JP2002200764A - Ink cartridge for ink pack, and ink cartridge holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink cartridge which enables ink of a uniform pigment concentration to be supplied stably by preventing a concentration irregularity because of the sedimentation of the pigment ink in an ink pack, and a cartridge holder. SOLUTION: The ink cartridge 20 can store the flat and roughly rectangular parallelepiped ink pack 10 inside, and has a flat and roughly rectangular parallelepiped driven axial part 24 which enables a rotational movement of alternately reversing its upper and bottom faces in a gravity direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an ink cartridge for an ink pack and an ink cartridge holder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink pack is used as one of means for supplying ink to an ink jet recording apparatus or the like. This ink pack is an airtight bag made of a deformable synthetic resin film, and has an ink outlet at one end. Generally, it is a shape that can be manufactured by laminating two rectangular sheets and sealing around the circumference, and when the inside is filled with ink, it expands to almost the maximum volume, It has a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape. The ink pack will decay as the ink is removed,
Eventually, it collapses to a state where almost two sheets are overlapped.

The ink pack is used by being mounted on a printer while being housed in an ink cartridge made of a rigid material. Therefore, the ink cartridge has a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has an internal volume slightly larger than the maximum expansion volume of the ink pack.

[0004] On the other hand, in the ink jet recording method, the use of pigment ink instead of dye ink has been expanding. Even when pigment ink is used, ink packs are widely used. In particular, ink packs are used as ink supply means for large paper printers that require a large amount of ink.

However, since the pigment ink is an aqueous dispersion, there is a problem that the pigment particles settle. For example,
If left for a long period of time in the state of an ink pack, such as on a shelf in a warehouse or a store, the pigment particles will gradually settle inside the ink pack, causing a concentration gradient of the pigment particles from the bottom to the top. At the bottom, a layer with a high pigment particle concentration and an excessively dark color is formed, and at the top, a layer with a low pigment particle concentration and an excessively light color is formed. In this state, the ink pack is housed in the ink cartridge, installed in the printer and printing is started.Ink that does not have an appropriate pigment particle concentration is supplied from the ink pack, May not be able to achieve the purpose of stably supplying. Therefore, with respect to the ink pack filled with the pigment ink, it is necessary to request the user to perform an operation of shaking the ink pack well and redistributing the ink inside before mounting the ink pack on the ink cartridge or the printer.

Even if the ink pack is shaken well to re-disperse the ink inside the ink pack before the cartridge is mounted on the ink cartridge or the printer, if the printer is continuously mounted on the printer for a long period of time, the ink pack will remain in the ink pack. Sedimentation of the pigment particles proceeds. Therefore, also in this case, there is a possibility that the ink having no appropriate pigment particle concentration is supplied from the ink pack, and the purpose of stably supplying the ink having the uniform pigment concentration cannot be achieved. However, after the ink pack is mounted on the printer, the seal provided at the ink outlet of the ink pack is removed, and the sealing part of the ink outlet is also broken by the ink suction needle provided at the printer. Therefore, the request for the user to remove the ink pack from the printer and shake the ink pack is not only complicated in the operation itself, but also requires consideration of an ink leakage prevention means. It is wise to avoid.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide means for preventing the occurrence of density unevenness due to sedimentation of pigment ink in an ink pack and for stably supplying ink having a uniform pigment concentration. Is to do.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a flat, substantially rectangular parallelepiped ink cartridge in which a flat, substantially rectangular parallelepiped ink pack according to the present invention can be stored. An ink cartridge (hereinafter, referred to as an ink cartridge, having a driven shaft portion that enables a rotational movement that alternately reverses the bottom surface in the direction of gravity.
Sometimes referred to as a "rotary ink cartridge"].

The present invention is also an ink cartridge holder capable of accommodating a plurality of the rotary ink cartridges in a side-by-side manner, wherein each of the ink cartridges has a rotation space adjacent to the ink cartridge. ,
The present invention also relates to an ink cartridge holder (hereinafter, may be referred to as a “fixed rotation type cartridge holder”).

Further, the present invention is an ink cartridge holder capable of storing a plurality of the rotary ink cartridges in a side-by-side manner, wherein the means for sliding the ink cartridge from a first storage position to a rotation position; Rotating means for rotating the slid ink cartridge in the gravity direction about the top and bottom surfaces on the spot, means for sliding the inverted ink cartridge from its rotation position to the second storage position, and a rotation space for the ink cartridge. The present invention also relates to an ink cartridge holder (hereinafter, may be referred to as a “slide-rotation type cartridge holder”), which is characterized in that it has a cartridge holder.

Further, the present invention is directed to a flat and substantially rectangular parallelepiped ink cartridge (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a "fixed type ink cartridge") capable of accommodating a flat and substantially rectangular parallelepiped ink pack. An ink cartridge holder having a driven shaft capable of rotating the upper and lower surfaces of the ink cartridge holder alternately in the direction of gravity alternately. 〔Less than,
It may be referred to as "collectively rotating cartridge holder."

[0012]

1 and 2 show one embodiment of a rotary ink cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a state where an airtight ink pack 10 is mounted on a rotary ink cartridge 20 of the present invention.
Is a plan view thereof. 1 and 2, the airtight ink pack 10 is indicated by a broken line. As shown in FIG. 10, the hermetic ink pack 10 is generally hermetically sealed on four sides by a seal portion 11 and has an ink outlet 12 at one end. When the airtight ink pack 10 is filled with a maximum amount of ink, the deformable side wall portion 13 expands and expands to the maximum volume, and has a substantially flat rectangular parallelepiped shape. In the airtight ink pack 10, the deformable side wall portion 13 withdraws as the ink is taken out from the ink outlet 12, and finally withdraws to a state where almost two sheets are overlapped.

A conventionally known ink cartridge is generally made of a rigid material, and is used by being attached to a printer with an airtight ink pack housed therein. Therefore, the ink cartridge has a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has an internal volume slightly larger than the maximum expansion volume of the ink pack.

The rotary ink cartridge 20 of the present invention
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, similarly to the conventionally known ink cartridge, the airtight ink pack 10 has an internal volume slightly larger than the maximum expansion volume, and the overall outer shape is a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape. And has an ink outlet 21 at one end. Further, the rotary ink cartridge 20 of the present invention
Like the conventionally known ink cartridge, the ink cartridge 10 protects the ink pack 10 and is made of a rigid material that does not deform under normal use conditions. The outlet 12 can be fitted. The rotary ink cartridge 20 has a door (not shown) that can be opened and closed, and the ink pack 10 can be inserted and carried out from the door. Further, the rotary ink cartridge 2 of the present invention
As for the cartridge 0, similarly to the conventionally known ink cartridge, the wall surface having the largest surface area is installed in the printer with the wall surface being upright in the vertical direction.

However, the rotary ink cartridge 20 according to the present invention has a pulley 22 coaxially with the ink outlet 21 on one side where the ink outlet 21 is provided.
Are fixedly mounted. A groove 23 is provided on the power receiving surface of the pulley 22. The pulley 22 acts as a driven shaft so as to be capable of rotational movement via a belt passing through a groove 23, for example, as shown in FIG. The pulley 22 as the driven shaft is coaxially integrated with the ink outlet 21 of the rotary ink cartridge 20. Such a pulley can be provided on the opposite surface instead of the side surface provided with the ink outlet or in addition to the side surface provided with the ink outlet. As the transmission of the driven shaft, in addition to the belt transmission, for example, a gear transmission, a chain transmission, or a rope transmission can be used, and the driven shaft means suitable for those transmissions Can be provided.

The rotary ink cartridge 2 according to the present invention.
0 has a pulley 22 as a driven shaft,
It is possible to rotate the ink cartridge 20 by 0 °, that is, to turn the top and bottom surfaces upside down.
With the rotation of 80 °, the ink pack 10 housed therein also rotates by 180 °.
The sedimentation of the pigment particles within 0 can be eliminated.

The rotary ink cartridge 2 according to the present invention.
0 can be used, for example, by attaching to the fixed rotary cartridge holder 30 of the present invention shown in FIG. The fixed rotary cartridge holder 30 includes four rotary ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d mounted in a housing 25. Each rotary ink cartridge includes, for example, a cyan ink pack and a yellow ink pack. -Ink pack, magenta ink pack, and black ink pack.

As shown in FIG. 3, the four ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c and 20d are fixedly mounted on the housing 25, and are positioned on both sides so that they can be rotated by 180 °. They are arranged side by side in the cartridge holder 30 with a space opened. Specifically, the ink cartridge 20a has rotation spaces S1 and S2 on both sides on which it rotates, and the ink cartridge 20b also has rotation spaces S on both sides.
2 and S3, and similarly in the same manner, the rotating spaces S4, S
5 are provided. Also, the cartridge holder 30
Are pulleys 22a, 22b, 22 of each ink cartridge.
c, 22d, corresponding to the small pulleys 32a, 32b, 32
c and 32d are provided. Each pulley 32a, 32b, 32
c and 32d are fasteners 26a, 26b and 26, respectively.
The pulleys 2 are rotatably fixed to the wall surface of the housing 25 by c and 26d, and are provided on each ink cartridge.
2a, 22b, 22c, 22d, and the respective small pulleys 32a, 3
2b, 32c, 32d, between the belts 27a, 27
b, 27c, 27d can be stretched to transmit rotational power. The driving device for rotating each of the pulleys 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d can be provided in, for example, an ink cartridge or a printer.

In the fixed rotary cartridge holder 30 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c, 20 containing the ink packs as shown in FIG.
d is a pulley 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d, respectively.
Is rotated up and down by, for example, 180 ° in the directions indicated by arrows A, B, C, and D, and the ink pack is also rotated upside down. Accordingly, the pigment concentration of the internal ink can be made uniform. In rotation of each ink cartridge, the adjacent ink cartridges 20a, 20b
The rotation space S2 between the ink cartridges 20a
And 20b are commonly used for rotation, so that the rotation operation is shifted. Similarly, the adjacent ink cartridges 20b and 20c and the adjacent ink cartridge 2
The rotation operations of 0c and 20d are also performed while being shifted. These rotation operations are preferably performed periodically, for example, in an ink jet recording method in order to maintain the uniformity of the ink. The direction of rotation is not limited, and may be opposite to the directions indicated by arrows A, B, C, and D.

The rotary ink cartridge 2 according to the present invention
0 can be used, for example, by attaching it to the slide rotary type cartridge holder 40 of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 (schematic front view). The slide rotary cartridge holder 40 is a type of cartridge holder in which a plurality of rotary ink cartridges are sequentially slid, then rotated by 180 °, and further slid after rotation to be mounted at a predetermined position.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the slide rotary type cartridge holder 40 includes four rotary type ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d mounted in a housing 45, and each rotary type ink cartridge. Each of the cartridges stores, for example, a cyan ink pack, a yellow ink pack, a magenta ink pack, and a black ink pack. An upper guide rail 41 and a lower guide rail 42 are provided inside the housing 45. The four rotary ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d have rail running tools 43a, 43b, 43c, 43d on their respective upper surfaces and rail running tools 44 on their respective lower surfaces.
a, 44b, 44c, and 44d, and can slide on the upper guide rail 41 and the lower guide rail 42 in the direction of arrow E. Each of the four rotary ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d has a pulley 2 as a driven shaft coaxial with the ink outlet on a side surface on which an ink outlet (not shown) is provided.
2a, 22b, 22c and 22d are fixedly attached.

FIG. 4 shows that the four rotary ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c and 20d are juxtaposed at one end of the housing 45 with substantially no space therebetween and stored in the first storage position F1. It shows the state where it is. The operation of arranging these rotary ink cartridges at the opposite end of the housing 45 without substantially leaving a space therebetween and storing them in the second storage position will be described with reference to FIGS. FIGS. 5 to 8 are schematic views for explaining the operation of moving from the first storage position to the second storage position.
And four rotary ink cartridges 20a, 20b,
20c, 20d and pulleys 22a, 22 as driven shafts
Only b, 22c and 22d are shown.

As shown in FIG. 5, the four rotary ink cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d are initially stored in a first storage position F1 at one end of the housing 45. Rotary ink cartridge 1
In the case of performing the rotation of 80 °, that is, the operation of turning the top and bottom surfaces upside down, first, the ink cartridge 20a at the end on the second storage position side is slid in the direction of arrow E1 to the first storage position. To the rotation position R1. As shown in FIG. 6, the rotational position R1 of the ink cartridge 20a is indicated by an arrow E1.
The rotation space S10 (that is, the second ink cartridge 2
0b and the space between the other end of the housing 45). Ink cartridge 20
a is rotated 180 ° at the rotation position R1, that is, the top surface and the bottom surface are reversed. As shown in FIG. 7, the ink cartridge 20a whose top and bottom are reversed is slid to the opposite end of the housing 45 in the direction of arrow E2.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the second ink cartridge 20b is slid in the direction of arrow E3 from the first storage position to the rotation position R2. The rotational position R2 of the ink cartridge 20b is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, the rotation space S11 generated by sliding the ink cartridge 20b in the direction of the arrow E3 (that is, the end of the third ink cartridge 20c at the first storage position and the rotation at the second storage position). 1
(Space between the end of the second ink cartridge 20a). The ink cartridge 20b is
At the rotation position R2, the rotation is 180 °, that is, the top surface and the bottom surface are reversed. As shown in FIG. 8, the ink cartridge 20b whose top and bottom surfaces are inverted is slid in the direction of arrow E4 to make the first ink cartridge 20b.
Arrange next to a.

Similarly, the third ink cartridge 20c and the fourth ink cartridge 20d are respectively slid from the first storage position to the rotation position, and the top and bottom surfaces are reversed at that point, and the rotation position is changed. To the second storage position.

When rotating the ink cartridge, the ink cartridge is rotatably suspended by an appropriate suspension member.

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of the collectively rotating cartridge holder 50 of the present invention. The collectively rotating type cartridge holder 50 has a total of 180 cartridge holders accommodating the ink cartridges.
It is a type that rotates by °.

As shown in FIG. 9, the collectively rotating cartridge holder 50 includes four fixed ink cartridges 5.
1 a, 51 b, 51 c, and 51 d are housed in the housing 55 side by side without substantially leaving an interval.
Each ink cartridge has an ink outlet 52a, 52
b, 52c, and 52d are provided, respectively, bundled into a supply main pipe 56 via supply pipes 53a, 53b, 53c, and 53d, and sent to the printer head. On one side surface of the collectively rotating cartridge holder 50, a driven shaft portion 57 capable of rotating the entire cartridge holder is provided.
Is attached, and the entire cartridge holder can be rotated 180 ° in the direction of arrow G. A similar driven shaft portion can be provided on the opposite side surface. As the transmission of the driven shaft portion, in addition to the belt transmission, for example, a gear transmission, a chain transmission, a rope transmission, or the like can be used, and is provided with driven shaft means suitable for those transmissions. Can be. The driving device for rotating can be provided, for example, in a printer.

Supply pipes 53a, 53b, 53c, 53d
Is preferably made of a deformable material so as to prevent disconnection during the rotational movement of the collectively rotating cartridge holder 50, and is preferably bent to some extent.

The ink cartridge and cartridge holder of the present invention are preferably applied to pigment ink, but can be applied to dye ink.

[0031]

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of density unevenness due to the sedimentation of pigment ink in the ink pack, and to stably supply ink having a uniform pigment concentration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a rotary ink cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the rotary ink cartridge of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a fixed rotary cartridge holder according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of a slide rotary type cartridge holder according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the first ink cartridge is slid to a rotation position in the slide rotary type cartridge holder of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the first ink cartridge is rotated in the slide rotary type cartridge holder of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state where the first ink cartridge is slid to a second storage position in the slide rotary type cartridge holder of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a second ink cartridge is slid to a rotation position in the slide rotary type cartridge holder of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of the collectively rotating cartridge holder of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an ink pack.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Air-tight ink pack 11 ... Seal part 12 ... Ink outlet 13 ... Deformable side wall part 20, 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d ... Rotary ink cartridge 21 ... Ink Outlet 22, 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d ... pulley 23 ... groove 25, 45, 55 ... housing 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d ... fastener 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d ...・ Belt 30 ・ ・ ・ Fixed rotation type cartridge holder 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d ・ ・ ・ Small pulley 40 ・ ・ ・ Slide rotation type cartridge holder 41 ・ ・ ・ Upper guide rail 42 ・ ・ ・ Lower guide rail x 43a, 43b, 43c, 43d: upper rail traveling tool 44a, 44b, 44c, 44d: lower rail traveling tool 50: collectively rotating type Cartridge holders 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d: fixed ink cartridges 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d: ink outlets 53a, 53b, 53c, 53d: supply pipe 56: supply main pipe 57 ··· Driven shaft portion F1 ··· First storage position F2 ··· Second storage position R1, R2 ··· Rotational position S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S10, S11 ···
Space for rotation

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge having a flat and substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, in which a flat and substantially rectangular parallelepiped ink pack can be housed. An ink cartridge having a driven shaft that enables the ink cartridge. 2. An ink cartridge holder capable of accommodating a plurality of ink cartridges according to claim 1 in a side-by-side manner, wherein each of the ink cartridges has a rotation space adjacent to each ink cartridge. Cartridge holder. 3. An ink cartridge holder capable of accommodating a plurality of ink cartridges according to claim 1, wherein the ink cartridge is slid from a first storage position to a rotation position, and the ink cartridge is slid to the rotation position. Rotating means for reversing the ink cartridge in the direction of gravity with respect to the top and bottom surfaces on the spot, means for sliding the reversed ink cartridge from its rotational position to the second storage position, and a space for rotating the ink cartridge. An ink cartridge holder. 4. An ink cartridge holder capable of accommodating a flat and substantially rectangular parallelepiped ink pack therein, and capable of accommodating a plurality of flat and substantially rectangular parallelepiped ink cartridges side by side. An ink cartridge holder having a driven shaft portion that enables a rotational motion for alternately reversing the bottom surface in the direction of gravity.