Liquid Discharge Head Positioning for Nozzle Alignment and Bonding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid discharge apparatuses face challenges in achieving precise alignment and bonding of nozzle plates with housings, leading to potential deviations and reduced concentricity, which affect the stability and accuracy of droplet discharge.
Innovation Solution
A liquid discharge head design that includes a nozzle plate with positioning holes and a housing bonded together using a positioning member, where the positioning member's length is shorter than the combined length of the positioning holes, ensuring accurate alignment and enhanced bonding strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the nozzle plate and housing are bonded together without a positioning member, then the bonding process is simpler, but the alignment precision and concentricity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning member is inserted into the positioning holes before the bonding process to establish precise alignment between the nozzle plate and housing. This preliminary positioning action ensures that when the components are bonded together, they maintain the correct concentricity and alignment, resolving the contradiction between simple bonding and precise alignment.
2Reliability
If the positioning member length is equal to or greater than the combined length of positioning holes, then the positioning is more secure, but the bonding strength and strain reduction deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning member length is carefully controlled to be shorter than the combined length of the positioning holes. This parameter optimization allows the positioning member to provide sufficient positioning security while leaving enough space for the bonding material to flow and bond effectively between the nozzle plate and housing, thereby maintaining both positioning reliability and bonding strength.
3Ease of manufacture
If the positioning member is removed before bonding, then the bonding process is cleaner, but the concentricity and positional deviation control deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning member is inserted into the positioning holes before the bonding process begins and remains in place during bonding. This preliminary positioning action ensures that the nozzle plate and housing maintain correct alignment throughout the bonding process, achieving both clean bonding and precise concentricity without requiring member removal.
4Manufacturing precision
If the positioning member length is optimized, then the concentricity and bonding strength improve, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning member length is optimized to a specific range that balances concentricity improvement with device simplicity. By controlling the length parameter to be shorter than the combined positioning hole length, the design achieves improved concentricity and bonding strength without requiring overly complex positioning mechanisms, thus resolving the contradiction between precision and complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid discharge head includes a nozzle plate, a housing, a channel, and a positioning member. The nozzle plate has a nozzle hole and a first positioning hole penetrating through the nozzle plate in a thickness direction of the nozzle plate. The housing is bonded to the nozzle plate to form a single bonded body and has a second positioning hole extending in a thickness direction of the housing. A liquid flows through the channel between the nozzle plate and the housing to the nozzle hole. The positioning member fits into the first positioning hole and the second positioning hole to position the nozzle plate relative to the housing. A length of the positioning member is smaller than a sum of a length of the first positioning hole and a length of the second positioning hole in the thickness direction of the nozzle plate, and larger than the length of the second positioning hole.