JP2007077814A - Pressure pump mechanism for liquid container, and liquid injection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pressure pump for a liquid container constructed in a smaller size than a conventional size, and a liquid injection device utilizing it. <P>SOLUTION: This pressure pump mechanism 40 for the liquid storage container is provided with a pair of diaphragms 61, 63 oppositely arranged on both sides, a common base 65 fixing the pair of diaphragms 61, 63, a slider 55 circumscribed on the diaphragms 61, 63 and reciprocated, and driving mechanisms 51, 53 for driving the slider 55. The common base 65 is arranged between the pair of diaphragms 61, 63, and a passage for gas led to flow into by the volumetric fluctuations of the diaphragms 61, 63 is formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pressure pump mechanism for a liquid container and a liquid ejecting apparatus improved by incorporating the pressure pump mechanism.

Conventionally, for example, various types of printers that eject ink have been developed as liquid ejecting apparatuses that include a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid contained in a detachable liquid cartridge.
Among such printers, for example, office and business models consume a large amount of ink as the printing frequency increases, so it is necessary to mount a large capacity ink cartridge. However, with a model (on-carriage type) in which a cartridge holder that accommodates an ink cartridge is placed on the carriage, simply placing a large-capacity ink cartridge increases the size of the carriage, and a large load is required to move the carriage. . For this reason, an off-carriage printer having a carriage and an ink cartridge separately has been developed.

In such an off-carriage printer, it is necessary to send the ink in the ink cartridge to the carriage side (sub tank on the carriage). For this reason, a pressure pump is mounted on the printer, and the ink pack in the cartridge is crushed by sending the pressurized air from the pressure pump to the space in the ink cartridge, thereby pushing the ink to the carriage side.
And a diaphragm pump may be used as the above-mentioned pressurization pump.

The diaphragm pump includes, for example, two diaphragms, and an air flow path including an intake valve and an exhaust valve for each diaphragm. The diaphragm pump is expanded and contracted by a reciprocating mechanism (for example, Patent Document 1). ).
JP-A-6-101632 (FIG. 1 etc.)

  However, in the configuration of the conventional diaphragm pump, there is a problem that the size of the diaphragm pump increases, and as a result, it may be difficult to reduce the size of the printer.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems and to provide a pressurizing pump for a liquid storage container that can be configured in a smaller size than the conventional one and a liquid ejecting apparatus using the same.

  In the present invention, a pair of diaphragms disposed opposite to each other, a common base that fixes the pair of diaphragms, a slider that circumscribes each diaphragm and reciprocates, and drives the slider are provided in the present invention. A pressure pump mechanism for a liquid storage container, wherein the common base is disposed between the pair of diaphragms, and a gas passage that flows in due to volume fluctuations of the diaphragms is provided. This is achieved by a pressurizing pump mechanism for the liquid containment vessel characterized in that it has.

According to such a configuration, the common base that fixes the pair of diaphragms is disposed between the pair of diaphragms.
For this reason, the base for fixing for each diaphragm is not required.
The common base is provided with a gas passage that flows in due to volume fluctuations of the diaphragms. Therefore, it is not necessary to include a separate member for forming a gas flow path.
Thereby, the pressurization pump for liquid storage containers can be comprised by the size smaller than before.

In this case, it is desirable that valve means for preventing the backflow of the gas flowing into each diaphragm is integrally formed in each diaphragm.
According to such a configuration, since the number of parts can be reduced, the production cost of the pressure pump can be reduced.

  In the present invention, the above-described object is achieved by the liquid ejecting head that ejects the liquid, the liquid storage container that stores the liquid, and the liquid ejecting head that stores the liquid stored in the liquid storage container through the liquid passage. A liquid ejecting apparatus including a pressure pump mechanism for supplying the pressure pump mechanism, wherein the pressure pump mechanism includes a pair of diaphragms disposed opposite to each other, a common base for fixing the pair of diaphragms, A slider that circumscribes the diaphragm and reciprocates, and a drive mechanism that drives the slider. The common base is disposed between the pair of diaphragms, and a gas passage that flows in due to volume fluctuations of the diaphragms. It is achieved by a liquid ejecting apparatus characterized by having

  According to such a configuration, the pressurizing pump for the liquid storage container can be configured with a smaller size than before, and the liquid ejecting apparatus incorporating the pressurizing pump can also be configured with a small size.

In this case, it is desirable that valve means for preventing the backflow of the gas flowing into each diaphragm is integrally formed in each diaphragm.
According to such a configuration, since the number of parts can be reduced, the production cost of the pressure pump can be reduced, and the production cost of the liquid ejecting apparatus incorporating the pressure pump can also be reduced. .

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus 10 (hereinafter referred to as a printer 10). The printer 10 is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, the printer 10 includes a carriage 23 and an ink cartridge 24. The ink cartridge 24 is an example of a liquid storage container.
The printer 10 is an off-carriage printer in which the ink cartridge 24 is not mounted on the carriage 23.

The carriage 23 is attached to an endless timing belt 27 stretched by a driving pulley 25 and a driven pulley 26, and the timing belt 27 is driven by a carriage motor 28, so that the carriage 23 is guided by a guide shaft 29. It is designed to reciprocate in the scanning direction (the direction of arrow T in FIG. 1).
A recording head 30 having a plurality of nozzle holes is attached to the lower surface of the carriage 23. The recording head 30 is an example of a liquid ejecting head.
On the lower end side of the printer 10, a paper feed motor (not shown) is mounted as a driving source for feeding print paper. A gear is fixed to the output shaft of the paper feed motor, and this gear is connected to a paper feed roller (not shown) and a paper discharge roller (not shown) via a gear train. It is possible to feed paper.

A sub tank (also referred to as a valve unit) 36 that supplies ink to the recording head 30 is mounted on the carriage 23. The ink cartridges 24 and the sub tanks 36 are arranged by the number of ink colors (for example, black, yellow, magenta, cyan).
Are connected to the ink cartridge 24 of each color via an ink supply tube 37 for each color. The ink supply tube 37 is an example of a liquid passage. Each sub-tank 36 temporarily stores ink taken from the ink cartridge 24, adjusts the stored ink to a predetermined pressure, and supplies the ink to the recording head 30.

A pressurizing unit 38 including a pressurizing pump 40 is mounted on the upper surface of the ink cartridge 24 at the end of the main body. The pressurizing unit 38 is a device that sends out pressurized air to the ink cartridge 24 through the air supply tube 39, and includes a pressurizing pump 40, a pressure sensor 41, and an air release means 42. The air supply tube 39 is branched into a plurality of, for example, four in the present embodiment, by the distributor 43 on the downstream side of the pressure sensor 41, and each branched tube is connected to each color of the ink cartridge 24.
The pressurizing pump 40 described above is an example of a pressurizing pump mechanism for a liquid storage container.

The ink cartridge 24 is detachably accommodated in a cartridge holder included in the main body. As shown in FIG. 2, the ink cartridge 24 includes an ink pack 45 serving as a liquid storage portion in which ink is sealed, and an ink case 46 that stores the ink pack 45. The ink pack 45 has an ink discharge port 45a, and an ink supply tube 37 is connected to the ink discharge port 45a. Only the ink discharge port 45a of the ink pack 45 is exposed to the outside, and the other portions are stored in the ink case 46 in an airtight state, whereby the ink case 4
An airtight space 47 is formed inside 6.

The ink case 46 is formed with a communication hole (not shown) that communicates with the space 47, and the air supply tube 39 is connected to the communication hole so that the communication hole and the air supply tube 39 communicate with each other. It has become. When the pressurizing pump 40 is operated and the pressurized air is discharged, the pressurized air is introduced into the space 47 in the ink cartridge 24 through the air supply tube 39, and the ink pack 45 is caused to be blown by the air pressure of the pressurized air. It is crushed.
As a result, the ink in the ink pack 45 is supplied to the sub tank 36 via the ink supply tube 37.
As described above, the pressure of the pressurized air rises with the repetition of exhaust and intake of the pressurizing pump 40, and the ink pack 45 is crushed to supply ink to the sub tank 36. The ink is temporarily stored in the sub tank 36 and supplied to the recording head 30 in a state where the pressure is adjusted.
The printer 10 drives a carriage motor 28 and a paper feed motor based on print data fetched from a host computer or a memory card, and discharges ink from the recording head 30 to execute print processing.

3 is a schematic perspective view of the pressurizing pump 40, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view thereof, and FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view thereof.
The pressurizing pump 40 is composed of, for example, a diaphragm pump, and includes a motor 51 that is a pump drive source, a pair of diaphragms 61 and 63 that are disposed to face both sides, and the like.
The diaphragm 61 includes an extendable part 61a having a space inside and a base part 61b. Similarly, the diaphragm 63 is comprised from the expansion-contraction part 63a and the base 63b where the inside becomes space. The diaphragms 61 and 63 are made of, for example, silicon rubber which is a flexible material.
The pressurizing pump 40 also has a diaphragm base 65 that fixes the pair of diaphragms 61 and 63. The diaphragm base 65 is an example of a common base. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the diaphragm base 65 is disposed between the pair of diaphragms 61 and 63.

The pressurizing pump 40 also has a slider 55 that circumscribes the diaphragms 61 and 63 and reciprocates.
The rotational mobility of the motor 51 as the driving means is converted into a reciprocating linear motion of the slider 55 by a cam 53 as a conversion mechanism. The motor 51 and the cam 53 described above are an example of a drive mechanism for the slider 55.
For example, a small DC motor is used as the motor 51, and a cam 53 is fixed to the output shaft thereof.

The pressurizing pump 40 also has a diaphragm base 59 for fixing the diaphragm 63. The diaphragm 63 is fixed by the diaphragm base 65 and the diaphragm base 59 described above.
The motor 51, the diaphragm 61, the diaphragm base 65, the diaphragm 63, and the diaphragm base 59 described above are fixed to the motor frame 57 by screws 65 and 67. The diaphragm 61 is fixed by the diaphragm base 65 and the motor frame 57 described above.

5A is a schematic plan view of the pressurizing pump 40 of FIG. 3 as viewed from the direction of the arrow Z, and FIG. 5B is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line AA.
The diaphragms 61 and 63 can be expanded and contracted in the direction of the arrow X (see FIG. 5B) with the reciprocating linear motion of the slider 55, and the volumes of the expansion and contraction parts 61b and 63b increase or decrease with this expansion and contraction.
The pressurizing pump 40 sends out the pressurized air P1 (see FIG. 3) by increasing or decreasing the volume of the expansion / contraction parts 61b and 63b. The pressurized air P <b> 1 is sent from the pressure sensor 41 in FIG. 1 to the ink cartridge 24 through the air supply tube 39. Further, the pressure sensor 41 is connected to the atmosphere release means 42, and when the atmosphere release means 42 opens the inside to the atmosphere, the air supply tube 39 is also released to the atmosphere.

Hereinafter, the flow of air when the pressurizing pump 40 takes in air, which is an example of gas, from the outside and discharges the air as pressurized air P1 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS.
6 and 11 are exploded perspective views of the main part of the pressurizing pump 40. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing the intake valve 63 c of the diaphragm 61.
8 and 9 are schematic plan views of the diaphragm base 65. FIG.
FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view of the diaphragm base 59.
FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view of the motor frame 57.

First, the flow of air due to expansion and contraction of the diaphragm 61 (see FIG. 4) will be described.
When the volume of the expansion / contraction part 61b of the diaphragm 61 increases, for example, air, which is a gas, flows from the outside of the pressurizing pump 40 into the pressurizing pump 40 through the intake port 59a of the diaphragm base 59 of FIG.
The air flowing in from the intake port 59a flows into the pressurized air chamber 59d through the intake valve 63c, the intake passage 65d, the expansion / contraction part 61b of the diaphragm 61, the exhaust passage 65f, and the exhaust valve 63d as indicated by arrows Q1 to Q7. And pressurized air P1. Then, the pressurized air P1 is discharged from the exhaust port 59e.

The intake valve 63c and the exhaust valve 63d described above allow the inflow of air from the directions of the arrows Q1 and Q6, respectively, but block the inflow of air in the opposite direction. That is, the intake valve 63c and the exhaust valve 63d are examples of valve means for preventing the backflow of air flowing into the diaphragm 61.
As shown in FIG. 6, the intake valve 63 c and the exhaust valve 63 d are formed integrally with the diaphragm 63.

Since the intake valve 63c and the exhaust valve 63d have the same configuration, only the configuration of the intake valve 63c will be described below.
FIG. 7A is a schematic plan view of the intake valve 63c. As shown in FIG. 7A, the valve 63cb is formed by forming a slit 63ca in the base 63a of the diaphragm 63.
7B and 7C are schematic cross-sectional views of the intake valve 63c and the diaphragm base 59. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7B, when air flows from the direction of the arrow X1, the valve portion 63cb is elastically deformed to form an air passage.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7C, when air flows from the direction of the arrow X2 or when air does not flow, the valve portion 63c is in contact with the intake valve seal 59c to block the air passage. To do.

Hereinafter, the air flow will be described in detail focusing on the air flow in the diaphragm base 65.
FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of the diaphragm base 65 as viewed from the direction of the arrow Q2 (see FIG. 6). FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of the diaphragm base 65 viewed from the direction of the arrow Q5 (see FIG. 6). That is, FIGS. 8 and 9 are views of the diaphragm base 65 as seen from different surfaces (front surface and back surface).
As shown in FIG. 8, the diaphragm base 65 is formed with an intake passage 65d. The intake passage 65d penetrates from the surface 65A (see FIG. 8) of the diaphragm base 65 to the back surface 65B (see FIG. 9), and forms a groove 65da on the back surface 65B. The groove 65da and the base 61a (see FIG. 6) of the diaphragm 61 form an air flow path.
As shown in FIG. 8, a relief portion 65g when the valve portion 63ca (see FIG. 7) of the intake valve 63c is elastically deformed is formed in a concave shape around the intake passage 65d of the surface 65A of the diaphragm base 65. Has been.

The air that has flowed into the groove 65da (see FIG. 9) reaches the protrusion 65i on the back surface 65B of the diaphragm base 65 in FIG. 9 and flows into the extendable portion 61b (see FIG. 6) of the diaphragm 61. Since the diameter of the protrusion 65i is smaller than the diameter of the expansion / contraction part 61b, there is a gap between the outer periphery of the protrusion 65i and the outer periphery of the expansion / contraction part 61b. The air that has reached can flow into the telescopic part 61b.
The air that has flowed into the expansion / contraction part 61b flows into the exhaust passage 65f on the back surface 65B of the diaphragm base 65 shown in FIG. 9 as the volume of the expansion / contraction part 61b decreases. The exhaust passage 65f is formed as a groove portion 65fa on the back surface 65B, and forms an air passage with the base portion 61a (see FIG. 6) of the diaphragm 61.
The exhaust passage 65f penetrates from the back surface 65B to the front surface 65A of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view of the diaphragm base 59 (see FIG. 6) viewed from the direction of the arrow Q7.
The air discharged from the exhaust valve 63d through the exhaust passage 65f is pressurized in the pressurized air chamber 59d of FIG. 10 to become pressurized air P1, and the pressurized air P1 is supplied from the exhaust port 59e to the pressurizing pump 40. It is designed to be discharged outside.
As described above, the diaphragm base 65 is formed with a passage for air flowing in due to the volume variation of the diaphragm 63.

Next, the flow of air due to expansion and contraction of the diaphragm 63 (see FIG. 11) will be described.
When the volume of the expansion / contraction part 63b of the diaphragm 63 increases, air flows into the pressurizing pump 40 from the outside of the pressurizing pump 40 through the intake port 59d of the diaphragm base 59 of FIG.
The air flowing in from the intake port 59a flows through the pressurizing pump 40 as indicated by arrows R1 to R11 in FIG. That is, the air flowing in from the intake port 59a flows into the pressurized air chamber 57a through the intake valve 63e, the intake passage 65e in FIG. 6, the expansion / contraction part 63b of the diaphragm 63, the exhaust passage 65b in FIG. 11, and the exhaust valve 61c. And pressurized air P1 is obtained. The pressurized air P1 is discharged from the exhaust port 59e through the slit 61ca and the communication holes 65c and 63f of the exhaust valve 61c.

The intake valve 63e and the exhaust valve 61c (see FIG. 11) described above allow the inflow of air from the directions of the arrows R1 and R6 (see FIG. 11), but block the inflow of air in the opposite direction. It has become. That is, the intake valve 63e and the exhaust valve 61c are examples of valve means for preventing the backflow of air flowing into the diaphragm 63.
As shown in FIG. 11, the intake valve 63 e is formed integrally with the diaphragm 63, and the exhaust valve 61 c is formed integrally with the diaphragm 61.

The configuration of the intake valve 63e and the exhaust valve 61c is the same as that of the above-described intake valve 63c (see FIG. 7).
Hereinafter, the above-described air flow will be described in detail focusing on the air flow in the diaphragm base 65.
As shown in FIG. 8, the diaphragm base 65 is formed with an intake passage 65e. The intake passage 65e penetrates from the surface 65A (see FIG. 8) of the diaphragm base 65 to the back surface 65B (see FIG. 9), and forms a groove 65ea on the back surface 65B. The groove 65ea and the base 61a (see FIG. 11) of the diaphragm 61 form an air flow path.
As shown in FIG. 8, a relief portion 65h when the valve portion of the intake valve 63e is elastically deformed is formed in a concave shape around the intake passage 65e on the surface 65A of the diaphragm base 65.

The air that has flowed into the groove 65ea flows from the back surface 65B of the diaphragm base 65 into the through portion 65eb that penetrates the surface 65A, and reaches the protrusion 65j of the surface 65A through the groove 65ec (see FIG. 8) provided on the surface 65A. Then, it flows into the expansion / contraction part 63b (see FIG. 11) of the diaphragm 63. Since the diameter of the protrusion 65j is smaller than the diameter of the expansion / contraction part 63b, there is a gap between the outer periphery of the protrusion 65j and the outer periphery of the expansion / contraction part 63b. The air that has reached can flow into the telescopic part 63b.
The air that has flowed into the expandable portion 63b flows into the groove portion 65ba of the exhaust passage 65b of the surface 65A of the diaphragm base 65 shown in FIG. 8 as the volume of the expandable portion 63b decreases. The groove 65ba and the base 63a (see FIG. 11) of the diaphragm 63 form an air flow path.
The exhaust passage 65b penetrates from the front surface 65A to the back surface 65B of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view of the motor frame 57 (see FIG. 11) viewed from the direction of the arrow R7.
The air discharged from the exhaust passage 65b passes through the exhaust valve 61c (see FIG. 11), flows into the pressurized air chamber 57a provided in the motor frame 57 in FIG. 12, is pressurized, and is supplied with the pressurized air P1. Become.
As described above, the compressed air P1 is discharged from the exhaust port 59e through the slit 61ca and the communication holes 65c and 63f of the exhaust valve 61c (see FIG. 11) provided in the diaphragm 61.
As described above, the diaphragm base 65 is formed with a passage for air flowing in due to the volume variation of the diaphragm 63.

The printer 10 is configured as described above.
As described above, the common diaphragm base 65 that fixes the pair of diaphragms 61 and 63 is disposed between the pair of diaphragms 61 and 63.
For this reason, the base for fixing each diaphragm 61 and 63 is not required.
Further, the common diaphragm base 65 is formed with air passages that flow in due to volume fluctuations of the diaphragms 61 and 63, and therefore it is not necessary to include a member for forming a separate air passage.
As a result, the pressure pump for the ink container can be configured in a smaller size than the conventional one.
Moreover, the printer 10 incorporating such a pressure pump 40 can also be configured in a smaller size than the conventional one.

Further, since the diaphragms 61 and 63 are integrally formed with intake valves 63c and 63e and exhaust valves 63d and 61c for preventing the backflow of the gas flowing into the diaphragms 61 and 63, the number of parts is reduced. be able to. For this reason, the production cost of a pressurizing pump can be reduced.
In addition, the production cost of the printer 10 incorporating such a pressure pump 40 can be reduced.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment as an ink jet recording apparatus, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. Furthermore, the above-described embodiments may be combined with each other. Further, the present invention is not limited to an ink jet recording apparatus, but a recording head used in an image recording apparatus such as a printer, a color material ejection head used in manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, and an FED (surface emitting). Electrode material ejection heads used for electrode formation such as displays), liquid ejection devices using liquid ejection heads that eject liquids such as bio-organic matter ejection heads used in biochip manufacturing, sample ejection devices as precision pipettes, etc. Applicable.

  Moreover, each structure of the said embodiment can abbreviate | omit one part or can be arbitrarily combined so that it may differ from the above.

1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the ink cartridge of the printer of FIG. It is a schematic perspective view of a pressurization pump. It is a disassembled perspective view of a pressurization pump. It is the schematic plan view and schematic sectional drawing of a pressurization pump. It is a disassembled perspective view of the principal part of a pressurization pump. It is the schematic which shows the intake valve of a diaphragm. It is a schematic plan view of a diaphragm base. It is a schematic plan view of a diaphragm base. It is a schematic plan view of a diaphragm base. It is a disassembled perspective view of the principal part of a pressurization pump. It is a schematic plan view of a motor frame.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer, 23 ... Carriage, 24 ... Ink cartridge, 30 ... Recording head (liquid ejecting head), 40 ... Pressure pump, 51 ... Motor, 53 ... Cam , 55 ... slider, 57 ... motor frame, 59, 65 ... diaphragm base, 61, 63 ... diaphragm

Claims (4)

A pair of diaphragms arranged opposite to each other;
A common base for fixing the pair of diaphragms;
A slider that circumscribes each diaphragm and reciprocates;
A drive mechanism for driving the slider;
A pressure pump mechanism for a liquid containment vessel comprising:
The common base is
Arranged between the pair of diaphragms,
A pressurizing pump mechanism for a liquid storage container, characterized by having a passage for a gas flowing in due to a volume variation of each diaphragm. Each said diaphragm has
2. The pressure pump mechanism for a liquid container according to claim 1, wherein valve means for preventing a backflow of gas flowing into each diaphragm is integrally formed. A liquid ejecting head for ejecting liquid;
A liquid storage container for storing the liquid;
A liquid ejecting apparatus including a pressurizing pump mechanism for supplying the liquid stored in the liquid storage container to the liquid ejecting head via a liquid passage;
The pressurizing pump mechanism is
A pair of diaphragms arranged opposite to each other;
A common base for fixing the pair of diaphragms;
A slider that circumscribes each diaphragm and reciprocates;
A drive mechanism for driving the slider;
The common base is
Arranged between the pair of diaphragms,
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising a passage for a gas flowing in due to a volume variation of each of the diaphragms. Each said diaphragm has
4. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein valve means for preventing a backflow of gas flowing into each diaphragm is integrally formed.

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