JP2006137079A - Waste liquid storage vessel and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a waste liquid storage vessel for storing a waste liquid of a high-viscosity recording liquid, which can store the waste liquid without overflowing, and an image forming apparatus which is equipped with the waste liquid storage vessel. <P>SOLUTION: A waste liquid tank 100 comprises a tank case body 101, an absorbing member 102 for absorbing a waste liquid in liquid form, stored in the case body 101, and a lid member 103 for covering an upper part of the case body 101 in which a waste liquid charging port 104 is formed. A space 105 is formed by providing the absorbing member 102 with a notch 111 corresponding to the charging port 104. The waste liquid in the liquid form is stored by being absorbed by the absorbing member 102, and the waste liquid in non-liquid form is stored in the state of being accumulated in the space 105. Thus, the waste liquids in the different forms are separately stored. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a waste liquid container and an image forming apparatus.

  In various image forming apparatuses such as printers, facsimiles, copiers, plotters, printer / facsimile / copier multifunction machines, etc. equipped with a liquid droplet ejection head for ejecting the recording liquid, A mechanism for maintaining and recovering the performance of the recording head to be ejected is indispensable.

  The main functions of this head performance maintenance and recovery mechanism are a cap function that covers with a highly-sealing cap member to prevent thickening and sticking of the recording liquid near the nozzle hole due to natural evaporation of ink, and a nozzle function. This is because the ejection failure due to the bubbles is recovered by discharging the recording liquid, or the ejection recovery function that sucks the recording liquid from the nozzle of the head through the cap function, and the cause that changes the flying state of the droplets attached to the nozzle surface And a wiping function for wiping off the remaining recording liquid.

By performing such a performance maintaining and recovering operation of the head, a recording liquid that is not used for recording is discharged, and a waste liquid storage container (also referred to as a waste liquid tank) for storing the waste liquid of the recording liquid. ).
JP 2000-127439 A JP 2003-165236 A

As such a waste liquid tank, as described in Patent Document 3, a container main body is divided into a plurality of rooms and an absorbing member is provided for each of the chambers to reduce the number of replacements of the absorbing member, Patent As described in Document 4, there is a device in which the absorption member is divided into a plurality of parts so that they can be replaced to reduce the size of the apparatus.
JP 2001-171148 A JP 2002-19153 A

In addition, as described in Patent Documents 5 and 6, there is a type in which a waste liquid tank is replaced with an ink cartridge so that the waste liquid tank is replaced every time the ink cartridge is replaced.
JP 2002-307720 A JP 2002-307705 A

In addition, if the waste liquid tank is full and overflows, the inside of the apparatus will be adversely affected.Therefore, there are those equipped with a waste liquid tank full tank detection device for detecting that the waste liquid tank is full. is there.
JP 2000-203059 A JP 2001-191553 A

  By the way, in recent image forming apparatuses using ink, the use of pigment-based inks using organic pigments, carbon black or the like as colorants has been studied or put into practical use in order to enable high-quality printing on plain paper. However, unlike dyes, pigments are not soluble in water, and are usually used as water-based inks in a state where pigments are mixed with a dispersant, dispersed, and stably dispersed in water.

  Such a pigment-based ink generally has a higher viscosity than a dye-based ink, causing a problem due to the high viscosity. That is, the waste liquid (waste ink) of high-viscosity ink is easy to thicken, and when the thickened waste liquid is dropped directly onto the absorbing member, the waste liquid is likely to accumulate on that portion, and the waste liquid is not absorbed by the absorbing member.

  Therefore, in the conventional waste liquid storage container, the waste ink may overflow from the inlet before the absorbing member is used up. In addition, when full tank detection is performed because the waste ink does not rotate around the entire absorbing member, if the full tank detection part and the waste ink input part are separated, the waste ink overflows without being able to detect the full tank. There is a problem that there are things.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a waste liquid storage container that can store waste liquid without overflowing even in a waste liquid storage container that stores waste liquid of high-viscosity recording liquid, and an image including the waste liquid storage container An object is to provide a forming apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the waste liquid storage container according to the present invention is configured to be stored separately according to the state of the waste liquid.

  Here, it is preferable that an absorption member that absorbs the liquid waste liquid is provided in the container body, and a notch is formed in a part of the absorption member to form a space in which the waste liquid is directly charged into the container body.

  Moreover, it can be set as the structure which has one waste-liquid inlet into which a waste liquid is thrown in, or has several waste-liquid inlets into which a waste liquid is thrown in, In these cases, space respond | corresponds to a waste-liquid inlet. It is preferable to be provided.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that a partition wall member surrounding a part of the wall surface of the space is provided. Furthermore, it is preferable to provide a full tank detection means that varies depending on the state of the waste liquid.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the waste liquid container according to the present invention.

  According to the waste liquid storage container according to the present invention, since the waste liquid is stored separately, the waste liquid that can be absorbed by the absorbing member or the like is absorbed even when the high viscosity recording liquid waste liquid is stored and absorbed by the absorbing member or the like. By preventing the waste liquid in an incapable state from being poured into the absorbing member, the waste liquid can be accommodated without overflowing before the absorbing member is used up.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, since the waste liquid storage container according to the present invention is provided, the waste liquid can be efficiently stored.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view of the image forming apparatus as an example of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention that includes a waste liquid tank that is a waste liquid storage container according to the present invention as viewed from the front side.

  The image forming apparatus includes an apparatus main body 1, a paper feed tray 2 for loading paper loaded in the apparatus main body 1, and a discharge for stocking paper on which an image is recorded (formed) mounted on the apparatus main body 1. The apparatus main body 1 further includes a cartridge loading portion 6 that protrudes forward from the front surface 4 and is lower than the upper surface 5 on one end side of the front surface 4 of the apparatus main body 1. An operation unit 7 such as operation keys and a display is arranged on the upper surface of the display. An ink cartridge 10 is replaceably attached to the cartridge loading unit 6 and has a front cover 8 that can be opened and closed.

Next, the mechanism of this image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining the overall configuration of the mechanism unit, and FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining a main part of the mechanism unit.
The carriage 23 is slidably held in the main scanning direction by a guide rod 31 which is a guide member horizontally mounted on the left and right side plates 21A and 21B constituting the frame 21 and the stay 32, and a main scanning motor not shown in FIG. Move and scan in the direction indicated by the arrow (carriage scanning direction: main scanning direction).

  In the carriage 33, a plurality of recording heads 34 including ink jet heads that are droplet discharge heads for discharging recording liquid droplets (ink droplets) are arranged in a direction crossing a plurality of nozzles in the main scanning direction. The ink droplet ejection direction is directed downward.

  Here, the recording head 34 includes, for example, a recording head 34y that discharges yellow (Y) droplets, a recording head 34m that discharges magenta (M) droplets, and a recording head that discharges cyan (C) droplets. 34c, and a recording head 34b that discharges black (Bk) droplets. The “recording head 34” does not distinguish between colors. The head configuration is not limited to these examples, and it may be configured using one or a plurality of recording heads having one or a plurality of nozzle rows that eject droplets of one or a plurality of colors. In this image forming apparatus, a high-viscosity recording liquid of 8 mPa · s to 20 mP · s is used as ink.

  The droplet discharge head constituting the recording head 34 includes a piezoelectric actuator such as a piezoelectric element, a thermal actuator that uses a phase change caused by liquid film boiling using an electrothermal transducer such as a heating resistor, and a metal phase caused by a temperature change. A shape memory alloy actuator using a change, an electrostatic actuator using an electrostatic force, or the like provided as energy generating means for discharging droplets can be used.

  In addition, the carriage 33 is equipped with sub tanks 35y, 35m, 35c, and 35k for each color for supplying the recording liquid of each color to each recording head 34 (referred to as “sub tank 35” when colors are not distinguished). Yes. Recording liquid is supplied to the sub tank 35 from the ink cartridges 10 of the respective colors (referred to as “ink cartridges 10y, 10m, 10c, and 10k” when different colors are distinguished) through the recording liquid supply tubes 37 of the respective colors. Like to do.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the ink cartridge 10 is stored in the cartridge loading unit 6, and the cartridge loading unit 6 is provided with a supply pump unit 23 for feeding the recording liquid in the ink cartridge 10. It has been. The recording liquid supply tube 37 from the ink cartridge loading unit 6 to the sub tank 35 is fixed and held by the main body side holder 25 on the rear plate 21 </ b> C constituting the frame 21 in the middle of turning. Further, it is fixed on the carriage 33 by the fixing rib 26.

  On the other hand, as a paper feeding unit for feeding the papers 42 stacked on the paper stacking unit (bottom plate) 41 of the paper feed tray 2, a half-moon roller (feeding) that separates and feeds the papers 42 one by one from the paper stacking unit 41. A separation pad 44 made of a material having a large friction coefficient is provided facing the paper roller 43) and the paper feed roller 43, and the separation pad 44 is urged toward the paper feed roller 43 side.

  As a transport unit for transporting the paper 42 fed from the paper feed unit on the lower side of the recording head 34, a transport belt 51 for transporting the paper 42 by electrostatic adsorption, and a paper feed unit The counter roller 52 for transporting the paper 42 fed through the guide 45 while sandwiching it between the transport belt 51 and the paper 42 fed substantially vertically upward are changed by approximately 90 ° and copied onto the transport belt 51. A conveyance guide 53 for adjusting the pressure and a tip pressure roller 55 urged toward the conveyance belt 51 by a pressing member 54. In addition, a charging roller 56 that is a charging unit for charging the surface of the conveyance belt 51 is provided.

  Here, the conveyance belt 51 is an endless belt, and is configured to be looped around the conveyance roller 57 and the tension roller 58 in the belt conveyance direction of FIG. The charging roller 56 is disposed so as to come into contact with the surface layer of the conveyor belt 51 and to be rotated by the rotation of the conveyor belt 51, and 2.5N is applied to both ends of the shaft as a pressing force.

  In addition, a guide member 61 is disposed on the back side of the conveyor belt 51 so as to correspond to a printing area by the recording head 54. The upper surface of the guide member 61 protrudes closer to the recording head 34 than the tangent line of the two rollers (the conveyance roller 57 and the tension roller 58) that support the conveyance belt 51. As a result, the conveyance belt 51 is pushed up and guided by the upper surface of the guide member 61 in the printing region, so that highly accurate flatness is maintained.

  Further, as a paper discharge unit for discharging the paper 42 recorded by the recording head 34, a separation claw 71 for separating the paper 42 from the transport belt 51, a paper discharge roller 72, and a paper discharge roller 73 are provided. A paper discharge tray 3 is provided below the paper discharge roller 72. Here, the height from between the paper discharge roller 72 and the paper discharge roller 73 to the paper discharge tray 3 is increased to some extent in order to increase the amount that can be stored in the paper discharge tray 3.

  A double-sided paper feeding unit 81 is detachably attached to the back surface of the apparatus body 1. The double-sided paper feed unit 81 takes in the paper 42 returned by the reverse rotation of the transport belt 51, reverses it, and feeds it again between the counter roller 52 and the transport belt 51. A manual paper feed unit 82 is provided on the upper surface of the duplex paper feed unit 81.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a maintenance / recovery mechanism 91 for maintaining and recovering the state of the nozzles of the recording head 34 is disposed in the non-printing area on one side of the carriage 33 in the scanning direction.

  The maintenance and recovery mechanism 91 includes cap members (hereinafter referred to as “caps”) 92a to 92d (hereinafter referred to as “caps 92” when not distinguished from each other) for capping each nozzle surface of the recording head 34, and nozzle surfaces. A wiper blade 93 that is a blade member for wiping the ink, an empty discharge receiver 94 that receives a droplet when performing an empty discharge for discharging a droplet that does not contribute to recording in order to discharge the thickened recording liquid, and the empty discharge receiver 94 A wiper cleaner 95 which is integrally formed with the discharge receiver 94 and is a cleaning member for removing the recording liquid adhering to the wiper blade 93, and cleaner means for pressing the wiper blade 93 against the wiper cleaner 95 side when the wiper blade 93 is cleaned. A cleaner roller 96 is provided.

  Then, the waste liquid of the recording liquid generated by the maintenance / recovery operation by the maintenance / recovery mechanism 91, the ink discharged to the cap 92, the ink attached to the wiper blade 93 and removed by the wiper cleaner 95, and the idle ejection to the idle ejection receiver 94 The discharged ink is discharged and stored in a waste liquid tank 100 which is a waste liquid storage container according to the present invention indicated by a virtual line in FIG.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, in the non-printing area on the other side in the scanning direction of the carriage 33, idle discharge is performed to discharge liquid droplets that do not contribute to recording in order to discharge the recording liquid thickened during recording or the like. An empty discharge receiver 98 for receiving the droplets is disposed, and the empty discharge receiver 98 is provided with an opening 99 and the like along the nozzle row direction of the recording head 34.

Next, an outline of the control unit of the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. This figure is an overall block diagram of the control unit.
The control unit 280 includes a CPU 281 that controls the entire apparatus, a ROM 282 that stores programs executed by the CPU 281 and other fixed data, a RAM 283 that temporarily stores image data, and the like, while the apparatus is powered off. And a non-volatile memory (NVRAM) 284 for holding data, an image processing for performing various signal processing and rearrangement on image data, and an ASIC 285 for processing input / output signals for controlling the entire apparatus. Yes.

  The control unit 280 also includes an I / F 286 for transmitting and receiving data and signals to and from the host, a head drive control unit 287 and a head driver 288 for controlling the drive of the recording head 34, and a main scanning motor 290. A main scanning motor driving unit 291 for driving the motor, a sub-scanning motor driving unit 293 for driving the sub-scanning motor 292, a maintenance / recovery mechanism driving unit 295 for driving the motor 294 of the maintenance / recovery mechanism 91, and waste liquid A detection signal from a full tank sensor 300 that detects the full tank 100, an I / O 296 for inputting detection signals from various sensors (not shown), and the like are provided. The control unit 280 is connected to an operation panel 297 (operation unit 7) for inputting and displaying information necessary for the apparatus.

  The control unit 280 receives print data and the like from the host side such as an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, an image reading apparatus such as an image scanner, and an imaging apparatus such as a digital camera, via the cable or the network by the I / F 286.

  The CPU 281 reads and analyzes the print data in the reception buffer included in the I / F 286, performs necessary image processing, data rearrangement processing, and the like in the ASIC 285, and transfers the image data to the head drive control unit 287. To do. The generation of dot pattern data for image output may be performed by storing font data in the ROM 282, for example, or image data is developed into bitmap data by a host-side printer driver and transferred to this apparatus. You may do it.

  When the head drive control unit 287 receives image data (dot pattern data) corresponding to one row of the recording head 34, the dot pattern data for one row is serialized to the head driver 288 in synchronization with the clock signal. Data is transmitted, and a latch signal is transmitted to the head driver 288 at a predetermined timing.

  The head drive control unit 287 includes a ROM (which can also be configured by a ROM 282) storing pattern data of a drive waveform (drive signal), and a D / A converter for D / A conversion of drive waveform data read from the ROM. A waveform generation circuit including an A converter and a drive waveform generation circuit including an amplifier and the like are included.

  The head driver 288 also receives a clock signal from the head drive controller 287 and serial data as image data, and a latch circuit that latches the register value of the shift register with a latch signal from the head drive controller 287. A level conversion circuit (level shifter) that changes the output value of the latch circuit, an analog switch array (switch means) that is controlled to be turned on / off by the level shifter, and the like, and controls on / off of the analog switch array. In this way, a required drive waveform included in the drive waveform is selectively applied to the actuator means of the recording head 34 to drive the head.

  In this image forming apparatus configured as described above, the sheets 42 are separated and fed one by one from the sheet feed tray 2, and the sheet 42 fed substantially vertically upward is guided by the guide 45, and includes the transport belt 51 and the counter. It is sandwiched between the rollers 52 and conveyed, and further, the leading end is guided by the conveying guide 53 and pressed against the conveying belt 51 by the leading end pressing roller 55, and the conveying direction is changed by approximately 90 °.

  At this time, a positive output and a negative output are alternately repeated from the high-voltage power supply to the charging roller 56 by a control circuit (not shown), that is, an alternating voltage is applied, and a charging voltage pattern in which the conveying belt 51 alternates, that is, In the sub-scanning direction, which is the circumferential direction, plus and minus are alternately charged in a band shape with a predetermined width. When the sheet 42 is fed onto the conveyance belt 51 charged alternately with plus and minus, the sheet 42 is electrostatically attracted to the conveyance belt 51, and the sheet 42 is moved in the sub-scanning direction by the circular movement of the conveyance belt 51. Be transported.

  Therefore, by driving the recording head 34 according to the image signal while moving the carriage 33, ink droplets are ejected onto the stopped paper 42 to record one line, and after the paper 42 is conveyed by a predetermined amount, Record the next line. Upon receiving a recording end signal or a signal that the trailing edge of the paper 42 has reached the recording area, the recording operation is finished and the paper 42 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3.

  During printing (recording) standby, the carriage 33 is moved to the maintenance / recovery mechanism 91 side, the recording head 34 is capped by the cap member 92, and the nozzles are kept in a wet state to prevent ejection failure due to ink drying. To do. Further, the recording liquid is sucked from the nozzle by a suction pump (not shown) with the recording head 34 capped by the cap member 92 (referred to as “nozzle suction” or “head suction”), and the thickened recording liquid and bubbles are discharged. Perform recovery action. In addition, an idle ejection operation for ejecting ink not related to recording is performed before the start of recording or during recording. As a result, the stable ejection performance of the recording head 34 is maintained.

  At this time, the liquid waste liquid generated by the suction and the like of the maintenance and recovery mechanism 91 is discharged from a waste liquid tube connected to a suction pump (not shown) to the waste liquid tank 100. Further, the ink that adheres to the wiper blade 93 and is removed by the wiper cleaner 95 is scraped off by the idle discharge receiver 94 to increase the viscosity, and similarly, the ink that has been idlely discharged to the idle discharge receiver 94 also increases in viscosity. The liquid is discharged from the lower part of the discharge receiver 94 to the waste liquid tank 100.

  A first embodiment of the waste liquid tank 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 is a schematic exploded perspective view of the waste liquid tank, FIG. 6 is a schematic external perspective view of the waste liquid tank, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of the container body of the waste liquid tank.

  The waste liquid tank 100 includes a tank case main body (container main body) 101, an absorbing member (absorber) 102 that absorbs liquid waste liquid stored in the case main body 101, and a lid member 103 that covers the upper portion of the case main body 101. It has.

  In the waste liquid tank 100, liquid waste liquid discharged from the above-described maintenance / recovery mechanism 91 and waste liquid other than liquid are introduced (supplied) through one waste liquid inlet 104 provided in the lid member 103. Is done. In the present embodiment, the liquid waste liquid is a waste liquid having a viscosity of 8 mPa · s to 20 mPa · s, and a waste liquid having a solid content exceeding 20 mPa · s is a waste liquid other than liquid. For example, the waste liquid generated by the head suction is a liquid waste liquid. However, most of the waste liquid discarded from the empty discharge receiver is thickened to become a non-liquid waste liquid.

  Accordingly, a space 105 in which the bottom surface of the case main body 101 is exposed is formed by forming a notch 111 in the absorbing member 102 corresponding to a portion where the waste liquid is supplied via the waste liquid inlet 104.

  Accordingly, liquid waste liquid and non-liquid waste liquid can be directly reached the bottom surface of the case main body 101 without being charged into the absorbing member 102, and non-liquid waste liquid can be received in the space 105. The liquid waste liquid charged into the space 105 can be absorbed by the absorbing member 102.

  A partition wall member (enclosure rib) 112 that surrounds two of the three surfaces excluding the side wall surface formed by the case main body 101 in the space 105 is integrally formed up to the bottom surface of the case main body 101. As a result, only one wall surface facing the space 105 of the notch 111 of the absorbing member 102 is exposed to the space 105, and the liquid waste liquid is discharged only from the wall surface portion of the absorbing member 102 exposed to the space 105. Does not penetrate into the absorbing member 102.

  With this configuration, for example, as schematically shown in FIG. 8, the recording liquid 301 is transferred from the heads 34 </ b> A and 34 </ b> B (simplely illustrated as a two-head configuration) mounted on the carriage 33 to the maintenance / recovery mechanism 91. The liquid and non-liquid waste liquid 303 is discharged from the maintenance / recovery mechanism 91 through the waste liquid inlet 104 through the waste liquid inlet 104.

  Of the waste liquid put into the space 105 of the waste liquid tank 100, the waste liquid other than the liquid state having almost no fluidity is accumulated and stored on the bottom surface of the space 105, and the liquid form of the waste liquid is absorbed by the absorbing member 102. To be accommodated. Thus, according to the state of the waste liquid, that is, the liquid waste liquid and the non-liquid waste liquid are separately stored in the waste liquid tank 100 which is a storage container.

  As a result, when a pigment-based recording liquid with improved image quality and improved light resistance is used, if liquid waste other than liquid is directly put into the absorbing member 102, it accumulates in the same position and absorbs the absorbing member 102. Becomes extremely low, and it becomes difficult to use up all of the absorbing member 102.

  On the other hand, by forming the space 105 and directly putting the waste liquid into the bottom surface of the case body 101, the liquid waste liquid can be absorbed by the absorbing member 102, and the waste liquid other than the liquid is gradually in-situ. As a result, the exposed surface of the absorbing member 102 is not blocked, so that the absorption capacity of the absorbing member 102 is prevented from being lowered, and the absorption by the absorbing member 102 can be continued efficiently.

  In this case, by providing the partition wall member 112 around the space 105, when the liquid waste liquid and the non-liquid waste liquid are put into the same waste liquid inlet 104 without distinction, the non-liquid waste liquid is absorbed. Although there is a possibility of being absorbed by the member 102, the possibility of being absorbed by the absorbing member 102 is reduced by surrounding a part of the space 105 with the partition wall member 112.

  Here, the configuration of the full tank detection means of the waste liquid tank 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 9. The full tank sensor 300 composed of a reflective photosensor is used for full tank detection of the absorbing member 102 that absorbs liquid waste liquid. In addition, detection is performed at a position away from the space 105, and on the other hand, the full tank detection of the waste liquid other than liquid that accumulates in the space 105 (detection of the full tank of the space 105) is performed in a software manner. The configuration of the means for detecting the tongue is varied.

  Therefore, evaluation of full tank detection by the waste liquid tank and full tank detection means of the above embodiment was performed in a room temperature room humidity environment. As the ink (recording liquid) used for this evaluation, pigment ink was used for all four colors.

  First, when a liquid waste liquid is introduced in a certain amount from a waste liquid inlet 104 of the waste liquid tank 100 at a constant time interval to evaluate whether or not a full tank is detected, the liquid waste liquid is absorbed by the absorbing member 102. The full tank detection was performed by the full tank sensor 300 as originally aimed. The state of the absorbing member 102 at this time was completely filled with liquid waste liquid, and the capacity of the absorbing member 102 was fully used.

  Next, whether waste liquid other than liquid is introduced from the waste liquid inlet 104 of the waste liquid tank 100, and full tank detection is performed by a method different from the above (for example, whether the count value of the number of maintenance and recovery operations has reached a predetermined value). As a result of the confirmation, waste liquid other than liquid was accumulated and accommodated in the space 105, and it was possible to normally detect full tank softly before overflowing the waste liquid tank 100. The space 105 in the vicinity of the waste liquid inlet at this time is filled with a waste liquid other than liquid, and there is no gap.

  Thus, by distinguishing the storage location according to the state of the waste liquid, even when using a highly viscous recording liquid, more waste liquid can be stored than in the conventional waste liquid storage container, and the full tank detection means is made different. As a result, the full tank detection can be reliably performed before the liquid or non-liquid waste liquid overflows.

Next, a second embodiment of the waste liquid tank 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This figure is a schematic explanatory view up to the introduction of the waste liquid including the waste liquid tank.
In this embodiment, the waste liquid tank 100 is provided with a waste liquid inlet 104A for feeding liquid waste liquid and a waste liquid inlet 104B for feeding waste liquid other than liquid, and a waste liquid inlet 104A for feeding liquid waste liquid. Is configured to correspond to the space 105 in which the absorbing member 102 is not provided in the waste liquid inlet 104B through which waste liquid other than liquid is input.

Then, an experiment was conducted to confirm the effect obtained by separating the waste liquid input port for printing a certain number of sheets at a constant time and supplying the waste liquid in a room temperature room humidity environment.
The liquid waste liquid 311 sucked out from the suction cap 92 of the maintenance / recovery mechanism 91 was introduced from the waste liquid inlet 104A and absorbed by the absorbing member 102. Further, the waste liquid 312 other than the liquid that is discarded from the idle discharge receiver 94 of the maintenance recovery mechanism 91 is introduced into the space 105 from the waste liquid inlet 104B and stored.

  Here, the full tank detection is performed by the full tank detection sensor 300 using the reflection type photosensor for the absorbing member 102 as described above, and the full tank detection of the space 105 is performed by software.

  As a result, it was confirmed that full tank detection was possible without overflowing the waste liquid tank 100.

  Thus, by providing different waste liquid inlets according to the state of the waste liquid, that is, by providing a plurality of waste liquid inlets, it becomes possible to flexibly accommodate the storage method and the full tank detection means.

  In each of the above embodiments, the printer configuration has been described as the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to an image forming apparatus such as a printer / fax / copier multifunction machine. Further, the present invention can be applied to an image forming apparatus using a recording liquid or a fixing processing liquid that is a liquid other than ink.

FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view seen from the front side showing an example of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention including the waste liquid container according to the present invention. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating an outline of a mechanism unit of the image forming apparatus. FIG. It is principal part plane explanatory drawing of the mechanism part. FIG. 2 is a block explanatory diagram illustrating an overview of a control unit of the image forming apparatus. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view for explaining a first embodiment of a waste liquid storage container according to the present invention. It is an outline appearance perspective view similarly. It is a plane explanatory view of a container main body similarly. It is a schematic explanatory drawing explaining the flow until waste liquid addition similarly. It is explanatory drawing similarly used for description of a full tank detection means. It is a typical explanatory view explaining the flow until waste liquid injection explaining a 2nd embodiment of a waste liquid storage container concerning the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Ink cartridge 33 ... Carriage 34 ... Recording head 35 ... Sub tank 91 ... Maintenance recovery mechanism 92 ... Cap 93 ... Wiper blade 94 ... Empty discharge receptacle 100 ... Waste liquid tank 101 ... Tank case main body 102 ... Absorbing member 103 ... Cover member 104, 104A, 104B ... Waste liquid inlet 105 ... Space 111 ... Notch 112 ... Partition wall member

Claims (8)

  A waste liquid storage container for storing waste liquid of an image forming apparatus, wherein the waste liquid storage container is stored separately according to the state of the waste liquid.   2. The waste liquid storage container according to claim 1, further comprising an absorbing member that absorbs liquid waste liquid in the container body, and a notch is formed in a part of the absorbing member so that the waste liquid is directly charged into the container body. A waste liquid container characterized by forming a space.   The waste liquid container according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising one waste liquid inlet into which the waste liquid is charged.   The waste liquid container according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a plurality of waste liquid inlets into which the waste liquid is charged.   5. The waste liquid container according to claim 3, wherein the space is provided corresponding to the waste liquid inlet.   6. The waste liquid storage container according to claim 2, further comprising a partition wall member surrounding a part of the wall surface of the space.   The waste liquid storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a full tank detection means that varies depending on the state of the waste liquid. 8. An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium by ejecting liquid droplets of a recording liquid, comprising the waste liquid container according to claim 1.

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