immediately below the image recording medium feed unit 117 (withdrawal position). When a predetermined condition is satisfied after finishing the printing operation (for example, when a state in which no printing operation is performed continues for a predetermined time period or when the printer 101 is powered off), the maintenance unit 117 moves to a position (cap position) immediately below the four head main bodies 1a. At this cap position, the maintenance unit 117 covers the lower faces of the head main bodies 1a with the respective caps 116 to prevent ink in the nozzles from becoming dry.
The belt rollers 106 and 107 and the transfer belt 108 are supported by a chassis 113. The chassis 113 is put on a cylindrical member 115 disposed under the chassis 113. The cylindrical member 115 is rotatable around a shaft 114 provided at an off center position of the cylindrical member 115. Thus, by rotating the shaft 114, the level of the uppermost portion of the cylindrical member 115 can be changed to move up or down the chassis 113 accordingly. When the maintenance unit 117 is moved from the withdrawal position to the cap position, the cylindrical member 115 must have been rotated at a predetermined angle in advance so as to move down the transfer belt 108 and the belt rollers 106 and 107 by an applicable distance from the position illustrated in
In the region surrounded by the transfer belt 108, a nearly rectangular global change guide 121 (having its width substantially equal to that of the transfer belt 108) is disposed at an opposite position to the ink-jet heads 1. The guide 121 is in contact with the lower face of the upper part of the transfer belt 108 to support the upper part of the transfer belt 108 from the inside.
With reference to
Referring to
Skirt portions 141a in a pair, protruding downward, are provided in both end portions of the holder main body 141a in a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. Each skirt portion 141a is formed through the length of the holder main body 141. As a result, in the lower portion of the holder main body 141, a nearly rectangular groove 141b is defined by the pair of skirt portions 141a. The base block 138 is received in the groove 141b. The upper surface of the base block 138 is bonded to the bottom of the groove 141b of the holder main body 141 with an adhesive. The thickness of the base block 138 is slightly larger than the depth of the groove 141b of the holder main body 141. As a result, the lower end of the base block 138 protrudes downward beyond the skirt portions 141a.
Within the base block 138, as a passage for ink to be supplied to the head main body 1a, an ink reservoir 3 is formed as a nearly rectangular space or hollow region extending along the longitudinal direction of the base block 138. Openings 3b (see
In the lower face 145 of the base block 138, the surrounding of each opening 3b protrudes downward from the surrounding portion. The base block 138 is in contact with a passage unit 4 (see
To the outer side face of each holder support portion 142 of the holder 139, a driver IC 132 is attached with an elastic member 137 such as a sponge being interposed between them. A heat sink 134 is disposed in close contact with the outer side face of the driver IC 132. The heat sink 134 is made of a nearly rectangular member for efficiently radiating heat generated in the driver IC 132. A flexible printed circuit (FPC) 136, which acts as a power supply member, is connected to the driver IC 132. The FPC 136 connected with the driver IC 132 is bonded to, and electrically connected with, the corresponding substrate 133 and the head main body 1a by soldering. The substrate 133 is disposed outside the FPC 136 above the driver IC 132 and the heat sink 134. The upper face of the heat sink 134 is bonded to the substrate 133 with a seal member 149. The lower face of the heat sink 134 is also bonded to the FPC 136 with a seal member 149.
A seal member 150 is disposed between the lower face of each skirt portion 141a of the holder main body 141 and the upper face of the passage unit 4, to sandwich the FPC 136. The FPC 136 is fixed to the passage unit 4 and the holder main body 141 by the seal member 150. Therefore, even if the head main body 1a is elongated, the head main body 1a can be prevented from bending, the interconnecting portion between each actuator unit and the FPC 136 can be prevented from being stressed, and the FPC 136 can be securely held in place.
Referring to
The lower face of the passage unit 4 corresponding to the bonded region of each actuator unit 4 is made into an ink ejection region. In the surface of each ink ejection region, a large number of ink ejection ports 8 are arranged in a matrix, as described later. In the base block 138 disposed above the passage unit 4, an ink reservoir 3 is formed along the longitudinal direction of the base block 138. The ink reservoir 3 communicates with an ink tank (not shown) through an opening 3a provided at one end of the ink reservoir 3, so that the ink reservoir 3 is always filled up with ink. In the ink reservoir 3, pairs of openings 3b are provided in regions where no actuator unit 21 is present, so as to be arranged in a crisscross manner along the longitudinal direction of the ink reservoir 3.
Referring to
In the plane of
Next, the construction of the passage unit 4 will be described in more detail with reference to
The pressure chambers 10 are classified into two types, i.e., pressure chambers 10a, in each of which a nozzle is connected with the upper acute portion in
As described above, when viewing perpendicularly to
Referring to
If all nozzles communicate with the same-side acute portions of the respective pressure chambers 10, the nozzles are regularly arranged also in the second arrangement direction at regular intervals. In this case, nozzles are arranged so as to shift in the first arrangement direction by a distance corresponding to 600 dpi printing resolution per pressure chamber line from the lower side to the upper side of
In the ink-jet head 1, a band region R will be discussed that has a width (about 508.0 μm) corresponding to 50 dpi in the first arrangement direction and extends perpendicularly to the first arrangement direction. In this band region R, any of twelve pressure chamber lines includes only one nozzle. That is, when such a band region R is defined at an optional position in the ink ejection region corresponding to one actuator unit 21, twelve nozzles are always distributed in the band region R. The positions of points respectively obtained by projecting the twelve nozzles onto a straight line extending in the first arrangement direction are distant from each other by a distance corresponding to a 600 dpi printing resolution.
When the twelve nozzles included in one band region R are denoted by (1) to (12) in order from one whose projected image onto a straight line extending in the first arrangement direction is the leftmost, the twelve nozzles are arranged in the order of (1), (7), (2), (8), (5), (11), (6), (12), (9), (3), (10), and (4) from the lower side.
In the thus-constructed ink-jet head 1, by properly driving active layers in the actuator unit 21, a character, an figure, or the like, having a resolution of 600 dpi can be formed. That is, by selectively driving active layers corresponding to the twelve pressure chamber lines in order in accordance with the transfer of a print medium, a specific character or figure can be printed on the image recording medium.
By way of example, a case will be described wherein a straight line extending in the first arrangement direction is printed at a resolution of 600 dpi. First, a case will be briefly described wherein nozzles communicate with the same-side acute portions of pressure chambers 10. In this case, in accordance with transfer of an image recording medium, ink ejection starts from a nozzle in the lowermost pressure chamber line in
On the other hand, in this ink-jet head, ink ejection starts from a nozzle in the lowermost pressure chamber line 11a in
More specifically, as shown in
Next, as the print medium is further transferred and the straight line formation position has reached the position of a nozzle (2) communicating with the third lowermost pressure chamber line 11b, ink is ejected through the nozzle (2). The third ink dot is thereby formed at a position shifted from the first formed dot position in the first arrangement direction by a distance of the interval corresponding to 600 dpi (about 42.3 μm). As the print medium is further transferred and the straight line formation position has reached the position of a nozzle (8) communicating with the fourth lowermost pressure chamber line 11b, ink is ejected through the nozzle (8). The fourth ink dot is thereby formed at a position shifted from the first formed dot position in the first arrangement direction by a distance of seven times the interval corresponding to 600 dpi (about 42.3 μm) (about 42.3 μm×7=about 296.3 μm). As the print medium is further transferred and the straight line formation position has reached the position of a nozzle (5) communicating with the fifth lowermost pressure chamber line 11a, ink is ejected through the nozzle (5). The fifth ink dot is thereby formed at a position shifted from the first formed dot position in the first arrangement direction by a distance of four times the interval corresponding to 600 dpi (about 42.3 μm) (about 42.3 μm×4=about 169.3 μm).
After this, in the same manner, ink dots are formed with selecting nozzles communicating with pressure chambers 10 in order from the lower side to the upper side in
Next, the sectional construction of the ink-jet head 1 will be described.
As described later in detail, the actuator unit 21 is laminated with five piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 (see
Sheets 21 to 30 are positioned in layers with each other to form such an ink passage 32 as illustrated in
Referring to
Between the uppermost piezoelectric sheet 41 and the piezoelectric sheet 42 neighboring downward the piezoelectric sheet 41, an about 2 micron-thick common electrode 34a is interposed formed on the whole of the lower and upper faces of the piezoelectric sheets. Also, between the piezoelectric sheet 43 neighboring downward the piezoelectric sheet 42 and the piezoelectric sheet 44 neighboring downward the piezoelectric sheet 43, an about 2 μm-thick common electrode 34b is interposed formed like the common electrode 34a. On the upper face of the piezoelectric sheet 41, an about 1 μm-thick individual electrode 35a is formed to correspond to each pressure chamber 10 (see
The common electrodes 34a and 34b are grounded in a region (not shown). Thus, the common electrodes 34a and 34b are kept at the ground potential at a region corresponding to any pressure chamber 10. The individual electrodes 35a and 35b in each pair corresponding to a pressure chamber 10 are in contact with leads (not shown) wired within the FPC 136 independently of another pair of individual electrodes so that the potential of each pair of individual electrodes can be controlled independently of that of another pair. The individual electrodes 35a and 35b are connected to the driver IC 132 through the leads. In this case, the individual electrodes 35a and 35b in each pair vertically arranged may be connected to the driver IC 132 through the same lead. In a modification, many pairs of common electrodes 34a and 34b each having a shape larger than that of a pressure chamber 10 so that the projection image of each common electrode projected along the thickness direction of the common electrode may include the pressure chamber, may be provided for each pressure chamber 10. In another modification, many pairs of common electrodes 34a and 34b each having a shape somewhat smaller than that of a pressure chamber 10 so that the projection image of each common electrode projected along the thickness direction of the common electrode may be included in the pressure chamber, may be provided for each pressure chamber 10. Thus, the common electrode 34a or 34b may not always be a single conductive sheet formed on the whole of the face of a piezoelectric sheet. In the above modifications, however, all the common electrodes must be electrically connected with one another so that the portion corresponding to any pressure chamber 10 may be at the same potential.
In the ink-jet head 1, the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 are polarized in their thickness direction. That is, the actuator unit 21 has a so-called unimorph structure in which the upper (i.e., distant from the pressure chamber 10) three piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 are layers wherein active layers are present, and the lower (i.e., near the pressure chamber 10) two piezoelectric sheets 44 and 45 are made into inactive layers. Therefore, when the individual electrodes 35a and 35b in a pair are set at a positive or negative predetermined potential, if the polarization is in the same direction as the electric field for example, the electric field-applied portion in the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 sandwiched by the common and individual electrodes works as an active layer (pressure generation portion) and contracts perpendicularly to the polarization by the transversal piezoelectric effect. On the other hand, because the piezoelectric sheets 44 and 45 are not influenced by an electric field, they do not contract in themselves. Thus, a difference in strain perpendicular to the polarization is produced between the upper piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 and the lower piezoelectric sheets 44 and 45. As a result, the whole of the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 is ready to deform into a convex shape toward the inactive side (unimorph deformation). At this time, as illustrated in
In another driving method, all the individual electrodes 35a and 35b are set in advance at a different potential from that of the common electrodes 34a and 34b. When an ejecting request is issued, the corresponding pair of individual electrodes 35a and 35b is once set at the same potential as that of the common electrodes 34a and 34b. After this, at a predetermined timing, the pair of individual electrodes 35a and 35b is again set at a potential different from that of the common electrodes 34a and 34b. In this case, at the timing when the pair of individual electrodes 35a and 35b is set at the same potential as that of the common electrodes 34a and 34b, the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 return to their original shapes. The corresponding pressure chamber 10 is thereby increased in volume from its initial state (the state that the potentials of both electrodes differ from each other), to draw ink from the manifold channel 5 into the pressure chamber 10. After this, at the timing when the pair of individual electrodes 35a and 35b is again set at the different potential from that of the common electrodes 34a and 34b, the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 deform into a convex shape toward the pressure chamber 10. The volume of the pressure chamber 10 is thereby decreased and the pressure of ink in the pressure chamber 10 increases to eject the ink.
On the other hand, in case where the polarization occurs in the reverse direction to the electric field applied to the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43, the active layers in the piezoelectric sheets 41 and 42 sandwiched by the individual electrodes 35a and 35b and the common electrodes 34a and 34b are ready to elongate perpendicularly to the polarization by the transversal piezoelectric effect. As a result, the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 deform into a concave shape toward the pressure chamber 10. Therefore, the volume of the pressure chamber 10 is increased to draw ink from the manifold channel 5. After this, when the individual electrodes 35a and 35b return to their original potential, the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 also return to their original flat shape. The pressure chamber 10 thereby returns to its original volume to eject the ink through the ink ejection port 8.
Next, a manufacturing method of the ink-jet head 1 will be described.
To manufacture the ink-jet head 1, the passage unit 4 and each of the actuator units 21 are separately manufactured and then both are bonded to each other. To manufacture the passage unit 4, each plate 22 to 30 forming the passage unit 4 is subjected to etching using a patterned photoresist as a mask, to form openings illustrated in
To manufacture each actuator unit 21, a conductive paste to be individual electrodes 35b is first printed in a pattern on a ceramic green sheet to be a piezoelectric sheet 43. In parallel with this, conductive pastes to be common electrodes 34a and 34b are printed in a pattern on ceramic green sheets to be piezoelectric sheets 42 and 44. After this, five green sheets to be piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 are positioned in layers with a jig. The layered structure obtained is then baked at a predetermined temperature. After this, individual electrodes 35a are formed on the piezoelectric sheet 41 of the baked layered structure. For example, the individual electrodes 35a may be formed in the manner that a conductive film is plated on the whole of one surface of the piezoelectric sheet 41 and then unnecessary portions of the conductive film are removed by laser patterning. Alternatively, the individual electrodes 35a may be formed by depositing a conductive film on the piezoelectric sheet 41 by PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) using a mask having openings at portions corresponding to the respective individual electrodes 35a. To this process, the manufacture of the actuator unit 21 is completed.
Next, the actuator unit 21 manufactured as described above is bonded to the passage unit 4 with an adhesive so that the piezoelectric sheet 45 may be in contact with the cavity plate 22. At this time, both are bonded to each other based of positioning marks formed on the surface of the cavity plate 22 of the passage unit 4 and the surface of the piezoelectric sheet 41, respectively.
After this, through-holes used for connecting vertically arranged corresponding individual electrodes 35a and 35b with each other are formed. The through-holes are then filled up with a conductive material. After this, an FPC 136, used for supplying electric signals to the individual electrodes 35a and 35b and the common electrodes 34a and 34b, is bonded onto and electrically connected with bonding positions corresponding to the respective electrodes on the actuator unit 21 by soldering. Further, through a predetermined process, the manufacture of the ink-jet head 1 is completed.
As described above, unlike the other electrodes, individual electrodes 35a to be the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 45 are not baked together with the ceramic materials. The reason for this is because the individual electrodes 35a are exposed, they are apt to evaporate at a high temperature upon baking. As a result, it is difficult to control their thickness in comparison with the other electrodes 34a, 34b, and 35b being covered with ceramic materials. However, even the thickness of the other electrodes 34a, 34b, and 35b may somewhat decrease upon baking. Therefore, it is difficult to form them into a small thickness if keeping the continuity after baking is taken into consideration. Contrastively, because the individual electrodes 35a are formed by the above-described technique after baking, they can be formed into a smaller thickness than the other electrodes 34a, 34b, and 35b. Thus, in the ink-jet head 1, by forming the individual electrodes 35a in the uppermost layer to have smaller thickness than the thickness of the other electrodes 34a, 34b, and 35b, the deformation of the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 including active layers is difficult to be restricted by the individual electrodes 35a. Therefore, the electrical efficiency and the area efficiency of the actuator unit 21 are improved.
In the ink-jet head 1, because the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 having active layers and the piezoelectric sheets 44 and 45 as the inactive layers are made of the same material, the material need not be changed in the manufacturing process. Thus, they can be manufactured through a relatively simple process, which may reduce the manufacturing cost. Furthermore, because each of the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 including active layers and the piezoelectric sheets 44 and 45 as the inactive layers has substantially the same thickness, a further reduction of cost can be achieved by simplifying the manufacturing process. This is because the thickness control can be more easily performed when the ceramic materials to be the piezoelectric sheets are applied to be put in layers.
Furthermore, in the ink-jet head 1, separate actuator units 21 corresponding to the respective ink ejection regions are bonded onto the passage unit 4, and are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 4. Therefore, each of the actuator units 21, which may be uneven in dimensional accuracy and in positional accuracy of the individual electrodes 35a, 35b because they are formed by sintering or the like, can be positioned to the passage unit 4 independently from another actuator unit 21. Thus, even in case of a long head, the increase in shift of each actuator unit 21 from the accurate position on the passage unit 4 is controlled, and both can accurately be positioned to each other. Therefore, even for individual electrodes 35a, 35b that are relatively apart from a mark, the individual electrodes 35a and 35b can not be shifted considerably from the predetermined position to the corresponding pressure chamber 10. Thus results in good ink ejection performance and an improved manufacture yield of the ink-jet heads 1.
In contrast to the above, if a long-shaped actuator unit 4 is made like the passage unit 4, the more the individual electrodes 35a and 35b are apart from the mark, the larger the shift of the individual electrodes 35a and 35b is from the predetermined position on the corresponding pressure chamber 10 in a plan view when the actuator unit 21 is laid over the passage unit 4. This causes, the ink ejection performance of a pressure chamber 10 to deteriorate, which also decreases the ink ejection performance of the ink-jet head 1.
In addition, in the ink-jet head 1 constructed as described above, by sandwiching the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 by the common electrodes 34a and 34b and the individual electrodes 35a and 35b, the volume of each pressure chamber 10 can easily be changed by the piezoelectric effect. Further, because each of the piezoelectric sheets 41 to 43 having active layers is in a shape of a continuous flat layer, this can be easily manufactured.
Furthermore, the ink-jet head 1 has the actuator units 21 each having a unimorph structure in which the piezoelectric sheets 44 and 45 near each pressure chamber 10 are inactive and the piezoelectric sheet 41 to 43 distant from each pressure chamber 10 include active layers. Therefore, the change in volume of each pressure chamber 10 can be increased by the transversal piezoelectric effect. As a result, in contrast to an ink-jet head in which a layer including active layers is provided on the pressure chamber 10 side and a inactive layer is provided on the opposite side, the voltage to be applied to the individual electrodes 35a and 35b and/or high integration of the pressure chambers 10 can be lowered. By lowering the voltage to be applied, the size of the driver for driving the individual electrodes 35a and 35b can be reduced, thus reducing costs. In addition, each pressure chamber 10 can be reduced. Furthermore, even when the pressure chambers 10 are highly packed, a sufficient amount of ink can be ejected. Thus, leads to a decrease in the size of the head 1 and a highly dense arrangement of printing dots.
Further, in the ink-jet head 1, each actuator unit 21 has a substantially trapezoidal shape. The actuator units 21 are arranged in two lines in a crisscross manner so that the parallel opposed sides of each actuator unit 21 extend along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 4, and the oblique sides of each neighboring actuator units 21 overlap each other in the lateral direction of the passage unit 4. Because the oblique sides of each neighboring actuator units 21 overlap each other, when the ink-jet head 1 moves along the lateral direction of the ink-jet head 1 relatively to a print medium, the pressure chambers 10 along the lateral direction of the passage unit 4 can compensate each other. As a result, high-resolution printing, can be achieved by using a small-size ink-jet head 1 with a very narrow width.
Furthermore, because many pressure chambers 10 neighboring each other are arranged in a matrix in the passage unit 4, the pressure chambers 10 can be disposed within a relatively small size at a high density.
In the above-described ink-jet head 1, trapezoidal actuator units are arranged in two lines in a crisscross manner. However, each actuator unit may not be trapezoidal. Further, actuator units may be arranged in only one line along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit. Actuator units may be arranged in three or more lines in a crisscross manner.
Referring to
As shown in
This exemplary embodiment shows a case of monochrome printing. Thus, the ink supply port 202 is supplied with a single color ink (e.g., black). To perform multicolor printing, head main bodies 201 corresponding in number to colors (for example, in case of four colors of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black, four head main bodies 201) are aligned along the lateral direction of the passage unit. The head main bodies 201 are supplied with color inks different from one another to print.
The manifold channel 205 is formed in the most part of passage unit 204 to extend over the two ink ejection regions R1. In part of the manifold channel 205 corresponding to each ink ejection region R1, a large number of slender island portions 205a are formed to be arranged at regular intervals. The length of each island portion 205a is along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 204. In this construction, ink supplied through the ink supply port 202 passes between each neighboring island portions 205a in the manifold channel 205, and then it is distributed to pressure chambers 210 formed in the passage unit 204 in each ink ejection region R1.
Referring to
An opening is formed in the cavity plate 222 to form a pressure chamber 210 as described above. A tapered ink ejection port 208 is formed in the nozzle plate 230 using a press. Communication holes 251 are formed through each of the plates 223 to 229 between the plates 222 and 230. The pressure chamber 210 communicates with the ink ejection port 208 through the communication holes 251. An aperture 212 is formed as an elongated hole in the aperture plate 224. One end of the aperture 212 is connected with an end portion of the pressure chamber 210 (opposite to the end portion connecting with the ink ejection port 208) through a communication hole 252 formed in the base plate 223. The aperture 212 is used to properly control the amount of ink to be supplied to the pressure chamber 210 and to prevent too much or too little ink from being ejected or released through the ink ejection port 208. A communication hole 253 is formed in the supply plate 225. The communication hole 253 connects the other end of the aperture 212 with the manifold channel 205.
Each of the nine plates 222 to 230 forming the passage unit 204 is made of metal. The pressure chamber 210, the aperture 212, and the communication holes 251, 252, and 253 are formed by selectively etching each metallic plate using a mask pattern. The nine plates 222 to 230 are arranged in layers and bonded to each other so that the passage as illustrated in
Referring to
Between the first and second piezoelectric sheets 241 and 242 from the top, an about 2 μm-thick common electrode 234a is interposed formed on substantially the entire of the lower and upper faces of the piezoelectric sheets. Between the third and fourth piezoelectric sheets 243 and 244, an approximately 2 μm-thick common electrode 234b is also interposed. On the upper face of the first piezoelectric sheet 241, an about 1 μm-thick individual electrode 235a is formed to correspond to each pressure chamber 210. As illustrated in
The common electrodes 234a and 234b are grounded in a region (not shown). Thus, the common electrodes 234a and 234b are kept at the ground potential at a region corresponding to any pressure chamber 210. In order that the individual electrodes 235a and 235b in each pair corresponding to a pressure chamber 210 can be controlled in potential independently of another pair, they are connected with a suitable driver IC through a lead provided separately for each pair of individual electrodes 235a and 235b.
In the head main body 201, the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 245 are to be polarized in their thickness. That is, the actuator unit 221 has a so-called unimorph structure in which the upper (i.e., distant from the pressure chamber 210) three piezoelectric sheets 241 to 243 are layers including active layers, and the lower (i.e., near the pressure chamber 210) two piezoelectric sheets 244 and 245 are made into inactive layers.
In this structure, when the individual electrodes 235a and 235b in a pair are set at a positive or negative predetermined potential, if the polarization is in the same direction as the electric field for example, the portion (an active layer, i.e., a pressure generation portion) in the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 243 sandwiched by the common and individual electrodes contracts perpendicularly to the polarization. On the other hand, because the inactive piezoelectric sheets 244 and 245 are affected by an electric field, they do not contract in themselves. Thus, a difference in strain is produced along the polarization between the upper piezoelectric sheets 241 to 243 and the lower piezoelectric sheets 444 and 245. As a result, the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 245 are ready to deform into a convex shape toward the inactive side (unimorph deformation). At this time, because the lower face of the lowermost piezoelectric sheet 245 is fixed to the upper face of the partition dividing pressure chambers 210, the pressure generation portion A of the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 245 deforms into a convex shape toward the pressure chamber 210 side to decrease the volume of the pressure chamber 210. As a result, the pressure of ink is raised and ink is ejected through the ink ejection port 208. After this, when a driving voltage is no longer applied to the individual electrodes 235a and 235b, the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 245 return to the original shape and the pressure chamber 210 also returns to its original volume. Thus, the pressure chamber 210 draws ink therein through the manifold channel 205.
Next, the shape of the two actuator units 221a and 221b and the arrangement of individual electrodes 235a and 235b, i.e., the pressure generation portions A, will be described.
The head main body 201 includes two actuator units 221a and 221b as described above. The two actuator units 221a and 221b have a similar shape and arrangement for pressure generation portions A.
As illustrated in
In region P1, a large number of pressure generation portions A1 are arranged to neighbor each other in a matrix along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 204 and along the other side C of the rectangle.
In region P2, pressure generation portions A2 are arranged to neighbor each other in a matrix only in the vicinity of a corner D of the rectangle near to the actuator unit 221b.
As shown in
In other words, because no pressure generation portion can be disposed in the region (region G) near the seam portion between the actuator units 221a and 221b, no pressure chamber 210 and no ink ejection port 208 also can be disposed in that region. Therefore, if the pressure generation portions A2 were not disposed in the additional region P2 provided in the actuator unit 221a, printing in the portion corresponding to the gap portion G cannot be done. As a result, a portion where ink ejection cannot occur is produced in the seam portion between the actuator units 221a and 221b. However, because the pressure generation portions A2 are disposed in the additional region P2 provided in the actuator unit 221a in a portion overlapping that region G in the lateral direction of the passage unit, there is no portion where ink ejection cannot occur. As a result, an image without any breaks can be formed on an image recording medium.
As described above, in this embodiment, the actuator unit 221 includes lines in each of which a large number of pressure generation portions A1 and A2 are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 204. Regarding the lengths of these lines along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 204, each line in the basic region P1 is longer than each line in the additional region P2. Further, as for the number of lines along the lateral direction of the passage unit 204, the number of lines in the additional region P2 is the same as the number of lines that might exist in the length of the corresponding region G along the lateral direction of the passage unit 204. Therefore, if an imaginary straight line is drawn to extend along the lateral direction of the passage unit 204, the number of lines that the imaginary straight line crosses in the region where the neighboring actuator units 221a and 221b overlap each other is the same as the number of lines that the imaginary straight line crosses in the region where the neighboring actuator units 221a and 221b do not overlap each other.
The above-described feature can be achieved by arranging two actuator units 221a and 221b having the same construction. Thus, the arrangement of parts can be simplified and the cost and the number of process steps necessary for designing or manufacturing the actuator units 221a and 221b can be reduced.
Various exemplary arrangement of pressure generation portions A in the actuator unit 221 are described below. As shown in
The actuator unit 255a of
In the basic region P11, similar to the arrangement of
Therefore, as illustrated in
Further, this embodiment can have the same advantages as those of the above-described first embodiment. More specifically, because the two actuator units 255a and 255b are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 204, even in case of a long passage unit 204, high accuracy can be obtained in positioning of the actuator units 255a and 255b to the passage unit 204. Therefore, good ink ejection performance can be obtained and the manufacture yield of ink-jet heads 201 can be remarkably improved. In addition, by sandwiching the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 243 between the common electrodes 234a and 234b and the individual electrodes 235a and 235b, the volume of each pressure chamber 210 can easily be changed by the piezoelectric effect. Further, the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 243 having active layers are continuous flat layers that can be easily be manufactured. Further, because an actuator unit 221 of a unimorph structure is provided in which the piezoelectric sheets 244 and 245 near to each pressure chamber 210 are inactive and the piezoelectric sheets 241 to 243 far from each pressure chamber 210 are layers including active layers, the change in volume of each pressure chamber 210 can be increased by the transversal piezoelectric effect. This leads to a lower voltage that needs to be applied to the individual electrodes 235a and 235b, as well as a high integration of the pressure chambers 210. Further, in the passage unit 204, because a large number of pressure chambers 210 neighboring each other are arranged in a matrix, the pressure chambers 210 can be disposed at a high density within a relatively small size.
In this embodiment, only two actuator units are arranged. However, three or more actuator units may be arranged. Arrangement of many actuator units can bring about a long ink-jet head. Such a long ink-jet head is advantageous because it can perform printing onto even a large-size image recording medium at a high speed.
In the head main bodies 201 and 271 as illustrated in
Next, a third embodiment of the invention will be described.
Referring to
Referring to
Each manifold channel 305 branches at its opening 305a to supply ink to a number of pressure chambers 310 as described later. When each hexagonal ink ejection region R2 illustrated in
The ink ejection port 308 in one half region in the lateral direction of the passage unit communicates with one of the ink reservoirs 303 in a pair through a manifold channel 305. The ink ejection port 308 in the other half region in the lateral direction of the ink-jet head communicates with the other ink reservoir 303. By configuring the manifold channels 305, the openings 305a, and the ink reservoirs 303 in such a manner, two printing modes can be realized: (1) a mode in which the ink reservoirs 303 in the pair are supplied with ink of the same color to perform monochrome high-resolution printing; and (2) a mode in which the ink reservoirs 303 in the pair are supplied with ink of different colors to perform two-color printing with the single head main body 301. This is a widely usable construction.
Referring to
A rhombic opening is formed in the cavity plate 322 to form a pressure chamber 310. A tapered ink ejection port 308 is formed in the nozzle plate 330 with a press. Communication holes 351 are formed through each of the plates 323 to 329 between the plates 322 and 330. The pressure chamber 310 communicates with the ink ejection port 308 through the communication holes 351. An aperture 312 as an elongated hole is formed in the aperture plate 324. One end of the aperture 312 is connected with an end portion of the pressure chamber 310 (opposite to the end portion connecting with the ink ejection port 308) through a communication hole 352 formed in the base plate 323. The aperture 312 is for properly controlling the amount of ink to be supplied to the pressure chamber 310 and preventing too much or too little ink from being ejected through the ink ejection port 308. A communication hole 353 is formed in the supply plate 325. The communication hole 353 connects the other end of the aperture 312 with the manifold channel 305.
Each of the nine plates 322 to 330 forming the passage unit 304 is made of metal. The above-described pressure chamber 310, aperture 312, and communication holes 351, 352, and 353 are formed by selectively etching each metallic plate using a mask pattern. The nine plates 322 to 330 are put in layers and bonded to each other with being positioned to each other so that the passage as illustrated in
Next, the structure of each actuator unit 321 will be described. Referring to
Between the first and second piezoelectric sheets 341 and 342 from the top, an about 2 μm-thick common electrode 334a is interposed formed on substantially the whole of the lower and upper faces of the piezoelectric sheets. Also, between the third and fourth piezoelectric sheets 343 and 344, an about 2 μm-thick common electrode 234b is interposed. On the upper face of the first piezoelectric sheet 341, an about 1 μm-thick individual electrode 335a is formed to correspond to each pressure chamber 310. As illustrated in
The common electrodes 334a and 334b are grounded in a region (not shown). Thus, the common electrodes 334a and 334b are kept at the ground potential at a region corresponding to any pressure chamber 310. In order that the individual electrodes 335a and 335b in each pair corresponding to a pressure chamber 310 can be controlled in potential independently of another pair, they are connected with a suitable driver IC (not shown) through a lead provided separately for each pair of individual electrodes 335a and 335b.
In the head main body 301, the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 345 are to be polarized in their thickness. That is, the actuator unit 321 has a so-called unimorph structure in which the upper (i.e., distant from the pressure chamber 310) three piezoelectric sheets 341 to 343 are layers including active layers, and the lower (i.e., near the pressure chamber 310) two piezoelectric sheets 344 and 345 are made into inactive layers.
In this structure, when the individual electrodes 335a and 335b in a pair are set at a positive or negative predetermined potential, if the polarization is in the same direction as the electric field for example, the portion (an active layer, i.e., a pressure generation portion) in the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 343 sandwiched by the common and individual electrodes contracts perpendicularly to the polarization. On the other hand, because the inactive piezoelectric sheets 344 and 345 are influenced by no electric field, they do not contract in themselves. Thus, a difference in strain perpendicular to the polarization is produced between the upper piezoelectric sheets 341 to 343 and the lower piezoelectric sheets 344 and 345. As a result, the whole of the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 345 is ready to deform into a convex shape toward the inactive side (unimorph deformation). At this time, because the lower face of the lowermost piezoelectric sheet 345 is fixed to the upper face of the partition partitioning pressure chambers 310, the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 345 deform into a convex shape toward the pressure chamber 310 side to decrease the volume of the pressure chamber 310. As a result, the pressure of ink is raised and the ink is ejected through the ink ejection port 308. After this, when application of the driving voltage to the individual electrodes 335a and 335b is stopped, the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 345 return to the original shape and the pressure chamber 310 also returns to its original volume. Thus, the pressure chamber 310 draws the ink therein through the manifold channel 305.
To manufacture each actuator unit 321, first, ceramic green sheets to be piezoelectric sheets 341 to 345 are put in layers and then baked. At this time, a metallic material to be individual electrodes 335a or a common electrode 334a or 334b is printed into a pattern on each ceramic green sheet at need. After this, a metallic material to be individual electrodes 335a is formed by plating on the whole of the upper face of the first piezoelectric sheet 341 and then unnecessary portions of the material are removed by laser patterning. Alternatively, a metallic material to be individual electrodes 335a is deposited using a mask having openings at portions corresponding to the respective individual electrodes 335a.
The actuator unit 321 thus manufactured is very brittle because it is made of ceramic. In particular, because corners of the actuator unit 321 are very easily broken, very delicate handling is required upon manufacture and assembling in order that any corner must not be brought into contact with another component.
However, as illustrated in
The above effect is not obtained only when any of the corners θ1 to θ6 is formed into 120°. If a corner θn is formed into 90° or more, the corner θn is hard to be broken off. Therefore, for making any of the six corners θ1 to θ6 hard to be broken off, it suffices that any of the six straight portions L1 to L6 is connected with a neighboring straight portion L at the right angle or an obtuse angle (the minimum value of the angles θ1 to θ6 at the crossing portions is 90° or more). The hexagonal profile can freely be changed as far as the above condition is satisfied.
Further, this embodiment also can bring about the same advantages as those of the above-described first embodiment. More specifically, because the four actuator units 321 are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 304, even in case of a long passage unit 304, high accuracy can be obtained in positioning of the actuator units 321 to the passage unit 304. Therefore, good ink ejection performance can be obtained and the manufacture yield of ink-jet heads 301 can be remarkably improved. Furthermore, by sandwiching the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 343 between the common electrodes 334a and 334b and the individual electrodes 335a and 335b, the volume of each pressure chamber 310 can easily be changed by the piezoelectric effect. Furthermore, the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 343 including active layers can easily be manufactured because they are continuous flat layers. Furthermore, because an actuator unit 321 of a unimorph structure is provided in which the piezoelectric sheets 344 and 345 near to each pressure chamber 310 are inactive and the piezoelectric sheets 341 to 343 far from each pressure chamber 310 are layers including active layers, the change in volume of each pressure chamber 310 can be increased by the transversal piezoelectric effect, and lowering the voltage to be applied to the individual electrodes 335a and 335b and/or high integration of the pressure chambers 310 can be intended. Further, in the passage unit 304, because a large number of pressure chambers 310 neighboring each other are arranged in a matrix, the many pressure chambers 310 can be disposed at a high density within a relatively small size.
In the invention, the profile of each actuator unit is not limited to a hexagon. That is, the number of straight portion L may be not six but five, seven, eight, or more. Hereinafter, modifications in profile of each actuator unit will be described with reference to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Next, the fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to
A head main body 401 as illustrated in
An FPC 436 is bonded onto the upper face of each actuator unit 421, and is used for supplying electric signals to individual and common electrodes in the actuator unit 421. A driver IC 432 is bonded onto each FPC 436, and is used as a driving circuit for generating driving signals to be supplied to the individual electrodes in the corresponding actuator unit 421. Each FPC 436 is electrically connected with a control unit 440 including CPU, RAM, and ROM. The control unit 440 supplies printing data to each driver IC 432. Each driver IC 432 generates driving signals for individual electrodes on the basis of the printing data.
Two regions P21 and P22 are provided in each actuator unit 421. Of them, the basic region P21 has a substantially rectangular shape having its sides in parallel with the respective sides of the corresponding actuator unit 421. The basic region P21 has its width somewhat shorter than the side B of the actuator unit 421 and its length of about ¾ the side C of the actuator unit 421. In
In each of the basic region P21 and the sub-regions P22a and P22b of the additional region P22, a large number of pressure generation portions are arranged with neighboring each other in a matrix along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 404 and along the side C of the rectangle. Pressure chambers and ink passages including nozzles are formed in the passage unit 404 to correspond to the respective pressure generation portions.
When the two actuator units 421a and 421b each constructed as described above are arranged in line along the longitudinal direction of the passage unit 404 as illustrated in
Hence, in this embodiment, utilizing the feature that the sub-region P22a of the additional region P22 provided on the lower side of the basic region P21 is provided to correspond to the region G where no pressure generation portions exist, near the seam portion, along the lateral direction of the passage unit 404, the control unit 440 controls each driver IC 432 upon printing so as to drive pressure generation portions in the basic region P21 and in the sub-region P22a of the additional region P22 and not to drive any pressure generation portion in the sub-region P22b of the additional region P22. By this, because pressure generation portions in the actuator unit 421 are arranged in a region having substantially the same shape as in the actuator unit 221 of
As apparent from the above description, in this embodiment, ink passages may not be provided in the portion of the passage unit 404 corresponding to the sub-region P22b of the additional region P22.
The materials of each piezoelectric sheet and each electrode used in the above-described embodiments are not limited to the above-described ones. They can be changed to other known materials. The shapes in plan and sectional views of each pressure chamber, the arrangement of pressure chambers, the number of piezoelectric sheets including active layers, the number of inactive layers, etc., can be changed properly. Each piezoelectric sheet including active layers may differ in thickness from each inactive layer.
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiments, each actuator unit is constructed in which individual and common electrodes are provided on a piezoelectric sheet. However, such an actuator unit may not always be used bonded to the passage unit. Any other actuator unit can be used if it can change the volumes of the respective pressure chambers separately. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiments, pressure chambers are arranged in a matrix. However, the pressure chambers may be arranged in a line or lines. Further, although any inactive layer is made of a piezoelectric sheet in the above-described embodiment, the inactive layer may be made of an insulating sheet other than a piezoelectric sheet.
While this invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiments outlined above, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth above are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-365497 | Nov 2001 | JP | national |
| 2002-042651 | Feb 2002 | JP | national |
| 2002-043010 | Feb 2002 | JP | national |
| 2002-045290 | Feb 2002 | JP | national |
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/899,418, filed Feb. 20, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/248,390, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,925,774, filed Aug. 26, 2016, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/147,206, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,718,271, filed May 5, 2016, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/707,536, filed May 8, 2015, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/185,262, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,114,616, filed Feb. 20, 2014, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/346,325, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,684,496, filed Jan. 9, 2012, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/289,959, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,118,402, filed Nov. 7, 2008, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/125,098, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,891,781, filed May 10, 2005, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/368,351, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,953,241, filed Feb. 20, 2003, which is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/305,979, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,986,565, filed Nov. 29, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
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| Child | 10368351 | US |
