Liquid droplet discharge device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9789512-B2
Application number	US-201414917083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2014
Priority date	Sep 9, 2013
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

A liquid material is discharged in a flying mode at a high tact by moving a needle ( 12 ) at a high speed with a small-sized drive device. A liquid droplet discharge device includes a liquid chamber ( 51 ) that is communicated with a discharge opening ( 60 ), and that is supplied with the liquid material, a needle ( 12 ) having a tip that is advanced and retracted within the liquid chamber, a drive device ( 2 ) that operates the needle ( 12 ) to advance and retract, and a displacement magnifying mechanism ( 3 ), wherein liquid droplets are discharged in a flying mode from the discharge opening ( 60 ). Even number of drive devices are disposed in a left-right symmetric relation, and the displacement magnifying mechanism ( 3 ) includes an elastically deformable U-shaped member ( 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ) having a bottom portion to which the needle ( 12 ) is coupled.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A liquid droplet discharge device including a liquid chamber that is communicated with a discharge opening, and that is supplied with a liquid material, a needle having a tip that is advanced and retracted within the liquid chamber, a drive device that operates the needle to advance and retract, and a displacement magnifying mechanism, the liquid droplet discharge device discharging liquid droplets from the discharge opening, wherein the drive device is constituted by an even number of drive devices disposed in a left-right symmetric relation, the displacement magnifying mechanism includes an elastically deformable U-shaped member having a bottom portion to which the needle is coupled, and the drive devices operate the needle to retract by applying forces acting to move the two ends of the U-shaped member away from each other, and to advance by applying forces acting to move the two ends of the U-shaped member closer to each other.

2. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 1 , wherein the drive devices move the two ends of the U-shaped member away from each other by pressing inner sides of the two ends of the U-shaped member downwards or pulling outer sides of the two ends thereof upwards, and move the two ends of the U-shaped member closer to each other by pressing the outer sides of the two ends of the U-shaped member downwards or pulling the inner sides of the two ends thereof upwards.

3. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 2 , wherein the U-shaped member includes arms having first and second displacement axes that are disposed symmetric with respect to a center line in a vertical direction.

4. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 3 , wherein the arms are integrally-formed arms.

5. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 3 , wherein the U-shaped member includes two first arms connected to the drive devices;
two second arms joined to the two first arms through first notched portions, respectively, and
a bottom member joined to the two second arms through second notched portions, respectively,
wherein the first notched portions constitute the first displacement axes, and
the second notched portions constitute the second displacement axes.

6. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 1 , wherein the drive devices are each a piezoelectric actuator.

7. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 6 , wherein each of the drive devices is connected to the U-shaped member through a coupling member that allows a lower end of the drive device to slide in a left-right direction, and that restricts movement of the drive device in a front-back direction.

8. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 1 , wherein the drive devices are constituted by a first drive device arranged on a leftmost side, a second drive device arranged adjacent to the first drive device, a third drive device arranged adjacent to the second drive device, and a fourth drive device arranged on a rightmost side,
the first and second drive devices are coupled to one end of the U-shaped member through a first coupling member,
the third and fourth drive devices are coupled to the other end of the U-shaped member through a second coupling member,
the second drive device and the third drive device are operated when the needle is moved to retract, and
the first drive device and the fourth drive device are operated when the needle is moved to advance.

9. An application apparatus including the liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 1 , a work table on which an application object is placed, a relatively moving device that moves the liquid droplet discharge device and an application object relatively to each other, and a liquid material supply source that supplies a liquid material to the liquid droplet discharge device.

10. An application apparatus including the liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 8 , a work table on which an application object is placed, a relatively moving device that moves the liquid droplet discharge device and the application object relatively to each other, and a liquid material supply source that supplies a liquid material to the liquid droplet discharge device.

11. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 4 , wherein the U-shaped member includes two first arms connected to the drive devices;
two second arms joined to the two first arms through first notched portions, respectively, and
a bottom member joined to the two second arms through second notched portions, respectively,
wherein the first notched portions constitute the first displacement axes, and
the second notched portions constitute the second displacement axes.

12. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 2 , wherein the drive devices are each a piezoelectric actuator.

13. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 3 , wherein the drive devices are each a piezoelectric actuator.

14. The liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 4 , wherein the drive devices are each a piezoelectric actuator.

15. An application apparatus including the liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 2 , a work table on which an application object is placed, a relatively moving device that moves the liquid droplet discharge device and an application object relatively to each other, and a liquid material supply source that supplies a liquid material to the liquid droplet discharge device.

16. An application apparatus including the liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 3 , a work table on which an application object is placed, a relatively moving device that moves the liquid droplet discharge device and an application object relatively to each other, and a liquid material supply source that supplies a liquid material to the liquid droplet discharge device.

17. An application apparatus including the liquid droplet discharge device according to claim 4 , a work table on which an application object is placed, a relatively moving device that moves the liquid droplet discharge device and an application object relatively to each other, and a liquid material supply source that supplies a liquid material to the liquid droplet discharge device.

Assignees

• Musashi Eng Inc

Inventors

• Ikushima Kazumasa

Classifications

• H01L41/083

  Electricity · mapped topic

• B05B1/083

  the pulsating mechanism comprising movable parts · CPC title

• B05C5/0225

  characterised by flow controlling means, e.g. valves, located proximate the outlet (B05C5/0258, B05C5/0275 take precedence; supply valves upstream the coating head B05C11/1036) · CPC title

• H02N2/043

  Mechanical transmission means, e.g. for stroke amplification · CPC title

• B05C11/1034 Primary

  specially designed for conducting intermittent application of small quantities, e.g. drops, of coating material (B05C5/0225, B05C11/1026 take precedence) · CPC title