Liquid Ejecting Head Supply Port Crack Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Downsizing of liquid ejecting head substrates leads to reduced wall thickness and rigidity, causing stress and potential cracks at the opening ends of supply ports, which can result in unreliable ejection performance.
Innovation Solution
The liquid ejecting head features a supply port with a narrower opening width at its ends compared to the center, preventing cracks without compromising ejection accuracy by ensuring the relationship between the end and center opening widths satisfies specific ratios, and is manufactured using a method involving etching and resin application to form the necessary patterns and connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the substrate is downsized to reduce apparatus cost, then the substrate area is reduced, but the wall thickness and rigidity of the supply port are reduced, causing stress and potential cracks
Solution Approach 1:
The supply port is designed with non-uniform opening width along its length, featuring narrower opening widths at the end portions and a wider opening width at the center portion. This local variation in geometry provides enhanced structural strength and crack resistance at the critical end portions while maintaining the overall downsized substrate area, directly resolving the contradiction between miniaturization and structural integrity
2Volume of moving object
If the supply port opening width is uniformly reduced to maintain compact size, then the substrate is downsized, but cracks occur at the opening ends due to stress concentration
Solution Approach 1:
The supply port employs variable opening width along its longitudinal axis, with the end portions having narrower openings than the center portion. This local geometric differentiation reduces stress concentration at the critical end regions, preventing crack formation while maintaining compact substrate dimensions and ensuring reliable ejection performance
Solution Approach 2:
The narrower opening widths at the end portions of the supply port are designed in advance to preemptively reduce stress concentration and prevent crack formation before operation begins, ensuring long-term reliability of the ejection function without requiring additional reinforcement structures
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid ejecting head having high reliability can be manufactured such that the occurrence of cracks in the print element substrate can be suppressed. The supply port of the print element substrate has an opening, the opening width of which at each end portion in the longitudinal direction is narrower than the opening width at the center portion in the longitudinal direction.