Integrated Liquid Ejecting Head Substrate Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid ejecting heads with separate pressure chamber, communication substrate, and nozzle plate configurations face challenges in achieving high nozzle density, maintaining uniform gaps, and accuracy in flow path formation, leading to variations in ejection properties due to thermal expansion and manufacturing complexities.
Innovation Solution
A liquid ejecting head design where the pressure chamber, communication flow path, and nozzle are formed in a single substrate, allowing for reduced area, high-density nozzle arrangement, and improved accuracy, with optional compliance sheets or plates for enhanced stability and ink supply.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If separate substrates are used for pressure chamber, communication substrate, and nozzle plate, then manufacturing flexibility is improved, but flow path accuracy deteriorates due to bonding errors and thermal expansion differences
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the pressure chamber, communication flow path, and nozzle into a single integrated substrate. This eliminates the bonding interfaces between separate substrates, thereby removing the source of flow path errors and thermal expansion discrepancies while maintaining manufacturing flexibility through monolithic fabrication processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The single substrate serves multiple functions simultaneously: it forms the pressure chamber, communicates liquid through flow paths, and provides the nozzle structure. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate specialized substrates while ensuring uniform thermal and mechanical properties throughout the flow path.
2Device complexity
If multiple substrates are stacked perpendicular to ink ejection direction, then structural modularity is improved, but nozzle density deteriorates due to increased head area
Solution Approach 1:
By combining multiple functional layers into a single substrate, the patent eliminates the vertical stacking arrangement that increased the head area. This allows nozzles to be arranged more densely in the plane while maintaining structural integrity through the integrated design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a vertical stacking arrangement (perpendicular to ejection direction) to a planar integration approach. This dimensional change allows the nozzle array to be optimized for density in the ejection plane while the pressure chamber and flow paths are integrated within the same substrate thickness.
3Ease of manufacture
If separate substrates are used, then manufacturing flexibility is improved, but ejection property uniformity deteriorates due to thermal expansion variations at bonded portions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges all functional components into a single substrate, eliminating the bonded portions between different substrates. This ensures uniform thermal expansion characteristics throughout the entire flow path, preventing variations in ejection properties that would otherwise occur at multiple bonding interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The single substrate provides homogeneous material properties throughout the pressure chamber, flow paths, and nozzle structures. This homogeneity ensures consistent thermal expansion behavior under temperature variations, maintaining uniform ejection properties across all nozzles while preserving manufacturing flexibility through standardized fabrication processes.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a liquid ejecting head including a pressure chamber forming substrate for forming a pressure chamber which is filled with liquid, a nozzle through which the ink is ejected in a direction along the pressure chamber forming substrate, and a communication flow path which allows the pressure chamber to communicate with the nozzle. The nozzle and the communication flow path are formed in the pressure chamber forming substrate.