CN112918115A - Ink cartridge and inkjet printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an ink box and printing equipment, wherein the ink box comprises a shell, an ink storage cavity and an ink supply cavity are arranged in the shell, the ink supply cavity comprises a first cavity, a second cavity and a partition plate, and the first cavity comprises a first channel and a second channel which are separated by the partition plate; one end of the first channel forms a first opening on the bottom wall of the ink storage cavity, and the first channel is communicated with the ink storage cavity through the first opening; one end of the second channel forms a second opening on the bottom wall of the ink storage cavity, and the second channel is communicated with the ink storage cavity through the second opening; the other end of the first channel and the other end of the second channel are communicated through the second chamber. The partition plate is arranged in the narrow ink supply cavity, the coanda effect of fluid is increased, gas-liquid separation is facilitated, the ink supply cavity has a double-channel structure, ink flows into the ink supply cavity from one channel with larger ink gravity in the first channel or the second channel, and gas is discharged from the ink supply cavity from the other channel and flows back to the ink storage cavity, so that bubbles are effectively prevented from being gathered in the ink supply cavity.

Description

Ink cartridge and inkjet printing apparatus

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of printing consumables, in particular to an ink box and jet printing equipment with the same.

Background

In the field of printing consumables, an ink cartridge is a consumable commonly used in an inkjet printing device, and is usually designed as a separate accessory and sold separately from a printer. Independently designed and sold ink cartridges have three basic functions: storing liquid ink, supplying ink to the jet printing apparatus and adapting the jet printing apparatus. The user installs the ink horn on spouting seal equipment, spouts seal equipment's ink extractor and inserts the inside absorption ink of ink horn through the ink outlet of ink horn.

However, since air is soluble in ink under the influence of pressure and temperature, it is difficult to completely separate ink stored in the ink cartridge from air during manufacture and use of the ink cartridge, and the air which is difficult to separate is dissolved in the ink and exists in the form of bubbles, and when the bubbles in the ink enter a relatively elongated ink supply chamber or an ink drawer, bubble aggregation may occur, which largely hinders the flow of the ink, and even an air lock phenomenon occurs, in which pressure generated by the ink and suction generated by the ink drawer are absorbed by the bubbles of variable volume, which may cause ink supply failure.

At present, in order to avoid the occurrence of bubble aggregation, the first method is to add a check valve, which has two working states of latching ink in an ink supply cavity and replenishing ink to the ink supply cavity, and the working state is determined by the pressure difference between two sides of the check valve, and the pressure difference is related to the valve body, the spring, the diaphragm, the suction force of an ink extractor in the ink jet printing device, and the like. Therefore, the assembly complexity and precision requirement of the check valve directly affect the production efficiency, and the components of the check valve directly affect the production cost, which has the problems of high cost and high complexity. The second is to ensure a proper amount of ink to be supplied to the head by the characteristics of the material such as sponge, and to realize the gas-liquid exchange function by the capillary action of the sponge. When the sponge volume soaked in the ink is smaller, the sponge which is easy to saturate loses the capillary action and cannot play a role of lifting the ink, the sponge with larger volume has more obvious capillary action, but occupies larger volume of the ink storage cavity, the ink supply effect is influenced when the ink is printed at high speed, and even the ink is cut off, so that the problems of low capacity of the ink storage cavity and insufficient ink supply exist although the cost is low.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to solving at least one of the problems of the prior art. To this end, the present invention provides an ink cartridge capable of preventing air bubbles from accumulating in an ink supply chamber.

The invention also provides jet printing equipment with the ink box.

The ink box comprises a shell, wherein an ink storage cavity and an ink supply cavity are arranged in the shell, the ink supply cavity is connected with the ink storage cavity, the ink supply cavity is provided with an ink outlet, the ink outlet is positioned on one side of the ink supply cavity far away from the ink storage cavity, the ink supply cavity comprises a first cavity, a second cavity and a partition plate, and the first cavity comprises a first channel and a second channel which are separated by the partition plate; one end of the first channel forms a first opening on the bottom wall of the ink storage cavity, and the first channel is communicated with the ink storage cavity through the first opening; one end of the second channel forms a second opening on the bottom wall of the ink storage cavity, and the second channel is communicated with the ink storage cavity through the second opening; the other end of the first channel is communicated with the other end of the second channel through the second chamber.

The ink box provided by the embodiment of the invention has at least the following beneficial effects: the ink box is provided with the partition plate in the first cavity of the ink supply cavity to form the first channel and the second channel, the tail ends of the two channels are communicated, the partition plate can increase the wall surface, so that the coanda effect of fluid is increased, gas-liquid separation is facilitated, the ink supply cavity is of a dual-channel structure, the fluid pressure of ink applied to openings of the two channels is different, the ink flows into the ink supply cavity from one channel of the first channel or the second channel, which is subjected to the large fluid pressure, and the gas is discharged from the ink supply cavity from the other channel and flows back to the ink storage cavity, so that bubbles are effectively prevented from being gathered in the ink supply cavity. Compare with the setting of the check valve among the prior art, the division board setting of this application has reduced the complexity of processing cost, material cost and assembly.

According to some embodiments of the invention, an area of the first opening is larger than an area of the second opening.

According to some embodiments of the invention, the first opening is lower than the second opening.

According to some embodiments of the invention, the second opening and the first opening are both located on the same side of a center of mass of the ink reservoir, the distance from the center of mass to the first opening being less than the distance from the center of mass to the second opening.

According to some embodiments of the invention, the first channel has a first step.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the inner wall surface of the first passage has a first slope inclined downward toward the ink outlet, and a normal line of the first slope extends in a direction approaching the ink reservoir.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the inner wall surface of the second passage has a second slope inclined upward toward the second opening, a normal line of the second slope extending in a direction away from the ink reservoir.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the inner circumferential wall of the ink supply chamber is provided with a limit protrusion located below the partition plate and adjacent to the ink outlet, and the limit protrusion and the partition plate have a predetermined interval therebetween.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the partition plate has a partition portion and an extension portion extending from a bottom wall of the partition portion toward the ink outlet in an axial direction of the ink supply chamber.

A printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention comprises the ink cartridge according to the above embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention.

According to the printing device provided by the embodiment of the invention, at least the following beneficial effects are achieved: by adopting the ink box, air bubbles are effectively prevented from being gathered in the ink supply cavity of the ink box. And meanwhile, the processing cost, the material cost and the assembly complexity are reduced.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

Drawings

The above and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of an ink cartridge of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1 from another perspective without the face cover;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2 at A;

FIG. 4 is a second cross-sectional schematic perspective view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 4 at B;

FIG. 6 is a third cross-sectional schematic perspective view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 6 at C;

fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention.

Reference numerals:

an ink cartridge 10;

the ink supply device comprises a shell 100, an ink storage cavity 110, an ink supply cavity 120, an ink outlet 121, a partition plate 130, a partition part 131, an extension part 132, a first channel 140, a first stepped part 141, a first inclined surface 142, a first opening 143, a second channel 150, a second inclined surface 151, a second opening 152 and a limit convex part 160;

face lid 200, seal 300.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below appropriately with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiment described below is only one example of implementing the present invention; it is to be understood that the embodiments may be appropriately changed without departing from the intended scope of the present invention. In the following description, the direction of gravity after the ink cartridge 10 is mounted will be defined as the downward direction, and the direction opposite to the direction of gravity will be defined as the upward direction. It will be understood that the terms "upper," "lower," "front," "back," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "axial," and the like are used in the orientations and positional relationships indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the present invention and to simplify the description, and do not indicate or imply that the referenced devices or elements must be in a particular orientation, constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus are not to be considered limiting of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 to 7, an ink cartridge 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plastic casing 100, a face cap 200, and a sealing member 300, where the casing 100 is substantially rectangular parallelepiped, an ink storage chamber 110 substantially rectangular parallelepiped and an ink supply chamber 120 substantially cylindrical are disposed in the casing 100, the ink supply chamber 120 is located below the ink storage chamber 110, that is, the ink supply chamber 120 is formed on a bottom wall of the ink storage chamber 110 and is communicated with the ink storage chamber 110, and an area of the bottom wall of the ink storage chamber 110 is larger than an area of a top wall of the ink supply chamber 120, so as to ensure that ink enters the ink supply chamber 120 with a smaller volume from the ink storage chamber 110 with a larger volume under the action of its own gravity, and fills the ink supply chamber 120. The face cap 200 is hermetically covered on the top opening of the ink storage chamber 110, for example, the face cap 200 is hermetically welded to the housing 100, and the sealing member 300 is installed at the ink outlet 121 of the ink supply chamber 120, so that the housing 100, the face cap 200 and the sealing member 300 together form a sealed container for the ink cartridge 10, which is convenient for transportation and storage of ink.

It should be noted that the housing 100 and the ink storage chamber 110 may have other shapes, such as a square or a cylinder, and are not limited herein.

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, the ink supply chamber 120 includes a first chamber near the ink reservoir 110, a second chamber near the ink outlet 121, and a partition plate 130 extending from a top wall of the ink supply chamber 120 toward the ink outlet 121. The partition 130 divides the first chamber of the ink supply chamber 120 into a first channel 140 and a second channel 150, the first channel 140 and the second channel 150 extend from the top wall of the ink supply chamber 120 to the ink outlet 121, the first channel 140 forms a first opening 143 on the bottom wall of the ink storage chamber 110, the second channel 150 forms a second opening 152 on the bottom wall of the ink storage chamber 110, the ink supply chamber 120 communicates with the ink storage chamber 110 through the first opening 143 and the second opening 152, and the bottom end of the first channel 140 and the bottom end of the second channel 150 communicate below the partition 130, in other words, the first channel 140 and the second channel 150 communicate through the second chamber. The bottom end of the first channel 140 has a predetermined distance from the ink outlet 121, and the bottom end of the second channel 150 has a predetermined distance from the ink outlet 121.

When the ink cartridge 10 is installed in a printer, the ink cartridge 10 is adjusted to a posture that the ink outlet 121 faces downward, so that the ink in the ink storage cavity 110 enters the ink supply cavity 120 under the action of self gravity, a first cavity of the ink supply cavity 120 is connected with the ink storage cavity 110, and a second cavity of the ink supply cavity 120 is communicated with an ink collector of the printer. On one hand, the partition 130 in the first chamber of the ink supply chamber 120 can increase the wall surface of the ink supply chamber 120, that is, the wall surface area of the ink supply chamber 120 is increased, so as to increase the coanda effect of the fluid and facilitate gas-liquid separation; on the other hand, the partition plate 130 realizes that the ink supply chamber 120 has a dual-channel structure, when the gravity (i.e., the fluid pressure received at the opening) applied by the ink in the ink storage chamber 110 to the first opening 143 and the second opening 152 is different, the ink in the ink storage chamber 110 flows into the ink supply chamber 120 from one of the first channel 140 and the second channel 150, which is subjected to the larger gravity, and the gas is discharged from the ink supply chamber 120 from the other channel and flows back to the ink storage chamber 110, so that the air bubbles are effectively prevented from being gathered in the ink supply chamber 120, and the air lock phenomenon is effectively avoided.

Compared with the arrangement of the one-way valve in the prior art, the partition plate 130 is arranged in the narrow ink supply cavity 120, so that the mold manufacturing and the injection molding processing are easier to realize, and the processing cost, the material cost and the assembly complexity are reduced; compared with the arrangement of the sponge in the prior art, the ink storage capacity is high, and the ink supply is continuous.

As shown in fig. 3, in one embodiment of the present invention, the first opening 143 of the first channel 140 formed on the bottom wall of the ink reservoir 110 has a first area S1, the second opening 152 of the second channel 150 formed on the bottom wall of the ink reservoir 110 has a second area S2, and the first area S1 is different from the second area S2, so that the force exerted on the first opening 143 and the second opening 152 by the ink in the ink reservoir 110 is different. In this embodiment, the first area S1 is larger than the second area S2, and since the fluid pressure F received at the opening of the channel is equal to the pressure p, the force-receiving area S, when the first area S1 is larger than the second area S2, the fluid pressure F1 at the first opening 143 is larger than the fluid pressure F2 at the second opening 152, which is beneficial to the ink in the ink storage chamber 110 flowing into the ink supply chamber 120 from the first channel 140 with a large top opening area, and the gas discharging from the ink supply chamber 120 from the second channel 150 with a small top opening area, thereby better preventing the air bubbles from accumulating in the ink supply chamber 120.

As shown in FIG. 8, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the first opening 143 is lower than the second opening 152, and thus when the ink cartridge 10 is installed, the first opening 143 of the first channel 140 formed in the bottom wall of the ink reservoir 110 is a first depth h1 from the ink level in the ink reservoir 110, the second opening 152 of the second channel 150 formed in the bottom wall of the ink reservoir 110 is a second depth h2 from the ink level in the ink reservoir 110, and the first depth h1 is different from the second depth h2, such that the force exerted by the ink in the ink reservoir 110 on the first opening 143 is different from the force exerted by the ink in the second opening 152. In the present embodiment, the first depth h1 is greater than the second depth h 2. When the depth H1 at the first opening 143 is greater than the depth H2 at the second opening 152, the fluid pressure at the first opening 143 is greater than the fluid pressure at the second opening 152, which facilitates the ink in the ink storage chamber 110 to flow into the ink supply chamber 120 from the first channel 140, and the gas is discharged from the ink supply chamber 120 from the second channel 150, so that the air bubbles can be better prevented from accumulating in the ink supply chamber 120.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, referring to fig. 4, the second opening 152 and the first opening 143 are both located on the same side of the centroid of the ink storage chamber 110, and the distance from the centroid to the first opening 143 is smaller than the distance from the centroid to the second opening 152, which facilitates the ink in the ink storage chamber 110 to flow from the first channel 140 into the ink supply chamber 120. It is understood that at least two thirds of the volume of the ink storage chamber 110 and the first channel 140 are located on the same side of the partition 130, which facilitates the ink in the ink storage chamber 110 to flow into the ink supply chamber 120 from the first channel 140.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, referring to fig. 5, the inner wall surface of the first channel 140 has a first step portion 141, the step surface of the first step portion 141 is located below the first opening 143, and the flow cross section of the first channel 140 is narrowed at the first step portion 141, in other words, the flow cross section of the first channel 140 at the first step portion 141 is smaller than the flow cross section of the first opening 143. In the present embodiment, the stepped surface of the first stepped portion 141 is parallel to the bottom wall of the ink reservoir 110. The first step 141 is beneficial to the ink in the ink storage chamber 110 flowing into the ink supply chamber 120 from the first channel 140, and increases the wall surface of the first channel 140, so as to enlarge the fluid wall attachment effect and help the gas-liquid separation.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, referring to fig. 3 and 5, the inner wall surface of the first channel 140 has a first slope 142 that is inclined downward toward the ink outlet 121 of the ink supply chamber 120, and a normal line of the first slope 142 extends in a direction near the bottom wall of the ink reservoir 110. In the present embodiment, the first inclined surface 142 is connected to the first step portion 141, and of course, in other embodiments, the first inclined surface 142 may be directly connected to the first opening 143. The first inclined surface 142 not only ensures that the ink has a jet phenomenon in the process of entering the ink supply cavity 120 from the ink storage cavity 110, but also ensures that the ink is better attached to the wall surface, and avoids the formation of air pockets. In addition, the first inclined surface 142 facilitates the ink or air to enter and exit the ink supply cavity 120 more smoothly, increases the length of the wall surface of the first channel 140, enables the ink to have a longer flowing distance, and enlarges the fluid coanda effect.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, referring to fig. 5, the inner circumferential wall of the ink supply chamber 120 is provided with a limit protrusion 160, the limit protrusion 160 is located below the partition 130 and adjacent to the ink outlet 121 with a predetermined interval therebetween, and the limit protrusion 160 is used to limit an element (e.g., a sealing member 300 or a check member (i.e., a check valve)) to prevent the element from moving to the dual channel by an external force. Specifically, the limiting convex part 160 is a second step, and the second step is located below the second channel 150, so that the structure is simple and the processing is convenient. The convex stopper 160 may be a rib.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, referring to fig. 5, the partition plate 130 has a partition 131 and two extensions 132, the two extensions 132 extend from the bottom wall of the partition 131 toward the ink outlet 121 of the ink supply chamber 120 along the axial direction of the ink supply chamber 120, the two extensions 132 are respectively located at two sides of the partition 131, and the extension 132 increases the wall surface to enlarge the fluid wall attachment effect.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1 to 5, the first chamber and the second chamber are vertically arranged with a horizontal plane on which the bottom wall of the partition 131 of the partition plate 130 is located, specifically, the first chamber is an upper chamber of the ink supply chamber 120, and the second chamber is a lower chamber of the ink supply chamber 120. It is understood that, in other embodiments, the first chamber and the second chamber may also be arranged front and back by taking the plane of the end of the partition plate 130 as a boundary, specifically, the ink supply chamber 120 may also be divided into a front chamber and a back chamber, the back chamber is communicated with the ink storage chamber 110, the front chamber is communicated with the ink collector, and the ink outlet of the ink supply chamber 120 is located at the bottom wall of the front chamber. A partition plate 130 is horizontally arranged in the rear chamber, the partition plate 130 divides the rear chamber of the ink supply chamber 120 into a first channel 140 and a second channel 150, the first channel 140 is located below the second channel 150, an opening at the head end of the first channel 140 is called a first opening 143, an opening at the head end of the second channel 150 is called a second opening 152, the first opening 143 and the second opening 152 are both communicated with the ink storage chamber 110, and the tail end of the first channel 140 is communicated with the tail end of the second channel 150.

It should be noted that the partition plate 130 may be disposed horizontally, vertically, or obliquely, and is not limited to this, as long as the partition plate 130 can partition the part of the chamber (i.e., the first chamber mentioned above) of the ink supply chamber 120 connected to the ink storage chamber 110 to form two channels.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the housing 100 and the partition plate 130 are both made of plastic and are integrally formed by injection molding, so that the manufacturing process is simple, the cost is low, and the structural strength of the housing 100 is high.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, referring to fig. 3, the inner wall surface of the second passage 150 has a second inclined surface 151 inclined upward toward the second opening 152, and a normal line of the second inclined surface 151 extends in a direction away from the bottom wall of the ink reservoir 110. The second inclined surface 151 facilitates the smooth flow of ink or air into and out of the ink supply chamber 120, increases the length of the wall surface of the second channel 150, provides a longer flow distance for the fluid, and increases the fluid wall attachment effect.

A printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention comprises the ink cartridge 10 according to any of the above embodiments of the first aspect of the present invention.

By adopting the ink cartridge 10, air bubbles are effectively prevented from being gathered in the ink supply chamber 120 of the ink cartridge 10, and the processing cost, the material cost and the assembly complexity of the ink cartridge are reduced.

In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an illustrative embodiment," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples" or the like mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least two embodiments or examples of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

While embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Claims (10)

1. An ink box comprises a shell, an ink storage cavity and an ink supply cavity are arranged in the shell, the ink supply cavity is connected with the ink storage cavity, the ink supply cavity is provided with an ink outlet, the ink outlet is positioned at one side of the ink supply cavity far away from the ink storage cavity, and the ink box is characterized in that,

the ink supply cavity comprises a first cavity, a second cavity and a partition plate, wherein the first cavity comprises a first channel and a second channel which are separated by the partition plate; one end of the first channel forms a first opening on the bottom wall of the ink storage cavity, and the first channel is communicated with the ink storage cavity through the first opening; one end of the second channel forms a second opening on the bottom wall of the ink storage cavity, and the second channel is communicated with the ink storage cavity through the second opening; the other end of the first channel is communicated with the other end of the second channel through the second chamber.

2. The ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein an area of the first opening is larger than an area of the second opening.

3. The ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first opening is lower than the second opening.

4. The ink bottle of claim 2, wherein said second opening and said first opening are both located on the same side of a center of mass of said ink reservoir, the distance from said center of mass to said first opening being less than the distance from said center of mass to said second opening.

5. The ink cartridge of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first channel has a first step.

6. The ink cartridge as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an inner wall surface of the first passage has a first slope inclined downward toward the ink outlet, and a normal line of the first slope extends in a direction approaching the ink storage chamber.

7. The ink cartridge as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an inner wall surface of the second passage has a second slope inclined upward toward the second opening, a normal line of the second slope extending in a direction away from the ink reservoir.

8. The ink cartridge as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an inner peripheral wall of said ink supply chamber is provided with a stopper protrusion located below said partition plate and adjacent to said ink outlet, said stopper protrusion having a predetermined interval from said partition plate.

9. The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said partition plate has a partition portion and an extension portion extending from a bottom wall of said partition portion toward said ink outlet in an axial direction of said ink supply chamber.

10. A printing apparatus comprising the ink cartridge of any one of claims 1 to 9.

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