This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-049963, filed on Mar. 16, 2018, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head, a liquid discharge device, and a liquid discharge apparatus.
As an image forming apparatus for forming an image or the like, an apparatus including a liquid discharge device having a liquid discharge head for discharging a liquid ink for discharging a liquid ink onto a medium to form an image or the like is known. Such an apparatus is a type of “liquid discharge apparatus”. The liquid discharge head included in the apparatus includes: a pressure chamber having a plurality of nozzles serving as discharge ports of a liquid for supplying an ink to each of the nozzles; a common ink chamber for distributing an ink from an ink supply source to the plurality of pressure chambers via an ink supply hole; and a plurality of pressure generators corresponding to the respective pressure chambers. Discharge energy applied to the pressure chamber by the pressure generator causes pressure fluctuation in a liquid ink in the pressure chamber. As a result, the liquid discharge head having the above configuration operates so as to discharge the liquid ink from the nozzles. The pressure fluctuation caused in the pressure chamber is propagated to a common chamber and may also be propagated to another adjacent pressure chamber via the common chamber.
When the pressure fluctuation is propagated to an adjacent pressure chamber (individual chamber), “mutual interference” affecting liquid discharge characteristics in another pressure chamber occurs. Mutual interference causes leakage of ink droplets from each nozzle, unintentional ink discharge, and the like. That is, unintentional leakage of ink droplets from a nozzle not involved in control of operation of the liquid discharge head, or the like occurs. When a discharge state is unstable in this manner, high-quality ink discharge control cannot be performed as a result. In this case, in the image forming apparatus including the ink discharge head, image formation quality may be deteriorated.
In order to prevent propagation of pressure fluctuation as described above, a structure absorbing pressure fluctuation may be used between the common chamber and the individual chamber. For example, a liquid discharge head is known that has a configuration in which a damper is disposed between a common chamber and an individual chamber to prevent propagation of pressure fluctuation.
In an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a liquid discharge head that includes a channel section, and a driving section. The channel section supplies a liquid to a plurality of nozzles to discharge the liquid. The driving section causes the nozzles to discharge the liquid. The channel section includes an individual chamber to supply the liquid to the nozzles and a common chamber to supply the liquid to the individual chamber. A laminated portion of each of a plurality of plate-shaped components which are constituent components of the individual chamber does not have a cut-out portion in a portion corresponding to a bonding position of a damper member disposed between the individual chamber and the common chamber.
The aforementioned and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure would be better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted.
In describing embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner and achieve similar results.
Although the embodiments are described with technical limitations with reference to the attached drawings, such description is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure and all of the components or elements described in the embodiments of this disclosure are not necessarily indispensable.
Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. In the drawings for explaining the following embodiments, the same reference codes are allocated to elements (members or components) having the same function or shape and redundant descriptions thereof are omitted below.
One gist of the present invention is that a liquid discharge head according to an embodiment of the present invention has a structure in which a damper and an individual chamber are formed on different planes, a hollow region is not formed below the damper, and a member forming the individual chamber does not have an unpressurized region.
Note that the “liquid discharge head” is a functional component for discharging and jetting a liquid from a nozzle. A liquid to be discharged may be any liquid as long as having a viscosity and surface tension that can be discharged from a head, and is not particularly limited, but preferably has a viscosity of 30 mPa·s or less at ordinary temperature and normal pressure or by heating or cooling. More specifically, the liquid to be discharged is a solution, a suspension liquid, an emulsion, or the like containing a solvent such as water or an organic solvent, a colorant such as a dye or a pigment, a function-imparting material such as a polymerizable compound, a resin, or a surfactant, a biocompatible material such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), amino acid, protein, or calcium, or an edible material such as a natural pigment, which can be used, for example, for an inkjet ink, a surface treatment liquid, a liquid for forming a constituent element of an electronic element or a light emitting element or an electronic circuit resist pattern, a three-dimensional modeling material liquid, or the like.
Examples of an energy generation source for discharging a liquid include those using a piezoelectric actuator (a laminated type piezoelectric element and a thin film type piezoelectric element), a thermal actuator using an electrothermal transducer such as a heating resistor, and an electrostatic actuator including a diaphragm and a counter electrode.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The ink supply channel which is an ink channel is formed by a common chamber and an individual chamber. The individual chamber for supplying an ink to each of the nozzles 20 is formed by a nozzle plate 2, a chamber plate 3, and a diaphragm plate 4. An ink supplied from the common chamber to the individual chamber reaches a pressure chamber 21 of the chamber plate 3 via the diaphragm plate 4. When a piezoelectric element 9 changes the volume of the pressure chamber 21 to cause pressure fluctuation, an ink is discharged from the nozzles 20 formed in the nozzle plate 2 due to this pressure fluctuation. The configuration of the liquid discharge head 1 is roughly classified into a channel section and a driving section 8. The channel section constitutes the ink supply channel formed by the common chamber and the individual chamber such that an ink reaches the nozzles 20. The driving section 8 generates discharge energy for discharging an ink from the nozzles 20 and pressurizes the pressure chamber 21.
The channel section includes the nozzle plate 2, the chamber plate 3, the diaphragm plate 4, a damper plate 5 which is a damper component, and a filter plate 6. The nozzle plate 2 has the nozzles 20 formed therein. The chamber plate 3 is laminated on the nozzle plate 2 to form the pressure chamber 21, a fluid restrictor 22, and an introduction channel 23. The introduction channel 23 formed in the chamber plate 3 corresponds to an ink introduction space for introducing an ink from an under-filter common chamber 31 to the pressure chamber 21.
The diaphragm plate 4 includes a diaphragm 24 laminated on the chamber plate 3 for changing the volume of the pressure chamber 21, an island 25, and a communication hole 26. The detailed configuration of the diaphragm plate 4 will be described later. The damper plate 5 which is a damper member is laminated on the diaphragm plate 4 to form a damper 27, an air release chamber 28, an air communication channel 29, and a second introduction channel 30. The filter plate 6 is laminated on the damper plate 5. The filter plate 6 includes a filter 33.
In the channel section, a portion where the nozzle plate 2, the chamber plate 3, and the diaphragm plate 4 are laminated and bonded to each other (laminated portion) does not have a cut-out portion (including a hole) forming the damper 27. That is, the channel section has characteristics in bonding positions of components (plate-shaped members) constituting the channel section. Specifically, there is no space such as a hole in a portion (corresponding to the above laminated portion) corresponding to a position where the damper plate 5 which is a damper member at bonding positions of the components is disposed. In other words, the channel section does not have a space in a bonding portion such as a cut-out portion in bonding portions of the components corresponding to a portion bonded to the damper plate 5 in portions where the above components are laminated and bonded to each other. As a result, the channel section according to the present embodiment has a structure that does not generate a difference in rigidity due to a bonding state of constituent components constituting a channel for supplying an ink to the nozzles 20. That is, the difference in rigidity due to the bonding state of the components constituting the channel can be uniform.
A frame 7 is bonded to the filter plate 6 to form a common chamber. An upstream side (side of the frame 7) of the filter 33 included in the filter plate 6 is referred to as an over-filter common chamber 32. A downstream side (side of the damper plate 5) of the filter 33 included in the filter plate 6 is referred to as the under-filter common chamber 31. The common chamber is divided into an upper portion and a lower portion by the filter 33 included in the filter plate 6.
Next, a material of each component and a manufacturing method will be described. The nozzle plate 2 is made of a stainless steel material (steel use stainless (SUS) 316) and is a plate-shaped component in which the nozzles 20 are formed by pressing. The chamber plate 3 is also made of a stainless steel material (SUS 316) and is a plate-shaped component in which the pressure chamber 21 through which an ink flows, the fluid restrictor 22, and the introduction channel 23 are formed by pressing. The diaphragm plate 4 is made of nickel (Ni) or a nickel alloy (Ni alloy) and is a plate-shaped component formed by electroforming. The diaphragm 24 (see
The damper plate 5 is made of nickel (Ni) or a nickel alloy (Ni alloy) and is formed by electroforming. A growing direction of electroforming in the damper plate 5 is a direction toward the nozzles 20. Note that the thickness of a thin plate portion of the damper plate 5 acting as the damper 27 is about 2 to 4 micrometers. The thickness of the damper plate 5 around the portion acting as the damper 27 (the thickness of a portion surrounding the damper 27) is about 7 to 20 micrometers.
The filter plate 6 is made of nickel (Ni) or a nickel alloy (Ni alloy) and is formed by electroforming. The thickness of the filter plate 6 is about 2 to 4 micrometers, and a part of the filter plate 6 has numerous holes. The diameter of each of these holes is about 60% to 90% of the diameter of each of the nozzles 20. These holes are arranged in a bale stacking form.
The frame 7 is made of a stainless steel material (SUS 303). The common chamber formed between the frame 7 and the filter plate 6 is formed by machining a corresponding portion of the frame 7.
Next, the configuration of the driving section 8 will be described. As illustrated in
The piezoelectric element 9 is made of lead zirconate titanate (piezoelectric transducer (PZT)), and transducers for pressurizing the diaphragm 24 are disposed in the piezoelectric element 9 by dicing such that the number of the transducers is twice or more the number of the nozzles 20. The base 10 is made of a stainless steel material (SUS 430) and is formed by machining. The FPC 11 includes a substrate formed of polyimide and copper foil and a driver IC 12 for selecting a drive channel disposed on the substrate.
Next, each of members constituting the liquid discharge head 1 will be described in more detail. First, the chamber plate 3 according to the present embodiment will be described. As illustrated in
Next, the diaphragm plate 4 will be described. As illustrated in
Next, the damper plate 5 will be described. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Next, the filter plate 6 will be described. As illustrated in
By laminating the above components, the damper 27 is formed so as not to be disposed on the same plane as the components (nozzle plate 2, chamber plate 3, and diaphragm plate 4) constituting the individual chamber. The damper 27 is disposed on an upstream side of an ink channel (communication hole 26 and second introduction channel 30). Furthermore, the projection surface obtained by projecting the damper 27 onto the components constituting the individual chamber has no unpressurized region. That is, the member constituting the individual chamber is formed in a state where the whole region onto which the damper 27 is projected is pressurized.
In the liquid discharge head 1 having the above configuration according to the present embodiment, a component forming the pressure chamber 21 does not form a cavity or an unbonded portion in the laminated portion where the individual chamber-constituting components are laminated below the common chamber, and high rigidity can be secured. The damper 27 is disposed below the filter 33 and above the components (nozzle plate 2, chamber plate 3, and diaphragm plate 4) constituting the individual chamber. As a result, it is possible to suppress propagation of pulsation due to pressure fluctuation caused by pressurization to the pressure chamber 21 to an adjacent common chamber, and to suppress propagation of pulsation to another pressure chamber 21. By virtue of these effects, it is possible to suppress a vibration generated in a channel component as much as possible, and unnecessary disturbance does not occur to the nozzles 20. Therefore, variation in discharge speed is small, and stable discharging performance can be obtained.
Next, a liquid discharge head according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Next, the spacer plate 15 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to
With the above configuration, an adhesive between the damper plate 5a and the spacer plate 15 serves as a cushioning material. With this cushioning material, it is possible to further reduce an influence of vibration (pulsation) due to pressure fluctuation propagated to an individual chamber. The liquid discharge head 1a according to the present embodiment can suppress pulsation of a common chamber with the damper 27, and to reduce a bad influence of the pulsation on discharging performance from the nozzles 20 in the components constituting the individual chamber. That is, variation in discharge speed from the nozzles 20 can be reduced.
Next, a liquid discharge head according to still another embodiment of the present invention will be described.
With reference to
The liquid discharge head 1b according to the present embodiment can dispose the damper 27 below a filter 33 while reducing the number of components without lowering rigidity of the components constituting the individual chamber. With such a configuration, the liquid discharge head 1b can be formed with a small number of components, and the damper 27 can be disposed on an upstream side of the individual chamber without lowering rigidity of the components constituting the individual chamber. As a result, it is possible to suppress pulsation caused in the common chamber, and to reduce variation in discharge speed due to vibration of the components constituting the individual chamber.
Next, a liquid discharge device including a liquid discharge head and a liquid discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
First, a liquid discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
A serial type apparatus is exemplified as the liquid discharge apparatus 100. In the apparatus, a carriage 403 reciprocates in a main scanning direction by a main scanning movement mechanism 493. The main scanning movement mechanism 493 includes a guide member 401, a main scanning motor 405, a timing belt 408, and the like. The guide member 401 is stretched between left and right side plates 491A and 491B to movably hold the carriage 403. The main scanning motor 405 reciprocates the carriage 403 in the main scanning direction via the timing belt 408 stretched between a driving pulley 406 and a driven pulley 407.
The carriage 403 has a liquid discharge device 440 formed by integrating the liquid discharge head 1 having a damper structure, used in the present invention, with a head tank 441 mounted thereon.
The liquid discharge head 1 of the liquid discharge device 440 discharges liquids of colors, for example, yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K). The liquid discharge head 1 has a nozzle row including a plurality of nozzles disposed and attached in a sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction with a discharge direction downward.
A liquid stored in a liquid cartridge 450 is supplied to the head tank 441 by a supply mechanism 494 for supplying a liquid stored outside the liquid discharge head 1 to the liquid discharge head 1.
The supply mechanism 494 includes a cartridge holder 451 which is a filling unit for mounting the liquid cartridge 450, a tube 456, a liquid feeding unit 452 including a liquid feeding pump, and the like. The liquid cartridge 450 is detachably attached to the cartridge holder 451. A liquid is sent from the liquid cartridge 450 to the head tank 441 via the tube 456 by the liquid feeding unit 452.
The liquid discharge apparatus 100 includes a conveying mechanism 495 for conveying a sheet 410. The conveying mechanism 495 includes a conveying belt 412 as a conveying means and a sub-scanning motor 416 for driving the conveying belt 412.
The conveying belt 412 attracts the sheet 410 and conveys the sheet 410 at a position facing the liquid discharge head 1. The conveying belt 412 is an endless belt, and is stretched between a conveying roller 413 and a tension roller 414. Attraction can be performed by electrostatic attraction, air suction, or the like. The conveying belt 412 is rotated and moved in the sub-scanning direction by rotation driving of the conveying roller 413 via a timing belt 417 and a timing pulley 418 by the sub-scanning motor 416. Furthermore, on one side of the carriage 403 in the main scanning direction, a maintenance and recovery mechanism 420 for maintaining and recovering the liquid discharge head 1 is disposed on a side of the conveying belt 412.
The maintenance and recovery mechanism 420 includes, for example, a cap member 421 for capping a nozzle surface of the liquid discharge head 1 (a surface on which nozzles are formed), a wiper member 422 for wiping the nozzle surface, and the like.
The main scanning movement mechanism 493, the supply mechanism 494, the maintenance and recovery mechanism 420, and the conveying mechanism 495 are attached to a housing including the side plates 491A and 491B and the back plate 491C.
In the liquid discharge apparatus 100 having the above configuration, the sheet 410 is fed onto and attracted by the conveying belt 412, and conveyed in the sub-scanning direction by rotating movement of the conveying belt 412. Therefore, by driving the liquid discharge head 1 in accordance with an image signal while the carriage 403 is moved in the main scanning direction, a liquid is discharged onto the sheet 410 being stopped to form an image. In this way, the liquid discharge apparatus 100 includes the liquid discharge head used in the present invention, and therefore can stably form a high-quality image.
Next, an example of a liquid discharge device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The liquid discharge device according to the present embodiment includes a housing portion including the side plates 491A and 491B and the back plate 491C, the main scanning movement mechanism 493, the carriage 403, and the liquid discharge head 1 out of the components constituting the liquid discharge apparatus 100 which is a liquid discharge apparatus. Note that it is also possible to form a liquid discharge device having at least either one of the above-described maintenance and recovery mechanism 420 and supply mechanism 494 further attached to, for example, the side plate 491B of the liquid discharge device.
Next, another example of a liquid discharge device that can be mounted on a liquid discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The liquid discharge device includes the liquid discharge head 1 having a channel component 444 attached thereto and the tube 456 coupled to the channel component 444. Note that the channel component 444 is disposed in a cover 442. Instead of the channel component 444, the head tank 441 can be included. A connector 443 for electrical connection with the liquid discharge head 1 is disposed on the channel component 444.
In the present invention described above, the “liquid discharge apparatus” includes a liquid discharge head or a liquid discharge device, and drives the liquid discharge head to discharge a liquid. The “liquid discharge apparatus” includes not only an apparatus capable of discharging a liquid onto a liquid-attachable object but also an apparatus for discharging a liquid toward a gas or a liquid.
The “liquid discharge apparatus” may also include a means related to feeding, conveying, or ejection of a liquid-attachable object, a pretreatment device, a post-treatment device, and the like.
Examples of the “liquid discharge apparatus” include an image forming apparatus for discharging an ink to form an image on a sheet and a stereoscopic modeling apparatus (three-dimensional modeling apparatus) for discharging a modeling liquid onto a powder layer obtained by forming a powder into a layer shape in order to model a stereoscopic modeled object (three-dimensional modeled object).
The “liquid discharge apparatus” is not limited to an apparatus in which a significant image such as a letter or a figure is visualized by a discharged liquid. Examples of the “liquid discharge apparatus” include an apparatus for forming a pattern or the like having no meaning by itself and an apparatus for modeling a three-dimensional image.
The “liquid-attachable object” means a material to which a liquid can be attached even temporarily. A material of the “liquid-attachable object” may be any material as long as a liquid can be attached to the object even temporarily, such as paper, yarn, fiber, cloth, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, or ceramics.
The “liquid discharge apparatus” includes both a serial type apparatus that moves a liquid discharge head and a line type apparatus that does not move the liquid discharge head unless otherwise specified.
Examples of the “liquid discharge apparatus” further include a treatment liquid application apparatus for discharging a treatment liquid onto a sheet in order to apply the treatment liquid to a surface of the sheet, for example, in order to modify the surface of the sheet, and a spraying granulation apparatus for spraying a composition liquid in which a raw material is dispersed in a solution via a nozzle to granulate fine particles of the raw material.
The “liquid discharge device” is formed by integrating a functional component and a mechanism with a liquid discharge head, and includes an assembly of components related to discharge of a liquid. Examples of the “liquid discharge device” include a device formed by combining at least one of configurations of a head tank, a carriage, a supply mechanism, a maintenance and recovery mechanism, and a main scanning movement mechanism with a liquid discharge head.
Here, examples of the integration include a case where a liquid discharge head, a functional component, and a mechanism are secured to each other by fastening, bonding, engagement, or the like and a case where one is held movably with respect to the other. A liquid discharge head, a functional component, and a mechanism may be detachable from each other.
Example of the liquid discharge device include a device in which a liquid discharge head and a head tank are integrated with each other like the liquid discharge device illustrated in
Example of the liquid discharge device further include a device in which a liquid discharge head and a carriage are integrated with each other.
In addition, there is a liquid discharge device in which a liquid discharge head and a scanning movement mechanism are integrated with each other by movably holding the liquid discharge head on a guide member constituting a part of a scanning movement mechanism. Example of the liquid discharge device further include a device in which a liquid discharge head, a carriage, and a main scanning movement mechanism are integrated with each other as illustrated in
Example of the liquid discharge device further include a device in which a cap member as a part of a maintenance and recovery mechanism is secured to a carriage to which a liquid discharge head is attached to integrate the liquid discharge head, the carriage, and the maintenance and recovery mechanism with each other.
Example of the liquid discharge device further include a device in which a tube is coupled to a liquid discharge head to which a head tank or a channel component is attached to integrate the liquid discharge head and a supply mechanism with each other as illustrated in
The main scanning movement mechanism also includes a single guide member. The supply mechanism also includes a single tube and a single loading unit.
A pressure generator used by the “liquid discharge head” is not limited. In addition to the piezoelectric actuator (a laminated type piezoelectric element may be used) as described in the above embodiments, a thermal actuator using an electrothermal transducer such as a heating resistor, an electrostatic actuator including a diaphragm and a counter electrode, and the like may be used.
Here, image formation, recording, letter printing, photograph printing, printing, modeling, and the like are all synonymous.
Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the above teachings, the present disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. With some embodiments having thus been described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the scope of the present disclosure and appended claims, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure and appended claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20190283436 A1 | Sep 2019 | US |