Liquid ejecting head and liquid ejecting apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10668736-B2
Application number	US-201815976470-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2018
Priority date	Jun 29, 2017
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

A liquid ejecting head has a laminated flow path member on which a supply flow path for individually supplying a plurality of liquids to an element substrate and a collection flow path for individually collecting the liquids are formed. The supply flow path includes first and second common supply flow paths for horizontally leading first and second liquids to positions corresponding to a plurality of element substrates. The first and second common supply flow paths are formed in the same layer of the laminated flow path member. The collection flow path includes a first common collection flow path for horizontally collecting the first liquid and a second common collection flow path for horizontally collecting the second liquid from positions corresponding to the plurality of element substrates. The first and second common collection flow paths are formed in the same layer of the laminated flow path member.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid ejecting head comprising:
element substrates, each having ejecting elements for ejecting a first liquid and ejecting elements for ejecting a second liquid arrayed thereon; and
a laminated flow path member formed by laminating a plurality of layers, the laminated flow path member having a supply flow path for individually supplying the first liquid and the second liquid to the element substrates and a collection flow path for individually collecting the first liquid and the second liquid from the element substrates,
wherein the supply flow path includes in part a first common supply flow path that extends to positions corresponding to a plurality of the element substrates in a horizontal direction for supplying the first liquid and a second common supply flow path that extends to positions corresponding to the plurality of element substrates in a horizontal direction for supplying the second liquid, the first common supply flow path and the second common supply flow path being formed in a same layer of the plurality of layers forming the laminated flow path member, and
the collection flow path includes in part a first common collection flow path that extends from positions corresponding to the plurality of element substrates in a horizontal direction for collecting the first liquid and a second common collection flow path that extends from positions corresponding to the plurality of element substrates in a horizontal direction for collecting the second liquid, the first common collection flow path and the second common collection flow path being formed in a same layer of the plurality of layers forming the laminated flow path member.

2. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 1 , wherein the first common supply flow path and the second common supply flow path have a congruent shape, and the first common collection flow path and the second common collection flow path have a congruent shape.

3. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 1 , wherein the laminated flow path member is provided vertically upward with respect to a plane on which the plurality of element substrates are arranged.

4. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 1 , wherein among the plurality of layers forming the laminated flow path member, a layer having the first common supply flow path and the second common supply flow path is different from a layer having the first common collection flow path and the second common collection flow path.

5. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 1 , wherein
each ejecting element includes an ejection port for ejecting a liquid, an ejection energy generating element for applying energy for ejecting a liquid from the ejection port, and a pressure chamber having the ejection energy generating element therein, and
a liquid in the pressure chamber circulates through an outside of the pressure chamber.

6. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 5 , wherein an amount of liquid flowing in the pressure chamber is less than a maximum amount of liquid consumed per unit time by being ejected from the ejection port.

7. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 5 , wherein in the ejecting element, applying a voltage across the ejection energy generating element causes film boiling in the liquid contained in the pressure chamber, and the liquid is ejected from the ejection port by a growing energy of generated bubbles.

8. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 5 , wherein in each element substrate, a first ejecting element array having the ejecting elements for ejecting the first liquid arrayed in a first direction and a second ejecting element array having the ejecting elements for ejecting the second liquid arrayed in the first direction are arranged parallel to each other and separated in a second direction crossing the first direction,
a first substrate collection path for collecting the first liquid from the first ejecting element array and a second substrate collection path for collecting the second liquid from the second ejecting element array are formed in the element substrate at outer positions where the first substrate collection path and the second substrate collection path sandwich the first ejecting element array and the second ejecting element array with respect to the second direction, and
a first substrate supply path for supplying the first liquid to the first ejecting element array and a second substrate supply path for supplying the second liquid to the second ejecting element array are formed in the element substrate at inner positions where the first substrate supply path and the second substrate supply path are sandwiched between the first ejecting element array and the second ejecting element array with respect to the second direction.

9. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 8 , wherein in the element substrate, a flow path that connects the first substrate supply path and the first substrate collection path without passing through the pressure chamber and a flow path that connects the second substrate supply path and the second substrate collection path without passing through the pressure chamber are further formed.

10. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 1 , wherein the supply flow path and the collection flow path are connected to a buffer tank for individually storing the first liquid and the second liquid, and
a pump is provided between the collection flow path and the buffer tank for individually circulating the first liquid and the second liquid through the buffer tank, the laminated flow path member, and the plurality of element substrates.

11. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 10 , further comprising:
a pressure reducing regulator provided between the buffer tank and the supply flow path, for adjusting a pressure of a liquid supplied to the element substrate via the supply flow path to a first pressure; and
a back pressure regulator provided between the pump and the collection flow path, for adjusting a pressure of a liquid collected from the element substrate via the collection flow path to a second pressure that is lower than the first pressure.

12. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 11 , wherein a pair of the pressure reducing regulator and the back pressure regulator corresponding to each of the first liquid and the second liquid is housed in a same body member, and the body member is attached to the laminated flow path member in a replaceable manner.

13. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 11 , wherein the pressure reducing regulator comprises:
a first pressure chamber for receiving a liquid;
a second pressure chamber that communicates with the supply flow path of the laminated flow path member and communicates with the first pressure chamber via an orifice;
a valve for controlling opening and closing of the orifice;
a biasing member that biases the valve in a direction of closing the orifice; and
a pressure-receiving portion that moves with decrease in an inner pressure of the second pressure chamber and acts on the valve in a direction of opening the orifice,
wherein in a case in which the inner pressure of the second pressure chamber is lower than a predetermined value, a liquid flows from the first pressure chamber to the second pressure chamber.

14. The liquid ejecting head according to claim 11 , wherein the back pressure regulator comprises:
a first pressure chamber for receiving a liquid;
a second pressure chamber that communicates with the collection flow path of the laminated flow path member and communicates with the first pressure chamber via an orifice;
a valve for controlling opening

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Yamada Kazuhiro
• Nakakubo Toru
• Nakagawa Yoshiyuki
• Okushima Shingo

Classifications

• B41J2/14145

  Structure of the manifold · CPC title

• B41J2/17596 Primary

  Ink pumps, ink valves · CPC title

• B41J2/19

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• B41J2202/12

  with ink circulating through the whole print head · CPC title

• B41J2/14024

  Assembling head parts · CPC title