Seiko Instruments Inc

Yoshiaki Saita

Yoshinori Sato

Norimitsu Sanbongi

Osamu Takizawa

Seiji Kuwahara

Yuji Nakamura

Noriyoshi Shoji

Yuichi Ishida

A method for manufacturing thermal heads comprises providing a substrate having a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, heaters disposed on the first surface, and pairs of electrodes disposed on the first surface, the electrodes of each pair of electrodes being disposed in spaced-apart, confronting relation to each other. A driver IC is mounted on each of the electrodes. The driver ICs are then encapsulated with a resin. Grooves are formed in at least one of the first surface and the second surface of the substrate so that the electrodes of each pair of electrodes are disposed symmetrically with respect to one of the grooves. The substrate is then cut along the grooves to form individual thermal heads each having a heater, at least one of the driver ICs for providing a drive signal to drive the heater, and a sealing element formed by the resin for protecting the driver IC.

Method of manufacturing thermal head

A method for manufacturing a thermal head comprises forming a heat generating resistor on an insulative substrate, and disposing conductors having different material properties on the heat generating resistor for supplying power to the heat generating resistor. The conductors are then etched to form a wiring electrode having a tapered peripheral edge portion as a result of the different material properties of the conductors. A protective film is then formed over the heat generating resistor and the wiring electrode.

A thermal head comprises a substrate having a main surface bounded by a peripheral edge, an electrode formed on the surface of the substrate, and a heater disposed on the surface of the substrate and electrically connected to the electrode. A driver IC is disposed on the surface of the substrate and is electrically connected to the electrode for providing a drive signal to drive the heater. An encapsulation element is disposed over the IC for protecting the IC. The encapsulation element has a surface portion which extends to the peripheral edge of the substrate.

Thermal head

Thermal head and method for manufacturing same

A circuit terminal of a thermal head substrate is connected to a flexible printed circuit by an electroconductive adhesive or a solder metal. An overcoating composed of an insulating or extra-low electroconductive material is applied to cover a region containing a connected portion between the circuit terminal and the flexible printed circuit and to cover an exposed portion of the circuit terminal to thereby prevent corrosion of the circuit terminal, improve the mechanical strength of the flexible printed circuit connection, and prevent a short-circuit.

Thermal head for a printer

A method of driving heating resistors in a thermal recording apparatus comprising dividing a plurality of heating resistors into a plurality of separate blocks. The heating resistors in the blocks are driven by sequentially applying a pulse to each block to generate heat sequentially, whereby a current which is generated in the heating resistors by means of application of a constant voltage pulse changes from a first state with a large current to a second state with a small current in a stepwise-like manner within a pulse application time, and the plurality of blocks are sequentially driven so that the first state with a large current within the pulse application time of one block does not coincide with the first state within the pulse application time of another block. Also, the plurality of blocks may be sequentially driven so that the second state with a small current within the pulse application time of one block coincides with the first state with a large current within the pulse application time of a block which is next applied with a pulse.

Driving method of heat generating resistor in heat recording device

An array of heat elements is driven by a driving circuit including a plurality of control units operative to sequentially carry out generation of heat efficiently even with using a relatively small capacity of a power supply and without relying on processing by CPU, thereby achieving fast heat generating operation while saving electric power. The thermal head is provided with a plurality of heat generating units each being comprised of a heat resistive element for generating heat by current flow and an electrode for supplying a current to the heat resistive element, and a plurality of switching elements for controlling supply of current to respective one of the heat generating units. The heat generating unit is constructed such that its resistance increases according to a temperature rising of the heat resistive element by the current supply so as to reduce an output of a driving current. The switching element is composed of, for example, a thyristor operative to turn off the current supply when the current flowing therethrough is reduced below a given level. A voltage between the switching element and the corresponding heat generating unit is monitored to detect the turning-off of the switching element so as to constitute a turning-off detector. The detection of the turning-off indicates the completion of the heat generation or the finish of current supply. Thus, after the detection of the turning-off, a next switching element is initiated to start generation of heat in an adjacent or subsequent heat generating unit.

Driving method of heat element array

A method of simultaneously producing a plurality of thermal heads having a ridge-shaped glaze structure uses first and second glass pastes, the second glass paste having a higher softening temperature than the first glass paste. The first glass paste is printed on a substrate in a pattern having a plurality of adjacent slit-shaped openings in parallel. Next, the second glass paste is printed in a pattern having independent bands which cover the openings. The first and second glass pastes are melted and hardened simultaneously by heat treatment so as to form the ridge-shaped glaze structure. A plurality of isolated individual resistors are formed linearly along the crest of the ridge-shaped glaze structure, and a plurality of isolated individual traces are formed which connect at one end to each of the resistors. Lastly, the substrate is divided along separation lines into a plurality of thermal heads having a ridge-shaped glaze structure.

Process for producing thermal head

A method and apparatus are applicable to a thermal recording system which records data in a recording medium using a heat generated by applying a power to a resistor. According to the invention the resistor itself or a monitor, which is disposed in the path of electric current applied to the resistor, is made of a material having the metallic/non-metallic phase transition characteristics at predetermined temperature, whereby the resistor or the monitor can have a function to interrupt the electric current at the predetermined temperature so that the peak temperature of the resistor s controlled constantly regardless of the value or period of the applied voltage. Further, it achieves a uniform recording property and a stable continuous tone recording property by controlling the period for holding the peak temperature of the resistor.

Method and apparatus for thermally recording data utilizing

The thermal head is comprised of several blocks each containing a plurality of heating elements. Each heating element has a pair of first and second lead electrodes which extend in the same direction from the heating element. The first lead electrodes are connected through corresponding switching elements to a first common electrode within each block. The second lead electrodes are directly connected to a second common electrode disposed adjacently to the first common electrode. The first and second common electrodes have a substantially identical tapered shape, and they are tapered in opposite directions to each other. The second lead electrodes are arranged to connect to one side of the tapered shape of the second common electrode.

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Tokyo, Japan

Yoshiaki Saita