JPH028056A - liquid jet recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the number of manufacturing steps for an electro-thermal converter and restrain an electrical loss by providing a heat generating resistor layer on the peripheral surface of an orifice, and connecting the upper and lower ends of the layer to electrodes provided respectively on the upper and lower surfaces of an orifice plate. CONSTITUTION:An orifice plate 2 is formed of an insulating material, and a heat generating resistor layer 5 is provided along the peripheral surface of each circular orifice 4. Discrete electrodes 6 are provided along the outside surface of the orifice plate 2, whereas a common electrode7 is provided along the inside surface of the plate 2, and the electrodes 6, 7 are electrically connected respectively to upper and lower end parts of the resistor layers 5, thereby fabricating an electro-thermal converter. Thus, the heat generating resistor layers 5 can be provided subsequently to formation of the orifices, and the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced accordingly. With the orifices 4 made as tapered holes, vapor deposition of the resistor layers 5 is facilitated. Particularly, because the common electrode can be provided with a sufficient width and a sufficient area, it is possible to reduce wiring resistance and a retrain an electrical loss.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head, and more particularly to a liquid jet recording head that performs recording by jetting recording liquid to form flying droplets.

[Prior Art] An inkjet recording device (liquid jet recording device) generates negligible noise during recording, is capable of high-speed recording, and uses a special process of fixing onto plain paper. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in the fact that recording can be done without the need for .

Among them, the liquid jet recording method described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 54-51837 and German Opening Publication (DOLS) No. 2843084 applies thermal energy to the liquid to generate the driving force for ejecting droplets. This method has different characteristics from other liquid jet recording methods in terms of the amount of data obtained.

That is, in the recording method disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, the recording liquid subjected to the action of thermal energy undergoes a state change accompanied by a sharp increase in volume, and the acting force based on this state change causes the orifice at the tip of the recording head to Liquid is ejected from the recording medium to form flying droplets, and recording is performed by making the droplets adhere to a recording member.

In particular, the liquid jet recording method disclosed in DOLS No. 2843064 is a so-called drop-and-delete method.
Not only is it extremely effective for the nd recording method, but
Since the recording head section can be easily implemented as a full 1ine type recording head with high density multi-orifices, it has the feature that high resolution and high quality images can be obtained at high speed.

By the way, as a way to make the most of the features of such a high-density multi-orifice recording head, for example, A.
One example of this is the realization of a so-called fixed type full multi-head, which is capable of recording four paper sheets without scanning the recording head.

Now, two examples of configurations of heating resistors and electrodes in a conventional recording head used in the above recording method are shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, respectively.

In these figures, 101 is a heating resistor, 102 is an individual electrode, and 103 is a common electrode.

Therefore, if you try to create a recording head with 16 nozzles per 1 mm on the same substrate with a width of 208 mm in the transverse direction of an A4 size sheet using such a configuration, the number of nozzles will be 208.
x 16 = 3328 climbing on tree, heating resistor 101
The same number of electrodes are also required on both sides. In addition, in the conventional configuration, the electrodes 102 and 103 are obtained by forming conductor thin films in the same process, so for example, in the case of Aft's 5,000-person film, the sheet resistance is 0.0.
If the electrode configuration is as shown in Fig. 4A, the wiring resistance will be 100Ω/gate if high-density wiring is performed as described above.
Ω or more, and the electrical loss is extremely large.

Moreover, it requires advanced manufacturing technology to manufacture uniformly without defects over a width of 208 mm. Furthermore, each electrode 1
Since the connection between the heat generating resistor 101 and the heat generating resistor 101 is twice that of the heat generating resistor 101, the cost required for the mounting becomes enormous.

In addition, if the electrode configuration is as shown in FIG. 4B, the packaging density and wiring resistance can be reduced by half compared to those in FIG. If it is not made small, a potential gradient will occur. Since electrodes are formed using a thin film process, it is desirable to increase the area of the electrodes, but this is difficult due to the configuration of the nozzle, etc., and the mounting density with the drive unit is also limited by the heating resistor 10.
The density of 1 is also the same, and high technology is required to increase the density.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In other words, as described above, in the conventional configuration, the electrodes and the heating resistor are formed on one main surface of the base material by thin film lamination technology, so the film thickness and area are limited. This has led to various technical problems, such as increased wiring resistance and increased electrical loss.

The purpose of the present invention is to focus on the above-mentioned conventional problems, and in order to solve them, the manufacturing process of an electrothermal converter is easy, the total number of steps can be limited, and the wiring resistance is reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid jet recording head that can suppress electrical loss.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of orifices that selectively eject recording liquid to generate flying droplets, and an orifice in which a plurality of orifices are formed. A plate, a plurality of liquid passages communicating with each of the plurality of orifices, and an electrothermal transducer disposed in each of the plurality of liquid passages and generating thermal energy for forming flying droplets. In a liquid jet recording head, a heat generating resistor layer is provided on the circumferential surface of an orifice hole, electrodes are arranged corresponding to each orifice on both sides of the orifice plate, and the electrodes are connected to both ends of the heat generating resistor layer on both sides of the orifice plate. This is characterized in that the electrothermal transducer is configured by connecting to the electrothermal converter.

[Function] According to the present invention, a heating resistance layer is formed on the circumferential surface of the orifice plate formed of an insulating material along the orifice, and a heat generating resistance layer is formed on the upper and lower main surfaces of the orifice plate corresponding to each of the orifices. Individual electrodes and common electrodes are provided, and the individual electrodes and common electrodes are connected to the above-mentioned heat generating resistor layer on the upper and lower main surfaces of the orifice plate to form an electrothermal converter, so that the heat generating resistor layer is continuously formed at the time of forming the orifice. This makes it possible to reduce the number of steps accordingly, and by forming the orifice into a tapered hole, it becomes easier to deposit the heating resistor layer.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below in detail and specifically based on the drawings.

Figures 1A and 18 illustrate one embodiment of the invention. Here, 1 is a base material, 2 is an orifice plate attached to the base material, and both are made of an insulating material. Reference numeral 3 denotes a liquid passage provided in the base material 1, and numeral 4 denotes an orifice bored in the orifice plate 2, which are provided above each liquid passage 3 in correspondence with each other. In this example, a heat generating resistor layer 5 is formed along the circumferential surface of the cylindrical orifice 4 as shown in FIG. 1B, and an orifice plate 2 is also formed.
The individual electrodes 6 are arranged along the outer surface of the orifice plate 2, and the common electrode 7 is arranged along the inner surface of the orifice plate 2. Make electrical connections at each section.

In the liquid jet recording head configured in this way, when an electric signal is selectively supplied to the individual electrodes 6 while the recording liquid is being supplied to the liquid path 3, the heating resistor layer 5 around the orifice 4 generates heat. As a result, bubbles are generated in the recording liquid in contact with the recording liquid, and as the volume of the recording liquid changes, the recording liquid is ejected from the orifice 4 as flying droplets and lands on the recording material. recording can be carried out.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this example, the orifice 4 is formed into a tapered hole, and the liquid path 3 side thereof is expanded, and therefore the heat generating resistor layer 5 is also expanded along the circumferential surface of the orifice 4, which is formed into a tapered hole. is formed. Note that the other configurations are the same as in the previous example. With this configuration, it is possible to easily form the heating resistance layer by vapor deposition or the like.

FIG. 3 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the orifice 4 is shaped like a flower with a tapered part, and the heat generating resistor layer 5 is formed only on the tapered part. The key is to form a heating resistance layer along the circumferential surface of the orifice and electrically connect both ends of the layer to the electrode 1 on the upper and lower surfaces of the orifice plate. If the shape of the hole is appropriate for droplet ejection and the formation of the heating resistor layer is easy,
Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above example.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a heating resistance layer is formed on the circumferential surface of the orifice of an orifice plate formed of an insulating material, and the upper and lower ends thereof are connected to the upper and lower surfaces of the orifice plate. Since it is connected to the electrode formed on the top, it is possible to configure the electrothermal converter in the processing process of the orifice plate, which contributes to cost reduction by simplifying the entire manufacturing process. Since it can be formed separately on both sides of the orifice plate, it is possible to give a sufficient width and area to the common electrode, thereby reducing wiring resistance and suppressing electrical loss.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an orifice plate according to still another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4A is a top view of a conventional example, and FIG. 4B is a top view of another conventional example.

1... Base material, 2...orifice plate, 3...liquid path, 4... Orifice, 5... Heat generating resistance layer, 6...Individual electrode, 7...Common electrode.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1A is an exploded perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the liquid jet recording head of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 2 is an orifice according to another embodiment of the present invention. Cross-sectional view of the plate, 6 I solid Vll electrodes, light Q I tomoe/) sectional view showing the missing J column. if 乍bu0
Figure 3 Figure 4A +0+

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A plurality of orifices that selectively eject recording liquid to generate flying droplets, an orifice plate in which the plurality of orifices are formed, and a plurality of orifices that communicate with each of the plurality of orifices. A liquid jet recording head comprising a plurality of liquid paths and an electrothermal converter disposed in each of the plurality of liquid paths and generating thermal energy for forming the flying droplets, comprising: The converter is provided with a heating resistance layer on the circumferential surface of the hole of the orifice, electrodes are arranged on both sides of the orifice plate corresponding to each of the orifices, and the electrodes are connected to the heating resistance layer on both sides of the orifice plate. A liquid jet recording head characterized in that the head is connected to both ends of the head. 2) In the liquid jet recording head according to claim 1, one of the electrodes disposed on both sides of the orifice plate selectively converts individual signals into corresponding electrothermal transducers. A liquid jet recording head characterized in that the other electrode is an electrode common to a plurality of the electrothermal transducers.