Liquid Ejection Head With Thin-Wall Vibrating Plate Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid ejection heads face challenges in ensuring proper sealing between vibrating plates and flow channel members, leading to increased manufacturing costs due to the need for matching outer shapes, which can complicate bonding and adhesive thickness requirements.
Innovation Solution
The liquid ejection head design incorporates a vibrating plate with a central part and thin-wall parts, allowing it to be thinner than the flow channel member, reducing the size of the vibrating plate and enabling more efficient bonding with adhesive layers, thus minimizing manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the vibrating plate is provided with the same outer shape as the flow channel member to ensure proper sealing, then sealing reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The vibrating plate is divided into a central part and a peripheral part, where the central part has a first thickness and the peripheral part has a second thickness different from the first. This segmentation allows different regions of the same component to have different thicknesses, enabling the peripheral part to be thinner for reduced complexity while the central part maintains sufficient thickness for sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the vibrating plate are given different local qualities in terms of thickness. The central part has a greater thickness to ensure sealing reliability, while the peripheral part has a smaller thickness to reduce overall device complexity and manufacturing cost. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by optimizing each region according to its specific functional requirements.
2Ease of manufacture
If the vibrating plate is made thinner to reduce size and cost, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but sealing reliability may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The vibrating plate is segmented into regions with different thickness requirements. The peripheral part can be made thinner to reduce manufacturing cost, while the central part maintains a greater thickness to ensure sealing reliability. This segmentation allows the component to be cheaper overall while maintaining necessary reliability where it matters most.
Solution Approach 2:
The vibrating plate exhibits local quality variations in thickness. The central region has greater thickness for sealing reliability, while the peripheral region has smaller thickness for cost reduction. This local optimization allows the design to achieve both reduced manufacturing cost and maintained sealing reliability simultaneously.
3Strength
If adhesive layers are made thicker to ensure proper bonding, then bonding strength is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The vibrating plate is segmented into central and peripheral parts with different thicknesses. This segmentation creates corresponding variations in adhesive layer thickness requirements, allowing thinner adhesive layers in the peripheral region and thicker adhesive layers in the central region, thereby reducing overall manufacturing precision requirements while maintaining bonding strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The bonding requirements are differentiated locally according to the vibrating plate's thickness variations. The peripheral part with smaller thickness requires thinner adhesive layers with relaxed precision requirements, while the central part with greater thickness requires thicker adhesive layers with stricter precision requirements. This local differentiation reduces the overall manufacturing precision burden.
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 reduces the size and cost of the vibrating plate while maintaining adhesiveness, ensuring effective sealing and reducing manufacturing expenses by optimizing the adhesive layer thickness and bonding process.
Implementation Method 1
a vibrating plate which transmits vibrations from the actuators, and a flow channel member which forms a plurality of pressure chambers facing the vibrating plates
Implementation Method 2
a first vibrating plate on the first substrate, forming walls of the pressure chambers, and capable of vibrating to cause the liquid to be ejected from each of the nozzles independently. The first vibrating plate includes a central part at which the walls of the pressure chambers are formed and a pair of thin-wall parts by which the central part is sandwiched, a thickness of the thin-wall parts being smaller than that of the central part.
Data Source
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AI summary
A liquid ejection head includes a nozzle plate including a plurality of nozzles from which liquid is ejected, a first substrate facing the nozzle plate and in which a plurality of pressure chambers each communicating with a corresponding one of the nozzles are formed, and a first vibrating plate on the first substrate, forming walls of the pressure chambers, and capable of vibrating to cause the liquid to be ejected from each of the nozzles independently. The first vibrating plate includes a central part at which the walls of the pressure chambers are formed and a pair of thin-wall parts by which the central part is sandwiched, a thickness of the thin-wall parts being smaller than that of the central part.