Liquid ejection head and method for ejecting liquids

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9956779-B2
Application number	US-201514971262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2015
Priority date	Dec 22, 2014
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

A liquid ejection head includes a first ejection opening group in which a plurality of ejection openings that eject a particular kind of liquid onto a print medium are arranged in a predetermined direction, and a second ejection opening group that is provided along the first ejection opening group to eject the particular kind of liquid onto the print medium. The first ejection opening group is provided upstream of the second ejection opening group with respect to 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 predetermined direction in a zigzag shape, and the liquid ejected from the ejection openings adjacent to each other in the predetermined 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 including a plurality of ejection openings that are provided along the first ejection opening group to eject the first kind of liquid onto the print medium,
wherein the first ejection opening group is provided upstream of the second ejection opening group with respect to a relative moving direction between the print medium 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 in which a distance along the relative moving direction between adjacent ejection openings is equal to or less than 1 ms×a speed of the relative moving,
wherein a common liquid flow passage for supplying the liquid to the plurality of ejection openings extends in the first direction, and
wherein the common liquid flow passage includes a first common liquid flow passage provided at one end side of the zigzag shape of the ejection openings in the first ejection opening group with respect to a second direction crossing the first direction, the second direction corresponding to the relative moving direction, a second common liquid flow passage provided at 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.

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 shape of the ejection openings in the first ejection opening group is equal to a cycle of the zigzag shape of the ejection openings in the second ejection opening group.

4. The liquid ejection head according to claim 2 , wherein a peak of the zigzag shape of the ejection openings in the first ejection opening group is shifted from a peak of the zigzag shape of the ejection openings in the second ejection opening group in the first direction.

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

6. The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the second common liquid flow passage is communicated with the ejection openings included in the first ejection opening group and the ejection openings included in the second ejection opening group.

7. The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first individual flow passage for supplying the liquid to the ejection openings 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 openings included in the first ejection opening group from the second common liquid flow passage.

8. The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , further 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 third common liquid flow passage, wherein the plurality of third individual flow passages include an individual flow passage extending from the third common liquid flow passage in a direction toward the first common liquid flow passage, and an individual flow passage extending from the third common liquid flow passage in a direction toward the second common liquid flow passage.

9. The liquid ejection head according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid ejection head is used in a printing apparatus which conveys the print medium and uses the liquid ejection head to eject liquid onto the print medium, 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 a width of the print medium.

10. 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 with respect to the first direction, and a third ejection opening adjacent to the second ejection opening at a side opposite 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, the second direction corresponding to the relative moving direction.

11. 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.

Assignees

• Canon Kk
• Oce Printing Systems Gmbh & Co Kg
• Oce Printing Systems Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

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

Classifications

• B41J2/14201

  Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements · CPC title

• B41J2/145 Primary

  Arrangement thereof · CPC title

• B41J2/155 Primary

  for line printing · CPC title