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US-12617212-B2 - Liquid discharge head and liquid discharge apparatus

US12617212B2US 12617212 B2US12617212 B2US 12617212B2US-12617212-B2

Abstract

A liquid discharge head includes: a nozzle hole from which a liquid is dischargeable in a discharge direction; a channel communicating with the nozzle hole to supply the liquid to the nozzle hole; a needle valve movable in the discharge direction to openably close the nozzle hole; a driver to move the needle valve in the discharge direction; and a guide to guide the liquid in the channel toward the nozzle hole.

Inventors

  • Koji KAWAHARA

Assignees

  • Koji KAWAHARA

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20231207
Priority Date
20221207

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A liquid discharge head comprising: a nozzle hole from which a liquid is dischargeable in a discharge direction; a channel communicating with the nozzle hole to supply the liquid to the nozzle hole; a needle valve movable in the discharge direction to open or close the nozzle hole; a driver to move the needle valve in the discharge direction; a guide to guide the liquid in the channel toward the nozzle hole; and multiple nozzle holes including the nozzle hole; and multiple guides including the guide, wherein the channel includes: multiple individual chambers to respectively supply the liquid to the multiple nozzle holes; and a common chamber communicating with each of the multiple individual chambers, and the multiple guides respectively guide the liquid from the common chamber toward the multiple individual chambers, and wherein the multiple guides respectively have plates secured to the multiple individual chambers, respectively, wherein each of the multiple guides includes: a guide portion including a plate to guide the liquid toward the corresponding multiple individual chambers; and a bypass portion to guide the liquid to the common chamber communicating with another of the multiple individual chambers, the bypass portion includes multiple openings that penetrate through the plate of the guide portion.
  2. 2 . The liquid discharge head of claim 1 , wherein the guide includes: another channel inclined to guide the liquid toward the nozzle hole; and a further another channel inclined to guide the liquid away from the nozzle hole.
  3. 3 . The liquid discharge head of claim 1 , wherein: the guide includes a rotator rotatably attached to the needle valve in the channel.
  4. 4 . The liquid discharge head of claim 3 , wherein; the rotator is rotatable by the liquid flowing through the channel.
  5. 5 . The liquid discharge head of claim 3 , wherein: the guide includes a drive source to rotate the rotator.
  6. 6 . A liquid discharge apparatus comprising: the liquid discharge head according to claim 1 ; and circuitry coupled to the driver of the liquid discharge head to control movement of the needle valve.
  7. 7 . The liquid discharge apparatus of claim 6 , wherein: the circuitry changes a flow rate of a liquid supplied to the liquid discharge head according to a type of the liquid.
  8. 8 . The liquid discharge apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising: a filter on an upstream side of the liquid discharge head in a liquid supply direction of the liquid supplied to the liquid discharge head, the filter to remove foreign matter from the liquid.
  9. 9 . The liquid discharge head of claim 1 , wherein: wherein the multiple guides include have different size openings of the bypass portion.
  10. 10 . The liquid discharge head of claim 1 , wherein: the needle valve and the driver are coupled via a holder, the holder having a tip portion coupled to the needle valve and a rear end portion secured by a regulator attached to a housing.
  11. 11 . The liquid discharge head of claim 1 , further comprising: a seal disposed in the housing between the needle valve and a bearing portion.
  12. 12 . The liquid discharge head of claim 1 , wherein: the liquid is a settleable liquid including particles having a viscosity that settle in the channel when discharge is stopped.
  13. 13 . The liquid discharge head of claim 3 , wherein: the rotator is a propeller mechanism including a cylindrical sleeve and blades on an outer circumferential portion of the sleeve.
  14. 14 . The liquid discharge head of claim 3 , wherein: the rotator is a waterwheel mechanism including a rotating shaft and blades extending in a radial direction from an outer circumferential portion of the rotating shaft.
  15. 15 . The liquid discharge head of claim 13 , wherein: the cylindrical sleeve is rotatably supported on an outer periphery of a tip portion of the needle valve.
  16. 16 . The liquid discharge apparatus of claim 6 , wherein: the circuitry includes a waveform generation circuit configured to generate a drive pulse waveform to be applied to the driver.
  17. 17 . The liquid discharge apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the circuitry further includes: an amplifier circuit configured to amplify a voltage value of the drive pulse waveform, and a driver circuit configured to apply the amplified voltage to the driver.
  18. 18 . The liquid discharge apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising: a pump coupled to the circuitry and configured to send the liquid toward the liquid discharge head.
  19. 19 . The liquid discharge apparatus of claim 18 , wherein: the circuitry transmits an instruction signal for instructing the pump on a circulation flow rate of the liquid.
  20. 20 . The liquid discharge apparatus of claim 7 , wherein: the circuitry controls the circulation flow rate of the liquid based on at least one of particle density and particle concentration of the liquid.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-195276, filed on Dec. 7, 2022, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND Technical Field The present embodiment relates to a liquid discharge head and a liquid discharge apparatus. Description of the Related Art A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a liquid discharger including a plurality of liquid discharge ports that discharges liquid, a plurality of valves corresponding to the liquid discharge ports, and a plurality of drivers that drives the valves to open and close the liquid discharge ports: a liquid supply unit that supplies liquid under pressure to the liquid discharge body; and a control unit that controls the voltage to be applied to the drivers in accordance with the number of valves to be simultaneously driven among the plurality of valves. The liquid discharge apparatus can be used for discharging an inkjet ink, a surface treatment liquid, a liquid for forming components of an electronic element or a light-emitting element or for forming an electronic circuit resist pattern, a material liquid for three-dimensional fabrication, or the like. An inkjet printer includes: an ink tank that stores the ink to be supplied to each head unit: a circulation forward path that serves as a channel in which the ink to be supplied to each head unit circulates; and a circulation return path that serves as a channel in which the ink ejected from each head unit circulates. The inkjet printer can perform purging by using an ink. SUMMARY According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a liquid discharge head includes: a nozzle hole from which a liquid is dischargeable in a discharge direction: a channel communicating with the nozzle hole to supply the liquid to the nozzle hole: a needle valve movable in the discharge direction to openably close the nozzle hole; a driver to move the needle valve in the discharge direction; and a guide to guide the liquid in the channel toward the nozzle hole. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a liquid discharge head; FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of a head unit: FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a single liquid discharge module: FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a settleable liquid: FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory views illustrating a first embodiment: FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory views each illustrating a modification of the first embodiment: FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory views illustrating a modification of the first embodiment: FIG. 8 is an explanatory view illustrating a second embodiment; FIG. 9 is an explanatory view illustrating a modification of the second embodiment: FIG. 10 is an explanatory view illustrating a third embodiment: FIG. 11 is an explanatory view illustrating a modification of the third embodiment: FIGS. 12A and 12B are explanatory diagrams each illustrating an example of a liquid circulation device: FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a circulation flow rate information management table: FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a control system of a head unit, a pump, and an air regulator: FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of a controller; and FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an electrode manufacturing apparatus. The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of the present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In describing embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that have a similar function, operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similar result. Any one of the above-described operations may be performed in various other ways, for example, in an order different from the one described above. The methods described above can be provided as program codes stored in a recording med