JP2002205413A - Ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink cartridge suitable for a pigment ink capable of preventing deposition of a pigment in the ink and bubbling of the ink. SOLUTION: An ink housing chamber is divided into a large chamber 1a having a large capacity and a small chamber 1b having a small capacity by a wall. An ink supply hole 4 is provided so as to communicate with the small chamber 1b. A fluid passage 11 for allowing the ink to flow into the small chamber 1b from the bottom of the large chamber 1a is formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink cartridge mounted on a carriage and supplying ink to an ink jet recording head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink jet recording apparatus in which an ink cartridge is mounted on a carriage, there is a problem that a large acceleration acts on the ink cartridge due to the reciprocating movement of the carriage to cause bubbling of the ink. In order to solve such a problem, there has been proposed an ink cartridge in which a porous body capable of holding ink by a capillary force is housed in at least a region of the ink storage chamber on the ink supply port side.

[0003]

On the other hand, so-called pigment inks, in which colored fine particles are mixed in an ink solvent in a suspended state, are going to be put to practical use in order to improve the coloring properties and light resistance of the inks. In the ink containing such fine particles, there is a problem that the pigment contained in the ink is easily deposited on the porous body, and the coloring property of the ink supplied to the recording head is reduced. The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge suitable for a pigment ink capable of preventing the deposition of a pigment contained in the ink and the bubbling of the ink. It is to provide.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve such a problem, according to the present invention, a container forming an ink storage chamber and an ink supply port for supplying ink to a recording head are provided on one surface of the container. In the formed ink cartridge, the ink storage chamber is a large chamber having one large volume,
The other chamber is divided into a small chamber having a small volume by a wall, the ink supply port is provided so as to communicate with the small chamber, and a flow path for flowing ink from the bottom of the large chamber into the small chamber is formed.

[0005]

The ink at the bottom of the large chamber does not contain bubbles and is supplied to the small chamber, and at the same time, the ripples in the small chamber are suppressed to prevent the bubbling of the ink supplied to the recording head.

[0006]

1 and 2 show one embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention, which is formed by injection molding a substantially rectangular parallelepiped polymer material whose opening side is slightly divergent. The ink container 2 is formed in the container 1, and an ink supply port 4 is formed in the bottom 3 to engage with an ink supply needle of the recording head.

The ink supply port 4 is loaded with an annular packing 5 which is in liquid-tight engagement with the ink supply needle communicating with the recording head, and a film 6 on the outside of which the ink supply needle can be inserted.
Is sealed.

The ink chamber 2 is separated by two partitions 7 and 8 into a large chamber 2a and a small chamber 2b so that ink can move by a siphon phenomenon. That is, the partition 7 located on the large chamber side is sealed at the upper part by the back surface of the lid 9,
The partition 8 which opens at the bottom 3 and is located on the small chamber side extends from the bottom 3 and preferably opens at the top, preferably the container 1.
And are formed integrally. Small room 2 thus separated
b communicates with the ink supply port 4 via a differential pressure valve 10 described later. The large chamber 2a is open to the atmosphere through an atmosphere communication hole 9a of the lid 9.

FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) show the differential pressure valve 10 described above.
1 shows an embodiment in a valve closed state and a valve open state, in which a spring 13 is constantly urged between an ink inlet 11 and an ink outlet 12 toward an ink inlet 11 by a spring 13, and And a valve seat 16 for sealing the through hole 14 of the valve body 15.

When the ink is consumed by the recording head, the pressure of the ink outlet 12 of the differential pressure valve 10 thus configured decreases. The valve is opened apart from the valve seat 16 as shown in (b).

Further, the pressure of the ink outlet 11 is
Rises to match the differential pressure set by
As shown in FIG. 3A, the valve body 15 loses the urging force of the spring 13 and resiliently contacts the valve seat 16 to close the valve.

In this embodiment, when printing is started with the ink cartridge mounted on the carriage, acceleration of the ink in each of the chambers 2a and 2b acts due to the reciprocation of the carriage. Almost no bubbling (FIG. 4 (a)). On the other hand, the ink ripples in the large chamber 2a, so that bubbles are generated, but the precipitation of the pigment is prevented as much as possible.

When the ink in the small chamber 2b is consumed by the recording head during printing, the differential pressure valve 10 is opened and the small chamber 2b is opened.
Of ink is consumed. When the consumption of the ink in the small chamber 2b proceeds, the ink at the bottom of the large chamber 2a flows into the small chamber 2b through the flow path 17 defined by the two partition walls 7 and 8,
Eventually, the ink is cut off at the bottom 3 of the large chamber 2a and the tip of the partition 7 (FIG. 4B). Even if bubbles exist in the ink K in the large chamber 2a, the ink in the area of the bottom 1a flows, so that the bubbles in the large chamber 2a do not flow into the small chamber 2b.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a filter 18 is disposed in the middle of a flow path 17, in this embodiment, on the inlet side of the flow path 17. More preferably, the floating body 19 is arranged at least in the large room 2a.

According to this embodiment, since bubbles are eliminated by the filter 18 and ripples of the ink in the large chamber 2a are suppressed by the floating body 19, the inflow of bubbles into the recording head can be more reliably prevented. it can.

In the above-described embodiment, the description has been given of the ink cartridge in which the single ink storage chamber 2 is formed. However, a similar effect can be obtained by applying the present invention to an ink cartridge in which only a plurality of ink chambers are formed. . Further, in the above-described embodiment, the valve element 15 is arranged vertically, but it is apparent that the same operation can be obtained even if the valve element 15 is arranged in the horizontal direction.

Further, in the above embodiment, the small chamber 1b
And the ink supply port 4 are communicated by a differential pressure valve to maintain the ink supply pressure to the print head at a negative pressure to prevent ink leakage from the print head. If the ink can be held sufficiently, the differential pressure valve becomes unnecessary.

Further, as shown in FIG.
By reducing the width W of the small chamber 2b in the movement direction of the small chamber 2b by extending the base 20 constituting the zero to the wall 10 or charging the filling material, the ripples in the small chamber 2b can be more reliably suppressed. Can be.

[0019]

As described above, in the present invention,
In a container forming an ink storage chamber and an ink cartridge in which an ink supply port for supplying ink to a recording head is formed on one surface of the container, the ink storage chamber has a large chamber having one large capacity and another chamber having a large capacity. Divided into small small chambers by walls, provided with ink supply ports so as to communicate with the small chambers, and formed with a flow path that allows ink to flow from the bottom of the large chamber into the small chambers. In addition to replenishing the small chambers with the unused ink, it is possible to prevent the bubbles from flowing into the recording head by suppressing the ripples in the small chambers and preventing the bubbles from forming. In addition, the ink can be prevented from flowing into the recording head while positively utilizing the swing of the ink in the large chamber to prevent precipitation of the pigment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIGS. 2A and 2B are cross-sectional views showing an embodiment of the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment; FIGS.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing an embodiment of a differential pressure valve housed in the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment in a valve closed state and a valve open state.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are cross-sectional views showing another embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention in a sectional structure of a small chamber.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container 2 Ink storage chamber 2a Large chamber 2b Small chamber 3 Wall 4 Ink supply port 5 Packing 6 Film 7,8 Partition wall 9 Lid body 10 Differential pressure valve 17 Flow path 18 Filter 19 Floating body

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge having a container forming an ink storage chamber and an ink supply port for supplying ink to a recording head on one surface of the container. A chamber is divided into a chamber and a small chamber having a small volume by a wall, the ink supply port is provided so as to communicate with the small chamber, and a flow path for flowing ink from the bottom of the large chamber into the small chamber is formed. ink cartridge. 2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a filter is disposed in the flow path. 3. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a floating body is arranged at least in the large chamber. 4. The width of the small chamber in the moving direction of the carriage is smaller than the width of the large chamber.
An ink cartridge according to claim 1. 5. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink supply port and the small chamber are connected via a differential pressure valve.