JP2010253834A - Waste liquid housing container and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress leakage of the liquid housed in a container body upon handling and upon conveyance. <P>SOLUTION: When an ink-jet recording apparatus 100 having an empty discharge receiver 98 is placed on a rack 101 or a desk by a user 300 or when the ink-jet recording apparatus 100 placed on the rack 101 is moved, even if the container body 981 is inclined toward the front due to the inclination of the ink-jet recording apparatus 100 toward the front, the flow of ink 201 housed in the container body 981 is prevented by an absorber 200 to prevent leakage from the empty discharge receiver 98, and the interior of the ink-jet recording apparatus 100 is prevented from being contaminated by the ink. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a waste liquid storage container for storing a waste liquid such as ink discharged from a recording head for forming an image by ejecting ink droplets from a nozzle onto a recording medium, and an image forming apparatus using the same.

  For example, in an ink jet recording apparatus that records an image by ejecting ink droplets from a recording head ink ejection port (nozzle) to a recording medium such as paper based on image information, the ink that has been thickened during recording or the like is discharged. In addition, idle ejection is performed in which ink that does not contribute to recording is ejected from the nozzles of the recording head. Therefore, the ink jet recording apparatus is provided with a waste liquid storage container for storing ink in the non-printing area. This waste liquid storage container has an opening for discharging ink, and when the discharge state of the nozzle is maintained by discharging ink from the recording head, the opening needs to be larger than the nozzle row. For this reason, when handling or transporting the ink jet recording apparatus, the ink jet recording apparatus is lifted from the front side of the ink jet recording apparatus. For example, the ink jet recording apparatus is placed on a rack or a desk, or the placed ink jet recording apparatus is moved. At this time, there is a possibility that the entire ink jet recording apparatus is tilted forward and ink spills out from the waste liquid storage container to stain the inside of the apparatus.

  In order to prevent ink from leaking out from the waste liquid storage container, the liquid leakage prevention means of the ink jet recording apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is connected to a communication path that sends the ink discharged from the recording head to the waste liquid storage container. An absorber is provided at the opening edge of the lid of the waste liquid container having the opening, and the communication path is pressed against the absorber to prevent ink from leaking.

  Further, the waste liquid storage container shown in Patent Document 2 has a liquid that has a neutralization reaction with ink inside, and when the ink is stored in the waste liquid storage container, the liquid is immediately mixed with the internal liquid to neutralize the reaction. The liquid mixture is changed to near neutrality to cause aggregation, and the viscosity is increased to greatly reduce fluidity.

  As shown in Patent Document 1, an absorber is provided at the opening edge of the lid of the waste liquid storage container, and the communication path is pressed against the absorber to prevent ink from leaking. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the size of the ink jet recording apparatus.

  Further, as shown in Patent Document 2, if a liquid having a neutralization reaction with ink is stored inside the waste liquid storage container, the liquid inside the waste liquid storage container may leak during handling or transportation of the ink jet recording apparatus. There is sex.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a waste liquid container and an image forming apparatus using the same, which can solve such problems and reduce leakage of liquid inside during handling and transportation.

  A waste liquid storage container according to the present invention is a waste liquid storage container for storing waste liquid discharged from a droplet discharge head in order to maintain the discharge performance of a droplet discharge head having a nozzle for discharging droplets. A lid having an opening through which waste liquid discharged from the nozzle of the droplet discharge head is passed, and when mounted on the droplet discharge device having the droplet discharge head, is positioned at least on the front side of the droplet discharge device An outflow prevention member is provided between the uppermost end and the lowermost end of the container body on the inner wall surface of the container body.

  The outflow prevention member is provided in the lid portion so as to be closer to the wall surface than the region where the opening is projected onto the bottom surface of the container body.

  Further, the outflow prevention member is arranged to be positioned at a height of the container main body slightly higher than a height of a maximum load amount of the waste liquid with respect to the container main body.

  Furthermore, the outflow prevention member is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a gate shape, or a mouth shape.

  Further, the outflow prevention member is provided over the entire circumference of the inner wall surface of the container body.

  The outflow prevention member is made of an absorber.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes the waste liquid storage container, and performs an empty discharge operation of discharging ink not related to recording from the droplet discharge head to the waste liquid storage container before starting recording or during recording. To do.

  The present invention prevents the outflow between the uppermost end and the lowermost end of the inner wall surface of the container body located at least in front of the droplet discharge device when the waste liquid storage container is attached to the droplet discharge device having the droplet discharge head. Since the member is provided, the waste liquid accommodated in the container main body can be prevented from flowing out of the container main body even when the droplet discharge device is tilted.

  Further, since the outflow prevention member is provided on the lid portion so as to be closer to the wall surface than the region where the opening is projected onto the bottom surface of the container body, the discharged waste liquid is deposited on the upper surface of the outflow prevention member. Can be suppressed.

  In addition, since the outflow prevention member is arranged at a position of the height of the container main body slightly above the height of the maximum load amount of the waste liquid with respect to the container main body and separated from the nozzle surface of the liquid droplet discharge head, It is possible to more reliably suppress the waste liquid discharged from the head from accumulating on the upper surface of the outflow prevention member, and the waste liquid accumulates on the upper surface of the outflow prevention member. Contact with the nozzle surface of the head can be prevented from adhering.

  Moreover, by forming the outflow prevention member into a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a gate shape, or a mouth shape, it is possible to easily adhere to the inner wall surface of the container body.

  Further, by providing the outflow prevention member over the entire circumference of the inner wall surface of the container main body, it is possible to prevent the waste liquid stored in the container main body from flowing out of the container main body even if the waste liquid storage container is tilted in any direction.

  Furthermore, by configuring the outflow prevention member with an absorber, it is possible to more reliably suppress the waste liquid flowing out by absorbing the waste liquid suppressed by the outflow prevention member when the waste liquid storage container is tilted.

  This waste liquid container is used in an image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus is moved by performing an empty discharge operation for discharging ink unrelated to recording from the droplet discharge head to the waste liquid container before starting recording or during recording. Even if the image forming apparatus is tilted, the ink stored in the container body can be prevented from flowing out of the waste liquid storing container by the absorber, and the inside of the image forming apparatus can be contaminated by the ink. Can be prevented.

  Further, since the waste liquid is prevented from accumulating on the upper surface of the outflow prevention member, the waste liquid accumulates on the upper surface of the outflow prevention member, and the deposited ink is thickened and comes into contact with the nozzle surface of the droplet discharge head. Can be prevented, and a high-quality image can be stably formed.

It is the perspective view which looked at the image forming apparatus of this invention from the front side. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a mechanism unit of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a principal part top view of the mechanism part of the image forming apparatus of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of an empty discharge receptacle. It is a top view which shows arrangement | positioning of the absorber with respect to the container main body of an empty discharge receiver. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the image forming apparatus is moved from a rack. FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the function of the absorber provided in the main body container of the empty discharge receiver. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a 2nd shell discharge receiver. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of another idle discharge receptacle.

  1 to 3 show a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus as viewed from the front side, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a mechanism portion of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the main part of the mechanism.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 100 includes an apparatus main body 1, a paper feed tray 2 for loading recording paper mounted on the apparatus main body 1, and an image recorded (formed) mounted on the apparatus main body 1. And a paper discharge tray 3 for discharging and stocking the recorded recording paper. One end side of the front surface 4 of the apparatus main body 1 has a cartridge loading portion 6 that protrudes forward from the front surface 4 and is lower than the upper surface 5. On the upper surface of the cartridge loading portion 6, operation keys, indicators, etc. The operation unit 7 is arranged.

  The cartridge loading unit 6 includes a plurality of main tanks each containing recording liquids (inks) of different colors, for example, black (K) ink, cyan (C) ink, magenta (M) ink, and yellow (Y) ink. A certain ink cartridge 10k, 10c, 10m, 10y can be inserted and loaded from the front side of the apparatus main body 1 toward the rear side. When the liquid cartridge 10 is attached to or detached from the front side of the cartridge loading unit 6, A front cover (cartridge cover) 8 to be opened is provided to be openable and closable.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the mechanism of this image forming apparatus is configured to move the carriage 33 in the main scanning direction by a guide rod 31 and a stay 32 which are guide members horizontally mounted on the left and right side plates 21A and 21B constituting the frame 21. It is slidably held and moved and scanned in the direction of the arrow (carriage main scanning direction) in FIG. 3 by a main scanning motor (not shown). The carriage 33 has a recording head 34 a having a plurality of nozzle rows for discharging droplets of black (K) and cyan (C), and droplets of magenta (M) and yellow (Y). A recording head 34b having a plurality of nozzle rows to be ejected is arranged with a plurality of nozzles (ejection ports) arranged in a direction crossing the main scanning direction, and the droplet ejection direction is directed downward. The recording heads 34a and 34b include 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 shape memory alloy that uses a metal phase change caused by a temperature change. An actuator, an electrostatic actuator using an electrostatic force, or the like provided as energy generating means for ejecting ink droplets can be used.

  Also, the carriage 33 is equipped with sub tanks 35a and 35b for each color for supplying ink of each color to the recording heads 34a and 34b, respectively. Each of the sub tanks 35a and 35b has two ink storage portions, and ink is replenished and supplied from the ink cartridge 10 mounted on the cartridge loading portion 6 via the ink supply tubes 36 of the respective colors. The cartridge loading unit 6 is provided with a unit of a liquid feeding pump 23 for feeding ink in the ink cartridge 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, one sheet of recording paper 42 is fed from the paper stacking unit 41 as a paper feeding unit for feeding the recording paper 42 stacked on the paper stacking unit (bottom plate) 41 of the paper feed tray 2. A half-moon roller (sheet feeding roller) 43 that separates and feeds the sheet and a separation pad 44 made of a material having a large friction coefficient are provided opposite to the sheet feeding roller 43. The separation pad 44 is urged toward the sheet feeding roller 43 side. Yes. A transport belt 51 for electrostatically attracting and transporting the recording paper 42 as a transport section for transporting the recording paper 42 fed from the paper feed section below the recording head 34, and a paper feed The counter roller 52 for transporting the recording paper 42 sent from the section via the guide 45 sandwiched between the transport belt 51 and the recording paper 42 sent substantially vertically upward is changed in direction by about 90 degrees to the transport belt. The conveyance guide 53 for making it follow on 51 and the front-end | tip pressurizing roller 55 urged | biased by the pressing member 54 at the conveyance belt 51 side are provided. In addition, a charging roller 56 that is a charging unit for charging the surface of the conveyance belt 51 is provided.

  The transport belt 51 is an endless belt, and is configured to be looped around the transport roller 57 and the tension roller 58 in the belt transport 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 between the conveying roller 57 and the tension roller 58 that support the conveying 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 recording paper 42 recorded by the recording head 34, a separation claw 71 for separating the recording paper 42 from the conveying belt 51, a paper discharge roller 72, and a paper discharge roller 73, And a paper discharge tray 3 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 feeding unit 81 takes in the recording 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 device 90 for maintaining and recovering the state of the nozzles of the recording head 34 is arranged in the non-printing area on one side of the carriage 33 in the scanning direction. The maintenance / recovery device 90 includes a recovery device 91 having two suction caps 92a and 92b for capping each nozzle surface of the recording heads 34a and 34b, and a wiper blade which is a blade member for wiping the nozzle surface. 93, and an empty discharge receiver 94 for receiving ink droplets for discharging the ink droplets that do not contribute to recording in order to discharge the thickened ink.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the non-printing area on the other side in the scanning direction of the carriage 33 is used to perform idle ejection for ejecting ink that does not contribute to recording in order to eject ink that has been thickened during recording or the like. An empty discharge receiver 98 for receiving the ink is disposed, and the empty discharge receiver 98 is provided with openings 99a and 99b along the nozzle row direction of the recording heads 34a and 34b.

  In the image forming apparatus configured as described above, the recording sheets 42 are separated and fed one by one from the sheet feeding tray 2, and the sheet 42 fed substantially vertically upward is guided by the guide 45, and the conveying 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 tip pressing roller 55, and the conveying direction is changed by approximately 90 degrees. 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 recording paper 42 is fed onto the conveyance belt 51 that is alternately charged with plus and minus, the recording paper 42 is electrostatically attracted to the conveyance belt 51, and the recording paper 42 is moved by the circular movement of the conveyance belt 51. It is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction. Therefore, by driving the recording head 34 according to the image signal while moving the carriage 33, ink droplets are ejected onto the stopped recording paper 42 to record one line, and the recording paper 42 is conveyed by a predetermined amount. After that, the next line is recorded. Upon receiving a recording end signal or a signal that the trailing edge of the recording paper 42 has reached the recording area, the recording operation is terminated and the recording paper 42 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3.

  Further, while waiting for printing (recording), the carriage 33 is moved to the maintenance / recovery device 90 side, the recording head 34 is capped by each suction cap 92 of the recovery device 91, and the ink is dried by keeping the nozzle in a wet state. Prevents ejection failure due to Further, a recovery operation is performed in which ink is sucked from the nozzles while the recording head 34 is capped by the suction cap 92 and the thickened ink and bubbles are discharged. Also, a blank ejection operation is performed in which ink that is not related to printing is ejected to the blank ejection receiver 98 before recording is started or during recording. As a result, the stable ejection performance of the recording head 34 is maintained.

  As shown in FIG. 3, an empty discharge receiver 98 that stores ink discharged from the recording head 34 by ink that is not related to recording by this empty discharge operation is disposed at a position on the front side of the ink jet recording apparatus 100, as shown in FIG. As shown in the perspective view, the absorbent body 200 is bonded to one wall surface 983 inside the container main body 981 with, for example, a double-sided tape or an adhesive. The wall surface 983 of the container main body 981 to which the absorber 200 is bonded is a wall surface located on the front side of the ink jet recording apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. 3 when the empty discharge receiver 98 is provided in the ink jet recording apparatus 100.

  The absorbent body 200 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, for example, and as shown in the top view of the empty discharge receiver 98 in FIG. Are arranged so that the openings 99a and 99b provided in the lid portion 982 covering the upper opening of the container main body 981 are closer to the wall surface 983 than the region projected on the bottom surface 984 of the container main body 981. The absorber 200 is disposed so as to be on the bottom surface side of the container main body 981 at a position of the height of the container main body 981 slightly above the height of the maximum load amount of the waste liquid of the container main body 981, and from the nozzle surface of the recording head 34. The waste liquid accommodated in the container main body 891 is adhered to the wall surface 983 so as not to come into contact with the absorber 200 when the ink jet recording apparatus 100 is horizontally disposed.

  When ink not related to recording is discharged from the nozzles of the recording head 34 to the empty discharge receiver 98 configured in this manner, the inner side surface opposite to the joint surface with the wall surface 983 of the absorber 200 has openings 99a, Since 99b is closer to the wall surface 983 than the region where 99b is projected onto the bottom surface 984 of the container main body 981, the discharged ink can be prevented from being deposited on the upper surface of the absorber 200. The absorber 200 is disposed so as to be on the bottom surface side of the container main body 981 at a position of the height of the container main body 981 slightly above the height of the maximum load amount of the waste liquid of the container main body 981, and the nozzle of the recording head 34. It is possible to more reliably suppress the discharged ink from being deposited on the upper surface of the absorber 200 because it is away from the surface. That is, the ink ejected idle from the recording head 34 becomes a fine mist as the distance from the nozzle surface of the recording head 34 increases and approaches the bottom surface side of the container main body 981, and the mist-like ink sprays on the absorber 200. This is because even if it is deposited, it becomes difficult to deposit. Even if a part of the absorber 200 is in the region where the openings 99a and 99b are projected onto the bottom surface 984 of the container main body 981, the ink discharged from the recording head 34 becomes a fine mist on the bottom surface side. Thus, it is possible to prevent the discharged ink from being deposited on the absorber 200.

  Since the ink discharged on the upper surface of the absorber 200 is prevented from being deposited in this way, the ink is deposited on the upper surface of the absorber 200, the deposited ink is thickened, and the openings 99a and 99b of the lid portion 982 are thickened. When the image is formed, the quality of the image formed by rubbing with the image is prevented from being deteriorated, and a high-quality image is stably formed. be able to.

  Further, for example, as shown in the side view of FIG. 6A, the ink jet recording apparatus 100 having the idle discharge receiver 98 is placed on the rack 101 or the desk, or the ink jet placed on the rack 101. When moving the recording apparatus 100, as shown in the side view of FIG. 6B, even if the inkjet recording apparatus 100 is tilted forward, it is absorbed by the inner wall surface 983 of the container body 981 of the empty discharge receiver 98. Since the body 200 is provided, as shown in FIG. 7, even if the container main body 981 is inclined forward, the ink 201 accommodated in the container main body 981 is prevented from flowing by the absorber 200 and leaks from the empty discharge receiver 98. And the inside of the ink jet recording apparatus 100 can be prevented from being contaminated by ink.

  In the above description, the case where the absorber 200 is provided on the front wall surface 983 of the container main body 981 has been described. However, the rear inner wall surface and other inner wall surfaces facing the front wall surface 983 or the perspective view of FIG. As shown, the absorbent body 200 may be provided over the entire inner wall surface of the container body 981. In this way, by providing the absorber 200 in an annular shape over the entire inner wall surface of the container main body 981, it is possible to prevent ink from flowing out of the empty discharge receiver 98 regardless of the direction when the inkjet recording apparatus 100 is moved. can do.

  In the above description, the case where the absorber 200 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape has been described. However, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 9A, the absorber 200a having a portal shape on the wall surface 983 on the front side of the container body 981. Alternatively, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 9B, an absorbent body 200b having a mouth shape may be provided. By providing the portal-shaped absorbent body 200a and the mouth-shaped absorbent body 200b in this way, the bottom surface of the absorbent body 200a or the absorbent body 200b can be placed against the bottom surface of the container body 981, The absorbers 200a and 200b can be easily bonded to the wall surface 983 of the container main body 981. Further, when the absorbent body is arranged so as to cover the entire bottom surface of the container main body 981, the upper surface of the absorbent body is covered with the discharged ink, and the ink cannot be absorbed by the absorbent body. It becomes easy to flow from 981 to the outside. On the other hand, since the absorbers 200a and 200b have a small area in contact with the bottom surface of the container main body 981, the ink jet recording apparatus 100 can be used to prevent the occurrence of such an adverse effect and move the ink jet recording apparatus 100. Ink can be more reliably suppressed from leaking out of the idle discharge receptacle 98 when the is inclined forward.

  In the above description, the case where the absorbent body 200 is provided in the container main body 981 has been described. However, a member that forms a weir on the inner wall surface of the container main body 981, for example, a resin molded product is adhered to the inner wall surface of the container main body 981. Even if the protruding portion is provided on the inner wall surface of 981, it is possible to prevent the ink from leaking out of the empty discharge receiver 98.

  In the above description, the case where the absorber 200 is provided on the inner wall surface 983 of the idle discharge receiver 98 of the ink jet recording apparatus 100 to suppress ink leakage has been described, but other than the ink jet recording apparatus 100, a facsimile apparatus using an ink jet system, The present invention can be similarly applied to a copying machine, a multifunction machine, and the like. Further, the present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus that discharges a liquid (recording liquid) other than ink, such as a resist or a DNA sample in the medical field.

100; inkjet recording apparatus, 1; apparatus main body, 2; paper feed tray,
3; paper discharge tray, 6; cartridge loading section, 34; recording head,
90; maintenance and recovery device, 98; empty discharge receptacle, 981; container body, 982; lid,
983; wall surface, 200; absorber.

JP 2004-25807 A JP 2004-66471 A

Claims (7)

A waste liquid storage container for storing waste liquid discharged from the droplet discharge head in order to maintain the discharge performance of the droplet discharge head having a nozzle for discharging droplets,
A lid having an opening through which the waste liquid discharged from the nozzle of the container main body and the droplet discharge head passes, and when mounted on the droplet discharge device having the droplet discharge head, at least in front of the droplet discharge device A waste liquid container having an outflow prevention member between an uppermost end and a lowermost end of the container main body on an inner wall surface of the container main body located on the side.   The waste liquid container according to claim 1, wherein the outflow prevention member is provided on the lid portion so as to be closer to a wall surface than an area where the opening is projected onto the bottom surface of the container body.   3. The waste liquid according to claim 1, wherein the outflow prevention member is disposed at a height of the container body slightly higher than a height of a maximum load amount of the waste liquid with respect to the container body. Containment container.   The waste liquid container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the outflow prevention member is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a gate shape, or a mouth shape.   The waste liquid container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the outflow prevention member is provided over the entire circumference of the inner wall surface of the container body.   The waste liquid container according to claim 1, wherein the outflow prevention member is made of an absorber.   A waste liquid storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is provided, and an empty discharge operation is performed to discharge ink unrelated to recording from a droplet discharge head to the waste liquid storage container before starting recording or during recording. Image forming apparatus.

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