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.
Claims13
An ink jet head used in an image forming device, comprising:
- an actuator formed with ink channels defining a channel row extending in a first direction, each ink channel extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;
- and
- a manifold attached to the actuator, the manifold being formed with a supply channel fluidly connected to the ink channels, the supply channel having a width in a third direction perpendicular to both the first direction and the second direction, the width decreasing with proximity toward the ink channels in order to facilitate a flow of an air bubble from the supply channel into the ink channel by deforming the air bubble.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.