Liquid Discharge Head Cooling Layout for Multiple Drive Boards
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid discharge heads face challenges in efficiently cooling multiple driving elements with uneven heat generation, leading to layout difficulties and increased parts count due to the need for individual heat sinks and coolant paths, especially when high-speed recording is required.
Innovation Solution
A liquid discharge head design that utilizes a common cooling member to distribute heat evenly across multiple driving elements, reducing the number of parts and simplifying coolant path layout by using a staggered pattern, with a cooling unit that includes coolant flow paths and heat conduction members to manage varying heat loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the number of discharge elements is increased to achieve high-speed recording, then productivity is improved, but the number of driving elements and drive circuit boards increases, leading to increased device complexity and heat generation
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple drive circuit boards are merged onto a single support board, reducing the number of separate components and simplifying the overall structure. The cooling member is designed to cool multiple driving elements simultaneously through a shared coolant flow path, combining multiple cooling functions into one integrated component.
Solution Approach 2:
The support board serves multiple functions: it mechanically supports the discharge element boards and also carries the drive circuit boards, acting as both a structural and electrical platform. The cooling member functions both as a thermal management component and as a structural element that facilitates coolant distribution across multiple heat sources.
2Temperature
If independent heat sinks are provided for each drive circuit board, then cooling effectiveness is improved, but the number of parts increases and layout flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple independent heat sinks are merged into a single integrated cooling member that serves multiple drive circuit boards simultaneously. The cooling member includes multiple cooling portions that can be positioned adjacent to different driving elements, providing targeted cooling without requiring separate heat sink components for each board.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling member is segmented into multiple cooling portions, each capable of cooling a specific driving element. The coolant flow path is divided into multiple flow paths that can be independently directed to different cooling portions, allowing selective cooling of different regions while using a single integrated component.
3Area of stationary object
If drive circuit boards are arranged in a staggered pattern, then space utilization is improved, but coolant path layout becomes more difficult with independent heat sinks
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling member is designed as a universal cooling component that can adapt to staggered arrangements of drive circuit boards. The multiple cooling portions can be positioned to match the staggered layout, and the coolant flow paths can be routed to reach each cooling portion regardless of the underlying staggered arrangement of the circuit boards.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling member extends in multiple dimensions to accommodate the staggered arrangement of drive circuit boards. Rather than requiring each heat sink to be independently positioned, the cooling member uses its three-dimensional structure to reach multiple heat sources distributed in a staggered pattern, simplifying the coolant path routing.
4Device complexity
If multiple drive circuit boards are mounted on one support board, then device complexity is reduced, but heat generation and cooling requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling member is segmented into multiple cooling portions, each responsible for cooling a specific drive circuit board or region. This segmentation allows the cooling function to scale with the number of mounted boards, distributing the thermal management load across multiple specialized cooling zones within a single integrated component.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling member serves as a universal thermal management solution for multiple drive circuit boards mounted on the support board. It provides both mechanical support functionality and thermal management functionality, acting as a multi-functional component that addresses both structural and thermal requirements of the concentrated board arrangement.
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
The design efficiently cools driving elements, maintaining optimal temperatures while reducing part count and facilitating complex layouts, such as staggered patterns, by dispersing cooling loads and using a shared cooling member.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling unit provided with a plurality of coolant flow paths and heat conduction members
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A liquid discharge head includes a first discharge element board and a second discharge element board each having a discharge element for discharging a liquid from a discharge port, first and second drive circuit boards provided with first and second driving elements for driving the discharge element on the first and second discharge element boards, and a cooling member configured to come into contact with the first and the second drive circuit boards, wherein the cooling member includes an inlet configured to introduce a coolant from outside, an outlet configured to guide the coolant to the outside, first and second coolant flow paths disposed to sandwich the inlet and configured to connect the inlet and the outlet and cool the first and second drive circuit boards respectively.