Patents by Inventor Toru Kakiuchi

Toru Kakiuchi has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10406815
    Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing a liquid discharge apparatus including: forming a photoresist film made of a photoresist on a silicon substrate; exposing the photoresist film; forming a nozzle in the photoresist film by exposing the photoresist film and then developing the photoresist film; forming a channel hole in communication with the nozzle by carrying out an etching process from a surface of the substrate on the opposite side from the photoresist film after forming the nozzle; and joining a channel member to the surface of the substrate on the opposite side from the photoresist film, the channel member including a pressure chamber in communication with the channel hole and a piezoelectric element formed as a film to correspond to the pressure chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Publication number: 20190263116
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge head including: a channel substrate including a pressure chamber; a support substrate having a through hole; a piezoelectric element disposed between the channel substrate and the support substrate in a thickness direction of the channel substrate; a drive section disposed on a surface of the support substrate on a side opposite to the piezoelectric element; a trace passing through the through hole of the support substrate, extending on the support substrate toward the drive section, and connected to the piezoelectric element and the drive section; and a reservoir member including a channel communicating with the pressure chamber, and joined to the surface of the support substrate with adhesive. A protrusion or a recess is provided on the surface of the support substrate on the side opposite to the piezoelectric element at a position between the trace and the channel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2018
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Inventors: Yuichi Ito, Toru Kakiuchi, Yasuo Kato
  • Publication number: 20190237655
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including piezoelectric elements arranged in a first direction and first contacts arranged in the first direction; a protector including a first wall opposed to the piezoelectric elements and a second wall coupled to the first wall and joined to a region of the actuator at which the first contacts are disposed; first connection terminals disposed on the first; and first through electrodes formed in the second wall to bring the first contacts and the first connection terminals into conduction with each other. A distance between two of the first through electrodes which respectively correspond to two of the piezoelectric elements which are adjacent to each other in the first direction is greater than a distance in the first direction between the two of the piezoelectric elements which are adjacent to each other in the first direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 10, 2019
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toru KAKIUCHI, Yasuo KATO, Rui WANG, Yuichi ITO
  • Patent number: 10357971
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a liquid jetting apparatus includes: a wire formation step of forming a wire so that a part of the wire covers a piezoelectric film; and an electrode formation step of forming a second electrode, after the wire formation step, on a surface of the piezoelectric film on a side far from a vibration film so as to be in electrical conduction with the wire. The liquid jetting apparatus includes: a flow passage formation portion; and a piezoelectric actuator having the vibration film provided on the flow passage formation portion, the piezoelectric film arranged on the vibration film, a first electrode arranged on a surface of the piezoelectric film on a side near to the vibration film, the second electrode arranged on the surface of the piezoelectric film on the side far from the vibration film, and the wire connected to the second electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toru Kakiuchi, Keita Hirai
  • Publication number: 20190157541
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including a first contact; and a wire member including a second contact connected to the first contact with a conductive adhesive including a conductive particle. One of the first contact and the second contact is a particular contact. The other of the first contact and the second contact is a specific contact. At least two protrusions and at least one recess are formed on and in the particular contact. The at least two protrusions are arranged in a first direction. The at least one recess is interposed between the at least two protrusions. The particular contact is joined to the specific contact with the conductive adhesive provided in the at least one recess, in a state in which each of the at least two protrusions is in contact with the specific contact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Toru KAKIUCHI
  • Patent number: 10297743
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including piezoelectric elements arranged in a first direction and first contacts arranged in the first direction; a protector including a first wall opposed to the piezoelectric elements and a second wall coupled to the first wall and joined to a region of the actuator at which the first contacts are disposed; first connection terminals disposed on the first; and first through electrodes formed in the second wall to bring the first contacts and the first connection terminals into conduction with each other. A distance between two of the first through electrodes which respectively correspond to two of the piezoelectric elements which are adjacent to each other in the first direction is greater than a distance in the first direction between the two of the piezoelectric elements which are adjacent to each other in the first direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toru Kakiuchi, Yasuo Kato, Rui Wang, Yuichi Ito
  • Publication number: 20190105899
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including a first element contact; and a wire member including (a) a first contact connected to the first element contact and (b) a first wire configured to conduct with the first contact. A first wide portion is formed at a distal end portion of the first wire at an edge portion of the wire member. The first wide portion is disposed beyond the first element contact in a wire direction of the first wire. The first contact is disposed at a basal end portion of the first wire. The basal end portion is located further from the edge portion of the wire member than the first wide portion. The first contact is connected to the first element contact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2018
    Publication date: April 11, 2019
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Toru KAKIUCHI
  • Publication number: 20190105900
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid jet apparatus including a channel substrate having a plurality of pressure chambers and a film covering the plurality of pressure chambers, a piezoelectric layer, a plurality of individual electrodes, a common electrode, and a trace extending from one of the plurality of individual electrodes to pass through between two adjacent individual electrodes of the plurality of individual electrodes. An opening of the piezoelectric layer is provided between the two adjacent individual electrodes, and a metallic film is formed to cover the trace in such an area of the trace as to overlap with the opening positioned between the two adjacent individual electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2018
    Publication date: April 11, 2019
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Publication number: 20190097122
    Abstract: A piezoelectric actuator includes: a plurality of discrete electrodes, which is disposed on one side of a piezoelectric element; a common electrode, which is disposed on the other side of the piezoelectric element; a plurality of discrete contacts, which are respectively connected to the plurality of discrete electrodes, and wherein the plurality of discrete electrodes includes; a first discrete electrode; and a second discrete electrode, which is disposed at a position away from a corresponding discrete contact as compared with the first discrete electrode, wherein the common electrode includes: a first common electrode, which faces the first discrete electrode in the thickness direction; and a second common electrode, which is separated from the first common electrode in the surface direction and faces the second discrete electrode in the thickness direction, and wherein a connection wiring is provided to connect the first common electrode with the second common electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Publication date: March 28, 2019
    Inventors: Toru Kakiuchi, Keita Hirai
  • Publication number: 20190098768
    Abstract: An electrode connecting method includes: producing (i) a first circuit board including first electrodes spaced at a first distance and (ii) a second circuit board having a thermal expansion rate less than that of the first circuit board and including second electrodes spaced at a second distance, such that a difference in dimension between the first distance and the second distance falls within a particular permissible range; dehydrating the first circuit board so as to reduce the first distance; causing the first electrodes and the second electrodes to be respectively opposed to each other, with a thermosetting adhesive interposed between the first circuit board and the second circuit board; heating the thermosetting adhesive and at least the first circuit board of the first circuit board and the second circuit board; and bringing the first circuit board and the second circuit board into pressing contact with each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Publication date: March 28, 2019
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Patent number: 10236434
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including a first contact; and a wire member including a second contact connected to the first contact with a conductive adhesive including a conductive particle. One of the first contact and the second contact is a particular contact. The other of the first contact and the second contact is a specific contact. At least two protrusions and at least one recess are formed on and in the particular contact. The at least two protrusions are arranged in a first direction. The at least one recess is interposed between the at least two protrusions. The particular contact is joined to the specific contact with the conductive adhesive provided in the at least one recess, in a state in which each of the at least two protrusions is in contact with the specific contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Patent number: 10166773
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including a first element contact; and a wire member including (a) a first contact connected to the first element contact and (b) a first wire configured to conduct with the first contact. A first wide portion is formed at a distal end portion of the first wire at an edge portion of the wire member. The first wide portion is disposed beyond the first element contact in a wire direction of the first wire. The first contact is disposed at a basal end portion of the first wire. The basal end portion is located further from the edge portion of the wire member than the first wide portion. The first contact is connected to the first element contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Publication number: 20180342664
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including a first contact; and a wire member including a second contact connected to the first contact with a conductive adhesive including a conductive particle. One of the first contact and the second contact is a particular contact. The other of the first contact and the second contact is a specific contact. At least two protrusions and at least one recess are formed on and in the particular contact. The at least two protrusions are arranged in a first direction. The at least one recess is interposed between the at least two protrusions. The particular contact is joined to the specific contact with the conductive adhesive provided in the at least one recess, in a state in which each of the at least two protrusions is in contact with the specific contact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Publication number: 20180342825
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including first contacts arranged in a first direction; and a wire member including second contacts and joined to the actuator. The second contacts are arranged in the first direction and respectively connected to the first contacts. Each of particular contacts as the first contacts or the second contacts has a protruding and recessed portion including: at least two protrusions; and a recess between the at least two protrusions. The particular contacts include: at least one central-region contact disposed on a central region in the first direction; and at least one end-region contact disposed nearer to an end region than to the central region in the first direction. The protruding and recessed portion of each of the at least one central-region contact is different in shape from the protruding and recessed portion of each of the at least one end-region contact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toru KAKIUCHI, Yasuo KATO, Rui WANG, Yuichi ITO
  • Patent number: 10131144
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid jet apparatus including a channel substrate having a plurality of pressure chambers and a film covering the plurality of pressure chambers, a piezoelectric layer, a plurality of individual electrodes, a common electrode, and a trace extending from one of the plurality of individual electrodes to pass through between two adjacent individual electrodes of the plurality of individual electrodes. An opening of the piezoelectric layer is provided between the two adjacent individual electrodes, and a metallic film is formed to cover the trace in such an area of the trace as to overlap with the opening positioned between the two adjacent individual electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Patent number: 10124587
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharging apparatus including: a substrate formed with a first pressure chamber and two second pressure chambers; a vibration film; a first piezoelectric element; two second piezoelectric elements; a first wire connected to the first piezoelectric element; two second wires connected to the two second piezoelectric elements, respectively; and three contact sections to which the first wire and the two second wires are connected, respectively. The first wire passes between the two second piezoelectric elements and extends toward one of the three contact sections corresponding thereto; and length in the first direction of second active portions in second piezoelectric portions of the two second piezoelectric elements, is shorter than that of a first active portion in a first piezoelectric portion of the first piezoelectric element; and length in the second direction of the second active portion is longer than that of the first active portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi
  • Publication number: 20180297364
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus, including: first piezoelectric elements arranged on an element-disposed surface in a first direction; a protective cover covering the first piezoelectric elements and including a top wall portion and two side wall portions connected thereto; first wires drawn respectively from the first piezoelectric elements to an outside of the protective cover in a second direction parallel to the element-disposed surface and orthogonal to the first direction and extending on an outer surface of the top wall portion via an outer surface of a corresponding side wall portion; first terminals disposed on the outer surface of the top wall portion and connected respectively to the first wires; and a driver electrically connected to the first terminals, wherein a distance in the first direction between any adjacent two of the first wires on an outer surface of the protective cover is larger than that on the element-disposed surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2018
    Publication date: October 18, 2018
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Rui WANG, Yasuo KATO, Toru KAKIUCHI, Yuichi ITO
  • Publication number: 20180287044
    Abstract: An actuator device is provided. The actuator device includes: a first substrate including a contact; and a second substrate including a trace electrically connected to the contact. A portion of the second substrate is laminated to the first substrate in a first direction. The portion of the second substrate is adhered to the first substrate. A portion of the trace overlaps the contact in the first direction. A portion of the trace includes a plurality of terminals and a base section. The plurality of terminals are separated from each other. The base section is coupled to the plurality of terminals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Toru KAKIUCHI
  • Patent number: 10074922
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including first contacts arranged in a first direction; and a wire member including second contacts and joined to the actuator. The second contacts are arranged in the first direction and respectively connected to the first contacts. Each of particular contacts as the first contacts or the second contacts has a protruding and recessed portion including: at least two protrusions; and a recess between the at least two protrusions. The particular contacts include: at least one central-region contact disposed on a central region in the first direction; and at least one end-region contact disposed nearer to an end region than to the central region in the first direction. The protruding and recessed portion of each of the at least one central-region contact is different in shape from the protruding and recessed portion of each of the at least one end-region contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toru Kakiuchi, Yasuo Kato, Rui Wang, Yuichi Ito
  • Patent number: 10069058
    Abstract: An actuator device includes: an actuator including a first contact; and a wire member including a second contact connected to the first contact with a conductive adhesive including a conductive particle. One of the first contact and the second contact is a particular contact. The other of the first contact and the second contact is a specific contact. At least two protrusions and at least one recess are formed on and in the particular contact. The at least two protrusions are arranged in a first direction. The at least one recess is interposed between the at least two protrusions. The particular contact is joined to the specific contact with the conductive adhesive provided in the at least one recess, in a state in which each of the at least two protrusions is in contact with the specific contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Toru Kakiuchi