Seiko Epson Corporation

Fujifilm Corporation

Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited

Katsumi Enomoto

Shunsuke Watanabe

Yasuhiko Maeda

Yuma Fukuzawa

Toshiya Kojima

Hiroaki Okui

Satoshi Oguchi

Ryota Kinoshita

Fujio Akahane

Yoshinao Miyata

Katsuhiro Okubo

Hiroshige Owaki

Yoshihiro Kobayashi

Takahiro Kanegae

Hiroyuki Ishii

Toshio Arimura

Kazuo Sanada

Michiaki Murata

Hajime Nakao

Hiroki Miyajima

Yasuo Inaoka

Takuya Takata

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a head unit capable of ejecting a liquid from a nozzle provided in a nozzle surface of a nozzle plate, an anchoring plate in which the head unit is anchored and that is provided with an opening region that exposes the nozzle surface, and a wiper member that wipes an anchoring plate exposed-surface located on the opposite side of the head unit of the anchoring plate and the nozzle surface. When an angle of contact between the nozzle surface and the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;n, an angle of contact between the anchoring plate exposed-surface and the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;s, and an angle of contact between the wiper member and the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;w, the relationship &#x3b8;n&#x3e;&#x3b8;s&#x3e;&#x3b8;w&#x3e;90&#xb0; is fulfilled.

Liquid ejecting apparatus

Provided is a liquid ejecting apparatus capable of suppressing ink from remaining on a nozzle surface. A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a head unitcapable of ejecting a liquid from a nozzleprovided in a nozzle surfaceof a nozzle plate, an anchoring platein which the head unitis anchored and that is provided with an opening regionthat exposes the nozzle surface, and a wiper memberthat wipes an anchoring plate exposed-surfacelocated on the opposite side of the head unitof the anchoring plateand the nozzle surface. When an angle of contact between the nozzle surfaceand the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;n, an angle of contact between the anchoring plate exposed-surfaceand the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;s, and an angle of contact between the wiper memberand the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;w, the relationship &#x3b8;n&#x3e;&#x3b8;s&#x3e;&#x3b8;w&#x3e;90&#xb0; is fulfilled.

A wall-shaped enclosure that forms a space which can accommodate a head chip is formed in a projecting manner at a lower end of a lower case member. Since a cylindrical thick part is formed at the lower end of the lower case member, the lower case member is unlikely to be bent, particularly around the wall-shaped enclosure and a part where the wall-shaped enclosure is disposed. The head chip that is disposed in the space of the lower case member which is unlikely to be bent is unlikely to be subjected to an external force, and the cover member absorbs torsion generated between the head chip and the lower case member so that the head chip is even more unlikely to be subjected to the external force.

Liquid ejecting head and liquid ejecting apparatus

A liquid ejecting head includes a liquid discharge unit with a pressure generating chamber group which communicates with a nozzle disposed on a nozzle surface and is formed from pressure generating chambers disposed in a first direction, and a case member which communicates with the pressure generating chamber group and holds a liquid. The case member has a liquid inlet on the side opposite to the liquid discharge direction and at a position between the pressure generating chambers at both ends in the first direction. First and second liquid discharge units are arranged at positions where the first directions of the first and second liquid discharge units are parallel to each other in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction, and positions of the liquid inlets of the case member respectively corresponding to the first and second liquid discharge units do not overlap in the second direction.

A liquid storage unit for collecting a liquid supplied to an ejecting head is provided. The liquid is supplied to a plurality of ejecting heads via a pressure regulating valve, and the liquid is suctioned from the plurality of ejecting heads by a circulation pump, and then is discharged to the liquid storage unit. In this way, since the liquid is suctioned from each of the ejecting heads, the passage resistance is decreased, so that the ink can be appropriately circulated. In addition, since the ejecting head is supplied with the liquid at an appropriate pressure from the liquid storage unit via the pressure adjusting valve, the liquid can be appropriately ejected.

A liquid ejecting head includes a nozzle plate including a nozzle opening provided on a first surface of a flow path member with a flow path formed therein, and a protective member including a flexible portion that seals a portion of the flow path provided on the first surface of the flow path member. A position of a portion of the flow path member onto which the nozzle plate is attached and a position of a portion of the flow path member onto which the protective member is attached are different from one another in a discharge direction of a liquid.

When a lower surface of a liquid ejecting head is formed by a nozzle plate and a cover member, a surface of the nozzle plate and a surface of the cover member are water-repellent surfaces and side surfaces of the nozzle plate and the cover member are relatively hydrophilic surfaces compared to the surfaces and a gap between the nozzle plate and the cover member is filled with a filling material. If at least the side surface of the nozzle plate is covered by the filling material, the nozzle plate can be protected from static electricity. Further, if the side surface of the cover member is filled with the filling material, wiping by a wiper is improved.

A cover member is fixed to a head chip in an area in the vicinity of a nozzle plate but does not constitute a communication path, and thus causes no liquid leakage. The head chip discharges droplets of a discharge liquid that is supplied via the communication path which is formed from nozzles thereof without depending on the cover member. A surface of the nozzle plate is positioned on a side further apart from a printing medium than from a surface of the cover member and is surrounded. As a result, abutting of the printing medium against a side surface of the nozzle plate is avoided.

A wiper memberthat wipes an anchoring plate exposed-surfacelocated on the opposite side of the head unitof the anchoring plateand the nozzle surface. When an angle of contact between the nozzle surfaceand the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;n, an angle of contact between the anchoring plate exposed-surfaceand the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;s, and an angle of contact between the wiper memberand the liquid is taken as &#x3b8;w, the relationship &#x3b8;n&#x3e;&#x3b8;s&#x3e;&#x3b8;w&#x3e;90&#xb0; is fulfilled.

An end section part of a cover member is bent across a predetermined length toward a wiping direction, and a bending angle with respect to a plane is between 45&#xb0; and 80&#xb0;. When the wiper relatively begins to abut against the end section of the cover member, a top of the wiper first abuts against the bent end section of the cover member and then is gradually bent and wipes a lower surface of the cover member and a surface of a nozzle plate to wipe contamination such as ink. The ink that remains on the wiper is likely to be attached to a vicinity of the bent end section against which the wiper abuts first, but is likely to come off because a water-repellent treatment is performed in both the wiper and the bent end section.

A case member is formed into a molded article and includes a wall-shaped enclosure projecting to face a printing medium side and forming a predetermined space. A plurality of projections are formed at positions apart from each other on a top portion of the wall-shaped enclosure. A cover member is fixed to tops of the plurality of projections and is set in an end section of the wall-shaped enclosure. With the projections, the height setting can be finely adjusted by finely adjusting of a mold during resin molding. It is thus possible to maintain a desired height with high accuracy.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Katsumi Enomoto