Manifold plate of ink jet head

• US 20020051038A1
• Filed: 10/26/2001
• Published: 05/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Ito, Atsushi
• Granted Patent: US 6,648,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/54
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14209 of finger type, chamber walls consisting integrally of piezoelectric material
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14225 Finger type piezoelectric element on only one side of the chamber
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/14419 Manifold

Abstract

Manifold plates 12 are formed with common ink chambers 12a, 12b with protrusions 51 and open-space chambers 50. When a cap 81 abuts against a nozzle surface 43 of a base plate 11 at position shifted from a proper position, the protrusions 51 offer support for the cap 81. Accordingly, an ink jet head 6 can be configured to properly withstand the capping operation without adding any capping margin. End portions of the common ink chambers 12a, 12b adjacent to portions D are formed to have a cross-sectional area that decreases at a fixed rate in association with distance from ink supply holes 19a, 19b. The open-space chambers 50 are shaped for correcting differences in strength in the manifold plates 12 with respect to a lengthwise direction D1.

Claims

1. An ink jet head comprising:

a cavity plate formed with;

a row of plurality of nozzles, the row extending in a first direction;

a plurality of pressure chambers in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of nozzles;

a common chamber located between the nozzles and the pressure chambers, the common chamber distributing ink to the respective pressure chambers; and

a protrusion protruding into the common chamber.

2. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the cavity plate includes:

a nozzle plate formed with the row of a plurality of nozzles;

a base plate formed with the plurality of pressure chambers; and

a manifold plate laminated between the orifice plate and the base plate, the manifold plate being formed with the common chamber and the protrusion.

3. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of nozzles define a plane, and the protrusion extends parallel to the plane.

4. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion has a streamlined shape.

5. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the cavity plate is formed with a pair of common chambers and a plurality of protrusions that protrude into the corresponding common chambers, the plurality of protrusions being formed symmetrical with respect to the row of the plurality of nozzles.

6. The ink jet head according to claim 1, wherein the cavity plate is further formed with an ink supply hole through which ink is supplied into the common ink chamber, and the cavity plate includes a manifold plate formed with the common-chamber, the common chamber having an end portion away from the ink supply hole in the first direction, the end portion having a smaller cross-sectional area with distance from the ink supply hole in the first direction, wherein the manifold plate is formed further with a correcting portion that corrects differences in strength in the manifold plate with respect to the first direction.

7. The ink jet head according to claim 6, wherein the correcting portion is an open-space chamber formed to the manifold plate at a position adjacent to the end portion of the common chamber.

8. The ink jet head according to claim 7, the sum of the cross-sectional area of the open-space chamber and the common chamber is substantially the same throughout the end portion at any optional cross section taken following a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

9. The ink jet head according to claim 1, further comprising an actuator that selectively applies a pressure to the plurality of pressure chambers.

10. An ink jet printer comprising:

the ink jet head of claim 1;

and

a purging unit including a cap that covers over the row of the nozzles, wherein

the protrusion is a support for the cap.

11. The ink jet printer according to claim 10, wherein the plurality of nozzles defines a plane, and the protrusion extends parallel to the plane and has a streamlined shape.

12. The ink jet printer according to claim 10, wherein the cavity plate is formed with a pair of common chambers and a plurality of protrusions that protrude into the corresponding common chambers, the plurality of protrusions and the pair of common chambers being formed symmetrical with respect to the row of the plurality of nozzles.

13. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the cavity plate is formed further with an ink supply hole through which ink is supplied into the common chamber, and the common chamber has an end portion away from the ink supply hole, the end portion having a smaller cross-sectional area with distance from the ink supply hole in the first direction, and the manifold plate is further formed with a correcting portion that corrects differences in strength in the manifold plate with respect to the first direction.

14. The ink jet printer according to claim 13, wherein the correcting portion is an open-space chamber formed to the manifold plate at a position adjacent to the end of the common chamber.

16. The ink jet head according to claim 15, wherein the cavity plate includes:

a nozzle plate formed with the row of the plurality of nozzles;

a base plate formed with the ink supply hole and the plurality of pressure chambers; and

a manifold plate laminated between the nozzle plate and the base plate, the manifold plate formed with the common chamber and the open-space chamber.

17. The ink jet head according to claim 15, the sum of the cross-sectional area of the open-space chamber and the common chamber is substantially the same throughout the end portion at any optional cross section taken following the second direction.

18. The ink jet head according to claim 15, wherein the cavity plate is formed with a pair of common chambers and a pair of open-space chambers.

19. The ink jet head according to claim 15, further comprises an actuator attached to the cavity plate for selectively applying a pressure to the ink in the pressure chamber.

15. An ink jet head comprising:

a cavity plate formed with;

a row of a plurality of nozzles defining a first plane extending in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;

a plurality of pressure chambers in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of nozzles;

a common chamber located between the row of the plurality of nozzles and the plurality of pressure chambers for distributing ink to the respective pressure chambers, the common chamber defining a second plane parallel to the first plane;

an ink supply hole for introducing ink to the common chamber, wherein the common chamber having an end portion with a smaller cross section with a distance from the ink supply hole;

an open-space chamber formed in adjacent to the end portion of the common chamber, the open-space chamber being formed in the second plane defined by the common chamber.