JP2000238278A - Ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an ink cartridge comprising a variable ink bag having an ink supply opening and a case body for housing it in which an optimal ink head pressure can be ensured by providing an elastic member between the ink bag and the case thereby protecting the ink bag against damage due to vibration, falling, or the like, during transportation. SOLUTION: Elastic members 32a, 32b are bonded trough a both-sided tape 31 to the bottom of a case body 30, ink supply opening 11 of a variable flat bag 10 encapsulating ink is positioned to the case body 30, and a cover 35 previously bonded with an elastic member 32c is fixed to constitute an ink cartridge 1. The ink bag 10 is formed by laying two sheets of aluminum laminate film each comprising an intermediate layer of aluminum foil, an outer nylon film and an inner polyethylene film one over the other, bonding three sides except one short side by thermal deposition, or the like, and fixing a plastic molding of ink supply opening 11 to one remaining side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink cartridge which is detachably accommodated in an ink jet recording apparatus and supplies ink to a recording head, and more particularly to an ink cartridge which accommodates a variable ink bag in a hard case. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink jet recording apparatus, since a recording head receiving ink supply from an ink supply source is reciprocated in a paper width direction of a recording sheet to perform printing, a large number of recording apparatuses perform printing. Ink is required, and in such an apparatus, an ink cartridge, which is an ink supply source, is installed in a main body, and is supplied to a recording head via a tube.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the above-described ink jet recording apparatus. An ink cartridge 41 having an ink bag 42 housed in a hard case 43 and an ink supply port 44 provided at the tip thereof is shown in FIG. The ink bag 42 is connected to the sub-tank 46 via a tube 45, and is fixed to the lower surface of the carriage 47 from the sub-tank 46 so as to supply ink to a recording head (not shown).

[0004] When such an ink supply mode is adopted, the printing amount per filling of the ink cartridge is greatly increased as compared with the case where the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, but the storage space of the ink cartridge is increased. Is required, and there is a problem that the recording apparatus becomes large.

For this reason, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink bag 42 is housed in the recording device 40 so that the flat surface of the ink bag 42 has a horizontal relationship, and the installation area of the ink cartridge 41 is made as small as possible. 2. Description of the Related Art Miniaturization of a recording apparatus has been performed. In addition, in order to realize an increase in the amount of ink while reducing the size of the recording apparatus, the size and size of the ink bag are being increased in order to effectively use the dead space of the recording apparatus.

[0006]

However, as the size and size of the ink bag are increased and increased in order to realize an increase in the amount of ink, the ink inside the ink bag is shaken when subjected to a shock during transportation or the like. The inertial force causes a pressure rise in the ink bag whose movement is restricted by the case body. Although the ink bag is sealed by welding, the vicinity of the ink supply port where the three-dimensional welding is performed is particularly vulnerable to impact.
Concentration near the ink supply port impairs air shielding,
In a severe case, there is a problem that the ink leaks to the outside.

As a means for preventing the damage due to the impact, an example is to increase the thickness of the film material constituting the ink bag. However, increasing the thickness of the film material of the ink bag increases the rigidity of the ink bag and prevents deformation of the ink bag due to consumption of the ink in the ink bag. And it hinders normal ejection of ink droplets. Here, the ink head pressure is the sum of the height of the ink supply port of the ink bag with respect to the nozzles of the print head and the negative pressure generated by the ink bag. -500Pa
(Approximately −5 cmH ₂ O).

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to prevent damage to an ink bag due to vibration, drop, and the like received during a transportation process, and to provide a recording head with An object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge capable of securing an optimum ink head pressure.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a flattened ink bag having an ink supply port on one side and having flexibility, and a case body for accommodating the ink bag. Wherein an elastic member is provided between the periphery of the ink bag and the case.

[0010]

The elastic member having a surface along the bulge shape of the ink bag between the periphery of the ink bag and the case body absorbs external shock to the ink bag and prevents the ink bag from being damaged. .

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The following embodiments of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of an embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 in the drawing denotes an ink cartridge,
The double-sided tape 14 is bonded to the bottom of the case body 30, and the elastic members 32a, 32b, and 32d are further bonded. Next, a flat ink bag 10 having flexibility and containing ink is fixed by positioning the ink supply port 11 in the case body 30 and bonding one of the flat surfaces to the double-sided tape 14. Finally, a lid 35 to which the elastic member 32c is bonded in advance is attached.

The ink bag 10 is formed by laminating two films, for example, a nylon film on the outside and a polyethylene film on the inside with an aluminum foil as an intermediate layer to secure gas barrier properties. Three sides except one short side are joined by heat welding or the like to form a bag. An ink supply port 11 made of a plastic molded product is attached to the remaining short side by heat welding or the like.

The double-sided tape 14 for adhering the case body 30 and the ink bag 10 has an elastic member having a thickness of about 2 mm to 5 mm, for example, a porous urethane foam agent on both sides of an adhesive layer, and has an appropriate elasticity. It is preferable that the resin has a high adhesive strength to the nylon film constituting the outer layer of the ink bag 10. In addition, double-sided tape 1
It is desirable that the size of 4 is substantially equal to the flat surface of the ink bag 10 filled with a predetermined amount of ink.

When the double-sided tape 14 is applied to the case main body 30, fingerprints and dust adhered to the case main body 30 are wiped off with ethanol or the like to increase the bonding strength. Furthermore, the adhesive material of the double-sided tape 14 tends to increase its adhesive strength with time after bonding. However, if strong adhesive force is initially required, warm the surface of the case body 30 with a drier or the like in advance. Therefore, by applying the double-sided tape 14, a strong adhesive force can be exhibited.

On the other hand, the elastic members 32a and 32b have surfaces adapted to the bulging shape of the ink bag 10, and are provided at the bottom of the case body 30 on the ink supply port 11 side of the ink bag 10 and the ink supply port, respectively. On the side facing 11, it is fixed by bonding. Furthermore, a flat elastic member 32d is fixed to both inner side surfaces of the case body 30 by bonding, regardless of the bulging shape of the ink bag 10.

Similarly, the lid 35 has the ink bag 10 as well.
An elastic member 32c having a surface conforming to the bulging shape is fixed by bonding. Then, the lid 35 is attached to the case body 30.
Then, the projection 33 is hooked on the small window 34 to complete the ink cartridge 1.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an ink cartridge 1 constructed according to the present invention. The ink bag 10 is hermetically sealed by welding. In particular, in the vicinity of the ink supply port 11 where the three-dimensional welding is performed, the thickness of the polyethylene film inside the three layers constituting the ink bag 10 is increased. The thickness tends to be uneven due to welding, and the strength against impact is weak. If an impact is applied to this area due to, for example, a drop during transportation or the like, the ink bag 10 has a large area fixed to the case body 30 by the double-sided tape 14, so that the ink bag 10 is expanded by the inertia of the ink inside. The force to deform the ink bag 10 acts on the unfixed portion of the ink bag 10. However, the elastic members 32a and 32
By contacting the ink bag 10 which is going to deform while expanding, the deformation of the ink bag 10 can be prevented.

Furthermore, the ink bag 10 due to the inertia of the ink
The force for pushing and expanding from the inside is diffused by contracting the elastic members 32a and 32c. Therefore, the ink bag 10 is not damaged by the impact.

Similarly, even if an impact is applied to the ink cartridge 1 from all directions, all the elastic members 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d surrounding the ink bag 10 and the double-sided tape 14 are applied to the ink bag 10. In order to cushion the impact and prevent deformation of the ink bag 10, the ink bag 10
Damage can be prevented.

Here, the elastic members 32a, 32b, 32c,
And 32d include rubber material, porous urethane foam, cardboard, etc., and porous urethane foam having excellent workability and elasticity for preventing damage to the ink bag 10 is particularly excellent. ing.

The impact applied to the ink cartridge 1 is more likely to damage the ink bag 10 as the dropping height and the ink capacity are larger. However, according to the embodiment of the present invention, even if the ink bag 10 is made longer and larger, it is possible to prevent the ink bag 10 from being damaged due to vibrations, dropping, and the like received during the transportation process. .

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state in which the ink cartridge 1 constructed according to the present invention has used up the ink. The ink cartridge 1 configured according to the present invention includes:
As a method for preventing damage to the ink bag 10, the ink bag 1
Since it is not necessary to increase the rigidity by increasing the thickness of the bag of No. 0, only the ink supply port 11 and the flat bottom surface of the ink bag 10 are attached to the case body 30 when the ink is actually used after being attached to the recording apparatus. , The ink bag 10 does not bend so as not to hinder the supply of ink, and the ink bag 10 can be gradually collapsed to reduce the volume.

The elastic members 32a, 32b, 32c,
And 32d do not cause interference that hinders a change in the volume of the ink bag 10, so that the ink bag 10 can be deformed and collapsed while reducing the volume to the end with the consumption of ink. For this reason, from the beginning to the end of use, an appropriate ink head pressure for the recording head is ensured, so that normal ejection of ink droplets is not hindered.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the ink cartridge comprising a flat ink bag having an ink supply port on one side and having flexibility, and a case main body for accommodating the ink bag, Since the elastic member is provided between the periphery of the bag and the case, it is possible to prevent the ink bag from being damaged by absorbing the force that the ink bag tends to deform due to the impact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view showing one embodiment of an ink cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 1 in a state where ink has been used up.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with an embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 ink cartridge 10 ink bag 11 ink supply port 30 case main body 31 double-sided tape 32a elastic member 32b elastic member 32c elastic member 32d elastic member 35 lid

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge comprising a flat ink bag having an ink supply port on one side and having flexibility, and a case body accommodating the ink bag, wherein an elastic member is provided between the ink bag and the case. Having an ink cartridge. 2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a lid detachable from the case body and provided with the elastic member on a side facing the ink bag. 3. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member has a surface along a bulging shape of the ink bag. 4. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink bag is fixed to the case body with an adhesive tape having elasticity.