Inkjet Head Chip Electrode Recess Design for Higher Pressure
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In head chips of the roof-shoot type, it is difficult to ensure pressure generation due to limited surface area for electrodes, leading to decreased manufacturing efficiency and yield ratio when stacking actuator plates.
Innovation Solution
A head chip design with a shape-changing part on the actuator plate, featuring electrodes on the surface of protruding or recessed parts, allows for increased surface area and potential difference generation, enabling pressure increase through bend and shear modes of deformation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If actuator plates are stacked to increase pressure generation, then pressure can be increased, but manufacturing efficiency and yield ratio decrease due to the need to arrange electrodes in each layer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a planar electrode arrangement to a three-dimensional arrangement by forming electrodes on the inner surfaces of recessed parts of the actuator plate. This vertical/dimensional utilization of space increases the effective electrode surface area without requiring additional stacked layers, thereby maintaining manufacturing efficiency while achieving enhanced pressure generation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates localized regions with different functional properties by forming recessed parts at specific locations on the actuator plate surface. These recessed parts concentrate the electric field and enhance the local deformation effect, allowing for improved pressure generation in critical areas without uniformly increasing the entire structure's complexity or manufacturing difficulty.
2Stress or pressure
If actuator plates are stacked to increase pressure generation, then pressure can be increased, but yield ratio decreases due to increased manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
By utilizing the vertical dimension through recessed parts, the patent achieves increased electrode surface area and improved pressure generation within a single actuator plate layer. This eliminates the need for multiple stacked layers and their associated alignment and assembly complexities, thereby maintaining high yield ratio while achieving the desired pressure generation level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the functions of multiple electrodes into a single integrated electrode structure formed on the recessed part surfaces. This merging reduces the number of discrete components and assembly steps required, simplifying manufacturing and improving yield ratio while still achieving the cumulative pressure generation effect that would otherwise require multiple separate electrode layers.
3Stress or pressure
If electrode surface area is increased to enhance pressure generation, then pressure can be increased, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent increases electrode surface area by creating localized recessed parts rather than uniformly expanding the entire electrode structure. This localized approach concentrates the complexity only where needed for enhanced pressure generation, keeping the rest of the device structure simple and easy to manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the vertical dimension by forming electrodes on the inner surfaces of recessed parts, effectively increasing surface area without increasing the planar footprint. This dimensional transition allows for enhanced pressure generation capability while maintaining a compact and simple overall device structure.
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 design enhances pressure generation in the pressure chamber while improving manufacturing efficiency and yield ratio without stacking multiple actuator plates.
Implementation Method 1
an electric field is generated in an actuator plate formed of a piezoelectric material to deform the actuator plate to thereby generate a pressure variation in a pressure chamber
Implementation Method 2
a so-called shear mode in which a shear deformation (a thickness-shear deformation) is caused in the actuator plate due to the electric field
Data Source
AI summary
A head chip, a liquid jet head, and a liquid jet recording devices each capable of increasing the generated pressure while achieving an increase in manufacturing efficiency and yield ratio are provided. The head chip includes a flow channel member provided with a pressure chamber containing a liquid, an actuator plate on the flow channel member in a state of being opposed in a first direction to the pressure chamber, and a drive electrode configured to deform the actuator plate in the first direction to change a volume of the pressure chamber. A recessed part is formed in a portion of the actuator plate, the portion overlapping the pressure chamber when viewed from the first direction. The drive electrode includes a first electrode formed on an inner surface of the recessed part, and a first opposed electrode which is formed on an upper surface of the actuator plate.