Fujifilm Corporation

Tsuyoshi Mita

Yasukazu Nihei

Takamichi Fujii

Kazuo Sanada

Yoshikazu Hishinuma

Toshiya Kojima

Kenichi Kodama

Kanji Nagashima

Hisamitsu Hori

Seiichiro Oku

Manabu Katsumura

Kazuaki Kurihara

A liquid ejection device includes an ink jet head in which a plurality of nozzle portions are arranged in a matrix; a plurality of pressurizing elements that generate an ejection force; and a driving voltage supply unit that supplies a driving voltage to the pressurizing elements. In the device, the ink jet head is provided with supply flow paths, the nozzle portions which are supplied with the liquid from the same the supply flow path are divided into two or more groups, the driving voltage supply unit supplies an ejection driving voltage for ejecting the liquid to each of the groups when a dummy jet is performed, and during a period of time when the dummy jet is performed for one group, the driving voltage supply unit supplies a non-ejection driving voltage for preventing the liquid from being ejected to the other groups.

Liquid ejection device and dummy jet method

A liquid ejection head includes: a flow channel unit having a plurality of pressure chambers arranged in a plane; and piezoelectric actuators which change volume of the plurality of pressure chambers so as to apply pressure to liquid inside the plurality of the pressure chambers respectively, wherein the piezoelectric actuators comprise: a diaphragm which constitutes one wall of the plurality of pressure chambers; a common electrode formed on a surface of the diaphragm; a piezoelectric layer formed on a surface of the common electrode; a plurality of ring-shaped individual electrodes formed on a surface of the piezoelectric layer and formed in regions which overlap respectively with marginal portions which are non-central portions of the plurality of pressure chambers, as viewed from a direction perpendicular to the plane; and central electrodes connected electrically to the common electrode, and formed so as not to make contact with the plurality of ring-shaped individual electrodes in inner regions of the plurality of ring-shaped individual electrodes, as viewed from the direction perpendicular to the plane.

Liquid ejection head, method of manufacturing liquid ejection head and image forming apparatus

An inkjet head includes: a plurality of nozzle plates which are arranged in a width direction of a recording medium and each of which has a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink and has a hydrophobic property; and cleaning liquid holding members which are provided respectively on both sides of the plurality of nozzle plates in terms of a direction perpendicular to a direction of arrangement of the plurality of nozzle plates so as to extend substantially in parallel with the direction of arrangement of the plurality of nozzle plates, and which have a lower hydrophobic property than the plurality of nozzle plates, wherein the cleaning liquid holding members include a cleaning liquid holding mechanism for holding cleaning liquid.

Inkjet head, inkjet head cleaning system and maintenance method of inkjet head

A liquid ejection head including a piezoelectric actuator is disclosed. The piezoelectric actuator is manufactured by the following steps: carrying out a first heat treatment of a diaphragm of stainless steel containing iron, chromium and aluminum, in a gas containing oxygen, so as to form an aluminum oxide film on a first surface of the diaphragm and form a chromium oxide film between the aluminum oxide film and the first surface of the diaphragm; forming a lower electrode on the aluminum oxide film; forming a piezoelectric body on a surface of the lower electrode reverse to a surface of the lower electrode on which the chromium oxide film and the aluminum oxide film are formed; forming an upper electrode on a surface of the piezoelectric body reverse to a surface of the piezoelectric body on which the lower electrode is formed; and calcining the piezoelectric body by carrying out a second heat treatment of the diaphragm with which the piezoelectric body is provided.

Piezoelectric actuator and liquid ejection head

A method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head comprising: bonding together a diaphragm made of a stainless steel substrate containing iron, chromium and aluminum, and a pressure chamber formation substrate which has a space for a pressure chamber and is made of stainless steel containing chromium and aluminum, by diffusion bonding, in such a manner that a structural body including the diaphragm and the pressure chamber formation substrate is formed; carrying out a first heat treatment of the structural body so as to form an aluminum oxide film on a surface of the structural body and form a chromium oxide film between the aluminum oxide film and the structural body; forming a lower electrode on the aluminum oxide film; forming a piezoelectric body on a surface of the lower electrode reverse to a surface of the lower electrode on which the chromium oxide film and the aluminum oxide film are formed; forming an upper electrode on a surface of the piezoelectric body reverse to a surface of the piezoelectric body on which the lower electrode is formed; and calcining the piezoelectric body by carrying out a second heat treatment of the diaphragm with which the piezoelectric body is provided.

Method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head

The method of manufacturing a piezoelectric actuator, includes the steps of: forming a lower electrode film on an insulating substrate; forming a piezoelectric film on the lower electrode film; forming a slit on the piezoelectric film to expose a portion of the lower electrode film on an upper surface side of the piezoelectric film; forming an insulating layer which covers a portion of the piezoelectric film; forming an upper electrode film so as to span the insulating layer and the piezoelectric film; forming, on the piezoelectric film, a lower wire in connection with the portion of the lower electrode film exposed through the slit; depositing a first metal film on the lower wire and thereby making a film thickness of the lower wire greater than a film thickness of the lower electrode film; and depositing a second metal film on a portion of the upper electrode film on the insulating layer and thereby making a film thickness of the portion of the upper electrode film on the insulating layer greater than a film thickness of a portion of the upper electrode film that has been deposited directly on the piezoelectric film.

Method of manufacturing a piezoelectric actuator

The liquid ejection head comprises: a pressure chamber which is connected to a nozzle; a diaphragm which constitutes one face of the pressure chamber; and a piezoelectric element which deforms the diaphragm for ejecting liquid inside the pressure chamber through the nozzle, wherein the liquid is ejected by driving the piezoelectric element in a temperature region in which a tendency of increase or decrease in viscosity of the liquid with respect to temperature of the liquid and a tendency of increase or decrease in a piezoelectric d constant of the piezoelectric element with respect to temperature of the piezoelectric element have a prescribed relationship.

Liquid ejection head

The piezoelectric device includes a substrate, a first electrode formed on the substrate, a piezoelectric film formed on the first electrode and a second electrode formed on a second side of the piezoelectric film which is away from a first side where the first electrode is formed. The first electrode is composed of a first layer in contact with the substrate and a second layer in contact with the piezoelectric film. The first layer is formed of a material that is wet etched at a different rate than the substrate. The ink-jet head includes the piezoelectric device, a liquid droplet storing/ejecting member for ejecting ink droplets through a ink spout and provided on the piezoelectric device and a diaphragm for vibrating in response to expansion or contraction of the piezoelectric device and provided between the piezoelectric device and the liquid droplet storing/ejecting member.

Process for manufacting a piezoelectric device

Inkjet head, method of manufacturing inkjet head, and inkjet recording apparatus

The liquid ejection head includes: a substrate made of a prescribed material on which a thin film is deposited to constitute a diaphragm; a piezoelectric body which is formed on a face of the diaphragm reverse to a face adjacent to the substrate; and a pressure chamber which is formed on the substrate by etching in a plurality of steps from a side reverse to a side adjacent to the diaphragm and has a difference in width thereof.

Liquid ejection head, image forming apparatus and method of manufacturing liquid ejection head

The liquid ejection head includes: a liquid ejection port; a pressure chamber which has a recess part connected to the liquid ejection port; a lower electrode which is arranged on the pressure chamber; a piezoelectric body which has a planar face arranged on the lower electrode; and an upper electrode which is arranged on the piezoelectric body, wherein: a cross section of the recess part of the pressure chamber taken in parallel to the planar face of the piezoelectric body is oblong and has a breadth CWx in a breadthways direction and a length CWy in a lengthwise direction; the piezoelectric body has an active region having a breadth DWx in the breadthways direction of the cross section of the recess part of the pressure chamber and a length DWy in the lengthwise direction of the cross section of the recess part of the pressure chamber.

Liquid ejection head and manufacturing method thereof

In a piezoelectric device, a first electrode, a first piezoelectric film, a second piezoelectric film, and a second electrode are formed in this order on a first electrode formed above a surface of the substrate, and an intermediate electrode is arranged between the first and second piezoelectric films. Each of the first and second piezoelectric films has a thickness of 10 micrometers or smaller, and has a first surface facing toward the substrate and a second surface opposite to the first surface. At least one of the first and second surfaces has an arithmetic average surface roughness (Ra) of 0.5 micrometers or smaller.

Piezoelectric device, piezoelectric actuator, and liquid discharge device having piezoelectric films

The laminated piezoelectric element comprises a plurality of layers including first electrodes, piezoelectric material bodies, and second electrodes, wherein: the layers are laminated in order of the first electrode, the piezoelectric material body, the second electrode, and the piezoelectric material body; a plurality of active parts of the laminated piezoelectric element, where the piezoelectric material bodies are capable of actively expanding and contracting when a voltage is applied to the first electrode and the second electrode that are mutually opposing across the piezoelectric material body, are two-dimensionally arranged in a row direction and a column direction; and the first electrodes are common to the plurality of active parts in the row direction and the second electrodes are common to the plurality of active parts in the column direction.

Laminated piezoelectric element, liquid droplet ejection head using same, and image forming apparatus comprising same

The image forming apparatus in which a plurality of ink chambers filled with ink are aligned, said ink chambers being expanded or contracted and ink being discharged from nozzles of the ink chambers onto a recording medium, by applying a voltage to piezoelectric elements provided on the outer perimeter or the outer side of the ink chambers, wherein said piezoelectric elements are arranged in a substantially parallel plane to the nozzle surface; and shorting devices which short the electrodes of said piezoelectric elements are provided.

Image forming apparatus and method of driving ink discharge

The method of manufacturing a piezoelectric actuator includes the steps of: carrying out a first heat treatment of a diaphragm of stainless steel containing iron, chromium and aluminum, in a gas containing oxygen, so as to form an aluminum oxide film on a first surface of the diaphragm and form a chromium oxide film between the aluminum oxide film and the first surface of the diaphragm; forming a lower electrode on the aluminum oxide film; forming a piezoelectric body on a surface of the lower electrode reverse to a surface of the lower electrode on which the chromium oxide film and the aluminum oxide film are formed; forming an upper electrode on a surface of the piezoelectric body reverse to a surface of the piezoelectric body on which the lower electrode is formed; and calcining the piezoelectric body by carrying out a second heat treatment of the diaphragm with which the piezoelectric body is provided.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Tsuyoshi Mita