JP2008000954A - Ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink cartridge expressing high corrosion resistance to ink for a long period of time. <P>SOLUTION: The ink cartridge 1 stores the ink and is used under a mounted condition that it is mounted in a printing apparatus for performing printing. The ink cartridge 1 has a cartridge main body 2 and a lid body 3. The cartridge main body 2 and the lid body 3 are each composed of a metal glass alloy. In addition, the upper end part 20 of the cartridge main body 2 and the edge part 30 of the lid body 3 are hermetically stuck together through an adhesive excellent in corrosion resistance to the ink. In addition, the ink cartridge 1 preferably has a projecting pattern projecting from the outer surface or a recessed pattern recessed from the outer surface. The height of the projection of this projecting pattern and the depth of the recess of the recessed pattern are preferably not more than 100 nm. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink cartridge.

In a printer that discharges liquid ink as droplets onto a recording medium and performs recording writing, a container for storing ink, that is, an ink cartridge is used.
As a material constituting the ink cartridge, various resin materials (see, for example, Patent Document 1) and various metal materials are used.
However, depending on the composition of the ink stored in the ink cartridge, the resin material constituting the ink cartridge may be dissolved or altered by the action of a solvent or the like in the ink, and the ink may not be stored for a long time.

Conventionally, a metal material used as a constituent material of an ink cartridge is composed of a crystalline metal. In the crystal metal, there are discontinuous parts such as crystal grain boundaries and dislocations (positional deviation at the atomic level) in the crystal grains. Such a discontinuous part tends to become a starting point of corrosion on the surface of the metal material, and causes a decrease in the corrosion resistance of the metal material.
In order to solve such a problem, the surface of the ink cartridge is coated to improve the corrosion resistance (see, for example, Patent Document 2), but it has reached a sufficient effect over a long period of time. Not in. In addition, since it takes time to apply the coating, the cost of the ink cartridge is increased.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-16249 International Publication Number WO01 / 68377

  An object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge that exhibits high corrosion resistance against ink over a long period of time.

The above object is achieved by the present invention described below.
The ink cartridge of the present invention is an ink cartridge that is used in a loaded state in a printing apparatus that stores ink and performs printing,
At least a portion in contact with the ink is made of a metal glass alloy.
As a result, an ink cartridge that exhibits high corrosion resistance to ink over a long period of time can be obtained.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is preferable that a passive film is provided on the surface of the portion in contact with the ink.
Since the passive film is extremely chemically stable, it exhibits excellent corrosion resistance against ink. Therefore, the ink cartridge provided with the passive film has higher corrosion resistance against the ink.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, the passive film is preferably an oxide film of Cr or Mo.
Cr and Mo are elements having extremely excellent electrochemically stable properties exhibited by the oxides thereof, that is, particularly excellent corrosion resistance. Therefore, a passive film composed of an oxide film of Cr or Mo exhibits particularly excellent corrosion resistance against ink.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is preferable that the portion made of the metal glass alloy of the ink cartridge is formed by injection molding a melt of the metal glass alloy.
Thereby, the part comprised with the said metal glass alloy can be formed with high dimensional accuracy.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is preferable that a portion in contact with the ink and at least a part of the outer surface of the ink cartridge are made of the metal glass alloy.
As a result, this ink cartridge can easily determine whether the ink cartridge is appropriate from the effect of high corrosion resistance to ink and the unique properties of the metal glass alloy exposed on the outer surface without disassembling the ink cartridge. It has the effect that it can be.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is preferable that a portion in contact with the ink and at least a part of the outer surface of the ink cartridge are integrally formed of the metal glass alloy.
Thereby, for example, it becomes difficult to remove (peel) the metallic glass alloy on the outer surface and attach it to another ink cartridge. As a result, when the ink cartridge to which the metal glass alloy is attached is not appropriate, it can be reliably prevented from erroneously determining that the ink cartridge is appropriate.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is preferable that the entire ink cartridge is composed of the metal glass alloy.
Thereby, the corrosion resistance to the ink is further improved, and the ink cartridge has excellent mechanical properties such as high strength and high toughness derived from the metal glass alloy. Further, the entire ink cartridge can be easily formed with fewer steps. In addition, the manufacturing process of the ink cartridge can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, the portion formed of the metallic glass alloy on the outer surface has a convex pattern with a predetermined shape protruding from the outer surface or a concave pattern with a predetermined shape recessed from the outer surface. It is preferable.
Thereby, the unique information of the ink cartridge can be carried on the convex pattern and the concave pattern.
In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is preferable that the convex pattern and the concave pattern constitute a character, a symbol, a figure, or a pattern.
Thus, the unique information of the ink cartridge can be easily obtained by visually observing the formed characters, symbols, figures, or patterns with the eyes or a microscope.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is preferable that the protruding height of the convex pattern and the concave depth of the concave pattern are 100 nm or less.
In this way, the convex pattern controlled to be very low and the concave pattern controlled to be very shallow make use of the remarkable high transferability to the metal glass alloy, so that the convex pattern or concave having a projection height in the above numerical range. It is possible to easily and surely form a concave pattern having a deep depth. And an ink cartridge provided with such each pattern has a potential function which prevents forgery more certainly.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is detected whether or not the shape of the convex pattern or the concave pattern satisfies a predetermined condition, and whether or not the ink cartridge is appropriate is determined based on the detection result. It is preferable to be used.
Thereby, for example, it can be easily identified whether or not the ink cartridge has been forged.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, it is detected whether or not the electrical characteristic or magnetic characteristic of the portion made of the metal glass alloy satisfies a predetermined condition, and the ink cartridge is determined to be appropriate based on the detection result. It is preferably used to determine whether or not.
Thereby, for example, it is possible to more easily identify whether the ink cartridge is forged.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, the ink cartridge is provided so as to block the opening, and a cartridge main body including an ink chamber for storing the ink, an opening that communicates the ink chamber with the outside, and the like. A lid,
It is preferable that the lid and the cartridge body are sealed with an adhesive.
Thereby, these can be airtightly sealed without changing the characteristics of the metallic glass alloy of the cartridge body and the lid. As a result, it is possible to reliably avoid the gas filled in the ink cartridge from leaking out and contact between the ink and the outside air, and to prevent deterioration and deterioration of the ink.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, at least one of the portion of the cartridge body that contacts the adhesive and the portion of the lid that contacts the adhesive is subjected to a roughening treatment in advance. Is preferred.
Thereby, the adhesive force between a cartridge main body and an adhesive agent or between a cover body and an adhesive agent improves, and the airtightness of an adhesion interface improves.

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, the ink cartridge is provided so as to block the opening, and a cartridge main body including an ink chamber for storing the ink, an opening that communicates the ink chamber with the outside, and the like. A lid,
It is preferable that the lid and the cartridge main body are sealed by caulking.
Thereby, the metallic glass alloy which respectively comprises the cartridge main body and the cover body can maintain the metallic glass state after sealing. Furthermore, for example, since there is no need to heat the metal glass alloy as in welding, there is no risk of crystallization of the metal glass alloy, and excellent corrosion resistance derived from the metal glass alloy can be maintained even after sealing. .

Hereinafter, the ink cartridge of the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
The ink cartridge of the present invention is used in a loaded state in a printing apparatus that stores ink and performs printing.

<First Embodiment>
First, a first embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention will be described.
1 is a perspective view showing a printing apparatus loaded with the ink cartridge of the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an ink cartridge shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the lid of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view of the side surface of the ink cartridge main body shown in FIG. It is line sectional drawing.
In the following description, the left side of FIG. 1 is referred to as “upper”, the right side is referred to as “lower”, the upper side in FIG. 2 is referred to as “upper”, and the lower side is referred to as “lower”. Moreover, the scale on the vertical axis of the cross-sectional view along the line BB in FIG. 5 is drawn with emphasis from the horizontal axis.

A printing apparatus (printer) 200 shown in FIG. 1 performs printing on a recording medium 209 (for example, a paper surface) in a loaded state in which the ink cartridge 1 is loaded.
First, the ink cartridge 1 will be described.
The ink cartridge 1 has a cartridge main body 2 shown in FIG. 3 and a lid 3 shown in FIG.

The cartridge body 2 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape.
The cartridge main body 2 has a hollow portion defined by the cartridge main body 2 and the lid 3, and serves as an ink chamber 21 that stores ink and a foam chamber 22 that stores a porous body 221 that absorbs ink. Function.
The ink chamber 21 and the foam chamber 22 are separated via a partition plate 23. The partition plate 23 is provided with a communication hole 231 for gas-liquid separation, and the ink moves from the ink chamber 21 to the foam chamber 22 through the communication hole 231.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, three ink chambers 21 and three foam chambers 22 are provided in the cartridge body 2. The ink chambers 21, 21, 21 and the foam chambers 22, 22, 22 are separated through a partition plate 23.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cartridge body 2 includes a supply port 24 that supplies ink in the foam chamber 22 to the printing apparatus 200, a flow channel 25 that guides ink from the foam chamber 22 to the supply port 24, and a flow channel 25 and a filter 26 provided between the foam chamber 22.

The ink chamber 21, the communication hole 231, the foam chamber 22, the supply port 24, the flow path 25, and the filter 26 are ink supplies that supply ink to the printing apparatus 200 when the ink cartridge 1 is loaded in the printing apparatus 200. Configure the system.
In this embodiment, this ink supply system is provided in three systems corresponding to the ink chambers 21, 21, 21 and the foam chambers 22, 22, 22. The three ink supply systems can be filled with, for example, red, blue and yellow inks, respectively.

  The lid 3 is overlaid on the cartridge body 2 so as to close the openings of the ink chambers 21, 21, 21 and the foam chambers 22, 22, 22. In this state, the upper end portion 20 of the cartridge body 2 and the edge portion 30 of the lid body 3 are hermetically bonded via an adhesive. Thereby, these can be sealed hermetically without changing the characteristics of the metallic glass alloy of the cartridge body 2 and the lid 3. As a result, it is possible to reliably avoid the gas filled in the ink cartridge 1 from leaking out and contact between the ink and the outside air, and to prevent deterioration and deterioration of the ink.

At this time, it is preferable that a surface roughening process is performed in advance on the region in contact with the adhesive at the upper end of the cartridge body 2 or the edge of the lid 3. Thereby, the adhesive force between the cartridge main body 2 and the adhesive or between the lid 3 and the adhesive is improved, and the airtightness of the adhesive interface is improved. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the gas filled in the ink cartridge 1 from leaking out and the ink stored in the ink cartridge 1 from coming into contact with the outside air.
Examples of the surface roughening treatment applied to the region include various blast treatments and various etching treatments.

As an adhesive used for adhesion between the cartridge body 2 and the lid 3, an adhesive having excellent corrosion resistance to ink is preferable. For example, an epoxy resin adhesive, an acrylic resin adhesive, a silicone resin adhesive, Examples thereof include phenol resin adhesives.
Further, six ink injection ports 31 are provided in regions located in the foam chambers 22, 22, 22 of the lid 3. These ink injection ports 31 are used when ink is injected into each of the foam chambers 22, 22, 22 after the lid 3 is overlaid on the cartridge body 2.
Such an ink cartridge has conventionally been composed of various resin materials and various metal materials.

However, depending on the composition of the ink stored in the ink cartridge, the resin material constituting the ink cartridge may be altered by the action of a solvent or the like in the ink. In this case, the ink may leak from the ink cartridge, and there is a problem that it is difficult to store the ink for a long time.
In order to cope with such a problem, conventionally, a surface layer (coating) made of a material excellent in corrosion resistance to ink has been provided on a portion in contact with ink. However, such a surface layer has not reached sufficient corrosion resistance over a long period of time. Further, in order to provide the surface layer, it is necessary to add a separate process, which increases the manufacturing process of the ink cartridge and increases the manufacturing cost.

  Further, the metal material used as the constituent material of the ink cartridge is conventionally made of crystalline metal. In general, in a crystal metal, there are discontinuous portions such as boundaries between crystal grains called crystal grain boundaries and dislocations (positional deviation at the atomic level) within the crystal grains. Such a discontinuous portion is likely to become a starting point of corrosion on the surface of the metal material, and thus has been a factor of reducing the corrosion resistance of the metal material to ink.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, a metal glass alloy is used as the material constituting the portion of the ink cartridge that contacts the ink. The metallic glass alloy is a metallic material having a random atomic arrangement and substantially no crystal grains. For this reason, there are substantially no discontinuous parts such as the aforementioned crystal grain boundaries and dislocations in the crystal grains. Accordingly, the surface of the material composed of the metal glass alloy does not have a portion that can be a starting point of corrosion, and the corrosion resistance to the ink is drastically increased. As a result, an ink cartridge made of a metal glass alloy has extremely high corrosion resistance against ink over a long period of time.

From such a point of view, the ink cartridge may be made of a metal glass alloy at the portion in contact with the ink, but it is preferable that the whole is made of a metal glass alloy. Thereby, the corrosion resistance with respect to the ink of an ink cartridge further improves.
In addition, the metal glass alloy has high light resistance, that is, high light shielding properties, so that the ink stored in the ink cartridge is reliably prevented from being irradiated from the outside, and the ink is deteriorated and deteriorated by light. Can be prevented from occurring.

Further, since the metal glass alloy has high gas resistance, that is, low gas permeability, it reliably prevents the gas filled in the ink cartridge from leaking to the outside or the outside air from entering the ink cartridge. be able to. As a result, the ink can be prevented from being altered or deteriorated.
In particular, when the entire ink cartridge 1 is made of a metal glass alloy, the corrosion resistance to ink is further improved, and the ink cartridge 1 has excellent mechanical properties such as high strength and high toughness derived from the metal glass alloy. It will be.

  Further, it is not necessary to combine a plurality of materials, and the entire ink cartridge 1 can be easily formed with fewer steps by injection molding of molten metal described later. Thereby, the manufacturing process of the ink cartridge 1 can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, if the entire ink cartridge 1 is made of a metal glass alloy, a substance other than the metal glass alloy, that is, impurities are not included. Therefore, the ink cartridge 1 is dissolved to form a new ink cartridge 1. Can be easily reproduced. That is, the ink cartridge 1 is suitable for recycling.

  In this case, since the ink cartridge 1 has high electrical conductivity derived from the metal glass alloy, it is difficult to be charged. Therefore, it is possible to prevent electrostatic force due to charging of the ink cartridge from acting on ink droplets ejected from a droplet ejection head of a printing apparatus described later. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the landing accuracy from being lowered due to a change in the flight path of the ink droplets.

The composition of the metal glass alloy used in such an ink cartridge 1 is not particularly limited, but for example, Fe group, Co group, Ni group, Cu group, Ti group, Zr group, Hf group, Mg group, Ca group And various metallic glass alloys such as La group, Y group, Pt group, Pd group.
Further, the ink cartridge 1 preferably has a passive film on the surface of the portion that comes into contact with the ink. Since the passive film is extremely chemically stable, it exhibits excellent corrosion resistance against ink. Therefore, the ink cartridge 1 provided with the passive film has higher corrosion resistance against ink.

  Further, the passive film is preferably composed of an oxide film formed by oxidizing the surface of the metal glass alloy and oxidizing a predetermined element in the metal glass alloy. Thereby, it is not necessary to add a complicated process such as a separate film forming process, and the passive film can be formed by a simple method. As a result, an inexpensive ink cartridge with better corrosion resistance can be obtained. In particular, since the passive film formed on the surface of the metal glass alloy is thicker and more uniform than the passive film formed on the surface of the crystalline metal, the above-described effects become more remarkable.

  The element that forms the passive film is appropriately selected according to the main component of the metal glass alloy, and examples thereof include Cr, Mo, Al, Ni, Ti, Nb, and Ta. Among these, Cr or Mo Is preferred. Cr and Mo are elements having extremely excellent electrochemically stable properties exhibited by the oxides thereof, that is, particularly excellent corrosion resistance. Therefore, a passive film composed of an oxide film of Cr or Mo exhibits particularly excellent corrosion resistance against ink.

As shown in FIG. 3, the side surface of the cartridge body 2 has a character 10 formed by processing the surface. In addition, the character 10 in FIG. 3 is drawn enlarged for convenience of explanation.
As shown in FIG. 5, the character 10 has a convex pattern that protrudes from the side surface of the cartridge body 2. The unique information of the ink cartridge 1 can be easily obtained by visually observing the characters 10 with a microscope or the like. Such unique information includes, for example, the serial number, lot number, model number, manufacturer name, date of manufacture, and place of manufacture of the ink cartridge 1.
In this case, the light reflection conditions can be changed by making the surface state (surface roughness, etc.) of the side surface of the cartridge body 2 different from the surface state of the convex pattern. Thereby, the contrast of the character 10 improves and it can visually recognize more reliably.

  Further, if a convex pattern such as the character 10 is formed by, for example, molten metal injection molding described later, an extremely high dimensional accuracy can be obtained. Therefore, for example, each dimension such as the line width W of the character 10 shown in FIG. 5, the character spacing S, and the protruding height H of the character 10 (convex pattern) is measured, and the measured value falls within a predetermined error range. It is possible to confirm whether or not the ink cartridge 1 is made of a metallic glass alloy and manufactured through a specific manufacturing process.

  That is, by detecting whether the shape of the convex pattern provided in the ink cartridge 1 satisfies a predetermined condition, it is possible to determine whether the ink cartridge 1 is appropriate based on the detection result. In other words, by utilizing such characteristics, for example, it can be easily identified whether the ink cartridge 1 has been forged. This effect is due to the fact that the metal glass alloy cannot be manufactured easily and that a large and expensive injection molding apparatus is required for the injection molding of the metal glass alloy. This is because it is extremely difficult to manufacture a highly accurate convex pattern. That is, such an ink cartridge 1 has a potential function of preventing forgery.

Further, since the ink cartridge 1 is made of a metal glass alloy, it detects electrical characteristics such as electrical conductivity in the ink cartridge 1 and magnetic characteristics such as relative permeability and magnetic history (hysteresis), It may be determined whether or not the ink cartridge 1 is appropriate by evaluating whether or not the detection result indicates a characteristic specific to the metal glass alloy. If the evaluation based on the electrical characteristics or the magnetic characteristics and the shape evaluation of the convex pattern are performed in a multiplexed manner, it is possible to determine whether or not the ink cartridge 1 is appropriate with higher accuracy.
According to the evaluation of the electrical characteristics or the magnetic characteristics, the determination can be made even if the ink cartridge 1 does not have a convex pattern such as the character 10, and the ink cartridge 1 is forged. It is easier to identify whether it is a thing or not.

In the present embodiment, the convex pattern protruding from the side surface of the cartridge body 2 has been described. However, this pattern may be a concave pattern recessed from the side surface, or a mixture of these. .
Moreover, in this embodiment, although the convex pattern comprises the character, a symbol, a figure, a pattern, etc. other than a character may be sufficient. By visually recognizing these with a microscope or the like, the unique information of the ink cartridge 1 can be acquired as in the case of characters. That is, unique information can be carried on the convex pattern.

  Further, the protruding height of the convex pattern provided on the side surface of the cartridge body 2 and the concave depth of the concave pattern are preferably 100 nm or less, more preferably 50 nm or less, and 20 nm or less. Is more preferable. Thus, the convex pattern controlled to be very low and the concave pattern controlled to be very shallow cannot be formed in the conventional ink cartridge because the dimensional accuracy is extremely difficult to control. However, the ink cartridge of the present invention can easily and reliably form a convex pattern having a protruding height in the numerical range or a concave pattern having a concave depth by utilizing the remarkable high transferability of the metal glass alloy. Can do. This effect is unlikely to occur when a metallic glass alloy is solidified from a molten state, as it is unlikely to cause spontaneous changes in the atomic arrangement that accompany crystallization like a crystalline metal. It is obtained by making use of. Therefore, the above-mentioned convex pattern and concave pattern can be easily and reliably formed by, for example, molten metal injection molding described later. And an ink cartridge provided with such each pattern has a potential function which prevents forgery more certainly.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the entire ink cartridge 1 (the cartridge main body 2 and the lid 3) is made of a metal glass alloy has been described. However, the ink cartridge of the present invention includes at least a portion in contact with ink. A part of the outer surface of the ink cartridge may be made of a metal glass alloy. Accordingly, the ink cartridge can easily determine whether the ink cartridge is appropriate from the effect of high corrosion resistance against ink and the unique property of the metal glass alloy exposed on the outer surface without disassembling the ink cartridge 1. The effect is that it can be determined.

  In this case, it is preferable that the portion of the ink cartridge that comes into contact with the ink and a portion of the outer surface of the ink cartridge are integrally formed of a metal glass alloy. Thereby, for example, it becomes difficult to remove (peel) the metallic glass alloy on the outer surface and attach it to another ink cartridge. As a result, when the ink cartridge to which the metal glass alloy is attached is not appropriate, it can be reliably prevented from erroneously determining that the ink cartridge is appropriate.

Such an ink cartridge can be manufactured as follows, for example.
[1] First, a material for obtaining a metallic glass alloy is weighed according to a predetermined content of each element to obtain a raw material.
[2] Next, this raw material is placed on the piston 104 in the sleeve 102 of the injection molding apparatus 100 shown in FIG. Then, the inside of the sleeve 102, the cavity 111, and the flow path 112 are decompressed by the decompression means.
Subsequently, a high frequency voltage is applied to the induction coil 103 to heat the raw material in the sleeve 102 to a predetermined temperature. Thereby, a raw material is melt | dissolved and a molten metal (melt) is obtained.

[3] Next, the mold 110 is cooled. Subsequently, the piston 104 is moved upward. As a result, the molten metal on the piston 104 is injected into the cavity 111 through the flow path 112. The molten metal injected into the cavity 111 is rapidly cooled by contacting the inner wall of the cavity 111. Thereby, each atom which existed randomly in the molten metal is solidified in a state where the random arrangement is preserved. As a result, the molten metal becomes a metallic glass alloy in which atoms are randomly arranged. Then, the shape of the cavity 111 can be faithfully reproduced, and the cartridge body 2 and the lid body 3 having the target shapes can be formed with high dimensional accuracy.
In addition, by forming a predetermined convex pattern or concave pattern on the inner wall of the cavity 111 in advance, the molten metal injected into the cavity 111 is molded along these patterns, and each pattern is faithfully reproduced. A reproduced concave pattern or convex pattern is obtained.

[4] Next, the molding die 110 is opened, and the molded cartridge body 2 and lid 3 are taken out.
As described above, the cartridge main body 2 shown in FIG. 3 and the lid 3 shown in FIG. 4 can be manufactured.
In the present embodiment, the method of manufacturing the cartridge body 2 and the lid body 3 by injection molding has been described, but the manufacturing method is not limited to these, for example, a method of press-molding a plate-like metallic glass alloy, You may manufacture by the method etc. which cut a block-shaped metallic glass alloy.

Next, the printing apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 1 will be described.
In the printing apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 1, the droplet discharge head 201 is mounted below the loading unit 207. The droplet discharge head 201 is guided by the guide shaft 202 and is moved in the arrow direction (longitudinal direction of the guide shaft 202) by the carriage motor 204 via the belt 203. The droplet discharge head 201 can discharge the ink supplied from the ink cartridge 1 loaded in the loading unit 207 as droplets.

In such a printing apparatus 200, the recording medium 209 is conveyed by a paper feed roller (not shown) and a paper pressing roller (not shown) and passes under the droplet discharge head 201. At this time, printing is performed on the recording medium 209 with ink droplets ejected from the droplet ejection head 201 and is ejected from the printing apparatus 200 by ejection rollers (not shown).
Note that the printing apparatus 200 includes a detection unit (not shown) that detects a convex pattern or a concave pattern formed on the outer surface of the ink cartridge 1, and whether the ink cartridge 1 is appropriate based on the detection result. It may have determination means (not shown) for determining whether or not.

As the detection means, for example, (I) a light emitting means and a light receiving means capable of optically measuring the distance from the light source to the outer surface of the ink cartridge 1 and the distance from the light source to the convex pattern or the concave pattern, (II ) An imaging means that images a convex pattern or a concave pattern and can measure a distance in plan view of the convex pattern or the concave pattern from the image.
Further, as the determination means, for example, a calculation means for determining whether or not these satisfy a predetermined condition based on the convex pattern or the concave pattern distance data obtained by the method (I) or (II). Etc.

  In the case where the printing apparatus 200 includes detection means such as (I) and (II) and the determination means, for example, it is determined that the ink cartridge 1 is not appropriate based on the determination result by the calculation means. Sometimes it is preferably configured to stop its operation. Thereby, for example, when the improper ink cartridge 1 is loaded in the printing apparatus 200, it is possible to prevent the printing apparatus 200 from being out of order and causing troubles such as failure to obtain an appropriate printing result. .

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a second embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention. In the following description, the upper side in FIG. 7 is referred to as “upper” and the lower side is referred to as “lower”.
Hereinafter, although the second embodiment will be described, the description will focus on the differences from the first embodiment, and the description of the same matters will be omitted.
The ink cartridge of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the sealing method of the cartridge body 2 and the lid 3 is different.

  In the ink cartridge 1 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the cartridge main body 2 is bent and caulked downward with the upper end portion 20 of the cartridge main body 2 and the edge portion 30 of the lid body 3 being overlapped. And the lid 3 are sealed. Thereby, the cartridge body 2 and the lid 3 can be hermetically sealed without using a sealing member such as an adhesive. As a result, the sealing portion is also made of a metal glass alloy, and the corrosion resistance of the ink cartridge 1 can be further improved.

Further, by using this “caulking” sealing method, the metallic glass alloy constituting the upper end portion 20 of the cartridge main body 2 and the edge portion 30 of the lid 3 is in its metallic glass state even after sealing. Can be maintained.
Furthermore, for example, since there is no need to heat the metal glass alloy as in welding, there is no risk of crystallization of the metal glass alloy, and excellent corrosion resistance derived from the metal glass alloy can be maintained even after sealing. .
Although the ink cartridge of the present invention has been described based on the preferred embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, each part of the ink cartridge of the present invention may be a combination of a plurality of configurations described in the above embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a printing apparatus loaded with the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1 taken along line AA. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a cartridge main body included in the ink cartridge illustrated in FIG. 2. It is a top view which shows the cover body which the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 2 has. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of a side surface of the ink cartridge main body shown in FIG. 3 and a cross-sectional view taken along line BB. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows an injection molding apparatus. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows 2nd Embodiment of the ink cartridge of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ink cartridge 2 ... Cartridge body 3 ... Cover body 10 ... Character 20 ... Upper end part 21 ... Ink chamber 22 ... Foam chamber 221 ... Porous body 23 ... Partition plate 231 ... Communication hole 24 …… Supply port 25 …… Flow path 26 …… Filter 30 …… Edge 31 …… Ink injection port 100 …… Injection molding device 101 …… Device body 102 …… Sleeve 103 …… Induction coil 104 …… Piston 110 ... Mold 111 ... Cavity 112 ... Flow path (gate) 200 ... Printing device 201 ... Droplet discharge head 202 ... Guide shaft 203 ... Belt 204 ... Carriage motor 207 ... Loading section 209 ... recoding media

Claims (15)

An ink cartridge that is used in a loaded state in a printing apparatus that stores ink and performs printing,
An ink cartridge, wherein at least a portion in contact with the ink is made of a metal glass alloy.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a passive film on a surface of a portion in contact with the ink.   The ink cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the passive film is an oxide film of Cr or Mo.   4. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the portion made of the metal glass alloy of the ink cartridge is formed by injection molding a melt of the metal glass alloy.   The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a portion in contact with the ink and at least a part of an outer surface of the ink cartridge are made of the metal glass alloy.   The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a portion in contact with the ink and at least a part of an outer surface of the ink cartridge are integrally formed of the metal glass alloy.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the entire ink cartridge is made of the metal glass alloy.   8. The device according to claim 5, wherein a portion of the outer surface made of the metallic glass alloy has a predetermined pattern protruding from the outer surface or a predetermined pattern recessed from the outer surface. An ink cartridge according to claim 1.   The ink cartridge according to claim 8, wherein the convex pattern and the concave pattern constitute a character, a symbol, a figure, or a pattern.   The ink cartridge according to claim 8 or 9, wherein a protruding height of the convex pattern and a concave depth of the concave pattern are 100 nm or less.   11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: detecting whether the shape of the convex pattern or the concave pattern satisfies a predetermined condition, and determining whether the ink cartridge is appropriate based on the detection result. The ink cartridge according to any one of the above.   It is detected whether or not the electrical characteristic or magnetic characteristic of the portion made of the metal glass alloy satisfies a predetermined condition, and it is determined whether or not the ink cartridge is appropriate based on the detection result. The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 11, which is used. The ink cartridge includes an ink chamber that stores the ink, a cartridge body that includes an opening that communicates the ink chamber and the outside, and a lid that is provided so as to close the opening.
The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the lid and the cartridge main body are sealed with an adhesive.   14. The ink cartridge according to claim 13, wherein at least one of a portion of the cartridge main body that contacts the adhesive and a portion of the lid that contacts the adhesive is previously roughened. . The ink cartridge includes an ink chamber that stores the ink, a cartridge body that includes an opening that communicates the ink chamber and the outside, and a lid that is provided so as to close the opening.
The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the lid and the cartridge main body are sealed by caulking.

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