JP2006264067A - Ink cartridge for inkjet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink cartridge which hardly causes the leakage and drying of ink, etc., while suppressing complication of a process by suppressing the number of components. <P>SOLUTION: An ink supply part 204 comprises a case 206, and an elastic member 208 which is provided on the inner surface of the casing body 206. The elastic member 208 is molded integrally with the casing 206, and provided integrally with the case 206 in the state of close adhesion to an inner wall of the case 206. The ink supply part 204 is obtained by co-injection-molding a resin material constituting the case 206 and an elastic material constituting the elastic material 208. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink cartridge for an ink jet recording apparatus.

  As a conventional ink cartridge for an ink jet recording apparatus, there is one described in Patent Document 1. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the overall structure of the ink cartridge described in the document. In the ink cartridge 100, the case body 101 accommodates a porous body 130 that stores ink. In the case part 101, openable vent holes 103 and 104 are opened, and an ink supply part 110 is provided in the bottom part 105.

  FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of a main part of the ink supply unit 110. An ink passage 113 including a first flow path 111 communicating with the inside of the case portion 101 via the filter 106 and a second flow path 112 facing the ink supply needle 1100 side of the printer 1000 is opened. The second flow path 112 is formed in an expanded shape with respect to the first flow path 111. In the second flow path 112, a first sealing body 121 positioned on the first flow path 111 side and an ink supply needle are provided. Sealing means 120 is disposed by fitting the second sealing body 122 facing the 1100 side so as to contact each other.

  The first and second sealing bodies 121 and 122 are made of, for example, an elastically deformable material such as silicone rubber. The external appearance of the first sealing body 121 is a disk shape and has a normally closed shape at the center. A plus-like or minus-like slit 121 </ b> A (B) is provided in a compressed state in the second flow path 112. The slit shape is formed by cutting with a cutter or the like, or by cutting with a fine needle or the like.

  The outer shape of the second sealing body 122 is also disk-shaped, and a normally open upward tapered truncated cone-shaped through-hole 122A through which the ink supply needle 1100 can be inserted in a liquid-sealed shape is opened at the center. Are fitted in the second flow path 112.

  As described above, the ink cartridge described in the same document is mounted in a state where a packing made of a rubber material (denoted as “sealing body” in the same document) is compressed in the flow path of the ink supply unit. It has been configured.

However, this type of ink cartridge requires that the casing constituting the ink supply unit and the rubber packing are separately manufactured and assembled. Although not specified in the document, a cap for fixing the rubber packing to the ink supply unit is also required. For these reasons, the conventional ink cartridge has a problem that the number of parts increases. Moreover, since it is necessary to assemble each part and produce an ink cartridge, there also existed a problem that a process became complicated.
JP 2000-43288 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to suppress the number of components and suppress the complication of processes in an ink cartridge while suppressing ink leakage and ink drying.

According to the present invention,
An ink cartridge used by being mounted on an ink jet recording apparatus,
An ink containing portion for containing ink;
An ink supply unit for supplying the ink to the inkjet recording apparatus via an ink supply needle provided in the inkjet recording apparatus;
With
The ink supply unit includes a resin casing and an elastic member that is in close contact with the inner surface of the casing and is provided integrally with the casing.
An ink cartridge configured to allow the ink supply needle to enter the elastic member;
Is provided.

  Since this ink cartridge is provided with an elastic member that is in close contact with the inner surface of the casing and is integrated with the casing, the number of parts is reduced, and the complexity of the process is suppressed. It can be effectively suppressed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ink cartridge in which the number of components is reduced and the complexity of the process is suppressed, and ink leakage and ink drying are less likely to occur.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic structure of an ink cartridge according to the present embodiment. The ink cartridge 200 is used by being mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus 150. The ink cartridge 200 includes an ink storage unit 202 that stores ink, and an ink supply unit 204 that supplies ink to the inkjet recording apparatus 150 via an ink supply needle 152.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the structure around the ink supply unit 204. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of the ink supply unit 204. As shown in the figure, the ink supply unit 204 includes a housing 206 and an elastic member 208 provided on the inner surface thereof. Although the dimension in a figure is not specifically limited, For example, it can be set as the following dimensions.
a: 10 to 30 mm
b: 10 to 25 mm
c: 3 to 10φ
The elastic member 208 is integrally formed with the housing 206, is in close contact with the inner wall of the housing 206, and is provided integrally with the housing 206. The ink supply unit 204 is obtained by two-color molding using a resin material constituting the housing 206 and an elastic material constituting the elastic member 208. Two-color molding will be described later.

  The elastic member 208 has a central projecting portion 208a projecting in the inner direction (direction in which the needle enters) near the center. Around the center protrusion 208a, a ring-shaped recess 208b that is recessed in the direction opposite to the protrusion direction of the center protrusion 208a is formed. The ink supply needle 152 is pierced through the central protrusion 208a. When the ink supply needle 152 is removed from the elastic member 208, the piercing trace is blocked by the restoring force of the rubber constituting the elastic member 208 (hereinafter, this property is referred to as “self-sealing property”).

  Since the elastic member 208 has a structure having the above-described unevenness, the piercing trace of the central projecting portion 208a is preferably blocked. The reason for this is not clear, but by adopting the above structure, when the needle is pulled out from the central protrusion 208a, the shear stress generated between the needle and the central protrusion 208a is preferably dispersed throughout the central protrusion 208a. It is guessed that.

  Conventionally, the structure of the ink supply unit shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 has been used. The illustrated structure has the same basic structure as that described in Patent Document 1 described in the section of the prior art. 4 and 5, the ink supply unit 220 has a configuration in which an elastic member 224 is attached to a casing 222 provided in the ink cartridge 230, and the elastic member 224 is fixed and protected by a cap 226. The elastic member 224 is mounted in a compressed state, and thus, the elastic member 224 is stably fixed to the housing 222 and easily closes the entry mark of the needle.

  As can be seen by comparing FIGS. 2 and 3 with FIGS. 4 and 5, the ink supply unit according to the present embodiment has a simpler structure with fewer parts compared to the prior art. In the structure according to the prior art, a process of manufacturing the elastic member 224 and the cap 226 in addition to the ink cartridge 230 and assembling them is required. On the other hand, in the structure of this embodiment, the elastic member 208 is integrally provided on the inner surface of the housing 206, so that the number of parts and the number of processes can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of each part of the ink cartridge according to the present embodiment will be described.

[Case]
As a constituent material of the housing 206,
Thermoplastic resins such as polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, polystyrene, polyamide, polyester, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinylidene chloride (PDVC), vinyl acetate polymer, polycarbonate, ABS;
Thermosetting resins such as fluoropolymers;
Etc., and these can be used alone or in combination. Of these, polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene are preferably used from the viewpoints of cost, handleability, and the like.

[Elastic member]
The elastic member 208 is made of an elastic material such as rubber or a polymer elastomer.

  The rubber may be any rubber as long as it has a self-sealing property that naturally closes the entry mark of the needle, and various materials can be used. Specifically, silicone rubber, ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer rubber (EPDM), isoprene rubber (IR), butadiene rubber (BR), styrene-butadiene copolymer rubber (SBR), natural rubber (NR), acrylonitrile- Butadiene copolymer rubber (NBR) and the like are preferable, and among them, silicone rubber and ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer rubber (EPDM) are more preferable from the viewpoint of excellent self-sealing properties.

  As the polymer elastomer, a rubber-modified resin or the like is used. The rubber-modified resin refers to a resin in which a rubbery polymer is dispersed in a resin matrix. The rubber-modified resin is obtained, for example, by dissolving a rubber-like polymer in a vinyl monomer, stirring or performing bulk polymerization, bulk suspension polymerization or solution polymerization, and depositing the rubber-like polymer into particles. Can do.

As a resin constituting the matrix of the polymer elastomer,
Thermoplastic resins such as polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, polystyrene, polyamide, polyester, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinylidene chloride (PDVC), vinyl acetate polymer, polycarbonate, ABS;
Thermosetting resins such as fluoropolymers;
Etc., and these can be used alone or in combination.

  As the rubbery polymer constituting the dispersed phase of the polymer elastomer, the materials mentioned as examples of rubber can be used. In particular, silicone rubber and ethylene-propylene-diene copolymer rubber (EPDM) are preferably used from the viewpoint of excellent self-sealing properties.

  Preferable examples of the polymer elastomer include silicone rubber modified olefin thermoplastic elastomer, silicone rubber modified styrene thermoplastic elastomer, EPDM modified olefin thermoplastic elastomer, EPDM modified styrene thermoplastic elastomer, and the like. By using these materials, particularly excellent self-sealing properties can be stably realized.

  Although there is no restriction | limiting in particular about the content of the rubber-like polymer which comprises a polymer elastomer, For example, it is 1-50 mass% with respect to the whole polymer elastomer, Preferably, you may be 5-40 mass%. Moreover, it is preferable that the average particle diameter of the particle | grains which consist of rubber-like polymers is controlled in the range of 0.5-10 microns. By doing as above, moderate elasticity can be imparted to the polymer elastomer, and good self-sealing properties can be obtained.

[Case and elastic member]
The ink supply unit 204 is obtained by two-color molding using a resin material constituting the housing 206 and an elastic material constituting the elastic member 208. Two-color molding refers to a molding method for producing an integrated product made of two types of resins. For molding, a dedicated machine equipped with two sets of injection devices is used. As a general application of two-color molded products, it is applied when putting letters, numbers, symbols, etc. into calculators, computer keys, and switch push buttons. As a typical example of the two-color molding process, mold the first color (first material) from the first cylinder, open the mold once, and attach the primary molded product to the core side, Rotate 180 °, close the mold, mold the second color (second material) from the second cylinder, open the mold again, take out the molded product from the mold, and complete the two-color molded product. In this process, two sets of molds, a primary mold and a secondary mold, are used. In actual operation, two sets of injection devices operate almost simultaneously, and one shot is molded every half rotation. Goods are obtained. Other methods include attaching two sets of dies back-to-back around the vertical axis and half-rotating around the vertical axis, or for primary and secondary molding within a set of dies. There is a method of providing a set of cavities and cores.

  In the present embodiment, first, the housing 206 is injection-molded using the first raw material, and then the elastic member 208 is injection-molded using the second raw material. Thereby, a structure in which the elastic member 208 is integrated with the inner surface of the housing 206 is suitably formed. Examples of the first and second raw materials are as described above.

Hereinafter, the function and effect of the ink cartridge according to the present embodiment will be described.
The first effect is that it is possible to realize an ink cartridge that is less likely to cause ink leakage, ink drying, and the like while suppressing the number of parts and complexity of the process. This is because the elastic member 208 is integrally formed with the housing 206, is in close contact with the inner wall of the housing 206, and is provided integrally with the housing 206. Furthermore, since the ink supply unit 204 is obtained by two-color molding using a resin material that constitutes the housing 206 and an elastic material that constitutes the elastic member 208, the two are firmly adhered and integrated. In addition, the assembly process can be shortened.
The second effect is that the self-sealing property can be stably obtained even when used over a long period of time. In the present embodiment, the elastic member 208 is provided with irregularities. That is, the structure which provided the ring-shaped recessed part 208b around the center protrusion part 208a is employ | adopted. For this reason, the stress at the time of piercing and piercing the needle in the central projecting portion 208a is suitably dispersed, and a sufficiently good self-sealing property that can withstand repeated use can be obtained.

[Second Embodiment]
In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which the elastic member 208 has a shape having a wide portion and a narrow portion along the direction in which the ink supply needle enters.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the ink supply unit 204 in the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the ink supply unit 204 includes a housing 206 and an elastic member 208 provided on the inner surface thereof. The elastic member 208 is integrally formed with the housing 206, is in close contact with the inner wall of the housing 206, and is provided integrally with the housing 206. The ink supply unit 204 is obtained by two-color molding using a resin material constituting the housing 206 and an elastic material constituting the elastic member 208.
As shown in FIG. 10A, the longitudinal cross-sectional shape of the elastic member 208 is a shape having a constricted portion (narrow portion) at the center. The ratio r / R of the diameter r in the narrow portion and the diameter R in the wide portion is, for example, 0.05 to 0.7, preferably 0.2 to 0.6. The ink supply needle 152 is pierced so as to pass through the constricted portion, and when the ink supply needle 152 is removed, the puncture trace is blocked by the restoring force of rubber constituting the elastic member 208.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating another configuration of the ink supply unit 204. As shown to Fig.11 (a), the longitudinal direction cross-sectional shape of the elastic member 208 is T shape. The ratio r / R of the diameter r in the small diameter portion and the diameter R in the large diameter portion is, for example, 0.05 to 0.7, preferably 0.2 to 0.6. The ink supply needle 152 is pierced so as to pass through the narrow portion, and when the ink supply needle 152 is removed, the piercing trace is blocked by the restoring force of the rubber constituting the elastic member 208.

  According to the configuration of the present embodiment, the piercing trace is more reliably blocked in the narrow portion of the elastic member 208, and the effect of suppressing ink leakage becomes more remarkable. In fact, when the cross-sectional shape of the packing was observed with a microscope immediately after repeatedly piercing the needle, it was confirmed that the piercing trace was quickly closed in the narrow portion.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, these are the illustrations of this invention, Various structures other than the above are employable, without being limited to these.

  For example, the structure of the elastic member 208 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 2 and the like, and various forms can be adopted. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the elastic member 208 may not be provided with irregularities, and may be a flat disk shape.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a needle tip guiding portion 209 may be provided at a location where the ink supply needle of the elastic member 208 is pierced. The needle tip guiding portion 209 is a conical recess provided in the housing 206, and the ink supply needle 152 is guided to the piercing portion at the center of the elastic member 208 along the inclination of the wall surface of the needle tip guiding portion 209. Is done. If a material that smoothly slides the needle is used as a constituent material of the housing 206, the needle tip can be guided more suitably.

  As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, ink supply portions having various structures were produced by a two-color molding method, and ink leakage and the like were evaluated. The shape and material of the housing (housing 206) and the packing (elastic member 208) are as follows.

(Packing shape)
NO. About 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7, it was set as the packing of the shape shown in FIG.
NO. For No. 3, NO. A cylindrical silicone rubber adhered to the inner surface of the same shape as 1 etc. was used.
NO. No. 8 was a packing having a constriction at the center in the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG.
NO. For No. 9, a packing having a T-shaped cross section in the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG.
(Material)
HDPE (high density polyethylene) or PP (polypropylene) was used as the material of the housing (housing 206).
The following materials were used as the material for the packing (elastic member 208).
(i) Styrenic thermoplastic elastomer (a)
(ii) Olefin-based thermoplastic elastomer
(iii) Styrenic thermoplastic elastomer (b)
(iv) Silicone rubber
(i) and (iii) are elastomers of the same type, in which polystyrene is used as a matrix and a rubber component made of silicone rubber is used as a dispersed phase. (iii) has a lower molecular weight.

(Evaluation methods)
The evaluation method is shown in FIG. First, an ink supply unit is prototyped, and ink is injected into the inside (FIG. 9A). Next, the ink injection port is sealed (FIG. 9B). A needle is pierced into the ink supply section produced as described above (FIG. 9C), and this is removed (FIG. 9D). After removing the needle, the presence or absence of ink leakage was observed and evaluated using an optical microscope. Moreover, the adhesiveness between a housing | casing and an elastic member was evaluated.

(result)
The evaluation results are shown in FIGS. The evaluation was based on the following stage evaluation.
(i) Presence or absence of ink leakage A: No ink leakage was observed.
○: Almost no ink leakage was observed.
Δ: Slight ink leakage occurred.
X: Ink leakage occurred.
(ii) Adhesion ○: Adhesion good △: Adhesion almost good ×: Adhesion poor

  From the results shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, it is confirmed that the structure according to the present invention not only reduces the number of parts and simplifies the manufacturing process, but also has excellent packing adhesion and ink leakage. It was done.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the ink cartridge which concerns on this embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the ink supply part which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the cross-section of the ink supply part which concerns on this embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the ink supply part which concerns on a prior art. It is a figure which shows the cross-section of the ink supply part which concerns on a prior art. It is a figure which shows the other example of an elastic member. It is a figure which shows the other example of an elastic member. It is a figure which shows the structure and dimension of the front-end | tip part of the ink supply part produced in the Example. It is a figure for demonstrating the evaluation method performed in the Example. It is a figure which shows the cross-section of the ink supply part which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the cross-section of the ink supply part which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the ink cartridge which concerns on a prior art. It is a principal part enlarged view of the ink supply part which concerns on a prior art. It is a figure which shows the evaluation result of an Example. It is a figure which shows the evaluation result of an Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 150 Inkjet recording apparatus 152 Ink supply needle 200 Ink cartridge 202 Ink accommodating part 204 Ink supply part 206 Case 208 Elastic member 208a Center protrusion 208b Recessed part 209 Needle point guide part 220 Ink supply part 222 Case 224 Elastic member 226 Cap 230 Ink cartridge

Claims (7)

An ink cartridge used by being mounted on an ink jet recording apparatus,
An ink containing portion for containing ink;
An ink supply unit for supplying the ink to the inkjet recording apparatus via an ink supply needle provided in the inkjet recording apparatus;
With
The ink supply unit includes a resin casing and an elastic member that is in close contact with the inner surface of the casing and is provided integrally with the casing.
An ink cartridge configured to allow the ink supply needle to enter the elastic member.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink supply unit is obtained by two-color molding using a resin material constituting the casing and an elastic material constituting the elastic member.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is made of rubber or a polymer elastomer.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a thermoplastic elastomer containing silicone rubber.   2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member has a central protrusion that protrudes in an entry direction of the ink supply needle, and the ink supply needle enters the central protrusion. 3.   The ink cartridge according to claim 5, further comprising a groove provided annularly around the central protrusion.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member has a wide portion and a narrow portion along an entering direction of the ink supply needle.

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