JP2003266747A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorder in which waste liquid stored in a waste liquid collecting section can be treated at any time on the user side. <P>SOLUTION: The recorder comprises a waste liquid cartridge 40 formed to be fixed removably to a section 30 for collecting waste liquid, e.g. ink, arranged on the recorder body 130 and fixed with an integrated circuit for storing information of the waste liquid by storing the waste liquid. Since a user can attain the state of waste liquid in the waste liquid cartridge from the integrated circuit, the waste liquid cartridge is drawn out from the waste liquid collecting section immediately after the waste liquid cartridge is filled with waste liquid and then the waste liquid is treated. Subsequently, the waste liquid cartridge can be returned back to the waste liquid collecting section. <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 apparatus for recording ink on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from a recording head,
In particular, the present invention relates to a recording device in which a waste liquid recovery section for recovering waste liquid such as ink disposed in the main body of the apparatus is devised.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a recording medium, for example, JIS standard A1
There is an ink jet printer which is one of large-sized recording devices capable of recording even a relatively large-sized recording sheet such as a standard size or JIS standard B1 size. This ink jet printer has a structure in which a paper feed unit, a recording unit, and a paper discharge unit are arranged in this order from the top. Inside the recording unit,
A recording head mounted on a carriage that reciprocates in the main scanning direction is provided.

And, in general, on the front side of the recording section,
An ink cartridge holder is provided in which an ink cartridge that stores ink supplied to the recording head is inserted and removed. Further, on the side surface side of the recording portion, ink used when initially filling the ink supply system to the recording head,
Alternatively, a waste liquid recovery unit for recovering a waste liquid such as a cleaning liquid used when cleaning the ink supply system reaching the recording head is provided.

In such a configuration, the recording head is moved in the main scanning direction while the recording sheet set in the paper feeding unit is intermittently fed in the sub-scanning direction by the set amount in the recording unit.
Ink droplets are ejected from the recording head onto recording paper. Then, after recording the predetermined information on the recording paper, the recording paper is ejected from the paper ejection unit.

[0005]

In recent years, ink jet printers have been developed in which the number of inks is increased from, for example, 6 colors to 7 colors. Inkjet printers that use these seven colors of ink suppress the appearance of color skips in the shadow areas of printed images, and reproduce subtle gradation changes naturally and smoothly to achieve high-quality photographs without graininess. can do. Further, if one color other than the previous six colors is changed to black, that is, recording is performed using two black ink cartridges, high speed recording becomes possible.

Further, a black ink which has a good color development and a black ink which can or cannot be used depending on the type of paper have been developed, and it is possible to change one color other than the previous six colors to the above black. . However, the number of cleanings of the ink supply system is increased due to the multi-functionality,
Although the amount of the cleaning liquid and the waste liquid of the ink will also be increased, in the past, there was a case where it could not be dealt with because the manufacturer regularly processes the waste liquid accumulated in the waste liquid collecting section.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned various problems, and an object thereof is to provide a recording apparatus capable of processing the waste liquid accumulated in the waste liquid collecting portion on the user side at any time. is there.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, in a recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention, a recording apparatus for ejecting ink droplets from a recording head to record on a recording medium is provided in an apparatus main body. A waste liquid cartridge, which is detachably formed in a waste liquid collecting portion that collects waste liquid such as ink, is equipped with an integrated circuit that stores the waste liquid and stores the information of the waste liquid. . With this, the user can obtain the state of the waste liquid in the waste liquid cartridge from the integrated circuit at any time, and when the waste liquid cartridge becomes full, the waste liquid cartridge is immediately pulled out from the waste liquid collecting section to process the waste liquid, The waste liquid cartridge can be returned to the waste liquid recovery unit.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, an openable / closable shutter is arranged so as to cover the connector of the integrated circuit mounted in the waste liquid collecting section, The shutter is opened when the waste liquid cartridge is mounted, and the connector and the integrated circuit are connected to each other. This allows
The connector can be protected from contamination by waste liquid. Further, the user can easily connect the integrated circuit to the connector only by inserting the waste liquid cartridge into the waste liquid collecting portion without performing a special operation on the shutter.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the recording apparatus according to the second aspect, the shutter is biased in the closing direction and is locked at the closing position. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the third aspect, the waste liquid cartridge includes a first rib that unlocks the shutter and a second rib that presses the shutter in the opening direction. It is characterized by As a result, the user can disconnect the integrated circuit from the connector and close the shutter by simply pulling out the waste liquid cartridge from the waste liquid recovery unit without performing any special operation on the shutter.
Also, just insert the waste liquid cartridge into the waste liquid collection section,
The integrated circuit can be connected to the connector and the shutter can be opened.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of an ink jet printer which is one of the recording apparatuses according to the embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an internal configuration example of a main part of the ink jet printer. FIG. The inkjet printer 100 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a large-sized printer capable of recording even a relatively large-sized recording sheet such as a JIS standard A1 size or a JIS standard B1 size. Unit 120, paper discharge unit 13
0 and the leg portion 140 are arranged in this order from the top. The recording unit 120 and the paper discharge unit 130 are integrated as a main body, and are configured to be separable from the paper feed unit 110 and the leg unit 140.

As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feed unit 110 is provided so as to project to the upper rear of the main bodies 120 and 130. As shown in FIG. 2, a roll paper holder 111, in which one roll of recording paper (hereinafter referred to as roll paper) can be set, is provided inside the paper feed unit 110.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, on the front surface of the paper feeding unit 110,
A flip-up type openable and closable roll paper cover 112 is attached so as to cover the roll paper holder 111.

As shown in FIG. 2, the roll paper holder 111 is attached to the spindle 113 for holding the roll paper, a pair of flange-shaped roll paper retainers 114, and the inner surfaces of both side walls of the paper feed unit 110, and the spindle 113 It is equipped with a pair of spindle receivers 115 that can be detached and suspended. Then, the spindle 113 is in a state where the roll paper is inserted in the center and is sandwiched by the roll paper presser 114,
Both ends are mounted on the spindle receiver 115, and are rotatably supported by a shaft. Roll paper cover 112
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the whole is rotatably supported, and is opened and closed by the user holding the lower part and lifting or lowering it.

As shown in FIG. 2, the recording unit 120 includes a carriage 122 having a recording head 121, a flexible flat cable (hereinafter referred to as a flexible flat cable) electrically connecting a recording head 121 and a control unit (not shown) for executing recording. ,
FFC) 123, an ink tube 124 that connects the recording head 121 and the ink cartridge 10 containing ink, a paper feed roller (not shown) that conveys the roll paper in the sub-scanning direction, and a paper suction means (not shown) that prevents the roll paper from floating. And so on. Then, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
25 and the front lid 126 are the recording head 121 and the carriage 1.
It is attached so as to cover 22 and the like.

The recording head 121 comprises a black ink recording head for ejecting black ink and a plurality of color ink recording heads for ejecting inks of respective colors such as light yellow, yellow, light cyan, cyan, light magenta and magenta. I have it. The recording head 121 is provided with a pressure generating chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generating chamber. By storing ink in the pressure generating chamber and pressurizing it with a predetermined pressure, a size controlled from the nozzle opening toward the roll paper is controlled. Ink droplets are ejected.

The carriage 122, as shown in FIG.
The carriage 127 is hung from a rail 127 provided in the main scanning direction via rollers and is connected to a carriage belt 128. When the carriage belt 128 is operated by a carriage driving device (not shown), the carriage belt 128 is operated.
And is guided by the rail 127 to reciprocate.

The FFC 123 has one end connected to the connector of the control unit and the other end connected to the connector of the recording head 121, and sends a recording signal from the control unit to the recording head 121. The ink tubes 124 are provided for the inks of the respective colors, one end of each of which is connected to the corresponding ink cartridge 10 of each color through an ink pressurizing supply unit (not shown), and the other end of each of the recording heads corresponds to the corresponding color. It is connected to 121. Then, the ink tube 124 supplies the ink of each color pressurized by the ink pressure supply means from the ink cartridge 10 to the recording head 1.
It will be sent to 21.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a lower portion of the front lid 126 is rotatably supported, and a user holds the upper portion to push down or push up the lid to open or close. The user can greatly open the recording unit 120 by opening the front lid 126, and thus can easily perform maintenance work on the recording head 121, the carriage 122, and the like.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the paper discharge unit 130 forms a part of a path for transporting the roll paper in the sub-scanning direction and a transporting roll paper in the sub-scanning direction. Not equipped with a discharge roller. Paper ejection guide 131
Is formed as a flat inclined surface projecting to the front side, so that the roll paper conveyed from above can be smoothly guided downward.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the leg portion 140 has two supporting columns 142 having a moving roller 141.
And a reinforcing rod 143 hung between these support columns 142. The paper feed unit 110 and the main bodies 120 and 130 are placed on the upper portions of the support columns 142 and fixed by screws. By disposing the moving rollers 141 on the support columns 142, the heavy paper feeding unit 110 and the main bodies 120 and 130 can be smoothly moved to desired positions and installed. . In addition, between the support columns 142 of the leg 140,
A paper discharge receiving device that receives the roll paper discharged from the paper discharge unit 130 can be installed.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a holder main body 151 for accommodating and holding the ink cartridges 10 of each color and a cover 152 for covering the front surface thereof are provided on the left side of the main bodies 120, 130 as viewed from the front side. An ink cartridge holder 150 is arranged. The ink cartridge holder 150 covers the holder body 151 with the cover 1
A lower portion of 52 is rotatably supported, and a user holds the upper portion to push down or push up to open or close.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an operation panel 160 for a user to operate recording control and the like is arranged on the upper right side when viewed from the front side of the main bodies 120 and 130. The operation panel 160 is provided with a liquid crystal screen and various buttons so that the user can operate the buttons while checking the liquid crystal screen.

When the ink jet printer 100 is used in such a structure, first, the paper feeding section 11 is used.
Spindle 11 constituting roll paper holder 111 from 0
3, the one roll paper holder 114 inserted in the spindle 113 is pulled out from one end of the spindle 113, as shown in FIG.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the spindle 1
One end of the roll paper R is inserted from one end of the shaft hole C of the roll paper R to penetrate the other end, and as shown in FIG. 5, one end of the shaft hole C of the roll paper R is inserted and fixed to the other end side of the spindle 113. The roll paper holder 114 is fitted into and brought into contact with the roll paper holder 114. Then, one roll paper holder 114 is inserted from one end of the spindle 113 and fitted into the other end of the shaft hole C of the roll paper R. This allows the roll paper R to rotate together with the spindle 113.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the paper feed section 110 is held by holding both ends of the spindle 113 into which the roll paper R is inserted.
Lift up to. Here, as shown in FIG. 7, in the spindle receiver 115, a relatively shallow recess 115a for temporarily mounting the end portion of the spindle 113 and the end portion of the spindle 113 are rotatably supported. The relatively deep recesses 115b are arranged side by side in the front and rear. Front depression 115
a is a spindle 1 in which a heavy roll paper R is inserted
Since it is difficult to temporarily insert 13 into the regular recess 115b, it is provided for temporary placement.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, both ends of the spindle 113 into which the roll paper R has been inserted are temporarily placed in the temporary recess 115a of the spindle receiver 115, and thereafter,
As shown in FIG. 8, first, one end of the spindle 113 in which the roll paper R is inserted is attached to the corresponding spindle receiver 114.
Then, the other end of the spindle 113 into which the roll paper R is inserted is hooked on the corresponding regular recess 115b of the corresponding spindle receiver 115. As a result, the spindle 113 with the roll paper R inserted therein can be safely and easily set in the paper feed unit 110.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, the leading end of the roll paper R is pulled out downward and passed through the conveyance path of the recording section 120.
Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the sheet is passed to the conveyance path of the sheet discharge unit 130. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the roll paper R is rotated in the winding direction to position the leading end of the roll paper R at the marker M formed on, for example, the paper discharge guide 131. After that, the ink jet printer 100 is activated to feed the roll paper R in the sub-scanning direction and the recording head 1
Ink droplets are ejected while moving 21 in the main scanning direction, predetermined information is recorded on the roll paper R, and the paper is ejected.

FIG. 12 shows the ink cartridge holder 15
It is a perspective view which shows the detail of 0. The ink cartridge holder 150 is a holder main body 151 attached to the front left side of the main body 120 of the inkjet printer 100.
And a cover 152 attached to the front side of the holder body 151. Inside the holder main body 151, a storage portion 153 for storing the ink cartridge 10 and a control lever 154 that is vertically movable are arranged in parallel. The lower portion of the cover 152 is rotatably supported by the lower portion of the holder body 151, and is swung downward to rotate the holder body 151.
The front surface of the holder main body 151 is closed by opening the front surface of the holder main body 151 and turning upward.

A storage portion 153 provided in the holder main body 151 has a total of seven color ink cartridges 10B including black, light yellow, yellow, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, and magenta from the left side in the drawing.
0LY, 10Y, 10LC, 10C, 10LM, 10M
Are separated so that they can be individually pulled out and pushed in.

Here, FIG. 13 shows the ink cartridge 1.
It is the perspective view which looked at 0 from the back surface side. The ink cartridge 10 includes an outer case 11 formed of, for example, a hard plastic material in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and an ink tank, which is formed of, for example, a flexible material in a bag shape and is filled with ink, is sealed. On the front surface side of one side surface of the outer case 11, a concave grip portion 12 on which the user holds his or her hand when the ink cartridge 10 is pulled out from the storage portion 153 and pushed in is formed.

In the conventional ink cartridge holder, for example, only six color ink cartridges are stored in the holder main body, and there is a relatively large space. Therefore, when the ink cartridge is pulled out and pushed into the storage portion, The user was able to put his hands inside the holder body and work. However, in the present embodiment, the holder body 1 of the ink cartridge holder 150 having the same size as the conventional one is used.
Since it is necessary to arrange the storage portion 153 for storing the ink cartridges 10 of seven colors and the control lever 154 in the same space in 51, there is no room in space. Therefore, by forming the concave grip portion 12 in the ink cartridge 10, the work of pulling out and pushing in the ink cartridge 10 into the storage portion 153 can be easily performed.

An ink supply port 13 covered with rubber packing connected to an internal ink tank is formed in the center of the rear surface of the outer case 11, and the ink cartridge 10 is housed in a storage part 153 on both upper and lower sides thereof. Positioning holes 14 are formed for positioning when pushing in. Further, the upper part of the rear surface of the outer case 11 has a recess 1
5 is formed, and the ink cartridge 1 is formed inside thereof.
IC 16 for reading and writing the ink information of 0, for example, the manufacturing number, the color and the remaining amount of the ink, is attached. further,
A locking protrusion 17 for locking the ink cartridge 10 when stored in the storage portion 153 is formed in the center of the upper surface of the outer case 11.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the housing portion 153 of the ink cartridge 10 for one color in the holder body 151. An ink supply needle 21 inserted into the ink supply port 13 of the ink cartridge 10 and a positioning needle 22 inserted into the positioning hole 14 of the ink cartridge 10 are pulled out of the ink cartridge 10 on the inner rear surface of the storage portion 153. , Is arranged so as to project in the pushing direction.

Here, FIG. 15A shows the ink supply needle 2.
It is a top view which shows the detail of 1. This ink supply needle 21
Has a supply port 21a bored on the front side surface and a rear end connected to the ink tube 124. Then, the ink supply needle 21 is a cylindrical rubber that is axially biased by a compression spring 23 inserted at the rear end side and closes a supply port formed in the tip side surface of the ink supply needle 21. A valve 24 made of metal is inserted. As a result, the ink supply system in the inkjet printer 100 can be maintained in the closed state.

With such a configuration, when the user pushes the ink cartridge 10 into the storage portion 153 as shown in FIG. 15 (A), as shown in FIG. 15 (B),
The ink supply needle 21 is inserted into the ink supply port 13, and the valve 24 is pushed by the rubber packing of the ink supply port 13 to be pushed toward the rear end side of the ink supply needle 21. As a result, the supply port 21 covered by the valve 24
Since a is exposed, the ink in the ink tank of the ink cartridge 10 is supplied from the ink supply port 13 to the ink tube 124 through the supply port 21a of the ink supply needle 21.

On the other hand, when the user pulls out the ink cartridge 10 from the storage portion 153, the ink supply needle 21 is also pulled out from the ink supply port 13, so that the ink supply port 13
The valve 24 pushed by the rubber packing is pushed to the tip side of the ink supply needle 21 by the restoring force of the compression spring 23. As a result, the exposed supply port 21a is covered with the valve 24 again.

As shown in FIG. 14, a connector 25 that is electrically connected to the IC 16 of the ink cartridge 10 is attached to the upper portion of the inner rear surface of the storage portion 153. This connector 25 is connected to the FFC 123,
The control unit of the inkjet printer 100 can read and write ink information with respect to the IC 16 of the ink cartridge 10. Further, a locking claw 153b that locks or unlocks the locking projection 17 of the ink cartridge 10 in conjunction with the cam 159 is formed at the center of the upper surface of the storage portion 153.

As shown in FIG. 12, the control lever 154 provided in the holder body 151 is
1 is provided so as to be vertically swingable along a guide groove 151a provided in the vertical direction. This control lever 154
Swings up and down, so that the ink cartridge 1
The writing of ink information to the IC 16 arranged at 0 is electrically controlled, and the loading / unloading of the ink cartridge 10 into / from the storage portion 153 is mechanically controlled.

That is, when the control lever 154 is positioned at the uppermost end, writing of ink information to the IC 16 arranged in the ink cartridge 10 is prohibited, and the ink cartridge 10 is stored in the storage portion 153. It can be taken in and out. On the other hand, when the control lever 154 is positioned at the lowermost end,
Writing of ink information to the IC 16 provided in the ink cartridge 10 is permitted, and
It is impossible to take the ink cartridge 10 in and out of the storage portion 153.

The control lever 154 having such a function
By providing the above, it becomes possible to use a large ink cartridge. That is, conventionally, the writing of ink information to the IC provided in the ink cartridge has been controlled by the opening / closing operation of the cover of the ink cartridge holder. However, when the large ink cartridge is set in the holder body, it protrudes to the front side and the cover cannot be closed, so that it is not possible to control the writing of ink information to the IC arranged in the ink cartridge. It was

On the other hand, the writing of ink information to the IC 16 arranged in the ink cartridge 10 of this embodiment is controlled by swinging the control lever 154 of the ink cartridge holder 150 as described above.
For this reason, a large ink cartridge is attached to the holder body 15
Even if the cover 152 cannot be closed by protruding to the front side when set to 1, it is possible to control writing of ink information to the IC arranged in the large ink cartridge.

By the way, as described above, the ink in each color of the ink cartridge 10 housed in the ink cartridge holder 150 is pressurized by the ink pressure supply means and is sent to the recording head 121. There is. For this reason, in the case of an ink supply means that uses the head difference like a conventional inkjet printer, the ink cartridge holder needs to be arranged above the carriage.
Since the ink 50 can be supplied wherever it is arranged, the arrangement place can be freely set.

FIG. 16 shows an ink jet printer 10.
No. 0, the ink used when initially filling the ink supply system to the recording head 121, or the recording head 1
21 is a perspective view showing a portion for collecting waste liquid such as a cleaning liquid used when cleaning the ink supply system up to 21. FIG. The waste liquid recovery part 30 is formed in a box shape, and is incorporated in the right side of the main body 130 so that the opening 31 comes to the right side surface of the main body 130. Then, the waste liquid cartridge 40 is inserted through the opening 31. That is, the waste liquid cartridge 40 is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the waste liquid recovery unit 30.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing details of the waste liquid cartridge 40. The waste liquid cartridge 40 has a plurality of ink absorbing materials such as sponges and non-woven fabrics housed in an outer case 41 formed of a hard plastic material in a rectangular parallelepiped shape. At the lower part on the front surface side of the outer case 41, a concave grip portion 42 that a user holds when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is pulled out and pushed into the opening 31 of the waste liquid recovery portion 30 is formed.

Further, a cylindrical waste liquid inlet 43 for allowing waste liquid to flow into the waste liquid cartridge 40 is formed in the central portion on the upper surface side of the outer case 41. The waste liquid inflow port 43 is formed so that the cylindrical surface thereof protrudes upward, so that the bubbles generated when the waste liquid flows into the waste liquid cartridge 40.
It is possible to scrape off the waste liquid into the cylinder at the time of the withdrawing operation, and it is possible to minimize the problem that the waste liquid is transferred to the upper part of the waste liquid cartridge 40.

In addition, a positioning rib 44 for positioning the waste liquid cartridge 40 when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is mounted on the waste liquid collecting portion 30, and a CSIC for storing information such as the amount of waste liquid stored are provided on the front part on the right side of the outer case 41. A board mounting portion 45 on which the mounted board is mounted and shutter opening ribs 46 and 47 for opening a shutter 50 described later are formed.

In the positioning rib 44, the vertical surface 44a at the right end in the figure functions as a contact in the insertion direction of the waste liquid cartridge 40, and the upper and lower horizontal surfaces 44b and 44c in the drawing function as guides when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is inserted. The shutter opening rib 46 on the upper side is a vertical surface 46a at the right end in the figure.
Functions as a pressing part that directly presses the slide part 51 of the shutter 50, and the lower shutter opening rib 47 functions as a pressing part that pushes down the lock claw 53 of the shutter 50 by the slope 47a at the right end in the figure.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the right inner side surface of the waste liquid recovery section 30 in the vicinity of the opening 31. A CSIC connector 32 that connects to the CSIC of the substrate mounted on the waste liquid cartridge 40 is attached to the inner right surface near the opening 31 of the waste liquid recovery unit 30. The CSIC connector 32 is covered with a shutter 50 that can be opened and closed in order to protect it from contamination by waste liquid.

The shutter 50 is provided with a slide portion 51, a holder portion 52 and a lock claw 53, and is opened when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is attached to the waste liquid collecting portion 30 in order to connect the CSIC connector 32 and the CSIC. It has become so. The slide portion 51 is arranged along the guide shaft 52a provided in the holder portion 52, and the waste liquid cartridge 40 is
It is adapted to slide in the insertion direction, that is, the front side which is the closing direction and the back side which is the opening direction. When the waste liquid cartridge 40 is not attached, the compression spring 52b arranged on the guide shaft 52a is constantly biased in the closing direction.

The lock claw 53 is formed in a cantilever shape in the lower portion of the holder portion 52, and is bent up and down. When the waste liquid cartridge 40 is not mounted, the protruding portion 53a at the tip is locked to the protruding portion 51a formed on the lower part of the slide portion 51, and when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is mounted, Protrusion 53a
Is separated from the protrusion 51a of the slide portion 51.

In this structure, when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is pushed into the opening 31 of the waste liquid recovery unit 30, first, the slope 47a of the shutter opening rib 47 of the waste liquid cartridge 40 causes the lock claw 53 of the shutter 50 to move. Push down to make the protrusion 53a protrude from the slide 51.
Away from.

Then, the vertical surface 46a of the shutter opening rib 46 of the waste liquid cartridge 40 directly presses the slide portion 51 of the shutter 50 to slide it in the opening direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 19, the shutter 50 is opened, so that the CSIC mounted on the substrate mounted on the substrate mounting portion 45 of the waste liquid cartridge 40 is connected to the CSIC connector 32.

On the other hand, when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is pulled out from the opening 31 of the waste liquid recovery unit 30, first, the vertical surface 46a of the shutter opening rib 46 of the waste liquid cartridge 40 becomes
Since the shutter 50 is separated from the slide portion 51 of the shutter 50, the slide portion 51 of the shutter 50 is connected to the guide shaft 5 of the holder portion 52.
It is urged in the closing direction by the restoring force of the compression spring 52b arranged in 2a.

Subsequently, since the slope 47a of the shutter opening rib 47 of the waste liquid cartridge 40 is separated from the lock claw 53 of the shutter 50, the protrusion 53a of the lock claw 53 is formed.
However, it is restored by the elastic force of the cantilever and is locked to the protrusion 51a of the slide portion 51. As a result, as shown in FIG. 18, the CSIC mounted on the substrate mounted on the substrate mounting portion 45 of the waste liquid cartridge 40 is separated from the CSIC connector 32, and the shutter 50 is closed.

According to the above configuration, the user can insert the waste liquid cartridge 40 into the waste liquid collecting section 30 without performing any special operation on the shutter 50, and the CS
The IC can be easily connected to the CSIC connector 32, the shutter 50 can be opened, and the waste liquid cartridge can be simply pulled out from the waste liquid collecting section.
The IC can be disconnected from the CSIC connector 32 and the shutter can be closed. Further, since the user can obtain the state of the waste liquid in the waste liquid cartridge 40 from the CSIC at any time, when the waste liquid cartridge 40 is full, the waste liquid cartridge 40 is immediately pulled out from the waste liquid recovery unit 30 to process the waste liquid. Then, the waste liquid cartridge 40 can be returned to the waste liquid recovery unit 30.

Although the present invention has been described above with respect to various embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and other embodiments within the scope of the invention described in the claims. Needless to say, also applies. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the inkjet printer is described as an example of the recording device, but the recording device is not limited to this, and any recording device having a waste liquid recovery unit may be, for example, a facsimile device, a copying device, or the like. However, it is applicable.

[0058]

As described above, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, the user can obtain the status of the waste liquid in the waste liquid cartridge from the integrated circuit at any time, so that when the waste liquid cartridge becomes full. Can immediately withdraw the waste liquid cartridge from the waste liquid recovery unit, process the waste liquid, and return the waste liquid cartridge to the waste liquid recovery unit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of an inkjet printer which is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration example of a main part of the ink jet printer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a first diagram showing a procedure of using the ink jet printer of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a second diagram illustrating a procedure of using the inkjet printer of FIG.

5 is a third diagram showing a procedure of using the inkjet printer of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a fourth diagram illustrating a procedure of using the ink jet printer of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a fifth diagram showing a procedure of using the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a sixth diagram showing a usage procedure of the ink jet printer of FIG.

9 is a seventh diagram showing a procedure of using the ink jet printer of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 10 is an eighth diagram showing a procedure of using the ink jet printer of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a ninth diagram illustrating a usage procedure of the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing details of an ink cartridge holder of the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the ink cartridge loaded in the ink cartridge holder of FIG. 12, as viewed from the rear surface side.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of a storage unit for an ink cartridge for one color in the holder body of the ink cartridge holder shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing details of an ink supply needle in the storage portion of the ink cartridge of FIG.

16 is a view showing an ink used when initially filling an ink supply system leading to a recording head in the inkjet printer of FIG. 1, or a waste liquid such as a cleaning liquid used when washing the ink supply system leading to the recording head. It is a perspective view which shows the part collect | recovered.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing details of the waste liquid cartridge of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a first perspective view showing a right inner side surface in the vicinity of the opening of the waste liquid recovery unit of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a second perspective view showing the right inner surface in the vicinity of the opening of the waste liquid recovery unit of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ink cartridges 11 exterior case 12 grip 13 Ink supply port 14 Positioning hole 15 hollow 16 IC 17 Locking protrusion 21 Ink supply needle 21a Supply port 22 Positioning needle 23 Compression spring 24 valves 25 connector 30 Waste liquid collection unit 31 opening 32 CSIC connector 40 waste cartridge 41 exterior case 42 grip 43 Waste liquid inlet 44 Positioning rib 45 Board mounting part 46, 47 Shutter opening rib 50 shutters 51 Slide part 52 Holder 53 Lock claw 100 inkjet printer 110 paper feeder 111 Roll paper holder 112 roll paper cover 113 spindle 114 Roll paper holder 115 Spindle receiver 120 recording section 121 recording head 122 carriage 123 FFC 124 ink tube 125 top 126 Front lid 127 rails 128 carriage belt 130 paper output section 131 Paper ejection guide 140 legs 141 Coro 142 Support pillar 143 Reinforcing rod 150 ink cartridge holder 151 Holder body 151a guide groove 152 cover 153 storage 153b Locking claw 154 Control lever 159 cam

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for ejecting ink droplets from a recording head to record on a recording medium, wherein the recording apparatus is detachably formed with respect to a waste liquid recovery section for recovering waste liquid such as ink disposed in a main body of the apparatus. A recording apparatus comprising a waste liquid cartridge in which an integrated circuit for storing the waste liquid and storing the information of the waste liquid is mounted. 2. An openable and closable shutter is provided so as to cover a connector of the integrated circuit mounted in the waste liquid recovery unit, and the shutter is opened when the waste liquid cartridge is mounted. The recording device according to claim 1, wherein a connector is connected to the integrated circuit. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shutter is biased in a closing direction and locked at a closing position. 4. The waste liquid cartridge is provided with a first rib for unlocking the shutter and a second rib for pressing the shutter in the opening direction. Recording device.