JP2002127441A - Component of electronic instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce management processes or management items and to suppress total cost by enlarging a contamination tolerance for foreign matters such as a label in the case where a method of recycling wherein, for example, a resin is reused in forming and processing after melting the resin by a method wherein a color of a body of a component of an electronic instrument is made to be a black color or a dark color near the black color. SOLUTION: In the component of the electronic instrument all or a part of which is formed of a thermoplastic resin, the color of the thermoplastic resin is made to be a black color or a dark color near the black color.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to electronic parts, and more particularly, to a part of an electronic part which is made of a thermoplastic resin. The present invention relates to an electronic device part which can be reused by heating and melting a resin part of the above and re-molding the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, home appliances, office automation equipment, and the like have been widely used in general homes and offices. In particular, electronic devices such as computers are rapidly expanding in users, and a wide range of products are produced with it.
Types and quantities are ever increasing. If an example of such an electronic device component is described, a printer can be cited as a preferred example. The demand for printers, which are one of the peripheral devices of computers, tends to increase year by year. However, the method using ink-jet, which is one of the printer methods, requires that the size of the device can be reduced or that printing can be performed with low sound. And the like, and the use amount thereof is particularly remarkable.

In the printing method of such an ink-jet printer, generally, an ink cartridge is mounted on a printer body and used, and when the ink is used up, the printer is used again by replacing the cartridge. However, since the ink cartridge becomes unnecessary after use of the ink filled therein, it is necessary to dispose of the remaining cartridge body after use. Therefore, there are two methods for disposing of used cartridges: disposing of ink cartridges without reusing them, such as landfilling, incineration, dissolution, etc., methods of reusing ink cartridges as they are, or changing the shape and reusing resources. There are various methods such as the use as landfill, but from the point of view of reducing environmental load or effective use of resources, it is recycled and reused more than the final disposal method that cannot be reused as a resource such as landfill or incineration. It may be preferable to use it.

[0004] Among them, the most desirable method is to be able to reuse the ink cartridge as it is or simply after performing a simple cleaning. However, since the ink cartridge has been used by various users, the appearance of the ink cartridge has been reduced. It is presumed that there is a trauma or deformation that impairs. Therefore, in order to reuse as described above, a sufficient inspection must be performed to ensure quality.
However, increasing the number of inspection steps leads to an increase in cost, and particularly, when the inspection result indicates that there are many parts that cannot be reused, the inspection step has not been effective in regenerating parts.
It will be wasted. From such a point of view, it can be said that it is difficult to reuse it as it is or by simple washing.

[0005] On the other hand, if the ink cartridge is dissolved and molded again, the problems of damage and deformation can be solved.
In that case, the problem of the sticking sheet, so-called label, must be considered. In other words, looking at the configuration of the ink cartridge, a seal member made of a thin film sheet called a label is generally attached to a part of the surface of the ink cartridge. Information such as the type of the cartridge and the serial number is written on the label, and usually a resin film or thin paper is used. Even if you do not plan to reuse the cartridge, or if you perform a recycling method such as molding after melting, if this label is peeled off after use, this label should be made of a material different from the material of the cartridge body. It may be done. However, since the label is usually adhered so as not to be peeled even when used by various users, it is not easy to completely peel the label.

Therefore, a desirable method is to recycle the ink cartridge by melting and molding the ink cartridge with the label attached. This method is simple and easy to implement from the regeneration step, but on the other hand,
When the material of the ink cartridge and the material of the label are different, if these are crushed together, melted, and molded, there is a problem that appearance or various properties such as mechanical properties such as tension and bending may be reduced. . for that reason,
Depending on the processing process and the material of the cartridge and the label, there is a possibility that the method such as melting and molding cannot be performed.

The above description has been made with respect to the ink cartridge as an example. However, these problems are not limited to the ink cartridge alone, and are not limited to home appliances such as televisions and stereos, OA equipment such as copying machines and communication equipment, precision equipment, and the like. The same can be said for electronic device parts and the like.

[0008]

To solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, a method of using a compatible label which causes little change in characteristics even when the label is mixed has been considered. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-34088 discloses an electronic device component using such a method. This is to reduce the characteristic change of the resin which is molded again after being melted by using compatible materials for the electronic device parts and the label.

However, even when the reduction of the mechanical properties is suppressed by this method, the influence on the appearance is inevitable. That is, when the material of the electronic device parts is white or a light color equivalent thereto, the printing ink used for the label usually transmits the entered information clearly to the user or the administrator. For this reason, black or dark colors are often used. Therefore, when the electronic device parts are melted and molded together with the label, these inks and the like are mixed, so that even if the remolded product is within the allowable range from the viewpoint of the mechanical characteristics, the appearance is improved. Unlike the original color, a problem that the standard is not satisfied occurs. This is particularly remarkable in the case of a component such as an ink cartridge in which the component body is smaller than the label area.

[0010] With respect to the above-mentioned problems, there is a limitation on a label material, a label amount, an ink material, an ink amount, a pressure-sensitive adhesive material, a pressure-sensitive adhesive amount, and the like that may be mixed. By doing so, a method of suppressing the influence of the color of the appearance due to the mixing of the foreign matter can be considered. However, restricting the quality and quantity of labels and inks, etc., may impede the entry of necessary information, which is the original purpose of the label,
There is a risk that the adhesiveness of the label is reduced.

Further, even if the labels are managed in such a manner, other foreign matters may be mixed. For example, it can be considered as foreign matter into which dust and the like in the processing process atmosphere can be mixed,
Since these dusts are also usually dark colors, in order to suppress a change in appearance color due to the inclusion of foreign matter, it is necessary to always strictly control all such foreign matter. Considering these facts, paying attention to the prevention of foreign matter inevitably entails an increase in control items, an increase in the number of steps, or a restriction on materials and manufacturing locations, thereby increasing costs. is there.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems by using a black and white or a dark color equivalent to the color of an electronic device component main body so that it is molded again after being melted. When carrying out such recycling methods, the allowable amount of foreign substances such as labels is increased, thereby reducing the number of management steps and items, thereby reducing the total cost. An object of the present invention is to provide electronic device parts.

[0013]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electronic device component, which is entirely or partially made of a thermoplastic resin, comprises:
The color of the thermoplastic resin is black or a similar dark color.

Further, the electronic device component of the present invention is characterized in that at least one or more thin sheets are adhered to the surface of the electronic device component.

Further, the electronic device component of the present invention is characterized in that the electronic device component is an ink cartridge used for an injection printer.

Further, the electronic device part of the present invention is characterized in that the lightness L ^* is 30 or less in the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system specified in JISZ8729 for black or a dark color equivalent thereto. Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments of the electronic component of the present invention.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the specific contents and effects of the present invention will be described by taking an ink cartridge as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Ink cartridges can be broadly classified into a separated type in which a head and a tank are separated and an integrated type. In the separation type, the ejection head portion and the tank portion are made of separate components, and the head has a metal portion, but the tank is mostly made of resin. In addition, the integral type has a configuration in which the head portion and the tank are integrated.

When such an ink cartridge is regenerated by a method of melting and re-forming, the first step is as follows.
This is to remove materials that are not to be reproduced, such as metal, in advance. The object to be removed includes, besides metal, an absorber for holding ink and a part of a different kind of resin. Since these substances to be removed are different depending on their parts, it is necessary to respond accordingly.However, these substances to be removed are different from those that are fixed with an adhesive like a label. Since removal is generally possible even by manual disassembly, this removal does not require much time and the number of steps.

Most of the parts to be recycled after the removal of the substances to be removed such as metals include the cartridge resin body and the label, but there are also residual ink adhering substances and label adhesives as trace components. ing.

Next, as a second step, the ink cartridge body is melted and molded together with a label. In this step, it is general that the main body is preliminarily pulverized to an appropriate size as a pretreatment. The optimal size for crushing depends on the mechanical specifications of the subsequent process, etc.
It is usually ground to 10 mm or less. At this time, molding conditions such as temperature and time in molding are determined by the resin material and the like, but general molding conditions may be used.

The main evaluation items of the molded recycled material include physical properties such as mechanical strength and appearance. Among them, the surface condition such as mechanical strength and scratches is in addition to the characteristics of the material itself,
It is greatly affected by conditions such as kneading and molding, but the appearance color is more largely caused by the material than by the process. In other words, if the original ink cartridge has a light color appearance, it remains bright unless foreign matter is mixed in. However, when foreign matter such as a label is mixed in, the color is changed by the printing ink or the like. Is changed, the brightness of the recycled product is reduced, and the problem of not meeting the original product specifications arises.

However, according to the present invention, these problems are solved by making the appearance color of the component black or a dark color equivalent thereto, and the factor of cost increase relating to recycling is eliminated, and recycling is easy. An ink cartridge is provided. The term “black” or a dark color equivalent thereto means that the appearance of the ink cartridge is JIS Z87.
In the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system specified in 29, the lightness L ^* indicates 30 or less. If the lightness is equal to or more than this value, black or dark colors are used for normal labels because they are easily affected by foreign substances such as ink.
The appearance of the part reclaimed with the label is different from the appearance before the reclaim. This makes it impossible to simply, inexpensively, and reliably carry out the recycling process by melting and molding.

The resin applicable to the present invention may be a thermoplastic resin. For example, polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylic butadiene styrene copolymer ( ABS), polyphenylene ether (PPE) and the like, but are not limited thereto.

Also, when looking at the appearance of electronic device parts,
Normally, it is often uniform.However, for some electronic equipment parts, it is considered that it is preferable not to be uniform for the sake of differentiation from other companies' products and for originality, or for some reason. In some cases, a pattern is applied without intentionally making the appearance uniform. For example, a variety of cases such as a lattice pattern, a linear pattern, and a polka dot pattern can be considered. The color of the resin constituting the electronic device component in the present invention indicates an average of these. In other words, when the resin has any pattern, the color when the resin is melted and molded means the color of the appearance of the resin. There is no restriction.

(Examples) The effects of the present invention will be described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

EXAMPLE A polystyrene plate having a shape of 150 mm square and a thickness of 3 mm and having a different appearance was formed on a polystyrene plate of 30 mm square.
A 0.1-mm-thick polystyrene label attached to the surface with an acrylic adhesive is crushed using a Horai crusher to a size of 5 mm or less.
Next, the pulverized product was formed into a thin film having a thickness of 0.5 mm by an extruder manufactured by Technovel. The chromaticity of each of the original polystyrene plate, the label and the thin film of the molding machine was measured by a Minolta colorimeter CR-300. As a result, when the original flat plate brightness was 30 or less, there was little difference from the brightness of the regenerated product thin film regardless of the label brightness. However, when the original flat plate brightness was 30 or more, the regenerated product was determined by the label brightness. When the thin film is different from the original flatness,
As shown in Table 1 below, the effects of the present invention were confirmed.

Table 1 Original flat plate lightness Label lightness Thin film lightness Lightness difference between original flat plate and thin film Example 1 25.22 29.48 25.63 0.41 Example 2 25.22 37.30 25.910 .69 Example 3 28.60 28.69 28.42 0.18 Example 4 28.60 39.91 29.11 0.51 Example 5 35.24 27.47 29.41 5.83 Example 6 35.24 38.86 35.90 0.66 Example 7 46.34 29.51 37.41 8.93 Example 8 46.34 39.01 42.44 3.99

According to the present invention configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

By performing melting and molding processing on electronic device parts, when recycling and recycling, the control restrictions and the number of steps in those steps can be reduced, and the cost increase can be suppressed.

Further, in the case where the parts to which the labels are attached are recycled by a melting and molding method, restrictions on the label color, the label description amount, and the like are relaxed, and the recycling is facilitated.

[0032]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
The electronic device component described in the electronic device component is entirely or partially made of a thermoplastic resin, since the color of the thermoplastic resin is black or a dark color equivalent thereto, the color of the electronic device component body is black or white or By using a similar dark color, when carrying out a recycling method such as melting and then molding again, the permissible amount of foreign substances such as labels is increased, thereby reducing the number of control processes and items. , Enabling a reduction in total cost.

An electronic device component according to a second aspect of the present invention is:
Since at least one or more thin-film sheets are attached to the surface of the electronic device component, the difference between the brightness of the recycled thin film and the brightness of the recycled thin film can be reduced and maintained properly.

An electronic device component according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises:
Since the electronic device component is an ink cartridge used for an injection printer, the ink cartridge as the electronic device component can be suitably reproduced and used.

An electronic device component according to a fourth aspect of the present invention comprises:
In the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system defined by JIS Z8729, the lightness L ^* is 30 or less, so that the difference in the lightness of electronic device parts as remanufactured products is preferably reduced to reduce the difference in lightness. Can be used.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electronic device part, which is entirely or partially made of a thermoplastic resin, wherein the color of the thermoplastic resin is black or a dark color equivalent thereto. 2. The electronic device component according to claim 1, wherein at least one or more thin sheets are attached to the surface of the electronic device component. 3. The electronic device component according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device component is an ink cartridge used for an injection printer. 4. A black or equivalent dark color is JIS
2. The electronic device part according to claim 1, wherein in the L ^* a ^* b ^* color system defined by Z8729, the lightness L ^* is 30 or less.