Liquid ejection head and method for ejecting liquids

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016176188-A1
Application number	US-201514971262-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 16, 2015
Priority date	Dec 22, 2014
Publication date	Jun 23, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

There is provided a liquid ejection head that includes a first ejection opening group in which a plurality of ejection openings that eject a first kind of liquids onto a print medium are arranged in a first direction, and a second ejection opening group that is provided along the first ejection opening group to eject the first kind of liquids onto the print medium. The first ejection opening group is provided upstream of the second ejection opening group in a relative moving direction between the print head and the liquid ejection head, the plurality of ejection openings included in the first ejection opening group are disposed in the first direction in a zigzag shape, and the liquids ejected from the ejection openings adjacent to each other in the first direction come in contact with each other on the print medium.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A liquid ejection head comprising:
a first ejection opening group in which a plurality of ejection openings that eject a first kind of liquid onto a print medium are arranged in a first direction; and a second ejection opening group in which a plurality of ejection openings that is provided along the first ejection opening group to eject the first kind of liquids onto the print medium, wherein the first ejection opening group is provided upstream of the second ejection opening group in a relative moving direction between the print medium and the liquid ejection head, and the plurality of ejection openings included in the first ejection opening group are disposed in the first direction in a zigzag shape.

2 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of ejection openings included in the second ejection opening group are provided in the first direction in a zigzag shape.

3 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein a cycle of the zigzag-shaped ejection opening line in the first ejection opening group is equal to a cycle of the zigzag-shaped ejection opening line in the second ejection opening group.

4 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein a top portion of the zigzag-shaped ejection opening line in the first ejection opening group is shifted from a top portion of the zigzag-shaped ejection opening line in the second ejection opening group in the first direction.

5 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the ejection opening in the first ejection opening group is shifted from the ejection opening in the second ejection opening group in the first direction.

6 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein a common liquid flow passage for supplying the liquid to the plurality of ejection openings extends in the first direction.

7 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 6 , wherein the common liquid flow passage includes a first common liquid flow passage provided in one end side of the zigzag-shaped ejection opening line in the first ejection opening group in a second direction crossing the first direction, a second common liquid flow passage provided in the other end side thereof and a third common liquid flow passage provided along the first common liquid flow passage between the first common liquid flow passage and the second common liquid flow passage.

8 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 7 , wherein the second common liquid flow passage is communicated with the ejection opening included in the first ejection opening group and the ejection opening included in the second ejection opening group.

9 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 7 , comprising:
a first individual flow passage for supplying the liquid to the ejection opening included in the first ejection opening group from the first common liquid flow passage; and a second individual flow passage for supplying the liquid to the ejection opening included in the first ejection opening group from the common second liquid flow passage.

10 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 7 , comprising:
a plurality of third individual flow passages for supplying the liquid to the ejection openings included in the first ejection opening group from the common third liquid flow passage, wherein the plurality of third individual flow passage includes an individual flow passage extending from the third common liquid flow passage to the first common liquid flow passage, and an individual flow passage extending from the third common liquid flow passage to the second common liquid flow passage.

11 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein an ejection opening line included in each of the first ejection opening group and the second ejection opening group has a length in accordance with the print medium.

12 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the first ejection opening group includes a first ejection opening, a second ejection opening adjacent to the first ejection opening in the first direction, and a third ejection opening adjacent to the second ejection opening at the opposite side to the first ejection opening, and
an interval between the first ejection opening and the second ejection opening is substantially equal to an interval between the second ejection opening and the third ejection opening in a second direction crossing the first direction.

13 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein among the plurality of ejection openings included in the first ejection opening group, liquid droplets ejected from ejection openings adjacent to each other contact with each other on the print medium.

14 . A liquid ejection head comprising:
a plurality of liquid chambers each with an activation element for generating a droplet ejected through an ejection opening, an ejection opening plane with at least two ejection opening groups with a plurality of ejection openings ejecting droplets onto a print medium, whereby said groups are arranged in the ejection opening plane across the print medium conveying direction and wherein the ejection opening groups are arranged side by side in the ejection opening plane, the plurality of ejection openings of at least one ejection opening group are arranged in a zigzag shape, and the plurality of ejection openings of the further ejection opening groups are arranged in such a staggered manner that time lags of landing times of adjacent droplets landing on the print medium for all droplets forming a printed line across the print medium conveying direction get minimized.

15 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 14 , wherein a plurality of ejection openings included in the further ejection opening group are provided in a crossing direction to the print medium conveying direction in a zigzag shape.

16 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 14 , wherein a common liquid flow passage for supplying the liquid to the plurality of ejection openings extends in a crossing direction to the print medium conveying direction.

17 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 16 , wherein the common liquid flow passage includes a first common liquid flow passage provided in one end side of the zigzag-shaped ejection opening line in the at least one ejection opening group in the print medium conveying direction, a second common liquid flow passage provided in the other end side thereof and a third common liquid flow passage provided along the first common liquid flow passage between the first common liquid flow passage and the second common liquid flow passage.

18 . The liquid ejection head according to claim 17 , wherein the second common liquid flow passage is communicated with the ejection opening included in the at least one ejection opening group and the ejection opening included in the further ejection opening group.

19 . A method for ejecting liquids with a liquid ejection head, comprising:
a first step for preparing a liquid ejection head including a first ejection opening group in which a plurality of ejection openings that eject a first kind of liquids are arranged in a first direction in a zigzag shape, and a second ejection opening group in which a plurality of ejection openings that eject the first kind of liquids are arranged in parallel to the first ejection opening group; a second step for ejecting liquids from a first ejection opening included in the first ejection opening group to form a first dot on a print medium; a third step for eje

Assignees

• Oce Printing Systems Gmbh & Co Kg
• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Mabuchi Hidehisa
• Marumoto Yoshitomo
• Ushiyama Takayuki
• Petschik Benno
• Paul Andreas

Classifications

• B41J2/14201

  Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements · CPC title

• B41J2/155 Primary

  for line printing · CPC title

• B41J2/145 Primary

  Arrangement thereof · CPC title