Liquid ejecting apparatus, method for manufacturing liquid ejecting apparatus, and ink-jet printer
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHiroto Sugahara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ink-jet head includes a common liquid chamber, a plurality of pressure chambers, a plurality of nozzles which eject ink, a plurality of individual ink channels communicating with the common liquid chamber, the pressure chambers and the nozzles, and a piezoelectric actuator which selectively varies the volume of the plurality of pressure chambers. The common liquid chamber is disposed on the side opposite to the nozzles with respect to the piezoelectric actuator. A through-hole which forms a part of the individual ink channels is formed in the piezoelectric actuator. This structure ensures a large region in which the nozzles can be disposed, and allows the nozzles to be arranged at higher density.
Claims24
A liquid ejecting apparatus, comprising:
- a common liquid chamber;
- a plurality of pressure chambers disposed along a plane;
- a plurality of nozzles which eject liquid;
- a plurality of individual liquid channels which extend from the common liquid chamber through the pressure chambers to the nozzles;
- and
- an actuator which is disposed so as to face the plurality of pressure chambers to selectively vary a volume of the plurality of pressure chambers,
- wherein the common liquid chamber is disposed on a side opposite to the nozzles with respect to the actuator, and
- the actuator has a first through-hole which forms a part of the individual liquid channels.
A liquid ejecting apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of nozzles which eject liquid;
- a plurality of pressure chambers which communicate with the nozzles;
- a common liquid chamber which is common to the pressure chambers;
- and
- a piezoelectric layer which selectively varies a volume of the pressure chambers,
- wherein the common liquid chamber and the piezoelectric layer are disposed on a side opposite to the nozzles with respect to the pressure chambers.
A method for manufacturing a liquid ejecting apparatus, the liquid ejecting apparatus comprising a common liquid chamber;
- a plurality of pressure chambers disposed along a plane;
- a plurality of nozzles which eject liquid, a plurality of individual liquid channels which extend from the common liquid chamber through the pressure chambers to the nozzles;
- and an actuator which has a vibration plate disposed over the plurality of pressure chambers and a piezoelectric layer disposed on a side of the vibration plate opposite to the pressure chambers, and which selectively varies a volume of the plurality of pressure chambers, the method comprising:
- a hole formation step of forming, in the vibration plate, a channel formation hole which forms a part of the individual liquid channels;
- and
- a piezoelectric layer formation step of forming the piezoelectric layer in only a region of the vibration plate where no channel formation hole is formed, by depositing particles of a piezoelectric material on a surface of the vibration plate on the side opposite to the pressure chambers,
- wherein the individual liquid channels are formed in the piezoelectric layer formation step to penetrate the actuator.
An ink-jet printer which performs recording by ejecting ink onto a recording medium,
- comprising an ink-jet head which ejects ink onto the recording medium,
- wherein the ink-jet head has a common ink chamber, a plurality of pressure chambers disposed along a plane, a plurality of nozzles which eject the ink, a plurality of individual ink channels which extend from the common ink chamber through the pressure chambers to the nozzles, and an actuator which is disposed so as to face the plurality of pressure chambers to selectively vary a volume of the plurality of pressure chambers;
- the common ink chamber is disposed on a side opposite to the nozzles with respect to the actuator, and as viewed in a direction perpendicular to the plane, the common ink chamber is disposed in a region which overlaps the pressure chambers, and the individual ink channels are formed to penetrate the actuator;
- and
- the nozzles face downward, and the common ink chamber is disposed above the nozzles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.