EP1003640B1 - Printing system with air accumulation control means enabling a semipermanent printhead without air purge - Google Patents

Printing system with air accumulation control means enabling a semipermanent printhead without air purge Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1003640B1
EP1003640B1 EP98940913A EP98940913A EP1003640B1 EP 1003640 B1 EP1003640 B1 EP 1003640B1 EP 98940913 A EP98940913 A EP 98940913A EP 98940913 A EP98940913 A EP 98940913A EP 1003640 B1 EP1003640 B1 EP 1003640B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
ink
printhead
printing system
air
fluid
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP98940913A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1003640A1 (en
Inventor
Norman E. Pawlowski, Jr.
Mark Hauck
John A. Barinaga
Donald E. Wenzel
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
HP Inc
Original Assignee
Hewlett Packard Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US09/037,550 external-priority patent/US6203146B1/en
Application filed by Hewlett Packard Co filed Critical Hewlett Packard Co
Publication of EP1003640A1 publication Critical patent/EP1003640A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1003640B1 publication Critical patent/EP1003640B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
    • B41J2/17503—Ink cartridges
    • B41J2/17556—Means for regulating the pressure in the cartridge
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
    • B41J2/17503—Ink cartridges
    • B41J2/17506—Refilling of the cartridge
    • B41J2/17509—Whilst mounted in the printer
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
    • B41J2/17503—Ink cartridges
    • B41J2/1752—Mounting within the printer
    • B41J2/17523—Ink connection

Definitions

  • Some printing systems make use of an ink supply that is replaceable separately from the printhead. When the ink supply is exhausted the ink supply is removed and replaced with a new ink supply. The printhead is then replaced at or near the end of printhead life and not when the ink supply is exhausted.
  • a replaceable printhead is capable of utilizing a plurality of ink supplies, we will refer to this as a "semipermanent" printhead. This is in contrast to a disposable printhead, that is replaced with each container of ink.
  • a significant issue with semipermanent printheads is premature failure due to loss of proper pressure regulation. To understand this failure, we need to consider printhead operation. To operate properly, many printheads have an operating pressure range that must be maintained in a narrow range of slightly negative gauge pressure, typically between -1 and -6 inches (i.e., -25.4 and -152.4 millimeters) of water. Gauge pressure refers to a measured pressure relative to atmospheric pressure. Pressures referred to herein will all be gauge pressures. If the pressure becomes positive, printing and printing system storage will be adversely affected. During a printing operation, positive pressure can cause drooling and halt ejection of droplets. During storage, positive pressure can cause the printhead to drool.
  • Air present in a printhead can interfere with the maintenance of negative pressure.
  • air bubbles are often left behind.
  • air accumulates during printhead life from a number of sources, including diffusion from outside atmosphere into the printhead and dissolved air coming out of the ink referred to as outgassing.
  • outgassing dissolved air coming out of the ink .
  • the internal mechanism within the printhead can compensate for these environmental changes over a limited range of environmental excursions. Outside of this range, the pressure in the printhead will become positive.
  • Printheads 12 are semipermanent, since they can each utilize a plurality of ink containers 14. This allows printing system 10 to be of compact size.
  • Ink supplies 14 of this preferred embodiment utilize different colorant inks, including black 14b, cyan 14c, magenta 14m, and yellow 14y.
  • the black ink container 14b has a capacity of approximately 75 cc, and the color ink containers 14c, 14m, and 14y each have capacities of approximately 30 cc.
  • the sizes of the ink containers are chosen small enough to avoid impacting the size of printing system 10 and to take shelf life considerations into account. They are selected large enough to allow for an acceptably low replacement rate. Since each printhead 12 can last throughout the usage of approximately 450 cc of ink, each printhead must utilize a plurality of ink containers 14, and hence, must be semipermanent.
  • Fig. 3 illustrates a schematic representation of printhead 12 connected to fluid conduit 16.
  • Printhead 12 receives ink from fluid conduit 16 at an incoming pressure and then delivers the ink to ejector 18 at a controlled internal pressure that is lower than the incoming pressure.
  • Ejector 18 is fluidically coupled to a plenum 38 that stores a quantity of ink at the controlled internal pressure. Ink passes through filter element 39 before reaching ejector 18 to remove particulates.
  • Figs. 5A-5C are cross sectional schematic representations of printhead 12 taken through section 5A-5A from Fig. 4.
  • the internal structure of printhead 12 is simplified to more clearly illustrate functional aspects of the pressure regulation system in printhead 12.
  • similar element numbering is used to identify similar elements.
  • printhead 12 When printhead 12 is manufactured, air is introduced as printhead 12 is filled with ink. To minimize such air, the following ink fill process is used: (1) Printhead 12 is initially flushed with CO2 gas by providing a source of CO2 gas at the fluid inlet 22 and by providing a vacuum source at the ejector 18 of printhead 12 until nearly all of the gas resident in printhead 12 is composed of CO2. (2) Next, printhead 12 is filled with degassed ink (ink having less than the saturation level of dissolved oxygen) by providing a source of degassed ink at the fluid inlet 22 and a source of vacuum at ejector 18 until printhead 12 is filled with ink. Any bubbles left behind during the fill process will be primarily composed of CO2 and will quickly dissolve in the ink. Further, any impurities in the bubbles (such as air) will be absorbed by the ink, since it is degassed.
  • degassed ink ink having less than the saturation level of dissolved oxygen
  • a third source of air is air present in conduit 16 when the printhead 12 is initially installed, referred to as "tubing startup" air. In an exemplary embodiment, this provides no more than 1.3 cc of air to printhead 12.
  • fluid conduit 16 may be initially unprimed (empty) to address reliability issues. For example, during shipment from manufacturing site to customer, printing system 10 can experience temperature fluctuations that may cause freezing and expansion of any ink in fluid conduit 16 which could cause damage to fluid conduit 16. For this reason, fluid conduit 16 is initially shipped dry from the factory.
  • FIG. 8 illustrates ink supply 14 poised for substantially downward insertion into receiving station 36, leaving out details that do not pertain to the invention.
  • Ink supply 14 includes a fluid reservoir 82 that is in fluid communication with fluid outlet 28.
  • fluid outlet 28 couples with conduit inlet 26 to allow ink to flow from fluid reservoir 82 to conduit 16 and to printhead 12 (Fig. 1).
  • a sixth source of air is "ink supply (container) free air", or bubbles in the ink supply 14 that are drawn from the ink supply 14, through conduit 16, and into printhead 12. This free air is initially present in reservoir 82 and/or fluid outlet 28.
  • ink supply 14 is installed in a substantially vertical orientation as depicted in Fig. 8. Any free air will tend to buoyantly rise to an upper portion of ink supply 14. Because of this arrangement, the "ink supply free air" contribution to the air budget is 0.1 cc.
  • the anti-outgassing additive which may be one of the above constituents or a mixture thereof, is present in the range of at least 2% by weight and preferably 12% or more.
  • An exemplary ink having controlled outgas properties is as follows: Component Wt.% Anti-outgassing additive (ethoxylated glycerol, etc.) 12 Coloring Agent (C.I. Direct Black 52) 6 Ink Vehicle (water plus additional solvents) 80 Additional Ingredients in combination (e.g. biocides, surfactants, Bleed control agents, buffers, etc.) 2
EP98940913A 1997-08-18 1998-08-14 Printing system with air accumulation control means enabling a semipermanent printhead without air purge Expired - Lifetime EP1003640B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US914832 1992-07-16
US91483297A 1997-08-18 1997-08-18
US09/037,550 US6203146B1 (en) 1998-03-09 1998-03-09 Printing system with air accumulation control means enabling a semipermanent printhead without air purge
US37550 1998-03-09
PCT/US1998/016964 WO1999008876A1 (en) 1997-08-18 1998-08-14 Printing system with air accumulation control means enabling a semipermanent printhead without air purge

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1003640A1 EP1003640A1 (en) 2000-05-31
EP1003640B1 true EP1003640B1 (en) 2002-04-03

Family

ID=26714240

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP98940913A Expired - Lifetime EP1003640B1 (en) 1997-08-18 1998-08-14 Printing system with air accumulation control means enabling a semipermanent printhead without air purge

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1003640B1 (zh)
JP (1) JP3909802B2 (zh)
KR (1) KR100532297B1 (zh)
CN (1) CN1099346C (zh)
DE (1) DE69804629T2 (zh)
WO (1) WO1999008876A1 (zh)

Families Citing this family (18)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6863387B2 (en) 1998-03-09 2005-03-08 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Ink supply with air diffusion barrier for unsaturated ink
US6547377B2 (en) * 1998-03-09 2003-04-15 Hewlett-Packard Company Printhead air management using unsaturated ink
DE60119597T2 (de) 2000-01-21 2007-04-26 Seiko Epson Corp. Tintenpatrone und Tintenstrahldruckvorrichtung mit einer derartigen Tintenpatrone
JP2002086702A (ja) * 2000-09-12 2002-03-26 Canon Inc 記録機構、インクジェット記録装置及び記録装置付き撮像装置
FR2816241B1 (fr) * 2000-11-07 2003-03-28 Segepar Systeme anti-retour pour circuit d'alimentation en encre et cartouche d'encre
US7156507B2 (en) 2001-11-12 2007-01-02 Seiko Epson Corporation Liquid injector
JP2006326855A (ja) * 2005-05-23 2006-12-07 Canon Finetech Inc インクジェット方式画像形成装置
JP4560401B2 (ja) 2004-12-22 2010-10-13 キヤノン株式会社 インクタンクおよびインクジェット記録装置
JP2007283753A (ja) 2006-03-20 2007-11-01 Seiko Epson Corp インク収容体及び保存方法
JP5316326B2 (ja) * 2009-09-04 2013-10-16 株式会社リコー 液体収容容器、液体収容容器の組立て方法、液体収容容器の分解方法及び画像形成装置
JP5471461B2 (ja) * 2010-01-08 2014-04-16 セイコーエプソン株式会社 液体容器および液体噴射装置
EP3099501B1 (en) * 2014-01-31 2020-03-11 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Service center and method method for removing air from a printing fluid channel
EP3160754A4 (en) * 2014-06-26 2018-01-24 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Container assembly
US10442205B2 (en) * 2015-12-22 2019-10-15 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Printing fluid cartridge for a pumped printing fluid system
US10899136B2 (en) 2017-01-24 2021-01-26 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Printing fluid recirculation
US11833808B2 (en) 2018-05-03 2023-12-05 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Air purging
US10814634B1 (en) * 2019-07-11 2020-10-27 Xerox Corporation Printhead cap for attenuating the drying of ink from a printhead during periods of printer inactivity
CN115164526B (zh) * 2022-06-28 2023-11-14 中核核电运行管理有限公司 一种放射性淤积物干燥系统

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0660092B1 (en) * 1987-04-15 2003-07-30 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha A remain detector and a liquid injection recording apparatus having the detector
CA2019290A1 (en) * 1990-01-12 1991-07-12 Bruce Cowger Pressure-sensitive accumulator for ink-jet pens
US5745137A (en) * 1992-08-12 1998-04-28 Hewlett-Packard Company Continuous refill of spring bag reservoir in an ink-jet swath printer/plotter
ATE179122T1 (de) * 1992-02-24 1999-05-15 Canon Kk Ein flüssigkeitsbehälter, eine tintenstrahlpatrone mit einem flüssigkeitsbehälter und ein tintenstrahl- aufzeichnungsgerät mit derartiger patrone
JPH0776094A (ja) * 1993-06-18 1995-03-20 Fuji Xerox Co Ltd インクジェットペン
US5369429A (en) * 1993-10-20 1994-11-29 Lasermaster Corporation Continuous ink refill system for disposable ink jet cartridges having a predetermined ink capacity
WO1995031335A1 (fr) * 1994-05-17 1995-11-23 Seiko Epson Corporation Enregistreur a jet d'encre et procede de nettoyage de la tete d'enregistrement
US5872584A (en) * 1994-10-31 1999-02-16 Hewlett-Packard Company Apparatus for providing ink to an ink-jet print head and for compensating for entrapped air
US5777646A (en) 1995-12-04 1998-07-07 Hewlett-Packard Company Self-sealing fluid inerconnect with double sealing septum
US5812155A (en) * 1995-10-27 1998-09-22 Hewlett-Packard Company Apparatus for removing air from an ink-jet print cartridge
US5700315A (en) 1996-02-29 1997-12-23 Hewlett-Packard Company Anti-outgassing ink composition and method for using the same

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69804629D1 (de) 2002-05-08
DE69804629T2 (de) 2003-02-13
KR20010022967A (ko) 2001-03-26
JP2001514985A (ja) 2001-09-18
KR100532297B1 (ko) 2005-11-29
WO1999008876A1 (en) 1999-02-25
EP1003640A1 (en) 2000-05-31
CN1099346C (zh) 2003-01-22
CN1260750A (zh) 2000-07-19
JP3909802B2 (ja) 2007-04-25

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