Patents by Inventor Junhua Zhang

Junhua Zhang 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: 8113630
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting method includes ejecting a liquid through a liquid ejecting head. Viscosity of the liquid falls within a range from 6 mPa·s to 15 mPa·s. The liquid ejecting head includes a nozzle that ejects the liquid, a pressure compartment that causes a change in the pressure of the liquid to eject the liquid through the nozzle, and a supply unit that communicates with the pressure compartment and supplies the liquid to the pressure compartment. A channel flow resistance of the supply unit ranges from equal to or higher than a channel flow resistance of the pressure compartment to equal to or lower than twice the channel flow resistance of the pressure compartment. A channel length of the pressure compartment ranges from equal to or longer than a channel length of the supply unit to equal to or shorter than twice the channel length of the supply unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Junhua Zhang
  • Patent number: 8109588
    Abstract: Provided is a liquid ejecting method, including: ejecting a liquid from a liquid ejecting head, wherein the viscosity of the liquid is in a range from 6 mPa·s to 20 mPa·s, wherein the liquid ejecting head includes: nozzles which eject the liquid; a pressure chamber which applies a pressure variation to the liquid in order to eject the liquid from the nozzles; and a supply unit which communicates with the pressure chamber and supplies the liquid to the pressure chamber, and wherein the opening area of the nozzles on the side in which the liquid is ejected is 1/10 or less of the opening area of the opening of the supply unit on the pressure chamber side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kinya Ozawa, Junhua Zhang
  • Publication number: 20120013686
    Abstract: A liquid-jet head comprising a pressure generating chamber, which is supplied with a liquid via a liquid supply path and in which a nozzle orifice for jetting the liquid is formed, and a pressure generator for causing a pressure change within the pressure generating chamber, wherein when an inertance and a passage resistance of the liquid supply path are designated as M1 and R1, respectively, and an inertance and a passage resistance of the nozzle orifice are designated as M2 and R2, respectively, relationships M2<M1 and R2>2×R1 hold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2011
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Junhua ZHANG
  • Publication number: 20120007909
    Abstract: Provided is a liquid ejecting head, a liquid ejecting head unit, and a liquid ejecting apparatus are provided that can secure sufficient compliance in a manifold and prevent degradation in liquid dispensing characteristic. In the liquid ejecting head, a flow path plate including pressure chambers arranged in a row, a manifold plate including a manifold communicating with the pressure chambers, thus constituting a common liquid chamber, a compliance plate that seals the manifold, and a nozzle plate including a nozzle orifice communicating with the pressure chamber so as to eject a liquid, are stacked in this order. The compliance plate includes a flexible compliance portion formed in a region opposing the manifold, and the nozzle plate includes a through hole formed in a region opposing the compliance portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2011
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Junhua Zhang
  • Publication number: 20120007906
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a liquid ejecting head that includes nozzle openings through which liquid is ejected and pressure generation units that cause changes in pressure of the liquid inside pressure generation chambers communicating with the nozzle openings; a control unit that supplies a driving signal for causing the liquid ejecting head to eject the liquid, to the pressure generation units, and controls ejection of the liquid by the liquid ejecting head; and a temperature detection unit that detects a temperature of a contact portion with which the liquid ejected by the liquid ejecting head comes in contact, wherein the control unit corrects the driving signal on the basis of the temperature information detected by the temperature detection unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2011
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Junhua Zhang
  • Publication number: 20110242171
    Abstract: An ejection pulse DP sequentially and continuously includes an expansion phase p1 where a voltage changes so as to cause a pressure chamber to expand, an expansion hold phase p2 where a potential at an end edge of the expansion phase is maintained for a predetermined time, a contraction phase where the voltage changes so as to cause the pressure chamber to contract, and a time t1 between a start edge and the end edge of the expansion phase and a time t2 between a start edge and an end edge of the contraction phase are specified in the following range, respectively: Tc/3?t1?Tc ??(A) Tc/3?t2?Tc ??(B)
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2011
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Junhua ZHANG
  • Publication number: 20110221809
    Abstract: A resonance pulse is a voltage waveform substantially containing an expansion element for varying a voltage to expand a pressure chamber, an expansion sustaining element generated following with the expansion element, and sustaining a maximum voltage at a predetermined value, and a contraction element generated following with the expansion sustaining element, and varying the voltage to contract the pressure chamber. A time span from a front end of the expansion element to a front end of the contraction element is set as ½ of an inherent vibration cycle of ink in the pressure chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2011
    Publication date: September 15, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Junhua ZHANG, Toshihisa SARUTA
  • Patent number: 7971956
    Abstract: Provided herein is a liquid container including a liquid containing portion for containing liquid; and a detection portion which outputs a detection signal having a frequency of about 1/odd number of a frequency of a detection signal output when the amount of liquid contained in the liquid containing portion is equal to or less than a predetermined amount, when the amount of liquid contained in the liquid containing portion is greater than the predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Junhua Zhang
  • Patent number: 7959273
    Abstract: In an ink cartridge, a negative pressure generating mechanism is disposed between an ink storage region and an ink supply port, and has a wall surface having two through-holes for ink flow, and a valve member contacted with and separated from the through-hole by receiving a pressure in an ink supply port side. Ink flowing via the through-hole is supplied via the through-hole to the ink supply port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Yajima, Akira Ichihashi, Junhua Zhang, Akihisa Wanibe
  • Publication number: 20110007108
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a nozzle, a pressure chamber and a liquid supply portion that supplies the liquid to the pressure chamber. A discharge pulse generating unit generates a discharge pulse to discharge the liquid. The viscosity of the liquid is no less than 8 millipascal-seconds. The nozzle has a first portion with a discharge side that has an opening area smaller than that of a pressure chamber side and a second portion that communicates with an end portion of the discharge side. An opening area of the second portion is no greater than 1/9 of the opening area of the pressure chamber side. The discharge pulse has a decompression portion that decompresses the liquid to lead a meniscus in the second portion to the first portion and a compression portion that compresses the liquid to discharge the liquid before the meniscus returns to the second portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2010
    Publication date: January 13, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kinya OZAWA, Junhua ZHANG
  • Patent number: 7862135
    Abstract: A method of driving a liquid ejecting head is provided. The liquid ejecting head varies pressure of a liquid in a pressure-generating chamber as a result of operating a pressure-generating element by supplying an ejection pulse, to eject liquid drops from a nozzle opening due to the pressure variation. The method includes performing a first contraction and performing a second contraction. In the first contraction, the liquid drops are ejected from the nozzle opening as a result of contracting the pressure-generating chamber. In the second contraction, the pressure-generating chamber is contracted so as to reduce withdrawal towards the pressure-generating chamber, of a meniscus after the ejection of the liquid drops A time from a start of the first contraction to a start of the second contraction is between ¼ to ¾ of a Helmholtz vibration period Tc of the pressure-generating chamber. A time of the first contraction is less than or equal to a natural vibration period Ta of the pressure-generating element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Junhua Zhang
  • Publication number: 20100188451
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a liquid ejecting head which includes nozzles, pressure generating chambers communicating with the nozzles, and pressure generating elements causing a pressure change in a liquid of the pressure generating chambers and which ejects the liquid from the nozzles in response to an operation of the pressure generating elements; and a driving signal generating unit which drives the pressure generating elements to repeatedly generate a driving signal containing an ejection driving pulse used to eject the liquid from the nozzles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2010
    Publication date: July 29, 2010
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kinya Ozawa, Junhua Zhang
  • Publication number: 20100141698
    Abstract: A liquid discharging apparatus includes: a pressure chamber that is in communication with a nozzle; an element that operates to cause a pressure change in liquid retained in the pressure chamber; and a discharging pulse generating unit that generates a discharging pulse for operating the element to discharge the liquid from the nozzle, wherein the discharging pulse generating unit generates an anterior discharging pulse and a posterior discharging pulse in such a manner that a time period A from the end of the anterior discharging pulse to the start of the posterior discharging pulse satisfies the following formula (1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2009
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Kinya Ozawa, Junhua Zhang
  • Patent number: 7695083
    Abstract: A printing apparatus to which a printing material container is detachably mounted, the printing material container having a piezoelectric element for detecting the amount of material stored in the container and a memory unit storing the natural vibration frequency of the piezoelectric element, the printing apparatus comprising means for acquiring the frequency information from the memory unit, means for generating a drive having a first signal waveform at a first frequency and a second signal waveform at a second frequency different from the first frequency, means for selectively supplying either the first or second signal waveform to the piezoelectric element so as to increase the amplitude of the vibrations of the piezoelectric element; means for detecting a response signal, means for measuring the vibration frequency contained in the response signal, and means for determining the amount of material stored in the printing material container based on the measured vibration frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Junhua Zhang
  • Patent number: 7618105
    Abstract: The invention relates to a liquid sensor which can certainly judge the existence of liquid, and a liquid container including the sensor. A liquid sensor 60 in which a piezoelectric element having a piezoelectric layer 47 on both surfaces of which electrodes 46 and 49 are formed is used, and a bottom 43a of a cavity 43 for receiving liquid as a detection object is vibrated. The sensor 60 includes a vibration cavity forming base portion 40 in which the cavity 43 having the vibratable bottom 43a is formed, and a flow path forming base portion 50 laminated on the vibration cavity forming base portion 40. A liquid supply path 53 for supplying the liquid as the detection object to the cavity 43 and a liquid discharge path 54 for discharging the liquid as the detection object from the cavity 43 are formed in the flow path forming base portion 50.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoaki Takahashi, Junhua Zhang
  • Patent number: 7600847
    Abstract: A printing apparatus and method for detecting the amount of a printing material in a detachable printing material container comprised of a piezoelectric element and a memory in which frequency information is stored. The printing apparatus further comprises an acquiring unit that acquires the frequency information from the memory; a supplying unit that supplies a driving signal to be used for driving the piezoelectric element based on the frequency information of a first driving signal having a first frequency and a second driving signal having a second frequency that is different from the first frequency; a detecting unit that detects a response signal in response to the vibration of the piezoelectric element; a measuring unit that measures vibration frequency contained in the response signal; and a determining unit that determines the amount of the printing material contained in the printing material container based on the measured vibration frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2009
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Junhua Zhang
  • Publication number: 20090244128
    Abstract: Provided is a liquid ejecting method, including: ejecting a liquid from a liquid ejecting head, wherein the viscosity of the liquid is in a range from 6 mPa·s to 20 mPa·s, wherein the liquid ejecting head includes: nozzles which eject the liquid; a pressure chamber which applies a pressure variation to the liquid in order to eject the liquid from the nozzles; and a supply unit which communicates with the pressure chamber and supplies the liquid to the pressure chamber, and wherein the opening area of the nozzles on the side in which the liquid is ejected is or less of the opening area of the opening of the supply unit on the pressure chamber side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2009
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kinya OZAWA, Junhua ZHANG
  • Publication number: 20090219313
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting method includes ejecting a liquid through a liquid ejecting head. Viscosity of the liquid falls within a range from 6 mPa·s to 15 mPa·s. The liquid ejecting head includes a nozzle that ejects the liquid, a pressure compartment that causes a change in the pressure of the liquid to eject the liquid through the nozzle, and a supply unit that communicates with the pressure compartment and supplies the liquid to the pressure compartment. A channel flow resistance of the supply unit ranges from equal to or higher than a channel flow resistance of the pressure compartment to equal to or lower than twice the channel flow resistance of the pressure compartment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Publication date: September 3, 2009
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Suzuki, Junhua Zhang
  • Patent number: 7578567
    Abstract: A liquid detecting container includes a cartridge case having a sending passage for sending out liquid, buffer chambers by the end of the sending passage, and a sensor unit disposed facing the buffer chambers. A sensor chip in the sensor unit includes a sensor cavity communicating with the buffer chambers, a vibration plate closing an opening side of the sensor cavity opposite to the side communicating with the buffer chambers, and a piezoelectric element disposed on the surface of the vibration plate opposite to the surface facing the sensor cavity; emits a vibration wave to the sensor cavity and the buffer chambers through the vibration plate, receives a reflected wave from the buffer chambers through the vibration plate, and then converts the reflected wave into an electrical signal. The compliance values of the buffer chambers are set ten times greater than the compliance value of the sensor cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Junhua Zhang, Takahiro Katakura, Takayoshi Katsumura
  • Patent number: 7503647
    Abstract: The invention relates to a liquid sensor which can certainly judge the existence of liquid, and a liquid container including the sensor. The liquid sensor has: a vibration cavity forming base portion 40 having a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, in which a cavity 43 for receiving liquid as a detection object is opened at a side of the first surface, and a bottom of the cavity 43 is capable of vibrating; and a piezoelectric element including a first electrode 46 formed at a side of the second surface of the vibration cavity forming base portion, a piezoelectric layer 47 laminated on the first electrode, and a second electrode 49 laminated on the piezoelectric layer. A shape of the cavity 43 in a plan view has a longitudinal dimension and a lateral dimension smaller than the longitudinal dimension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2009
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Junhua Zhang