Seiko Epson Corporation

Ngk Insulators, Inc.

Seiko Epson Kabushiki Kaisha

Kohei Kitahara

Tomoaki Abe

Hideaki Sonehara

Takayuki Ishii

Minoru Usui

Shinri Sakai

Koichi Toba

Toshiki Usui

Keiichi Mukaiyama

Koji Watanabe

Yuji Tanaka

Naomi Shirakawa

Yukihisa Takeuchi

Nobuo Takahashi

Hideo Masumori

Hitoshi Nakagawa

Actuator units independently dedicated to nozzles divided into a plurality of groups are fixed to a common flow path unit having the nozzles formed therein with through holes aligned with one another. Heads of various types can be formed by using the actuator units of the same design only by changing the mode of arrangement of the nozzles in accordance with the purpose.

Laminated ink jet recording head

An ink jet type recording head of a multi-layer structure including a pressure generating unit and a flow path unit. The pressure generating unit is composed of a ceramic vibrating member with piezoelectric transducers on the surface thereof, a ceramic first spacer member with a plurality of through-holes forming pressure chambers, and a lid member having through-holes through which the pressure chambers are communicated with a reservoir, these members being joined by firing in such a manner that a diaphragm is placed on one surface of the first spacer member, and the lid member is sealingly set on the other surface of the spacer member. The flow path unit includes an ink supplying member formed with a metal plate which has through-holes through which the pressure chambers are communicated with nozzle openings and the reservoir is communicated with the pressure chambers, a second spacer member having the reservoir and through-holes through which the pressure chambers are communicated with the nozzle openings, and a nozzle plate member, which members are joined together in such a manner that the ink supplying member is placed on one surface of the second spacer member, and the nozzle plate member is fixedly placed on the other surface of the second spacer member. The outer surface of the lid member is joined to the outer surface of the ink supplying member with a macromolecular adhesive agent.

Actuator unit for ink jet recording head

Actuator independently dedicated to nozzles divided into a plurality of groups are fixed to a common flow path unit having the nozzles formed therein with through holes aligned with one another. Heads of various types can be formed by using the actuator units of the same design only by changing the mode of arrangement of the nozzles in accordance with the purpose.

Laminated ink jet recording head having a plurality of actuator units

An ink jet print head having a vibrating plate, a chamber element with plural ink pressure chambers, piezoelectric vibrating elements for vibrating the vibrating plate to expand and contract the ink pressure chambers, drive electrodes contacting one surface of each vibrating element, and a common electrode contacting another surface of each vibrating element, wherein the common electrode is connected to a lead electrode at a region remote from the vibrating elements and the drive electrodes. Also, an ink jet print head in which a central portion of a piezoelectric vibrating element is thicker than its peripheral portion, so that a vibrating plate is bent towards an interior of an ink pressure chamber in an inoperative condition of the piezoelectric vibrating element.

Ink jet print head with plural electrodes

An ink jet print head is disclosed which includes a flow path unit with nozzles, a pressure generating unit disposed on the flow path unit and having ink pressure chambers formed behind the respective nozzles, and piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements each disposed on a wall defining a corresponding ink pressure chamber, for deforming the wall to change a pressure of the ink pressure chamber, whereby the ink in the ink pressure chamber is jetted through the corresponding nozzle. The pressure generating unit includes a spacer plate having windows which closed by a closure plate and a connecting plate disposed on the spacer plate, so as to give the respective ink pressure chambers. The connecting plate has communication holes through which the ink pressure chambers communicate with the nozzles. The spacer plate, closure plate and connecting plate are formed from respective ceramic green sheets, which are laminated on each other and fired into an integral ceramic structure as the pressure generating unit. The piezoelectric/electrostrictive element includes a pair of electrodes and a piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer, which are formed by a film-forming method on an outer surface of the closure plate.

Multi-layer ink jet print head and manufacturing method therefor

Multilayer ink jet recording head having a pressure generating unit and a flow path unit

An ink jet recording head that is formed by laminating a plurality of thin plate members, each having a plurality of holes. The holes of the adjacently stacked thin plate members cooperate to form ink flow paths each continuously extending to communicate a nozzle opening with a respective pressure producing chamber, which is connected to an ink supply section. In such ink jet recording head, the holes can be aligned or shifted with respect to each other, and allow ink to flow smoothly, thus preventing stagnation of air bubbles contained in the ink within the print head. Further, the nozzles openings are arranged in arrays in an auxiliary scanning direction. The nozzle opening arrays are divided into three groups spaced apart from each other at a predetermined interval in a main scanning direction. Nozzle openings belonging to groups arranged on both sides of the middle group are positioned vertically between adjacent nozzle openings of the middle group. A nozzle opening of the middle group is positioned uppermost or lowermost in the auxiliary scanning direction, so that lines printed by the nozzle openings belonging to the groups arranged at both sides interpose a line printed by the nozzle openings of the middle group to reducing inter-line error due to misalignment of the recording head with respect to a printing sheet.

Ink jet recording head

A method of manufacturing an inkjet recording head including drive electrodes arrayed at fixed pitches on the surface of an elastic plate, a common lead-out electrode lead from a common electrode formed on the surface of the elastic plate, the common lead-out electrode being arrayed extending in the direction of the arrays of the drive electrodes, while being spaced a fixed distance from the drive electrodes, the ends of the common lead-out electrode being connected to external, and piezoelectric vibration plates of which the reverse sides are in contact with the drive electrodes, and to the first ends are continuous, covering the common lead-out electrode. No disconnection is formed in the area of the piezoelectric vibration plates where the two groups of the piezoelectric vibration plates face, thereby ensuring a reliable bonding of the piezoelectric vibration plates and the elastic plate.

Manufacturing method for an ink jet recording head

An ink jet recording head including a vibrating plate made of ceramic, a pressure producing chamber forming member, made of ceramic, for forming a plurality of pressure producing chambers in rows, and drive electrodes formed on a surface of the vibrating plate so as to confront the pressure producing chambers. A width W2 of each drive electrode is smaller than a width W1 of each pressure producing chamber. A width W3 of a piezoelectric vibrating element is larger than the width W2 of each drive electrode and smaller than the width W1 of each pressure producing chamber, so that an operation region of the piezoelectric vibrating element is regulated by the width W2 of the drive electrode, and peripheral portions of the piezoelectric vibrating element are reliably bonded to peripheral portions of the drive electrode.

Method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head

An ink jet print head is disclosed which includes an ink nozzle member with nozzles, an ink pump member disposed on the ink nozzle member and having ink chambers formed behind the respective nozzles, and piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements each disposed on a wall defining the corresponding ink chamber, for deforming the wall to change a pressure of the ink chamber, whereby the ink in the ink chamber is jetted through the corresponding nozzle. The ink pump member consists of a spacer plate having windows which are closed by a closure plate and a connecting plate disposed on the spacer plate, so as to give the respective ink chambers. The connecting plate has communication holes through which the ink chambers communicate with the nozzles. The spacer plate, closure plate and connecting plate are formed from respective ceramic green sheets, which are laminated on each other and fired into an integral ceramic structure as the ink pump member. The piezoelectric/electrostrictive element includes a pair of electrodes and a piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer, which are formed by a film-forming method on an outer surface of the closure plate.

Ink jet print head

An ink jet recording head includes drive electrodes arrayed at fixed pitches on the surface of an elastic plate, a common lead-out electrode led from a common electrode formed on the surface of the elastic plate, the common lead-out electrode being arrayed extending in the direction of the arrays of the drive electrodes, while being spaced a fixed distance from the drive electrodes, the ends of the common lead-out electrode being connected to external, and piezoelectric vibration plates of which the reverse sides are in contact with the drive electrodes, and the first ends are continuous covering the common lead-out electrode. No disconnection is formed in the area of the piezoelectric vibration plates where the two groups of the piezoelectric vibration plates face, thereby ensuring a reliable bonding of the piezoelectric vibration plates and the elastic plate.

Ink jet recording head having improved arrangement of electrodes

An ink jet recording head including: a vibrating plate made of ceramic; a pressure producing chamber forming member, made of ceramic, for forming a plurality of pressure producing chambers in rows; and drive electrodes formed on a surface of the vibrating plate so as to confront the pressure producing chambers. A width of the drive electrode is smaller than a width of the pressure producing chamber. A width of a piezoelectric vibrating element is larger than the width W2 of the drive electrode and smaller than the width of the pressure producing chamber, so that the operation region of the piezoelectric vibrating element is regulated by the width of the drive electrode and the peripheral portions of the piezoelectric vibrating element are bonded to the peripheral portions of the drive electrode reliably.

Ink jet recording head with vibrating element having greater width than

An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer comprises an ink supply container in the form of an ink bag and a waste ink recovery returner for recovering waste ink, which are both housed within the same cartridge chamber and wherein the waste ink recovery retainer comprises a waste ink bag including a polymeric absorber therein. The polymeric absorber of this invention has great absorption capabilities with a volume requirement of about one-half to one-tenth of that compared to porous absorption members utilized in the prior art and are still capable of absorbing the entire volume of ink within the ink bag. This permits a large reduction in cartridge volume and permits sharing of same cartridge chamber volume by both bags due to the continual exchange of ink from one bag to another. As a result, it becomes possible to further reduce the size of the entire ink jet printer and its printing mechanism.

Growing community of inventors

Nagano, Japan

Kohei Kitahara