Ink jet head capable of reliably removing air bubbles from ink
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorMasayuki Takata
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To provide an ink jet head capable of performing proper image forming operations by easily removing air bubbles contained in ink. A manifold 13, 14 is formed with an ink supply channel 41. A plurality of openings 45 are formed at one edge of the ink supply channel 41. The openings 45 are fluidly connected to ink channels 31. The openings 45 have a smaller dimension toward the ink channels 31. During purging or flushing operations, an air bubble EB in the ink supply channel 41 is pulled toward the ink channels 31 while gradually changing it outer shape in the opening 45. In this way, the air bubble is smoothly and easily pulled into the ink channel 31, and ejected through a nozzle 16a.
Claims8
An ink jet head comprising:
- an actuator formed with a plurality of ink channels and a plurality of nozzles through which ink droplets are ejected, each of the nozzles being fluidly connected to a corresponding one of the ink channels, the plurality of ink channels defining a channel row extending in a first direction;
- a manifold attached to the actuator, the manifold being formed with a supply channel;
- and
- a plurality of guides each having at least two opposing surfaces that define a guide channel fluidly connecting the supply channel to a corresponding one of the ink channels, the opposing surfaces facilitating a flow of an air bubble from the supply channel into the ink channel by deforming an outer shape of the air bubble, wherein
- each guide channel has an ink channel side and a supply channel side opposite from the ink channel side, and the guide channel has a width in the first direction, the width decreasing with proximity to the ink channel side.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.