JP2003211703A - Ink cartridge and ink-jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spout structure for an ink cartridge in a relatively simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: A small hole for taking out the ink can be switched by sliding a sealing ring in a structure without using a needle for extracting an ink of an ink cartridge. Unlike the conventional technique wherein a rubber is pierced by a needle so as to give rise to rupture of the rubber, since the rubber is not damaged, dust generation can be prevented, so as to eliminate the risk of choking the nozzle hole of an ink-jet head. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording unit having an ink jet head and applied to, for example, a printer or a fax machine, and an ink jet recording apparatus using the same, and more particularly to an ink extraction portion of an ink cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an ink jet recording apparatus for recording characters and images on a recording medium using an ink jet head which ejects ink from a plurality of nozzles. This ink jet recording apparatus prints a dot pattern on a predetermined area by ejecting ink from nozzles of the ink jet head while moving a carriage on which the ink jet head is mounted in the main scanning direction with respect to a recording medium. When the main scanning is completed, the recording medium is moved in the sub-scanning direction by a predetermined amount, and these operations are repeated to print all desired areas.

Further, in a large-sized ink jet recording apparatus, a plurality of ink jet heads corresponding to respective color inks are mounted on a carriage. In such a large ink jet recording apparatus, as a method of supplying ink to each ink jet head, an ink suction needle provided in the apparatus is inserted into an ink extraction port generally called a spout of an ink cartridge, and provided on the ink suction needle. The ink is supplied from the small hole through the ink tube to the inkjet head.

A predetermined amount of ink is stored in this ink cartridge, and when the ink cartridge is mounted in the apparatus, the ink flows out due to the difference in the ink head between the nozzle surface of the ink jet head and the ink cartridge.

A small hole for sucking ink is provided at the tip or side surface of the ink suction needle. Normally, once the ink cartridge is set, it will not be removed until the ink is empty, but it may be removed or inserted for maintenance or malfunction. When the ink suction needle is inserted into the rubber of the spout, the rubber is scraped or torn by the needle to become dust, and the dust enters the inside of the ink cartridge or the ink tube and is carried to the inside of the inkjet head. Further, when the ink suction needle is inserted and removed, air bubbles enter and similarly enter the inside of the head through the tube. There is a problem that such dust and air bubbles may clog the ink ejection nozzles of the inkjet head.

For this reason, it has been necessary to smooth the shape of the ink suction needle, design the shape of the small hole, and provide a filtering structure in the apparatus. In addition, when the ink suction needle is inserted and removed, the ink attached to the needle may stain the inside of the ink cartridge or the inkjet recording apparatus. To solve these problems, a cartridge having a structure that does not use a needle has been proposed. For example, a mechanism has been proposed in which a valve is provided in the spout portion of the ink cartridge and the valve provided in the cartridge is opened when the ink take-out port on the device side is inserted.

[0007]

However, when rubber is used for the spout portion as in the prior art, the rubber may be violated by the ink if the material of the rubber and the ink are not properly matched. Further, in the structure for opening and closing the valve, it was difficult to adjust the adhesion of the valve and the opening / closing force.

In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a spout structure for an ink cartridge with a relatively simple structure.

[0009]

A first aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is an ink cartridge for supplying ink to an ink jet recording apparatus, which is a bag-shaped pouch for holding ink therein. , A pipe shape with one end closed, the other end communicating with the inside of the pouch, and a protrusion having an ink extraction hole on the side surface, and a ring-shaped elastic body, mounted on the protrusion to extract the ink An ink cartridge, comprising: a seal ring configured to close the hole and slide along a side surface of the protrusion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, when the seal ring slides along the side surface of the protrusion, the biasing force is applied to return the seal ring to the original position. The ink cartridge is characterized in that it is provided with a biasing means.

A third aspect of the present invention is provided with a mounting portion for mounting the ink cartridge of the first or second aspect, the mounting portion including the seal ring of the mounted ink cartridge on a side surface of the protrusion. The ink jet recording apparatus is characterized in that the ink extraction hole is exposed by sliding along the line.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is, in an ink jet recording apparatus in which ink is supplied from the ink cartridge of the first or second aspect, a shape provided in the apparatus and including the protruding portion of the ink cartridge. And an ink injection needle that has a surface that matches the seal ring of the ink cartridge and that exposes the ink extraction hole provided in the protrusion when the ink cartridge is mounted in the ink cartridge mounting portion of the ink jet recording apparatus. The ink jet recording apparatus is characterized in that when the seal ring of the ink cartridge is pushed in, the seal ring is pushed in the axial direction of the protrusion to expose the ink extraction hole.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, when the ink cartridge is pulled out from the ink jet recording apparatus, the seal ring axially pushed in is provided with a spring provided around the protrusion. The ink cartridge is characterized in that it is pushed back by an elastic component having properties and the exposed ink extraction hole of the protrusion is closed.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is the ink cartridge according to the first aspect, characterized in that the protrusion has one or a plurality of ink extraction holes.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is the same as the first aspect, in which the spout portion having the protrusion is firmly bonded to the bag-shaped pouch by heat welding or another method, and is filled. It is an ink cartridge characterized by being a material that is not violated by ink.

According to the present invention, the spout structure of the ink cartridge can be provided with a simple structure.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an assembly sectional view of a spout portion of an ink cartridge 1 according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the ink cartridge, and FIG. 3 is a state in which it is attached to an ink jet recording apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 1, a spout 11 is fixed by heat welding or the like to a pouch 10 in which a polyester film or the like is sealed in a bag shape by heat welding or the like. The pouch 10 is formed by stacking two polyester films and the like, and heat-welding both sides in the longitudinal direction thereof into a tubular shape. The spout 11 serving as an outlet for guiding the ink to the outside is set in one cylindrical opening, and heat-welding or the like is performed to weld the ink without any gap. Ink is filled from the other opening of the pouch 10, and after filling, the opening is heat-welded and sealed. The case 12 of the ink cartridge forms the ink cartridge body so as to sandwich the spout 11.

As shown in FIG. 3, the spout 11 is formed in a boat shape and has the largest center at the spout 11 and is smoothly thinned toward the outer periphery. This is a pouch 10
It is a shape for firmly welding the spout 11 with no gap. The pouch side 13 of the spout 11 is flat, and the other surface 14 has a groove 15 for fitting the ink cartridge case, and has a concave shape except for a pipe-shaped projection 16 provided at the center thereof. A pipe for guiding ink is formed in the center of the concave portion in a projection shape, the inside of the pipe-shaped projection 16 communicates with the pouch side, and the other surface 17 has a closed cylindrical shape. A plurality of ink extraction holes 18 for guiding ink to the outside are formed on the side surface of the pipe-shaped projection 16.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, a flange is provided by a disk-shaped plate molded or processed of plastic or metal, and the disk-shaped elastic component 19 having a spring property is formed by bending, and the disk-shaped elastic part 19 is piped to the spout 11. The protrusion 16 is inserted. Furthermore, after inserting the disk-shaped elastic component 19 into the spout 11, the seal ring 20 shown in FIG. The seal ring 20 has a sleeve 22 formed to have an inner diameter capable of firmly sealing the ink extraction hole 18 formed on the side surface of the pipe-shaped projection, and the end surface of the sleeve 22 on the spout side is connected to the spring portion 23 of the disk-shaped elastic component 19. It is a part molded from plastic or rubber that has a flat surface to be in contact with and is in close contact with the outer periphery of the recess of the spout. The seal ring 20 not only seals the pipe-shaped projection but also has a role of being inserted into the recess of the spout 11 to fix the disc-shaped elastic component 19.

Next, an ink injection needle 24 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6 is attached to the ink jet recording apparatus side. The ink injection needle 24 has a through hole 25 through which ink passes, a sleeve 27 is provided so as to enclose the sleeve portion 22 of the seal ring 20, and an end surface 28 of the sleeve presses the flat surface of the seal ring 20. The tube 26 for supplying ink to the inkjet head is connected to the other end.

Next, the operation when the ink cartridge 1 is mounted in the ink jet recording apparatus will be described. When the ink cartridge 1 is mounted, the cartridge 1 is pushed toward the ink injection needle 24 on the device side. The end surface of the ink injection needle 24 is inserted so as to be included in the seal ring 20 of the ink cartridge, and when further pushed, the end surface of the ink injection needle 24 contacts the flat surface of the seal ring, and when further pushed, the disk-shaped elastic part. The seal ring 20 is slid together with the spring portion 23 of 19 being bent. Then, the ink extraction hole 18 on the side surface of the pipe-shaped projection 16 provided at the center of the spout 11 is exposed. When the ink extraction hole 18 is exposed, ink is ejected from the ink extraction hole 18 due to the pressure inside the pouch of the ink cartridge 1. When exchanging the ink cartridge 1 when replacing the ink cartridge 1, the seal ring 20 is pushed back by the repulsive force of the spring of the disk-shaped elastic component 19 of the spout 11, and the exposed ink extraction hole 19 is closed. Can be stopped. Normally, the ink cartridge is not inserted and removed frequently once inserted, but in the present invention, the ink can be opened and closed without damaging the seal ring 20.

Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, a needle is not used for ink extraction of the ink cartridge, and the ink extraction eyelet can be opened and closed by sliding the seal ring. When a needle is pierced into the rubber as in the conventional case, the rubber breaks, but in the present invention, the rubber is not damaged, so that no dust is generated and the nozzle hole of the inkjet head is not clogged.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an assembled sectional view of an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an ink extraction structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a spout 11 shape according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a disk-shaped elastic component 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is an expansion perspective view.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the seal ring 21 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an ink injection needle of the inkjet device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ink cartridge 10 pouches 11 spouts 12 Ink cartridge case 16 Pipe-shaped protrusion 18 Ink extraction hole 19 Disc-shaped elastic parts 20 seal ring 24 ink injection needle 26 tubes 27 Sleeve

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge for supplying ink to an ink jet recording apparatus, which is a bag-shaped pouch for holding ink therein, and a pipe-like member having one end closed and the other end communicating with the inside of the pouch. A protrusion having an ink extraction hole on the side surface and a ring-shaped elastic body are mounted on the protrusion to close the ink extraction hole and are slidable along the side surface of the protrusion. An ink cartridge comprising: a seal ring; 2. The urging means for urging the seal ring to return to the original position when the seal ring slides along the side surface of the protrusion. Ink cartridge described. 3. A mounting portion for mounting the ink cartridge according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the mounting portion slides the seal ring of the mounted ink cartridge along a side surface of the protrusion. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by exposing an extraction hole. 4. An ink jet recording apparatus to which ink is supplied from the ink cartridge according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a shape is provided inside the apparatus to include the protrusion of the ink cartridge, and a seal ring of the ink cartridge. When the ink cartridge having the matching surfaces is mounted in the ink cartridge mounting portion of the ink jet recording apparatus, the seal ring of the ink cartridge is pushed by the ink injection needle that exposes the ink extraction hole provided in the protrusion. An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the seal ring is pushed in the axial direction of the protrusion to expose the ink extraction hole. 5. When the ink cartridge is pulled out from the ink jet recording apparatus, the seal ring pushed in the axial direction is pushed back by an elastic component having a spring property provided around the protrusion, and the protrusion of the protrusion is removed. The ink cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the exposed ink extraction hole is closed. 6. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion has one or a plurality of ink extraction holes. 7. The spout portion having the protrusion is made of a material that is firmly bonded to the pouch formed in a bag shape by heat welding or another method and is not violated by the ink to be filled. Item 2. The ink cartridge according to Item 1.