US 2008/0186347 A1 · INK JET RECORDING METHOD AND HEAD

Abstract

An ink jet recording method includes the steps of inputting a set of driving pulses to a heater element so that the heater element is repeatedly activated by the driving pulses, repeatedly generating a bubble in ink in an ink path in accordance with repeated activation of the heater element, and separately jetting ink droplets from an ink jetting orifice due to the bubble repeatedly generated in the ink, a number of the ink droplets being equal to a number of the driving pulses input as a set to the heater element, the ink droplets jetted from the ink jetting orifice forming a single dot on a recording medium, wherein a time interval at which the driving pulses are input to the heater element is equal to or greater than 4 T, T being a time period from a time at which the inputting of the pulses to the heater element starts to a time at which the bubble reaches a maximum size, and each ink droplet is a slender pillar so that a length of each ink droplet is at least three times as great as a diameter thereof. The present invention also relates to other ink jet recording methods and recording heads in which very small ink droplets can be stably jetted in a high frequency.

Claims8

Dependent claims

1-9. (canceled)

A liquid jet recording apparatus for jetting ink droplets to a recording medium in accordance with image data on demand so that an image having pixels corresponding to the image data is formed on said recording medium, said liquid jet recording apparatus comprising:

ink jetting orifices from which ink droplets are jetted;
ink paths connected to said ink jet orifices, said ink paths being filled with ink and ink paths connected to said ink jet orifices, said Ink paths being filled with ink and equipped with energy applying members for applying energy to the ink in said ink equipped with energy applying members for applying energy to the ink in said ink paths on demand so that ink droplets are jetted from said ink jetting orifices, wherein a cross sectional area of each of said ink jetting orifices is within a range from 200 μm2 to 500 μm2′ and wherein said energy applying members apply the energy to the ink so that the ink droplets, each of which has a flying velocity equal to or greater than 5.2 m/second, are jetted at a frequency which is within a range from 10 kHz to 40 kHz,
wherein said control means further controls a number of ink droplets which are jetted to form each pixel of the image formed on said recording medium based on the image data, and wherein each of said ink jetting orifices has a size that an amount of ink is jetted so that adjacent pixels are separated from each other on said recording medium when each pixel is formed of a single ink droplet, thereby forming a gray image, the image becoming darker based on the number of ink droplets jetted to form each pixel.

ink jetting orifices from which ink droplets are jetted;
ink paths connected to said ink jet orifices, said ink paths being filled with ink and equipped with energy applying members for applying energy to the ink in said ink paths on demand so that ink droplets are jetted from said ink jetting orifices, wherein a cross sectional area of each of said ink jetting orifices is within a range from 200 μm2 to 500 μm2, and
a controller for generating and providing signals to said ink jetting orifices, said controller controlling a frequency with which the ink droplets are jetted from said ink jetting orifices to fall within a range from 10 KHz to 40 KHz, a flying velocity of each ink droplet being equal to or greater than 5.2 m/sec.,
wherein said controller further controls a number of ink droplets which are jetted to form each pixel of the image formed on said recording medium based on the image data, and wherein each of said ink jetting orifices has a size that an amount of ink is jetted so that adjacent pixels are separated from each other on said recording medium when each pixel is formed of a single ink droplet, thereby forming a gray image, the image becoming darker based on a number of ink droplets jetted to form each pixel.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Ink jet recording method and head

Life of this patent

Ink jet recording method and head

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims8