• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.10 s.253
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• pp.942-949
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• 2006

A lumped model is proposed to predict liquid ejection characteristics of a thermally driven inkjet print head. The model is based on a two-dimensional heat conduction equation, an empirical pressure-temperature equation and a nonlinear hydraulic flow-pressure equation. It has been simulated through the construction of an equivalent R-C circuit, and subsequently analyzed using SIMULINK and a circuit simulation tool, PLECS. Using the model, heating and cooling characteristics of the head are predicted to be in agreement with the IR temperature measurements. The effects of the head geometry on the drop ejection are also analyzed using the nonlinear hydraulic model. The present model can be used as a design tool for a better design of thermal inkjet print heads.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.337-342
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• 2022

Although printing technology has recently been widely used in IT fields including displays and fuel cells, residual and thermal stress are generated by a manufacturing process of stacking the layers of the print head and result in the substrate deformation and nozzle plate crack, which may cause ink leaks or not be ejected onto a desired region. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new design of thermal inkjet print head with a robust and reliable structure. Diverse types of inkjet print head such as a rib, pillar, support wall and individual feed hole are designed to reduce the deformation of the substrate and nozzle plate, and their feasibility is numerically investigated through FEA analysis. The numerical results show that the maximum stress and deformation of proposed print head dramatically drops to at least 40~50%, and it is confirmed that there is no nozzle plate cracks and ink leakage through the fabrication of pillar and support wall typed print head. Therefore, it is expected that the proposed head shape can be applied not only to ink ejection in the normal direction, but also to large-area printing technology.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.2 s.257
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• pp.141-150
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• 2007

This paper presents a lumped model to predict crosstalk characteristics of thermally driven inkjet print heads. Using the lumped R-C model, heating characteristics of the head are predicted to be in agreement with IR temperature measurements. The inter-channel crosstalk is simulated using the lumped R-L network. The values of viscous flow resistance, R and flow inertance, L of connecting channels are adjusted to accord with the 3-D numerical simulation results of three adjacent jets. The crosstalk behaviors of a back shooter head as well as a top shooter head have been investigated. Predictions of the proposed lumped model on the meniscus oscillations are consistent with numerical simulation results. Comparison of the lumped model with experimental results identifies that abnormal two-drop ejection phenomena are related to the increased meniscus oscillations because of the more severe crosstalk effects at higher printing speeds. The degree of crosstalk has been quantified using cross-correlations between neighboring channels and a critical channel dimension for acceptable crosstalk has been proposed and validated with the numerical simulations. Our model can be used as a design tool for a better design of thermal inkjet print heads to minimize crosstalk effects.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.529-534
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• 2023

Although line printing technology is capable of high-speed and large area printing, residual stresses generated during the manufacturing process can deform the feedhole, causing nozzle plate crack or ink leaks. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new thermal inkjet print head that is robust, reliable and more suitable for line-printing. The amount of deformation of the conventional line printing head measured through the experiment was converted into an equivalent load, and the validity of the load estimation method was verified through FEA analysis. In addition, in order to minimize deformation without increasing the head size, the head structure was designed to increase internal rigidity by reinforcing the unit nozzle with a pillar or support wall or by adding a support beam or dry/wet etched bridge. The FEA analysis results show that the feedhole deformation was reduced by up to 90%, and it is confirmed that the suggested print head with dry etched feedhole bridge operates normally without nozzle plate cracks and ink leakage through fabrication.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.4 s.235
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• pp.526-533
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• 2005

Reliability problem in inkjet printhead, one of MEMS devices, is also very important. To eject an ink drop, the temperature of heater must be high so that ink contacting with surface reaches above $280^{o}C$ on the instant. Its heater is embedded in the thin multi-layer in which several materials are deposited. MEMS processes are the main sources of residual stresses development. Residual stress is one of the factors reducing the reliability of MEMS devices. We measured residual stresses of single layers that consist of multilayer. FE analysis is performed using design of experiment(DOE). Transient analysis for heat transfer is performed to get a temperature distribution. And then static analysis is performed with the temperature distribution obtained by heat transfer analysis and the measured residual stresses to get a stress distribution in the structure. Although the residual stress is bigger than thermal stress, thermal stress is more influential on fatigue life.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2012.11a
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• pp.187-188
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• 2012

magnetron-sputtering법을 사용하여 $Cr_{1-x}Al_xN$ 박막을 증착함에 있어 Al 함량의 변화를 주었다. 그 후 열처리를 통하여 thermal inkjet 방식 print head의 heater resistor 소재로서의 특성 향상을 도모하였다. Al의 함량이 증가할수록 결정구조는 NaCl에서 wurtzite HCP 구조로 변화하였으며 전기적 특성 또한 다르게 나타났다. 비열처리 시 Al 함량이 클수록 결정성은 떨어진다는 것을 확인하였고, 열처리 시 Al 함량이 적을 수 록 더 안정한 온도 저항 계수를 나타내는 것을 확인하였다.