Ink Jet Print Head Bonding Raised Flat Portions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ink jet print head manufacturing methods face challenges in achieving high precision and short production time due to variations in the support surface geometry of the supporting member, which affect the parallelism of the printing element substrate's ejection opening face, leading to suboptimal image quality and increased production costs.
Innovation Solution
The method involves forming raised flat portions on the support surface of the supporting member, using a thermosetting adhesive, and employing CCD cameras for precise positioning, followed by localized UV hardening of the adhesive to bond the printing element substrate accurately and quickly, reducing the thickness of adhesive required and shortening the bonding time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the printing element substrate is bonded directly to the unsmooth support surface of the supporting member, then the bonding process is simple, but the ejection opening face becomes inclined and parallelism with the print medium is lost
Solution Approach 1:
A plane member (flat plate) is introduced as an intermediary component between the printing element substrate and the supporting member. This plane member has a bonding surface that is parallel to its opposite surface, providing a reference plane that ensures the ejection opening face remains parallel to the print medium while still allowing bonding to the unsmooth support surface.
2Ease of manufacture
If a thick adhesive layer is used to compensate for support surface undulations, then bonding is easier, but the bonding time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The plane member is prepared in advance with a precisely machined bonding surface that is parallel to its opposite surface. This preliminary preparation of a reference plane eliminates the need for thick adhesive layers to compensate for undulations, as the parallelism is already established by the plane member's geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
A suction device is used to hold the printing element substrate during the bonding process. The suction device applies localized suction force to maintain precise positioning and parallelism while the adhesive cures, enabling quick and accurate bonding without requiring thick adhesive layers or extended bonding times.
3Manufacturing precision
If the support surface is made smooth to improve parallelism, then the ejection opening face parallelism is maintained, but the supporting member manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The supporting structure is segmented into two functional parts: the supporting member (which can have complex molded geometry for ink supply paths) and the plane member (which provides the smooth reference bonding surface). This segmentation allows the supporting member to maintain its molded construction with ink supply paths while the plane member handles the parallelism requirement.
Solution Approach 2:
The plane member serves as an intermediary that decouples the supporting member's complex geometry from the bonding requirement. The supporting member can be manufactured as a molded product with complex three-dimensional geometry for ink supply, while the plane member provides the necessary smooth, parallel bonding surface without requiring the supporting member itself to be smooth.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach ensures high precision bonding of the printing element substrate to the supporting member, maintaining the required levelness and reducing production time by 20%, thereby enhancing mass production capabilities and image quality.
Implementation Method 1
wherein, after the positions of the supporting member and the printing element substrate are adjusted, the thermosetting adhesive is hardened to bond the printing element substrate and the supporting member together
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing an ink jet print head capable of bonding the printing element substrate to the support surface with high precision in a reduced period of time is provided. For this purpose, raised flat portions are formed in the support surface of the supporting member to provide in an adhesive layer between the printing element substrate and the supporting member a portion of the thermosetting adhesive that is thinner than others. After the relative positions of the printing element substrate and the supporting member are adjusted, the thin portions of the adhesive layer are hardened. This enables the printing element substrate to be bonded to the supporting member in a relatively short period of time. As a result, if there are undulations on the support surface, the printing element substrate can be bonded to the supporting member with high precision, improving the mass productivity of the print head.