JP2003094688A - Ink bag for inkjet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent damage from being caused by external force, without the need for a hard case, and ensure capacity for feeding ink to a recording head. SOLUTION: A cylindrical body is formed by thermally welding long side parts of a second quadrilateral film, which constitutes a side surface part 3 (4), can be thermally welded and is lower in rigidity than a first film, onto respective long side parts 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b of the first quadrilateral film which constitutes planar parts 1 and 2 and can be thermally welded; a bag body is formed by thermally welding one of short side parts 1c and 2c of the planar parts 1 and 2; an ink feed opening 5 is thermally welded onto the other short side part 1c or 2c; and belt-shaped joints 6-9, which extend from one side to the other adjacent side, are formed at four corner parts.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink container which is detachably housed in a housing of an ink jet recording apparatus and supplies ink to a recording head, and more particularly to an ink bag which houses the ink in a flexible bag. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ink jet recording apparatuses perform a large amount of printing because a recording head that receives ink supplied from an ink supply source reciprocates in the paper width direction of a recording sheet for printing. Install the supply source in the housing,
A method of supplying ink to the recording head via a tube is adopted.

By the way, the ink jet recording apparatus is
In order to pressurize the ink in the pressure generating chamber to generate ink droplets, if air bubbles are contained in the ink, the pressure will drop and the ejection performance of ink droplets will also drop, so ink that excludes dissolved air is required. And Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, in the ink bag A, a laminated film obtained by vapor-depositing aluminum on a polyethylene film having a gas barrier property is folded back and overlapped at the center, and three sides except one short side are heat-welded or the like. And the remaining short side is sealed by an ink supply port forming member B made of a plastic molded product, and is housed in a hard case C made of a polymer material in order to prevent damage due to external force or the like. The ink bag is evenly deformed on one side surface, and a plate member D for detecting the ink end is fixed to be integrated as an ink cartridge. In addition, the code | symbol E in a figure shows the lid which comprises a case.

[0004]

However, in the case of commercial printing, it is necessary to increase the capacity and reduce the cost, so that the bag must be distributed as a bag without being housed in a hard case. Absent. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the volume of the bag in accordance with the consumption of ink due to printing when the bag itself is made strong enough to withstand distribution and set operation in the recording device, and the ink to the recording head is difficult to reduce. In addition to the problem that it hinders the supply of ink, it is housed in a rectangular parallelepiped case that is convenient for handling because the thickness of the center part is thicker than the thickness of the peripheral part and has a rounded shape when filled with ink. In this case, there is a problem that dead space occurs and volume efficiency is low. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is possible to secure a strength that does not cause damage to distribution and handling during loading in a recording apparatus, and to independently form a quadrilateral shape in a filled state. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink bag that can be maintained and has high filling efficiency to reliably supply ink to a recording apparatus.

[0005]

That is, in order to achieve such a problem, in the present invention, a side surface portion is provided on each long side portion of the quadrilaterally heat-weldable first film forming a plane portion. The long side of the second film, which can be heat-welded in the shape of a quadrilateral and has lower rigidity than the first film, is heat-welded to form a cylindrical body, and one short side of the flat surface is heat-welded. The ink supply port is heat-welded to the other short side portion of the flat surface portion, and band-shaped joints are formed at the four corners from one side to the adjacent other side.

[0006]

When the ink is filled, the side surface extends to form a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and when an excessive force acts on the ink bag due to a drop or the like, the joint portion disperses and receives the pressure, and the recording head. As the ink consumption in
The side surface, which has relatively low rigidity, is deformed according to the amount of ink so that the thickness is reduced by the tension from the joints at the four corners, and the ink is discharged.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below based on embodiments. 1 (a), (b) and FIG.
(A) and (B) show examples of the ink bag of the present invention, in which the long side portions 1a, 1b, and 2a of the quadrilateral first film forming the surface portions 1 and 2 are shown. 2b,
Long side portions 3a, 3 of the second film forming the side surface portions 3, 4
b, 4a, 4b are heat-welded to form a cylindrical body, one short side portion 1c, 2c is heat-welded to form a bag, and the ink supply port 5 is heat-welded to the other short side portion 1d, 2d. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the four corners are obliquely band-shaped so as to reach the other adjacent side from the one side so as to include the folding lines D of the side surfaces 3 and 4. The joints 6 to 9 are formed by heat welding.

In this way, the folding line D of the side portions 3 and 4
Is located in the range of the joints 6 to 9, as compared with the case where the folding line D ′ is formed outside the range of the joints 6 to 9, that is, in the center side as shown in FIG. It is possible to reinforce the region E in which the 2 and the side surface portions 3 and 4 overlap intricately.

The joint portions 6 to 9 at the corners are shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the facing surface between the first film forming the surface portions 1 and 2 and the second film forming the side surface portions 3 and 4, that is, only the inner surface side of the bag is the heat welding area a. Also exhibits sufficient strength, but as shown in FIG. 3B, the strength is increased when the opposing regions on the outer sides of the films forming the side surface portions 3 and 4 are also heat-welded regions b. Note that FIG.
FIG. 3 shows the appearance of the ink bag formed by the joining shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the first film forming the surface portions 1 and 2 has a polyethylene layer 10 having a thickness of about 100 μm, a polyester layer 11 having a thickness of about 25 μm, and a thickness of about 15 μm. It is configured by laminating a metal layer having an excellent gas barrier property and flexibility, for example, an aluminum layer 12, and a polyester layer 13 as a protective layer having a thickness of about 38 μm.

The second film is, as shown in FIG. 4B, a polyethylene layer 15 having a thickness of about 60 μm to 100 μm, a metal layer having a thickness of about 9 μm and excellent in air-shielding property and flexibility, such as aluminum. Layer 16 and thickness 15 μm
A nylon layer 17 having a flexibility of about 25 μm to 25 μm is laminated, or a nylon layer 18 is further formed between the polyethylene layer 15 and the aluminum layer 16 as shown in FIG. Is configured.

These films consist of the polyethylene layer 10 of the first film constituting the surface portions 1 and 2, the side surface portion 3,
4 and the polyethylene layer 15 of the second film are opposed to each other in a state where the side surfaces 3 and 4 are bent at the center line C in advance and bent, and only the peripheral portion is heat-welded. Needless to say, since polyethylene has excellent heat-welding properties, it is possible to easily form a bag having sufficient adhesive strength and airtightness.

In FIG. 4 (a), the polyester layer 11 is interposed between the polyethylene layer 10 and the aluminum layer 12 of the base material.
As shown in (d), it is composed of a nylon layer 19, and the nylon layer 19 having a higher toughness than the polyester layer 11 enhances the burst strength of the surface parts 1 and 2 of the ink bag due to vibration or impact. You can

In this embodiment, after the degassed ink is filled from the ink supply port 5 and the ink supply port 5 is sealed with a septum, the ink bag has joints 6 to 9 at four corners and a short side portion 1a ( In 2a), unnecessary overhang is suppressed, and it expands into a rectangular parallelepiped in a flat state as much as possible (Fig. 5).
(I)). In this state, even if an excessive force is applied to the ink bag due to a drop or the like, the corner portion has a relatively wide joint portion 6.
Since the pressure is distributed and received by ~ 9, damage is prevented.

Since the contained ink is in contact with the chemically stable polyethylene layers 10 and 15, there is no chemical change and the outside air is aluminum layers 12 and 16.
It is prevented by and is kept degassed for a long period of time to maintain the quality at the time of factory shipment.

The ink supply needle of the recording apparatus is connected to the ink supply port 5
The ink in the ink bag is supplied to the recording head through the ink supply pipe when the recording head is inserted into the recording head. As the ink consumption of the recording head progresses, the side portions 3 and 4 having relatively low rigidity are bent at the center line C and the flat portion 1 from the joint portions 6 to 9 at the four corners.
While the center line C is moved inward by the tension applied via 2, the ink is deformed according to the ink amount so as to reduce the thickness (FIG. 5).
(II)).

In particular, the polyester layer 13 forming the ink bag has high rigidity, and due to this, the shape retention is large, so that the surface portions 1 and 2 are in a flat plate state as much as possible even if the ink is reduced. When the ink is maintained and the ink is exhausted, the side surface portions 3 and 4 are folded in two and the front surface portions 1 and 2 are overlapped with each other to reliably discharge the internal ink (see FIG. 5 (II
I)).

[0018]

As described above, in the present invention, each long side of the quadrangular heat-welding first film forming the flat portion can be heat-welded in the quadrilateral side forming the side surface, In addition, the long side portion of the second film, which has a lower rigidity than the first film, is heat-welded to form a cylindrical body, and one short side portion of the flat portion is heat-welded to form a bag body. Since the ink supply port is heat-welded to the other short side portion and the band-shaped joints reaching from one side to the other side adjacent to each other are formed at the four corners, the ink-filled state has a rectangular parallelepiped shape. It can be accommodated in the recording device in a small dead space, and the external force acting on the corners can be dispersed and received by the joints to prevent damage, and the side portions, which have relatively weak rigidity depending on the ink amount, Check the ink by thinning the thickness from the joints at the four corners with tension. It can be discharged to.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are a diagram showing an embodiment of an ink bag of the present invention and a diagram showing a partially cutaway state thereof, respectively.

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are a side view showing an embodiment of the same ink bag in an ink-filled state and a top view showing the bag in a folded state, respectively.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are views showing a welded form of a corner portion in a cross section taken along a line FF in FIG.

4A to 4D are cross-sectional views showing an embodiment of a film forming the ink bag of the same.

FIGS. 5 (I) to (III) are views showing a deformation mode according to the ink amount of the same ink bag as a cross section taken along the line 2G-G in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view showing another embodiment of the ink bag of the invention in a folded state.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional ink bag.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 surface part 3, 4 side parts 5 Ink supply port 6-9 joints

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masanori Kamijo             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Tadatoshi Motozawa             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Michiya Tsukahara             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation F-term (reference) 2C056 KC14                 3E064 AA13 BA17 BA26 BA36 BA54                       BB03 BC08 BC18 EA07 EA12                       EA18 FA04 HF09 HG03 HG10                       HN65

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A quadrilateral-shaped heat-welding first film having a quadrangular shape forming a flat surface, and a quadrilateral-shape heat-welding having a side surface formed on each long side of the first film having a rigidity lower than that of the first film. Two
The long side of the film is heat-welded to form a cylindrical body, and one short side of the flat part is heat-welded to form a bag, and the ink supply port is heat-welded to the other short side of the flat part. In addition, an ink bag for an ink jet recording apparatus, in which strip-shaped joints reaching from one side to the other side adjacent to each other are formed at four corners. 2. The ink bag for an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the band-shaped joint portion is formed by heat welding the inner surface side of the bag. 3. The ink bag for an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the band-shaped joint portion is formed by heat welding the inner surface side and the outer surface side of the bag. 4. The ink bag for an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second film has a crease formed along a center line thereof. 5. The ink bag for an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the center line of the second film is located inside the band-shaped joint. 6. The first film is formed by laminating a polyethylene layer, a polyester layer, a metal layer, and a polyester layer in this order, and the second film is formed by laminating a polyethylene layer, a metal layer, and a nylon layer. The ink bag for an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the polyethylene layer also functions as a heat-welding material. 7. The nylon layer is interposed between the polyethylene layer and the metal layer of the second film.
An ink bag for an ink jet recording apparatus according to item 1. 8. The first film is formed by laminating a polyethylene layer, a nylon layer, a metal layer, and a polyester layer in this order, and the second film is formed by laminating a polyethylene layer, a metal layer, and a nylon layer. The ink bag for an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the polyethylene layer also functions as a heat-welding material.