Liquid Ejection Head With Segmented Nozzle For Droplet Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ink jet printing systems face challenges in maintaining print quality due to ink droplets being easily affected by air flows, leading to positional deviations and failure in combining small droplets into larger droplets on the fly, resulting in degraded image quality.
Innovation Solution
The ejection opening is designed with two semicircular areas and a narrower rectangular connection portion, allowing liquid droplets to be ejected as multiple columns that quickly unite after separation, reducing droplet disconnection time and susceptibility to air flows, thereby forming a larger droplet with minimal landing position deviations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If small liquid droplets are ejected from ejection openings, then the liquid can be disconnected from the body of liquid early, but the droplets are more easily affected by air resistance and air flows, causing positional deviations and degrading print quality
Solution Approach 1:
The ejection opening is divided into multiple first areas (semicircular openings) and a second area (connection portion), allowing the liquid to be ejected as multiple separate droplets that can be formed early while maintaining stability through the connection structure
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple small droplets ejected from the first areas are merged into a larger droplet through the connection portion, combining the benefits of early disconnection with reduced air flow influence by forming a larger, more stable droplet that lands as a single unit
2Productivity
If two ejection openings are provided for one ink flow path, then small ink droplets can be ejected and combined on the fly, but the distance between holes must be very subtle to maintain columnar shape, making stable ejection difficult and prone to failure under varying conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The ejection opening is segmented into multiple first areas with semicircular shapes and a second area with a rectangular connection portion, providing a structured division that maintains columnar shape stability while allowing flexible droplet formation
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the ejection opening have different geometric properties - the first areas are semicircular for optimal droplet formation while the second area has a rectangular connection portion that provides structural stability and controlled liquid flow, optimizing both droplet ejection and merging characteristics
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 method achieves highly precise printing with reduced mist and satellite formation, ensuring stable droplet merging and minimal print quality degradation, even under varying conditions.
Implementation Method 1
applies energy such as heat to the liquid to cause a status change in the liquid accompanied by a rapid liquid volume change, thereby ejecting the liquid from ejection openings by a status change-produced force
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid ejection method is provided which ejects small-volume droplets from ejection openings and causes them to reliably combine together on the fly into a large droplet that is less susceptible to influences of air flows, thus realizing a printing with reduced droplet landing position deviations. To that end, each of the ejection openings is constructed of two openings spaced apart and a slit-like constricted connection portion that connects the two openings together.