Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kyuhachiro Iwasaki

Takuro Sekiya

Koichiro Jinnai

Masanori Horike

Yutaka Kodama

Chuji Ishikawa

Yutaka Ebi

Hiromichi Komai

Takuro Isayama

Minoru Ameyama

Takao Fukazawa

Tetsu Yamamuro

Tsutomu Sato

Hiroshi Yamazaki

Yasuo Katano

Osamu Naruse

Takashi Kimura

Tomoaki Nakano

Toshio Kawakubo

Shuzo Matsumoto

Sadao Kakeno

Toshitaka Hirata

A liquid jet recording apparatus is provided in which liquid droplets are jetted from liquid jetting orifices.

Liquid jet recording apparatus

An ink jet recording head is configured to jet small ink droplets for forming high-quality dot images. The ink jet recording head comprises ink jetting orifices from which ink droplets are jetted, and ink paths connected to said ink jet orifices. The ink paths are filled with ink and equipped with energy applying members for applying energy to the ink in said ink paths on demand so that ink droplets are jetted from said ink jetting orifices.

Ink jet recording head configured for ejecting small ink droplets to form high quality images

Liquid jet recording apparatuses and liquid jet recording methods are provided. Ink droplets are jetted from ink jetting orifices. A cross sectional area of each of the ink jetting orifices is equal to or less than 500 &#x3bc;m. A frequency with which the ink droplets are jetted is controlled to fall within a range from 8 KHz to 40 KHz. A flying velocity of each ink droplet is equal to or greater than 5.2 m/sec. A number of ink droplets which are jetted to form each pixel of the image formed on the recording medium is controlled based on the image data. Each of the ink jetting orifices has a size such that when an amount of ink is jetted, adjacent pixels are separated from each other on the recording medium when each pixel is formed of a single ink droplet, thereby forming a gray image. The image becomes darker based on a number of ink droplets jetted to form each pixel.

Ink jet recording method and head

An ink jet recording method includes the steps of inputting a set of driving pulses to a heater element so that the heater element is repeatedly activated by the driving pulses, repeatedly generating a bubble in ink in an ink path in accordance with repeated activation of the heater element, and separately jetting ink droplets from an ink jetting orifice due to the bubble repeatedly generated in the ink, a number of the ink droplets being equal to a number of the driving pulses input as a set to the heater element, the ink droplets jetted from the ink jetting orifice forming a single dot on a recording medium, wherein a time interval at which the driving pulses are input to the heater element is equal to or greater than 4T, T being a time period from a time at which the inputting of the pulses to the heater element starts to a time at which the bubble reaches a maximum size, and each ink droplet is a slender pillar so that a length of each ink droplet is at least three times as great as a diameter thereof. The present invention also relates to other ink jet recording methods and recording heads in which very small ink droplets can be stably jetted in a high frequency.

Liquid jet recording apparatus, head and method

Liquid jet recording apparatus and method

A liquid jet recording apparatus for jetting ink droplets to a recording medium in accordance with image data on demand so that an image having pixels corresponding to the image data is formed on the recording medium. The liquid jet recording apparatus includes ink jetting orifices from which ink droplets are jetted. An area of each of ink jetting orifices is equal to or less than 500 &mgr;m,. Control means controls a frequency with which the ink droplets are jetted to fall within a range from 8 KHz to 40 KHz and a number of ink droplets for each pixel of the image formed on the recording medium based on the image data under a condition in which the number of ink droplets is equal to or less than twenty.

On demand type ink jet recording apparatus and method

Ink jet recording head with improved ink jetting

Ink jet recording head having means for controlling ink droplets

Ink jet recording method

A bubble jet printer head comprises a base plate, an ink chamber provided on the phase plate, a device for supplying ink to the ink chamber, an ink passage provided on the base plate from the ink chamber to an orifice at a front end, and a heating element at the ink passage for heating the ink to form a bubble. The heating element includes a first electrode strip extending on the base plate to the ink chamber along the ink passage, an electrical insulator layer covering the first electrode strip except for the front and rear ends thereof, the electrical insulator layer having a front end facing the orifice, a resistance strip provided on the electrical insulator layer and having a front end in contact with the front end of the first electrode strip and extending rearwardly along and over the electrical insulator layer, and a second electrode strip provided on the electrical insulator layer in contact with the rear end of the resistance strip and extending rearwardly to the ink chamber along and over the electrical insulator layer.

Bubble jet printer head with improved operational speed

An ink-jet printer includes an ink-jet head assembly which has a modular structure. The head assembly includes a generally bathtub-shaped bottom case in which an ink head for ejecting a series of charged ink droplets is mounted and a pair of top and bottom deflection electrodes is also mounted. The head assembly also includes a similarly bathtub-shaped top case which is mounted on the bottom case upside down to define a substantially enclosed space therebetween. The ink head is supported so as to be adjustable in orientation. And, one end of the ink head is supported as a pivotal point so that the other free end may be oriented in any desired direction. In another structure, a print head assembly is detachably mounted on a carriage and the print head assembly includes an inner ink mist absorbing member formed with a slit and formed from a metal. A carriage cover is detachably mounted on the carriage to cover the print head assembly set in position. The carriage cover is provided with an outer ink mist absorbing member formed with a slit and formed from a resin material.

Ink-jet printer with an encased printer head unit

An ink jet head for compressing ink in an ink chamber to eject a drop of the ink from a nozzle. Ink compressing means for compressing the ink in the ink chamber by expanding and contracting in response to a voltage applied thereto is made of a piezoelectric high molecular substance. The ink compressing means comprises a single thin film of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or two PVDF films bonded together in a bimorph structure. The thin film is curved inwardly toward the ink chamber. Multiple nozzles are arranged in a predetermined direction. The PVDF film expands and contracts in a direction parallel to the direction of arrangement of the multiple nozzles.

Ink jet head for compressing ink to eject drops of ink

Growing community of inventors

Fujisawa, Japan

Kyuhachiro Iwasaki