Inkjet head and inkjet device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9855747-B2
Application number	US-201515324084-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2015
Priority date	Sep 17, 2014
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

An inkjet head, includes: a pressure chamber communicating with an ink flow channel; a diaphragm linked to the pressure chamber; a piezoelectric element linked to the diaphragm; a nozzle communicating with the pressure chamber; and a vibrating mechanism placed in the ink flow channel and vibrates a supplied ink. Further provided is an inkjet device, including: the above inkjet head; a holding unit that holds a coating object; a moving mechanism that causes relative movement between the inkjet head and the holding unit; and a control unit that controls the inkjet head, the holding unit, and the moving mechanism.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An inkjet head, comprising:
a pressure chamber that is communicated with an ink flow channel;
a diaphragm that is linked to the pressure chamber;
a piezoelectric element that is linked to the diaphragm;
a nozzle that is communicated with the pressure chamber; and
a vibrating mechanism that is placed in the ink flow channel and that vibrates a supplied ink,
wherein the vibrating mechanism does not change an ink pressure of the ink flow channel while vibrating the supplied ink.

2. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein the vibrating mechanism is a mechanism that individually changes positions of both edges of the ink flow channel.

3. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein the vibrating mechanism is a mechanism that simultaneously changes the positions of the both edges of the ink flow channel.

4. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein a hollow is provided between the ink flow channel and the pressure chamber and a cross-sectional area of the hollow on a horizontal plane becomes smaller toward a downward direction.

5. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an observation unit that observes the ink in the pressure chamber by a camera; and
a control unit that controls the piezoelectric element based on results obtained by the observation unit.

6. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , further comprising multiple flow channels that are communicated with the ink flow channel, wherein the pressure chamber, the diaphragm, the piezoelectric element, and the nozzle are provided in each of the multiple flow channels.

7. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , further comprising cells that are included in the ink.

8. An inkjet device, comprising:
the inkjet head according to claim 1 ;
a holding unit that holds a subject;
a moving mechanism that causes relative movement between the inkjet head and the holding unit; and
a control unit that controls the inkjet head, the holding unit, and the moving mechanism.

9. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein the vibrating mechanism includes a pair of cylinders.

10. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein a pair of the vibrating mechanisms are provided at both ends of the ink flow channel and move in the same direction with respect to the flow of the ink.

11. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein the ink flow channel is one straight pipe shape and the vibrating mechanism is provided at both ends of the ink flow channel.

12. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein the ink flow channel is formed of a transparent material.

13. The inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein a wall of the pressure chamber is formed of a transparent material.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yoshida Hidehiro
• Fukada Kazuki
• Yamamoto Kenichi
• Kita Takeshi

Classifications

• B41J2202/12

  with ink circulating through the whole print head · CPC title

• B41J2/14201

  Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements · CPC title

• B41J2002/14419

  Manifold · CPC title

• B41J2/17566

  Ink level or ink residue control · CPC title

• B41J2002/14306

  Flow passage between manifold and chamber · CPC title