Liquid Ejecting Head Protection Structure for Nozzle Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid ejecting heads are prone to deformation and ink misalignment due to contact with media, particularly when printing on non-constant curvature surfaces or during paper jams, leading to ink residue and peeling issues.
Innovation Solution
A liquid ejecting head design featuring a fixing plate with overlapping head chips and a protection section that protrudes in the ejection direction, arranged to minimize contact with the medium and enhance rigidity, combined with a wiping mechanism to maintain ejection accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the fixing plate is formed thin to narrow the gap from the medium, then the gap between the liquid ejecting head and the medium is minimized, but the rigidity of the fixing plate is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The liquid ejecting head is divided into multiple head chips (first head chip, second head chip, etc.) that are arranged side by side and fixed to the fixing plate. This segmentation allows the structure to maintain rigidity through the distributed arrangement while keeping the fixing plate thin, resolving the contradiction between minimizing gap and maintaining strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite structure combining multiple head chips with the fixing plate, where the head chips are fixed to the thin fixing plate in a specific arrangement. This composite configuration provides sufficient rigidity through the distributed head chip arrangement while maintaining the thin profile of the fixing plate for minimal gap.
2Length of moving object
If the center of the fixing plate is positioned closest to the medium to minimize gap, then the gap is reduced, but the fixing plate is more likely to contact the medium during paper jams or medium deformation
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the liquid ejecting head into multiple head chips arranged side by side, the invention distributes the structural load and reduces the likelihood of the entire fixing plate contacting the medium during jams or deformation events, while still maintaining minimal gap through the thin fixing plate design.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies different functional characteristics to different parts of the liquid ejecting head structure. The head chips are positioned to expose nozzle arrays locally, while the fixing plate maintains a thin profile overall. This local optimization allows minimal gap where needed while reducing contact risk through the distributed arrangement.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple head chips are fixed to the fixing plate to improve mutual nozzle position accuracy, then positioning precision is enhanced, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The liquid ejecting head is segmented into multiple head chips that are fixed to a single fixing plate. This segmentation approach improves mutual nozzle position accuracy by allowing precise positioning of each head chip relative to the fixing plate, while the modular nature of the segmentation keeps the overall structure manageable and not excessively complex.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple head chips are merged onto a single fixing plate structure, combining their nozzle arrays to achieve improved positioning accuracy. This merging approach consolidates the complexity into a unified fixing plate arrangement rather than distributing it across multiple separate components, thereby improving precision without proportionally increasing overall structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
There are provided a first head chip including a first nozzle plate and having a first direction as a longitudinal direction; a second head chip including a second nozzle plate and having the first direction as a longitudinal direction; a fixing plate which has a first opening portion and a second opening portion, and to which the first head chip and the second head chip are fixed; and a protection section protruding in an ejection direction from a surface of the fixing plate, and the protection section is arranged between the first head chip and the second head chip in a second direction orthogonal to both the ejection direction and the first direction.