JP-2026074641-A - Liquid discharge head and liquid discharge device

JP2026074641AJP 2026074641 AJP2026074641 AJP 2026074641AJP-2026074641-A

Abstract

[Problem] To prevent liquid from adhering to the printing medium and liquid ejection device, and to prevent liquid from entering the housing of the liquid ejection head. [Solution] In the liquid discharge head, the upper surface of the liquid discharge unit in the operating position is provided with a refrigerant supply section, a refrigerant recovery section, a first liquid connection section, and a second liquid connection section. An absorbent body is provided on the upper surface of the housing surrounding these sections. The absorbent body has a first opening for the first liquid connection section, a second opening for the refrigerant supply section, a third opening for the refrigerant recovery section, and a fourth opening for the second liquid connection section. When the absorbent body is divided into three regions of equal area in a plan view from the upper surface, it becomes a first region including the first opening, a second region including the second and third openings, and a third region including the fourth opening. [Selection Diagram] Figure 17

Inventors

岩野卓也
河村省吾
立花宏司
森達郎

Assignees

キヤノン株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241021

Claims (16)

A liquid discharge unit comprising: a discharge element substrate having a discharge element for discharging liquid from a discharge port; a drive element substrate provided with a drive element for driving the discharge element; and a cooling member having a refrigerant flow path through which a refrigerant for cooling the drive element substrate flows, and being arranged in contact with the drive element substrate; A housing that covers the liquid dispensing unit, A liquid dispensing head having, In the operating position of the liquid discharge head, the upper surface of the liquid discharge unit is provided with a refrigerant supply unit for supplying refrigerant to the refrigerant flow path, a refrigerant recovery unit for recovering refrigerant from the refrigerant flow path, and a first liquid connection unit and a second liquid connection unit for supplying at least liquid to the discharge element. In the operating position of the liquid discharge head, an absorbent body is provided on the upper surface of the housing, surrounding the refrigerant supply unit, the refrigerant recovery unit, the first liquid connection unit, and the second liquid connection unit. The absorbent body has a first opening for passing through the first liquid connection part, a second opening for passing through the refrigerant supply part, a third opening for passing through the refrigerant recovery part, and a fourth opening for passing through the second liquid connection part, and when the absorbent body is divided into three regions of the same area in a plan view from the top surface, it becomes a first region including the first opening, a second region including the second and third openings, and a third region including the fourth opening, respectively, characterized in that the absorbent body has a first opening for passing through the first liquid connection part, a second opening for passing through the refrigerant recovery part, and a fourth opening for passing through the second liquid connection part, and the absorbent body has a first opening for passing through the first liquid connection part, and when the absorbent body is divided into three regions of the same area in a plan view from the top surface, it becomes a first region including the first opening, a second region including the second and third openings, and a third region including the fourth opening, respectively, in a liquid discharge head.
The liquid dispensing head according to claim 1, wherein a recess is provided on the upper surface of the housing, and the lower surface of the absorbent is in contact with the upper surface of the recess.
The liquid dispensing head according to claim 1, wherein the second region of the absorbent is positioned between the first region and the third region in a plan view of the upper surface of the housing.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the liquid absorption volume of at least one of the first and third regions of the absorbent is greater than the liquid absorption volume of the second region.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the volume of the liquid chamber that supplies the liquid to the discharge element substrate is greater than the volume of the liquid chamber that supplies the refrigerant to the cooling member.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the distance between the center of the first liquid connection portion and the center of the refrigerant supply portion or refrigerant recovery portion adjacent to the first liquid connection portion, or the distance between the center of the second liquid connection portion and the center of the refrigerant supply portion or refrigerant recovery portion adjacent to the second liquid connection portion, is greater than the distance between the center of the refrigerant supply portion and the center of the refrigerant recovery portion.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the absorbent has a protruding region that, in a plan view of the upper surface of the housing, protrudes outward from the area outside the first liquid connection portion or the second liquid connection portion.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the outer diameter of at least one of the first liquid connection portion and the second liquid connection portion is larger than the outer diameter of the refrigerant supply portion and the refrigerant recovery portion.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of the first opening of the absorbent is smaller than the outer diameter of the first liquid connection portion.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of the second opening of the absorbent is smaller than the outer diameter of the refrigerant supply section.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of the third opening of the absorbent is smaller than the outer diameter of the refrigerant recovery section.
The liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the diameter of the fourth opening of the absorbent is smaller than the outer diameter of the second liquid connection portion.
The liquid discharge head according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the first liquid connection part is an ink supply part for supplying ink, and the second liquid connection part is an ink recovery part for recovering ink.
The liquid discharge head according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the first liquid connection part is a first ink supply part that supplies ink, and the second liquid connection part is a second ink supply part that supplies ink.
Multiple drive element substrates are provided, The liquid discharge head according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein, in a plan view of the upper surface of the housing, the plurality of drive element substrates are arranged symmetrically with respect to the refrigerant supply unit and the refrigerant recovery unit.
A liquid discharge unit comprising: a discharge element substrate having a discharge element for discharging liquid from a discharge port; a drive element substrate provided with a drive element for driving the discharge element; and a cooling member having a refrigerant flow path through which a refrigerant for cooling the drive element substrate flows, and being arranged in contact with the drive element substrate; A housing that covers the liquid dispensing unit, A liquid dispensing head having, In the operating position of the liquid discharge head, the upper surface of the liquid discharge unit is provided with a refrigerant supply unit for supplying refrigerant to the refrigerant flow path, a refrigerant recovery unit for recovering refrigerant from the refrigerant flow path, and a first liquid connection unit and a second liquid connection unit for supplying at least liquid to the discharge element. In the operating position of the liquid discharge head, an absorbent body is provided on the upper surface of the housing, surrounding the refrigerant supply unit, the refrigerant recovery unit, the first liquid connection unit, and the second liquid connection unit. The absorbent body has a first opening for passing through the first liquid connection part, a second opening for passing through the refrigerant supply part, a third opening for passing through the refrigerant recovery part, and a fourth opening for passing through the second liquid connection part. When the absorbent body is divided into three regions of equal area in a plan view from the top, it forms a first region including the first opening, a second region including the second and third openings, and a third region including the fourth opening, and a liquid discharge head. Multiple liquid connection parts on the main body side that connect to the first liquid connection part and the second liquid connection part, respectively, Multiple refrigerant connection ports on the main body side, which are connected to the refrigerant supply unit and the refrigerant recovery unit, respectively, A liquid dispensing device characterized by having the following features.

Description

This disclosure relates to a liquid dispensing head and a liquid dispensing device. Liquid dispensing devices used in business, commercial, or industrial applications require high durability for long-term use. Factors that reduce the durability of the liquid dispensing head include, for example, liquid ingress into the head housing. Factors causing liquid ingress into the head housing include, for example, liquid dripping from the liquid connection point when attaching or detaching the liquid dispensing head from the device, and mist during liquid dispensing, such as ink. If liquid ingress occurs inside the head housing and adheres to, for example, an internal electrical circuit board, it can cause a short circuit and lead to malfunction of the liquid dispensing head. Patent Document 1 describes a configuration in which a sealing member is provided to seal the gap in the liquid connection part, and a groove is provided nearby thereto, thereby guiding the ink to the lower part of the print head along the groove. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2015-193160 This is a schematic diagram showing an example of a liquid dispensing device.This is a perspective view of the liquid dispensing head.This is a perspective view of the liquid dispensing head.This is a disassembled perspective view of the liquid dispensing head.This is a perspective view of the liquid dispensing unit.This is a plan view of the liquid dispensing head, with the liquid dispensing unit assembled to the support unit, as seen from the dispensing surface side.This is a VII-VII section in Figure 6.This is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII in Figure 6.This diagram shows the connection configuration of the liquid components between the liquid discharge head support unit and the liquid supply unit.This is a cross-sectional view of the fluid connection between the liquid supply unit and the liquid supply member.This diagram shows the connection configuration of the liquid flow path in the support unit.This diagram shows the connection configuration of the liquid flow path in the liquid discharge unit.This figure shows the fluid connection configuration within the discharge element substrate.This is a perspective view of a cooling unit for cooling a drive element substrate.This is an exploded view of the cooling unit.This is a cross-sectional view taken along line XVI-XVI in Figure 14.This is a perspective view of the liquid dispensing head with the absorbent material removed.This is a plan view of the liquid discharge head, as seen from the direction of arrow B in Figure 2.Figure 18 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XIX-XIX.Figure 18 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XIX-XIX.This is a plan view of the absorber as seen from above.This diagram shows the liquid chamber through which the ink flows and the liquid chamber through which the refrigerant flows.This diagram shows the relationship between the refrigerant connection section and the drive element board for driving the recording element on the discharge element board.This figure shows an example of a liquid dispensing unit in a liquid dispensing head.Figure 24 is an enlarged view of the liquid dispensing unit. The following describes examples of embodiments of this disclosure using the drawings. However, the following description is not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. As an example, this embodiment describes a method of discharging liquid by driving a piezoelectric element, but liquid discharging heads employing thermal methods that discharge liquid using bubbles generated by a heater element, and various other liquid discharging methods, are also within the scope of this disclosure. That is, the liquid discharging head can be a head having any energy generating element configured to generate energy for discharging liquid. The liquid ejection device in the embodiments described below can be an inkjet recording device (recording device) that circulates a liquid such as ink between a tank and a liquid ejection head, but other configurations are also possible. For example, instead of circulating ink, tanks may be provided on the upstream and downstream sides of the liquid ejection head, and ink may be flowed from one tank to the other to circulate the ink in the pressure chamber. Furthermore, the device according to this disclosure is not limited to a recording device that ejects ink, but can be a liquid ejection device that ejects any liquid. <<First Embodiment>> Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the liquid ejection device 10 of this embodiment. The liquid ejection device 10 is equipped with a so-called one-pass type liquid ejection head 100 that completes the recording of an image in a predetermined area of the recording medium 20 in a single movement of the recording medium 20 when recording an image in that area. The liquid ejection head 100 has ejection ports arranged over a range corresponding to the entire width of