The present disclosure relates to a recoding element substrate and a liquid ejection head.
In a field of a liquid ejection apparatus represented by an ink-jet apparatus, for efficiently using generated energy as ejection energy, it is required to reduce thickness of an ejection port forming member in which ejection ports are formed. When the thickness of the ejection port forming member is reduced, however, strength of the ejection port forming member is reduced. When the liquid ejection apparatus is driven for a long time, it is concerned that a member, such as the ejection port forming member, that forms a liquid ejection head is deformed due to influence of swelling caused by absorption of liquid or influence of heat, and when the thickness is small, in particular, the deformation becomes great. Also in a case where external force is applied to the election port forming member, for example, by a wiping operation for wiping out liquid, when the strength is small, it is considered that the ejection port forming member is broken and ejection performance is deteriorated.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-233795 discloses a liquid ejection head having a support member that is provided between an ejection port forming member and a substrate and supports the ejection port forming member, in order to improve strength of the ejection port forming member and prevent deformation due to swelling. In the liquid ejection head, supply ports, serving as apertures of a supply passage, which penetrate the substrate in a thickness direction are provided so as to hold an energy generating element therebetween. With such a configuration, since liquid is supplied from both sides of the energy generating element, high-speed driving becomes possible, and further, election ports and the vicinity thereof are more symmetrically arranged and droplets are ejected very straight, thus achieving enhancement of recording quality. One support member is provided in each space between adjacent supply ports, and the support member is provided so that a width thereof fits to an interval between the adjacent supply ports.
However, the liquid ejection head described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-233795 has a problem that, when thickness of the ejection port forming member is reduced, there is a case where the ejection port forming member is deformed, stress generated at an interface between the substrate and the support member tends to be easily concentrated, and peeling of the support member tends to easily occur.
The present disclosure provides a recording element substrate, a liquid ejection head, and a liquid ejection apparatus that achieve stable liquid ejection performance by suppressing concentration of stress on a support member due to swelling of an ejection port forming member while suppressing reduction in strength of the ejection port forming member against external force.
A recording element substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a substrate on which a plurality of energy generating elements that generate energy used for ejecting liquid are arranged side by side, an ejection port forming member in which ejection ports are formed at positions corresponding to the plurality of energy generating elements, a plurality of supply passages which are channels extending in a thickness direction of the substrate and through which liquid is supplied to the energy generating elements, and a support member that is formed between the substrate and the ejection port forming member and supports the ejection port forming member, in which supply ports that are apertures of the plurality of supply passages are linearly arranged side by side on the substrate, and a plurality of support members are provided side by side between adjacent supply ports on the substrate in a direction in which the supply ports are aligned.
Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the disclosure will be described with reference to attached drawings. Note that, the same reference signs are assigned to components having the same function in the present specification and the drawings, so that redundant description is omitted in some cases.
The liquid ejection head has a head body 20, a connection member 21, and a recording element substrate 100. The recording element substrate 100 has a substrate 1 and an ejection port forming member 8 provided on the substrate 1, and a plurality of ejection ports 9 are arranged side by side on the ejection port forming member 8. The recording element substrate 100 is provided on the head body 20 with the connection member 21 held therebetween. The liquid ejection head is mounted on a liquid ejection apparatus represented by an ink-jet recording apparatus, and ejects liquid such as ink from the ejection ports 9.
The recording element substrate 100 has the substrate 1 and the ejection port forming member 8, and the plurality of ejection ports 9 are arranged side by side on the ejection port forming member 8. A lower side of
As illustrated in
Channel forming members 5 and support members 10 are provided between the substrate 1 and the ejection port forming member 8. A space between the substrate 1 and the ejection port forming member 8 is divided into a plurality of liquid chambers 3 by the channel forming members 5 and the support members 10. Each of the channel forming members 5 includes a wall member 5a that forms a continuous wall extending in the direction in which the energy generating elements 2 are aligned and a partition member 5b that forms a partition by which adjacent energy generating elements 2 are separated. Each of the liquid chambers 3 is a space that includes at least one energy generating element 2 and at least two supply ports 4a inside thereof and communicates with at least one ejection port 9. In an example of
Each of the support members 10 is a plate member and provided in contact with the substrate 1. The support member 10 is provided between adjacent supply ports 4a on the substrate 1 and the plurality of support members 10 are arranged in a direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned. In the present example, two support members 10 are provided between adjacent supply ports 4a on the surface of the substrate 1. Each of the support members 10 is arranged so that a thickness direction thereof is directed to the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned. The support member 10 is arranged so that a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned on the surface of the substrate 1 serves as an in-plane direction of the support member 10 and the support member 10 is vertical to the substrate 1. In the example of
The plurality of supply ports 4a provided on the substrate 1 in a first direction in which the energy generating elements 2 are arrayed are referred to as a first supply port 4a, a second supply port 4a, and a third supply port 4a in arrangement order. A plurality of support members 10 aligned along the first direction are provided side by side between the first and second supply ports 4a. Other support members 10 different from the support members 10 provided between the first and second supply ports 4a are aligned along the first direction between the second and third supply ports 4a. Each of the support members 10 is a plate member extending in a second direction crossing the first direction.
The liquid chamber 3 includes: a common liquid chamber 3a that is a space separated by the wall member 5a, the partition member 5b, and the support members 10 and that includes the supply ports 4a of the supply passages 4; and a pressure chamber 7 that is a space separated by partition members 5b and includes the energy generating element 2 inside thereof. The liquid chamber 3 further includes a channel 6 by which the common liquid chamber 3a and the pressure chamber 7 are connected. Note that, a part in which the pressure chamber 7 and the channel 6 are connected has a shape having a narrow width in
Though not illustrated in
An arrangement interval of the ejection ports 9 is 600 dpi and an arrangement interval of the supply ports 4a along the ejection ports 9 is 300 dpi. The supply ports 4a are provided on both sides with the energy generating elements 2, each of which is provided at a position corresponding to the ejection port 9, held therebetween, and liquid is supplied to the energy generating element 2 from the both sides. With such a configuration, liquid flows are more symmetrical around the ejection port 9, so that droplets are ejected very straight. Thus, droplets are easily applied to a desired position and this leads to enhancement of print image quality.
Each of the supply ports 4a has a square shape each side of which has 40 μm in the present embodiment, and each of the support members 10 has a length of 7 μm in the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned and a distance from the adjacent support member 10 of 5 μm. Above the supply port 4a, a space is provided between the ejection port forming member 8 and the substrate 1. Thus, it is desired that the support member 10 is provided around the supply port 4a to support the ejection port forming member 8. When the liquid election head is driven for a long time, the ejection port forming member 8 may be deformed due to swelling. In this case, shear force is generated at an interface between each of the support members 10 and the substrate 1 and the support member 10 is easily peeled off from the substrate 1 in some cases.
Next, an effect of the present embodiment will be described with reference to a comparative example of
In the recording element substrate 200, the support member 10 is formed so as to be continuously integrated with the wall member 5a that forms the continuous wall extending in the direction in which the energy generating elements 2 are aligned. When the support member 10 is integrated with the wall member 5a, strength of the ejection port forming member 8 is further enhanced.
In the recording element substrate 300, the support member 10 is formed so as to be continuously integrated with the partition member 5b that forms the partition by which adjacent energy generating elements 2 are separated. When the support member 10 is integrated with the partition member 5b, strength of the ejection port forming member 8 is enhanced.
In the recording element substrate 400, the support member 10 is formed so as to be continuously integrated with both the wall member 5a and the partition member 5b. When the support member 10 is integrated with both the wall member 5a and the partition member 5b, strength of the ejection port forming member 8 is further enhanced.
In the first to fourth embodiments, the support member 10 is a plate member, and between adjacent supply ports 4a, a plurality of support members 10 are arranged in the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned and one support member 10 is arranged in the direction crossing (in
In the recording element substrate 500, an arrangement interval of the energy generating elements 2 is 600 dpi and the ejection ports 9 are arranged at positions corresponding to the energy generating elements 2, and therefore an arrangement interval of the ejection ports 9 is also 600 dpi. On each side of the energy generating elements 2, one supply port 4a is arranged for two energy generating elements 2, and an arrangement interval of the supply ports 4a is 300 dpi. In the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned, a length of the support member 10 is 7 μm and an interval between adjacent support members 10 is 5 μm. Also in the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned, an interval between adjacent support members 10 is 5 μm.
As described above, when the plurality of columnar support members 10 are arranged side by side between adjacent supply ports 4a in both the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned and the direction crossing the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned, liquid flows between the adjacent supply ports 4a. Such a configuration makes it possible to prevent bubbles from retaining in the common liquid chamber 3a, thus making it possible to achieve more stable liquid ejection performance. Moreover, since the interval between the adjacent support members 10 becomes narrow, it is possible to enhance strength of the ejection port forming member 8 against the external force. Note that, though eight support members 10 are provided in each space between the supply ports 4a in the present exemplary embodiment, the number is not limited thereto. It may be configured so that at least two support members 10 are arranged side by side between the supply ports 4a and the different number of support members 10 may be arranged in each space between the supply ports 4a. A shape of each of the support members 10 is also not limited to the configuration of
Though the present disclosure has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments. Various modifications that can be understood by a person skilled in the art may be made to the configuration of the invention within a range of technical ideas of the present disclosure.
For example, though the number of the support members 10 provided between adjacent supply ports 4a in the direction in which the supply ports 4a are aligned is two in the aforementioned embodiments, the disclosure is not limited to such an example. For example, three or more support members 10 may be provided between the adjacent supply ports 4a. In addition, though the support member 10 has a rectangular shape as a sectional shape parallel to the surface of the substrate 1 in the aforementioned embodiments, the disclosure is not limited to such an example. For example, the sectional shape of the support member 10 may be a circular shape, an elliptical shape, or other polygonal shapes other than the rectangular shape.
In the recoding element substrate, one supply port 4a per two energy generating elements 2 is provided on each side of an element array in which the energy generating elements 2 are aligned in the aforementioned embodiments, but the disclosure is not limited to such an example. Arrangement of the respective components on the substrate 1 may be variously modified.
For example, though all supply passages 4 provided on the both sides of the energy generating elements 2 are channels through which liquid is supplied to the pressure chamber 7 and the liquid flows from the supply passage 4 to the pressure chamber 7 in the aforementioned embodiments, the disclosure is not limited to such an example. For example, one of the supply passages 4 on the both sides of the energy generating elements 2 may function as a collection passage by which liquid is collected from the pressure chamber 7. In this case, the liquid is collected from one of the supply passages 4 to the other supply passage 4 through the pressure chamber 7. Such a configuration makes it possible to achieve a configuration in which liquid in the pressure chamber 7 is circulated with the liquid outside the pressure chamber 7.
According to the disclosure, it is possible to realize stable liquid ejection performance by suppressing concentration of stress on a support member due to swelling of an ejection port forming member while suppressing reduction in strength of the ejection port forming member against external force.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-102182 filed May 23, 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-102182 | May 2016 | JP | national |