Patent Grant
9346267
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid jet head which jets a liquid droplet onto a recording medium to perform recording thereon, and to a liquid jet apparatus.
2. Related Art
In recent years, there is used a liquid jet head which employs an ink jet method to record a character and/or a figure on a sheet of recording paper or the like by ejecting thereon an ink droplet, or to form a functional thin film on a surface of an element substrate by ejecting thereon a liquid material. In this method, liquid such as ink or the liquid material is guided from a liquid tank to a channel through a supply tube so that the liquid filling the channel is pressurized and ejected from a nozzle communicating with the channel. The liquid is ejected to record a character and/or a figure or form a functional thin film having a predetermined shape by moving a liquid jet head and/or a recording medium.
A liquid jet head of this type is described in JP 2012-101437 A.
Described in JP 2003-505281 W is a liquid jet head of a through-flow type in which liquid within a channel circulates. The through-flow type can promptly discharge air bubbles and/or a foreign matter mixed in the liquid out of the channel. As a result, maintenance can be carried out without using a cap structure or a service station, whereby the liquid is consumed less at the time of the maintenance to be able to keep down a running cost. Moreover, the wasteful consumption of a recording medium caused by defective ejection can be kept to the minimum.
The groove width and groove interval of the ejection channel 211 and the dummy channel 212 have been getting narrower, down to 100 μm to 20 μm, in recent years. It is thus required to align the nozzle 217 on the nozzle plate 216 and the ejection channel 211 opened at the front end FE with high precision in the liquid jet head described in JP 2012-101437 A, for example. It is difficult to accurately perform the alignment especially when an opaque material such as a metal plate is used as the nozzle plate 216, because the ejection channel 211 is not visible through the nozzle plate 216 when the nozzle plate 216 is to be bonded to the front end FE. The positioning accuracy decreases when the nozzle plate 216 and the piezoelectric body substrate 202 are aligned by using the outer shape as a reference, for example. When attempting to align the nozzle 217 with the ejection channel 211 opened at the front end FE through the nozzle, one cannot distinguish whether the opening visible through the nozzle 217 is the opening of the ejection channel 211 or the opening of the dummy channel 212.
A similar problem can also occur when installing the cover plate 203 onto the ejection channel 211 formed on the surface SF of the piezoelectric body substrate 202. The cover plate 203 normally being opaque, the ejection channel 211 and the dummy channel 212 are not visible through the cover plate 203 when bonding the cover plate to the surface SF. Now, when attempting to perform the alignment with a groove seen through the slit 215, one cannot always distinguish whether the groove seen through the slit 215 is the ejection channel 211 or the dummy channel 212.
Moreover, the liquid jet head described in JP 2003-505281 W is formed of many components including the mask plate 100, the opening plate 66, and the nozzle plate 64 to circulate liquid, so that it gets extremely complex to align each plate. It is difficult to perform the alignment with high precision when one attempts to adhere these components to the PZT wafers 88 and 89 by using the outer shape as a reference.
A liquid jet head according to the present invention includes: a first piezoelectric body substrate which has n pieces (where n is an integer of 1 or larger) of ejection grooves arrayed with an identical pitch P in a reference direction on a surface and (n+1) pieces of non-ejection grooves arrayed alternately with the ejection grooves while shifted from the ejection grooves by a half pitch (P/2); and an opaque substrate which is bonded to the surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate and has (j+n+k) pieces (where each of j and k is an integer of 1 or larger) of through holes passing through the substrate in a board thickness direction and arrayed in the reference direction, where each of n pieces of the through holes communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves, and j pieces of the through holes located at one end side of a row of holes formed of the n pieces of the through holes communicating with the ejection grooves as well as k pieces of the through holes located at another end side of the row do not communicate with the ejection grooves.
Moreover, the through hole arranged in a j-th place out of the j pieces of the through holes located at the one end side of the row of holes and the through hole arranged first in the row of holes are separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2), while the through hole arranged in an n-th place in the row of holes and the through hole arranged first in the k pieces of the through holes located at the other end side of the row of holes are separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2).
The j pieces of the through holes located at the one end side of the row of holes and the k pieces of the through holes located at the other end side of the row are placed at a location overlapping with a range of an opening region in which the non-ejection groove is opened toward the opaque substrate, in a direction orthogonal to a reference direction K and parallel to a substrate surface of the opaque substrate.
The opaque substrate is a nozzle plate which includes n pieces of nozzles formed of the n pieces of the through holes.
There is further included a nozzle plate having n pieces of nozzles, where each of the n pieces of the nozzles communicates with the n pieces of the through holes, and the nozzle plate is bonded to a side of the opaque substrate opposite to the side bonded to the first piezoelectric body substrate.
The ejection groove and the non-ejection groove are placed on a top surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate, and the opaque substrate is a cover plate which has a liquid chamber communicating with the n pieces of the through holes and is bonded to the top surface.
The n pieces of the ejection grooves and the (n+1) pieces of the non-ejection grooves are opened on a side surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate.
There is further included a second piezoelectric body substrate which has n pieces of ejection grooves arrayed with the identical pitch P in the reference direction on the surface and (n+1) pieces of non-ejection grooves arrayed alternately with the ejection grooves while shifted from the ejection grooves by the half pitch (P/2), where the first piezoelectric body substrate and the second piezoelectric body substrate are formed into a 1 piece while arranging side surfaces of each of the piezoelectric body substrates flush with each other and arranging bottom surfaces opposite to the top surface of the substrates to face each other, and the through hole brings the ejection groove opened on the side surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate in communication with the ejection groove opened on the side surface of the second piezoelectric body substrate.
There is further included a first cover plate which has a first liquid chamber and n pieces of slits communicating with the first liquid chamber, and a second cover plate which has a second liquid chamber and n pieces of slits communicating with the second liquid chamber, where the first cover plate is bonded to a top surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate while each of the n pieces of the slits communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves, and the second cover plate is bonded to a top surface of the second piezoelectric body substrate while each of the n pieces of the slits communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves.
The n pieces of the ejection grooves and the (n+1) pieces of the non-ejection grooves are opened on the top surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate and a bottom surface of the substrate opposite to the top surface.
A liquid jet apparatus according to the present invention includes the liquid jet head, a move mechanism which moves the liquid jet head and a recording medium relatively to each other, a liquid supply tube which supplies liquid to the liquid jet head, and a liquid tank which supplies the liquid to the liquid supply tube.
The liquid jet head according to the present invention includes: the first piezoelectric body substrate which has the n pieces (where n is an integer of 1 or larger) of the ejection grooves arrayed with the identical pitch P in the reference direction on the surface and the (n+1) pieces of the non-ejection grooves arrayed alternately with the ejection grooves while shifted from the ejection grooves by the half pitch (P/2); and the opaque substrate which is bonded to the surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate and has the (j+n+k) pieces (where each of j and k is an integer of 1 or larger) of the through holes passing through the substrate in the board thickness direction and arrayed in the reference direction, where each of the n pieces of the through holes communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves, and the j pieces of the through holes located at the one end side of the row of holes formed of the n pieces of the through holes communicating with the ejection grooves as well as the k pieces of the through holes located at the other end side of the row do not communicate with the ejection grooves. As a result, the position between the n pieces of the ejection grooves on the first piezoelectric body substrate and the n pieces of the through holes on the opaque substrate can be determined from a surface state of the first piezoelectric body substrate seen through the j pieces of the through holes at the one end side and the k pieces of the through holes at the other end side, whereby the alignment of the two substrates can be greatly facilitated.
As illustrated in
The nozzle plate 7 is bonded to the side surface SP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a and has (j+n+k) pieces (where each of j and k is an integer of 1 or larger; the same is applied hereinafter) of through holes 8 passing through the plate in a board thickness direction and arrayed in the reference direction K. Each of n pieces of the through holes 8 communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3, while j pieces of the through holes 8 located at one end side of a row of holes R formed of the n pieces of the through holes 8 communicating with the ejection grooves 3 as well as k pieces of the through holes 8 located at another end side of the row do not communicate with the ejection grooves 3. The cover plate 6 is bonded to the top surface UP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a to cover a part or all of the ejection grooves 3 and the non-ejection grooves 4. Here, the top surface UP, the side surface SP, and a bottom surface LP opposite to the top surface UP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a are included as the surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a. The n pieces of the ejection grooves 3 and the (n+1) pieces of the non-ejection grooves 4 are opened on the top surface UP and the side surface SP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a.
The nozzle plate 7 is the opaque substrate made of an opaque material, and the n pieces of the through holes 8 (hereinafter noted as through holes 81 to 8n) forming the row of holes R function as n pieces of nozzles 11 (hereinafter noted as nozzles 111 to 11n) that eject a liquid droplet. Note that the n pieces of the nozzles 111 to 11n, the j pieces of the through holes 8 (hereinafter noted as a through hole 8a) located at the one end side of the row of the n pieces of the nozzles 111 to 11n, namely the row of holes R, and the k pieces of the through holes 8 (hereinafter noted as a through hole 8b) located at the other end side of the row are arrayed in a row on the nozzle plate 7 with the pitch P. It is set j=k=1 in
Therefore, the through hole 8a1 located at the one end side of the row of holes R and the nozzle 111 (through hole 81) arranged first in the row of holes R are separated by the pitch P. Likewise, the nozzle 11n (through hole 8n) arranged in an n-th place of the row of holes R and the through hole 8b1 located at the other end side of the row of holes R are separated by the pitch P. The through hole 8a1 and the through hole 8b1 are placed at a location overlapping with a range L of an opening region in which the non-ejection groove 4 is opened toward the nozzle plate 7, in a direction H orthogonal to the reference direction K and parallel to a substrate surface of the nozzle plate 7. As a result, the non-ejection groove 4 or the ejection groove 3 can be visible through the through hole 8a1 or the through hole 8b1 when the nozzle plate 7 is shifted in the reference direction K by the half pitch (P/2) or more with respect to the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a.
The first piezoelectric body substrate 2a can be made of PZT ceramics or another piezoelectric material. The nozzle plate 7 is made of a metal plate or an opaque plastic plate, for example. Note that the “opaque” property of the opaque substrate does not allow one to observe the surface of the piezoelectric body substrate when the substrate is bonded to the piezoelectric body substrate. Accordingly, the substrate includes, in addition to the substrate not transmitting light, a substrate which is translucent but exhibits light scattering that is too large to make the surface of the piezoelectric body substrate to which the substrate is bonded observable, and a substrate which is translucent but includes an opaque film formed on the surface of the substrate so that the piezoelectric body substrate to which the substrate is bonded is unobservable. As illustrated in
Accordingly, where the j pieces of the through holes 8a1 to 8aj are placed at the one end side of the row of holes R and the k pieces of the through holes 8b1 to 8bk are placed at the other end side of the row, one can see that the alignment is performed correctly when the side surface SP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a is seen through the j and k pieces of the through holes 8a and 8b and when the groove is seen through the n pieces of the nozzles 111 to 11n in the row of holes R, as illustrated in
Note that the alignment is generally performed on the basis of the way the side surface SP is seen through the j pieces of the through holes 8a1 to 8aj located at the one end side of the row of holes R and the k pieces of the through holes 8b1 to 8bk located at the other end side of the row. In this case, the through holes 8a1 to 8aj and 8b1 to 8bk are placed at the location overlapping with the range L of the opening region in which the non-ejection groove 4 is opened toward the nozzle plate 7, in the direction H orthogonal to the reference direction K and parallel to the substrate surface of the opaque substrate (nozzle plate 7). The accurate alignment is performed when the state of the side surface SP seen through the j and k pieces of the through holes 8a1 to 8aj and 8b1 to 8bk located at both end sides of the row of holes R corresponds with a predetermined pattern while the grooves are visible through all the through holes 81 to 8n forming the row of holes R. In the present embodiment, the alignment is performed correctly when the side surface SP is seen through the two through holes 8a1 and 8b1 while the ejection grooves 3 are visible through all the through holes 81 to 8n forming the row of holes R.
(Variation)
More generally, the through hole 8aj arranged in a j-th place out of the j pieces of the through holes 8a1 to 8aj located at the one end side of the row of holes R and the nozzle 111 (through hole 81) arranged first in the row of holes R may be separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2), while the nozzle 11n (through hole 8n) arranged in an n-th place in the row of holes R and the through hole 8b1 arranged first in the k pieces of the through holes 8b1 to 8bk located at the other end side of the row of holes R may be separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2).
As illustrated in
Here, the top surface UP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a is included as the surface that is the outer surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a. The cover plate 6 is an opaque substrate formed of an opaque material such as PZT ceramics and opaque plastic. The cover plate 6 includes a liquid chamber 9 which communicates with the n pieces of the slits 101 to ion (through holes 81 to 8n). The n pieces of the slits 101 to 10n pass through the plate from a bottom surface of the liquid chamber 9 toward the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a. Each of the n pieces of the slits 101 to 10n communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3 but does not communicate with the non-ejection grooves 4. The nozzle plate 7 can be made of a transparent plastic film such as a polyimide film, an opaque metal plate, and the like.
Accordingly, where the j pieces of the through holes 8a1 to 8aj are placed at the one end side of the row of holes R and the k pieces of the through holes 8b1 to 8bk are placed at the other end side of the row, the alignment is performed correctly when the top surface UP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a is seen through the j and k pieces of the through holes 8a and 8b and when the ejection groove 3 is seen through the n pieces of the slits 101 to 10n in the row of holes R, as illustrated in
Note that the non-ejection groove 4 is formed straight from the side surface SP to an opposing side surface. It is therefore apparent that the through hole 8a1 and the through hole 8b1 are placed at a location overlapping with an opening region in which the non-ejection groove 4 is opened toward the cover plate 6, in a direction H orthogonal to the reference direction K and parallel to a substrate surface of the cover plate 6 (opaque substrate). Moreover, as is the case with the variation of the first embodiment, the through holes 8a1 and 8b1 may be shifted from the slits 101 and 10n located on both ends of the row of holes R by the half pitch (P/2).
As illustrated in
Each of the first and second piezoelectric body substrates 2a and 2b includes n pieces of ejection grooves 3 arrayed with an identical pitch P in a reference direction K on the top surface UP, and (n+1) pieces of non-ejection grooves 4 arrayed alternately with the ejection grooves 3 while shifted therefrom by a half pitch (P/2). The first piezoelectric body substrate 2a and the second piezoelectric body substrate 2b are formed into a 1 piece while arranging the side surfaces SP of each of the piezoelectric body substrates flush with each other and arranging the bottom surfaces LP opposite to the top surface UP of the substrates to face each other. Note that the first and second piezoelectric body substrates 2a and 2b are identical to the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a described in the first or second embodiment.
As illustrated in
The first cover plate 6a includes a first liquid chamber 9a and n pieces of slits 10a communicating with the first liquid chamber 9a. The second cover plate 6b includes a second liquid chamber 9b and n pieces of slits 10b communicating with the second liquid chamber 9b. The first cover plate 6a is bonded to the top surface UP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a while each of the n pieces of the slits 10a communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3. The second cover plate 6b is bonded to the top surface UP of the second piezoelectric body substrate 2b while each of the n pieces of the slits 10b communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3. The nozzle plate 7 includes n pieces of nozzles 11, each of which communicates with each of the n pieces of the through holes 81 to 8n, and is bonded to the side of the communication board 5 opposite to the side bonded to the first and second piezoelectric body substrates 2a and 2b.
As has already been described, the first and second piezoelectric body substrates 2a and 2b can be made of PZT ceramics or another piezoelectric body substrate. The first and second cover plates 6a and 6b can be made of PZT ceramics, another ceramics, a metal plate, a plastic plate, or the like. The communication board 5 can be made of a metal plate, opaque ceramics, an opaque plastic plate, or another opaque plate. The nozzle plate 7 can be made of a polyimide film, another plastic film, a metal plate, or the like.
The liquid jet head 1 is operated as follows. First, liquid is supplied to the first liquid chamber 9a. The liquid flows into the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3 on the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a through each of the n pieces of the slits 10a as indicated by an arrow. The liquid in each ejection groove 3 then flows into the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3 on the second piezoelectric body substrate 2b through each of the through holes 81 to 8n of the communication board 5. The liquid further flows out to the second liquid chamber 9b through the n pieces of the slits 10b on the second cover plate 6b and is discharged to the outside. Next, a drive signal is applied to two side walls between the ejection groove 3 on the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a and each of two non-ejection grooves 4 sandwiching the ejection groove 3, as well as to two side walls between the ejection groove 3 on the second piezoelectric body substrate 2b communicating with the ejection groove 3 on the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a and each of two non-ejection grooves 4 sandwiching the ejection groove 3 on the second piezoelectric body substrate 2b, thereby driving the side walls. In other words, the four side walls are driven simultaneously to generate a pressure wave in the ejection groove 3 on the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a and the ejection groove 3 on the second piezoelectric body substrate 2b simultaneously so that a liquid droplet is ejected from the nozzle 11.
Note that in general, the through hole 8aj arranged in a j-th place out of the j pieces of the through holes 8a located at the one end side of the row of holes R formed of the n pieces of the through holes 8 and the through hole 81 arranged first in the row of holes R are separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2), while the through hole 8n arranged in an n-th place and the through hole 8b1 arranged first in the k pieces of the through holes 8b located at the other end side of the row of holes R are separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2). Moreover, the j pieces of the through holes 8 located at the one end side of the row of holes R and the k pieces of the through holes 8 located at the other end side of the row are placed at a location overlapping with a range L of an opening region in which the non-ejection groove 4 on the first and second piezoelectric body substrates 2a and 2b is opened toward the communication board 5, in a direction H orthogonal to the reference direction K and parallel to a substrate surface of the communication board 5. As a result, the alignment between the first and second piezoelectric body substrates 2a and 2b and the communication board 5 can be performed extremely easily with high precision.
The liquid jet head 1 includes the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a, a cover plate 6 bonded to the top surface UP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a, the reinforcing plate 15 that is an opaque substrate bonded to the bottom surface LP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a opposite to the top surface UP thereof, and the nozzle plate 7 installed to a side of the reinforcing plate 15 opposite to the side bonded to the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a. The first piezoelectric body substrate 2a includes n pieces of the ejection grooves 3 arrayed with an identical pitch P in a reference direction K on the top surface UP, and (n+1) pieces of non-ejection grooves 4 arrayed alternately with the ejection grooves 3 while shifted therefrom by a half pitch (P/2). The ejection groove 3 and the non-ejection groove 4 pass through the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a in the board thickness direction thereof and are opened on the bottom surface LP opposite to the top surface UP. The reinforcing plate 15 is bonded to the bottom surface LP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a and has (j+n+k) pieces of through holes 8 passing through the plate in the board thickness direction thereof and arrayed in the reference direction K. Each of n pieces of the through holes 81 to 8n communicates with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3, while j pieces of through holes 8a located at one end side of a row of holes R formed of the n pieces of the through holes 81 to 8n as well as k pieces of through holes 8b located at another end side of the row do not communicate with any of the ejection grooves 3. Note that, in the present embodiment, the (j+n+k) pieces of the through holes 8 on the reinforcing plate 15 are arranged with a pitch P which is identical to the pitch P of the ejection groove 3, where it is set j=k=2.
The cover plate 6 includes a first liquid chamber 9a, a second liquid chamber 9b separated from the first liquid chamber 9a, n pieces of slits 10a which bring the first liquid chamber 9a in communication with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3, and n pieces of slits 10b which bring the second liquid chamber 9b in communication with each of the n pieces of the ejection grooves 3. The slit 10a communicates at one side of the ejection groove 3, and the slit 10b communicates at another side of the ejection groove 3. The nozzle plate 7 includes n pieces of nozzles 11, each of which communicates with each of then pieces of the through holes 81 to 8n.
Here, the bottom surface LP of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a is included as the surface of the first piezoelectric body substrate 2a. The first piezoelectric body substrate 2a, the reinforcing plate 15, the cover plate 6, and the nozzle plate 7 are made of the same material as that described in the other embodiments. The reinforcing plate 15 in the present embodiment has a function of reinforcing the nozzle plate 7. The pressure wave induced on liquid filling the ejection groove 3 is attenuated by the nozzle plate 7 when the diameter of the ejection groove 3 opened on the bottom surface LP is large and the thin nozzle plate 7 is directly adhered to the bottom surface LP. Therefore, the reinforcing plate 15 having the higher hardness than the nozzle plate 7 is adhered to the bottom surface LP to restrain the attenuation of the pressure wave.
The liquid jet head 1 is operated as follows. Liquid supplied to the first liquid chamber 9a flows into the ejection groove 3 from one end thereof through the slit 10a and flows out to the second liquid chamber 9b from another end of the ejection groove 3 through the slit 10b, as indicated by an arrow. Then, a drive signal is applied to two side walls between the ejection groove 3 and each of two non-ejection grooves 4 sandwiching the ejection groove 3 to simultaneously drive the two side walls, so that a liquid droplet is ejected from the nozzle 11 communicating with the through hole 8 by generating the pressure wave on the liquid filling the ejection groove 3.
Note that in the present embodiment as well, it is generally the case that the through hole 8aj arranged in a j-th place out of the j pieces of the through holes 8a located at the one end side of the row of holes R formed of the n pieces of the through holes 8 and the through hole 81 arranged first in the row of holes R are separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2), while the through hole 8n arranged in an n-th place and the through hole 8b1 arranged first in the k pieces of the through holes 8b located at the other end side of the row of holes R are separated by the pitch P or the half pitch (P/2). Moreover, the j pieces of the through holes 8 located at the one end side of the row of holes R and the k pieces of the through holes 8 located at the other end side of the row are placed at a location overlapping with a range L of an opening region in which the non-ejection groove 4 on the first piezoelectric body substrates 2a is opened toward the reinforcing plate 15, in a direction H orthogonal to the reference direction K and parallel to a substrate surface of the reinforcing plate 15. As a result, the alignment between the first piezoelectric body substrates 2a and the reinforcing plate 15 can be performed extremely easily with high precision.
The liquid jet apparatus 30 includes: a pair of conveyance means 41 and 42 which convey a recording medium 44 such as paper in a main scanning direction; the liquid jet heads 1 and 1′ which eject the liquid, to the recording medium 44; a carriage unit 43 on which the liquid jet heads 1 and 1′ are mounted; the liquid pumps 33 and 33′ which supply the liquid stored in the liquid tanks 34 and 34′ while pressing the liquid against the flow path parts 35 and 35′; and the move mechanism 40 which scans the liquid jet heads 1 and 1′ in a sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. A control unit that is not shown controls and drives the liquid jet heads 1 and 1′, the move mechanism 40, and the conveyance means 41 and 42.
The pair of conveyance means 41 and 42 extend in the sub-scanning direction and include a grid roller and a pinch roller that rotate while bringing a roller surface into contact with each other. The grid roller and the pinch roller are rotated around the shaft thereof by a motor not shown to convey the recording medium 44 pinched between the rollers in the main scanning direction. The move mechanism 40 includes: a pair of guide rails 36 and 37 which extend in the sub-scanning direction; the carriage unit 43 which can slide along the pair of guide rails 36 and 37; an endless belt 38 which moves the carriage unit 43 in the sub-scanning direction by being connected thereto; and a motor 39 which rotates the endless belt 38 through a pulley that is not shown.
The plurality of liquid jet heads 1 and 1′ is mounted on the carriage unit 43, which ejects four kinds of liquid droplets including yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, for example. The liquid tanks 34 and 34′ store liquid of the corresponding color and supply the liquid to the liquid jet heads 1 and 1′ through the liquid pumps 33 and 33′ and the flow path parts 35 and 35′. Each of the liquid jet heads 1 and 1′ ejects the liquid droplet of each color according to a drive signal. An arbitrary pattern can be recorded onto the recording medium 44 by controlling a timing at which the liquid is ejected from the liquid jet heads 1 and 1′, rotation of the motor 39 driving the carriage unit 43, and a speed of conveying the recording medium 44.
Note that while the present embodiment provides the liquid jet apparatus 30 in which the carriage unit 43 and the recording medium 44 are moved by the move mechanism 40 to perform recording, there may be provided instead a liquid jet apparatus in which the carriage unit is fixed and the recording medium is moved two-dimensionally by the move mechanism to perform recording. That is, the move mechanism may be adapted to move the liquid jet head and the recording medium relatively to each other.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-216584 | Oct 2013 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20120212548 | Koseki | Aug 2012 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2193921 | Sep 2010 | EP |
| 2511190 | Aug 2014 | GB |
| 2001277503 | Oct 2001 | JP |
| 2003505281 | Feb 2003 | JP |
| 2012101437 | May 2012 | JP |
| Entry |
|---|
| IPO Search Report mailed Apr. 16, 2015 issued in GB Patent Appln. No. GB1418434.5. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20150109373 A1 | Apr 2015 | US |
