JP2012035526A - Liquid storing bag, liquid cartridge, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that any damage to ribs provided in a cartridge case limits the reuse of a cartridge.SOLUTION: An ink containing bag 202 includes a bag body 221 having a supply port member 222 connected to thereto. The supply port member 222 includes a supply port 223 formed therein, through which a hollow needle penetrates from the apparatus body side so that an ink is supplied from the bag body 221 to the outside (apparatus body side). The ink containing bag 202 also includes guide ribs 225, 226 corresponding to guide grooves 261, 262 provided at a cartridge holder 6 on the apparatus body side.

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid storage bag, a liquid cartridge, and an image forming apparatus.

  As an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying apparatus, a plotter, and a complex machine of these, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus is known as an image forming apparatus of a liquid discharge recording method using a recording head for discharging ink droplets. . This liquid discharge recording type image forming apparatus ejects ink droplets from a recording head onto a conveyed paper to form an image (recording, printing, printing, and printing are also used synonymously). Serial type image forming device that forms an image by ejecting droplets while the recording head moves in the main scanning direction, and a line type that forms images by ejecting droplets without the recording head moving There is a line type image forming apparatus using a head.

  In the present application, an “image forming apparatus” is an apparatus that forms an image by landing ink on a medium such as paper, thread, fiber, fabric, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, ceramics (simple liquid ejection apparatus) In addition, “image formation” not only gives an image having a meaning such as a character or a figure to a medium but also gives an image having no meaning such as a pattern to the medium. It also means (including what is simply referred to as a droplet discharge device or a liquid discharge device). In addition, the term “ink” is not limited to what is called ink, but is any liquid that can form an image, such as a recording liquid, a fixing liquid, a liquid, a DNA sample, or a patterning material. Used as a general term. The term “paper” is not limited to paper, but includes the above-described OHP sheet, cloth, and the like, and means that ink droplets adhere to the recording medium, recording medium, recording paper, recording It is used as a general term for what includes what is called paper. In addition, the “image” is not limited to a planar one, but includes an image given to a three-dimensionally formed image, and an image formed by three-dimensionally modeling a solid itself.

  As a liquid discharge head (droplet discharge head) used as a recording head, a piezoelectric head or the like is used to displace a diaphragm and change the volume in the liquid chamber to increase the pressure to discharge the liquid droplet. There is known a thermal type head in which a heating element that generates heat is provided, the pressure in the liquid chamber is increased by bubbles generated by the heat generation of the heating element, and droplets are discharged.

  In such a liquid ejection type image forming apparatus, it is particularly desired to improve the image forming throughput, that is, to increase the image forming speed. From the large-capacity ink cartridge (main tank) installed on the main body through the tube. Ink is supplied to a head tank (including sub tanks and buffer tanks) above the recording head. By adopting a method of supplying ink using such a tube (referred to as a tube supply method or an off-carriage method), the carriage portion can be reduced in weight and size, and the device including the structure system and the drive system can be greatly reduced in size. it can.

  Conventionally, as an ink cartridge used as a main tank, for example, an ink bag containing ink is stored in a cartridge case (also referred to as a case member or an adapter member). In such an ink cartridge, a guide rib for identifying the color of the ink stored in the ink cartridge, and a guide for inserting the ink cartridge on the apparatus main body side into the cartridge holder side where the ink cartridge is detachably mounted are guided. The guide groove is provided on the cartridge holder side of the apparatus main body (see also Patent Document 1, Other Patent Documents 2 and 3). The relationship between the guide rib and the guide groove may be reversed.

JP 2007-106084 A JP 2009-279876 A Patent No. 3222454 Gazette Japanese Patent No. 3222454

  By the way, when the ink cartridge is recycled by replacing only the ink bag of the used ink cartridge and reusing the cartridge case, the cartridge case is repeatedly used. There is a problem that it becomes impossible to use.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to increase the number of reusable times by extending the life of the case member of the liquid cartridge.

In order to solve the above problems, a liquid cartridge according to the present invention is
A liquid bag body containing the liquid discharged from the recording head;
A liquid containing bag having a supply port member having a supply port for supplying the liquid in the liquid bag body to the outside;
A case member that holds the liquid containing bag inside and is attached to a cartridge holder of the image forming apparatus main body,
The supply port member of the liquid storage bag is provided with a guide rib or a guide groove that engages with a guide groove or a guide rib provided along the mounting direction on the cartridge holder side.

  Further, the case member may be configured such that an opening is provided in a portion corresponding to the guide rib or guide groove of the supply port member.

  In addition, a hook member that protrudes outward from the case member and contacts the cartridge holder side when mounted may be provided on the side opposite to the supply port member in the mounting direction of the liquid bag body.

The liquid containing bag according to the present invention is:
A liquid bag body containing the liquid discharged from the recording head;
A liquid containing bag having a supply port member having a supply port for supplying the liquid in the liquid bag body to the outside, and
The supply port member is provided with a guide rib or a guide groove that engages with a guide groove or a guide rib provided along the mounting direction on the cartridge holder side on the image forming apparatus main body side.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the liquid cartridge according to the present invention.

  According to the liquid cartridge and the liquid storage bag according to the present invention, the supply port member is provided with a guide groove or a guide groove that engages with the guide groove or the guide rib provided on the cartridge holder side along the mounting direction. Therefore, the guide rib or the guide groove is also exchanged by exchanging the liquid containing bag, the case member can be reused, the life of the case member of the liquid cartridge is prolonged, and the number of reusable times is improved.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, since the liquid cartridge according to the present invention is provided, the running cost can be reduced.

1 is an explanatory perspective view of an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied as viewed from the front side. It is a schematic block diagram explaining the whole structure of the mechanism part of the apparatus. It is principal part plane explanatory drawing of the mechanism part. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view illustrating the ink cartridge according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is side surface explanatory drawing of an ink storage bag. It is a perspective explanatory view of the ink containing bag. It is a perspective explanatory view of a case member. It is a perspective explanatory view of a state where an ink containing bag is attached to a case member. FIG. 6 is a perspective explanatory view of a cartridge holder on the apparatus main body side. It is an external appearance perspective explanatory view of the ink cartridge concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is side surface explanatory drawing of an ink storage bag. It is a perspective explanatory view of the ink containing bag. It is a perspective explanatory view of a case member. It is a perspective explanatory view of a state where an ink containing bag is attached to a case member. FIG. 6 is a perspective explanatory view of a cartridge holder on the apparatus main body side. It is side surface explanatory drawing of the cartridge holder. It is front explanatory drawing of the state which mounted | wore the cartridge holder with which it uses for description of the other example of the same embodiment.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. An example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an explanatory perspective view of the image forming apparatus as viewed from the front side, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the entire configuration of a mechanism section of the apparatus, and FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus includes an apparatus main body 1, a paper feed tray 2 for loading paper as a recording medium attached to the apparatus main body 1, and an image attached to the apparatus main body 1 to record an image ( And a paper discharge tray 3 for stocking the formed paper, and further, on one end portion side of the front surface 4 of the apparatus main body 1, protrudes forward from the front surface 4 and is lower than the upper surface 5. 6, and an operation unit 7 such as operation keys and a display is arranged on the upper surface of the cartridge holder 6. The cartridge holder 6 has a front cover 8 that can be opened and closed for detaching an ink cartridge (main tank) 10 that is a liquid cartridge.

  2 and 3, the carriage 33 is slidably held in the main scanning direction by the main and slave guide rods 31 and 32 which are guide members horizontally mounted on the left and right side plates 21A and 21B of the apparatus main body 1. The main scanning motor moves and scans in the carriage main scanning direction via the timing belt.

  The carriage 33 is provided with recording heads 34a and 34b composed of liquid ejection heads for ejecting ink droplets of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K). The “recording head 34” is arranged in a sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, and the ink droplet ejection direction is directed downward.

  Each of the recording heads 34 has two nozzle rows. One nozzle row of the recording head 34a has black (K) droplets, the other nozzle row has cyan (C) droplets, and the recording head 34b has one nozzle row. One nozzle row ejects magenta (M) droplets, and the other nozzle row ejects yellow (Y) droplets.

  The carriage 33 is equipped with sub tanks 35a and 35b (referred to as “sub tanks 35” when not distinguished) for supplying ink of each color corresponding to the nozzle rows of the recording head 34. The sub-tank 35 includes a supply pump unit from ink cartridges 10y, 10m, 10c, and 10k (mainly referred to as “ink cartridges 10” when not distinguished) that are main tanks of the respective colors that are detachably attached to the cartridge holder 6. 26, the recording liquid of each color is replenished and supplied through the supply tube 36 of each color.

  An encoder scale 91 is provided along the main scanning direction of the carriage 33, and an encoder sensor 92 that reads the encoder scale 91 is provided on the carriage 33, and the linear encoder 90 is configured by the encoder scale 91 and the encoder sensor 92. The position of the carriage 33 in the main scanning direction (carriage position) and the amount of movement are detected by the detection signal of the linear encoder 90.

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

  In order to feed the paper 42 fed from the paper feeding unit to the lower side of the recording head 34, a guide member 45 for guiding the paper 42, a counter roller 46, a transport guide member 47, and a tip pressure roller. And a holding belt 48 which is a conveying means for electrostatically attracting the fed paper 42 and conveying it at a position facing the recording head 34.

  The transport belt 51 is an endless belt, and is configured to wrap around the transport roller 52 and the tension roller 53 and circulate in the belt transport direction (sub-scanning direction). Further, a charging roller 56 that is a charging unit for charging the surface of the transport belt 51 is provided. The charging roller 56 is disposed so as to come into contact with the surface layer of the transport belt 51 and to rotate following the rotation of the transport belt 51. The transport belt 51 rotates in the belt transport direction when the transport roller 52 is rotationally driven through timing by a sub-scanning motor (not shown).

  Further, as a paper discharge unit for discharging the paper 42 recorded by the recording head 34, a separation claw 61 for separating the paper 42 from the conveying belt 51, a paper discharge roller 62, and a spur 63 that is a paper discharge roller. And a paper discharge tray 3 below the paper discharge roller 62.

  A duplex unit 71 is detachably mounted on the back surface of the apparatus body 1. The duplex unit 71 takes in the paper 42 returned by the reverse rotation of the conveyance belt 51, reverses it, and feeds it again between the counter roller 46 and the conveyance belt 51. The upper surface of the duplex unit 71 is a manual feed tray 72.

  Further, a maintenance / recovery mechanism 81 including a head recovery device according to the present invention for maintaining and recovering the state of the nozzles of the recording head 34 is disposed in the non-printing area on one side of the carriage 33 in the scanning direction. The maintenance / recovery mechanism 81 includes cap members (hereinafter referred to as “caps”) 82a and 82b (hereinafter referred to as “caps 82” when not distinguished from each other) for capping the nozzle surfaces of the recording head 34, and nozzle surfaces. A head recovery device 83 that includes a wiper member (wiper blade) that is a wiping member for wiping (wiping) the ink, and an empty discharge that discharges droplets that do not contribute to recording in order to discharge the thickened ink An empty discharge receiver 84 for receiving droplets, a carriage lock 87 for locking the carriage 33, and the like are provided. A waste liquid tank 100 for storing waste liquid generated by the maintenance recovery operation is mounted on the lower side of the head recovery mechanism 81 in a replaceable manner with respect to the apparatus main body.

  Further, in the non-printing area on the other side of the carriage 33 in the scanning direction, there is an empty space for receiving liquid droplets when performing empty discharge for discharging liquid droplets that do not contribute to recording in order to discharge the recording liquid thickened during recording or the like. A discharge receiver 88 is disposed, and the idle discharge receiver 88 includes an opening 89 along the nozzle row direction of the recording head 34.

  In this image forming apparatus configured as described above, the sheets 42 are separated and fed one by one from the sheet feed tray 2, and the sheet 42 fed substantially vertically upward is guided by the guide 45, and includes the transport belt 51 and the counter. It is sandwiched between the rollers 46 and conveyed, and the leading end is guided by the conveying guide 37 and pressed against the conveying belt 51 by the leading end pressing roller 49, and the conveying direction is changed by approximately 90 °.

  At this time, a positive output and a negative output are alternately repeated with respect to the charging roller 56, that is, an alternating voltage is applied, and a charging voltage pattern in which the conveying belt 51 alternates, that is, in a sub-scanning direction that is a circumferential direction. , Plus and minus are alternately charged in a band shape with a predetermined width. When the paper 42 is fed onto the conveyance belt 51 charged alternately with plus and minus, the paper 42 is attracted to the conveyance belt 51, and the paper 42 is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction by the circular movement of the conveyance belt 51.

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

  When performing the maintenance and recovery of the nozzles of the recording head 34, the nozzle 33 performs the suction from the nozzles by moving the carriage 33 to a position facing the maintenance and recovery mechanism 81 which is the home position and performing capping by the cap member 82. Further, by performing a maintenance recovery operation such as emptily discharging droplets that do not contribute to image formation and wiping the nozzle surface with the head recovery device 83, image formation by stable droplet discharge can be performed. .

  Next, an ink cartridge that is a liquid cartridge according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is an external perspective view of the ink cartridge, FIG. 5 is a side view of the ink containing bag, which is a liquid containing bag, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the ink containing bag, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the case member. 8 is a perspective explanatory view of the case member with the ink containing bag attached thereto, and FIG. 9 is a perspective explanatory view of the cartridge holder on the apparatus main body side.

  The ink cartridge 10 is a cartridge case 201 which is a case member, in which an ink containing bag 202 which is a liquid containing bag (liquid containing bag member) containing ink is stored and held.

  The cartridge case 201 is configured by attaching a base case 211A and a cover case 211B so as to be openable and closable by a hinge part 212 including a support shaft and a shaft hole. Also, the front side of the cartridge case 211 (the front side of the ink cartridge means the front side when the ink cartridge is inserted into the image forming apparatus main body in the attaching / detaching direction of the ink cartridge, and the opposite side of the front side is referred to as the back side). An opening 214 is formed through which a hollow needle (see hollow needle 280 in FIG. 17 described later) serving as a liquid suction means provided in the cartridge holder 6 of the apparatus main body passes.

  The ink containing bag 202 is formed by joining a supply port member 222 to a bag body 221 which is a sealed bag-like member made of, for example, a flexible film member. The material of the bag body 221 is preferably a flexible film member. In this case, a film member made of one kind of resin composition or a film member having a layer structure made of plural kinds of resin compositions may be used. Moreover, the structure which has a metal thin film layer in the surface or an intermediate | middle layer may be sufficient. A good resin composition is an olefin resin composition, and a polyethylene film is particularly good because of its wettability with ink. Moreover, as a metal thin film layer, what suppresses the moisture permeability of a film or gives the rigidity of a film is preferable, for example, an aluminum thin film is especially preferable.

  The supply port member 222 has a supply port 223 through which a hollow needle is pierced from the apparatus main body side in order to supply the ink in the bag main body 221 to the outside (apparatus main body side), and liquid in the bag main body 221. An ink filling port 224 which is a cylindrical liquid filling port for filling ink is provided. The ink filling port 224 is sealed by heat welding.

  The supply port member 222 is provided with guide ribs 225 and 226 corresponding to guide grooves 261 and 262 provided in the cartridge holder 6 on the apparatus main body side.

  On the other hand, the base case 211 </ b> A of the cartridge case 211 is provided with a supply port portion receiver 217 that locks the supply port member 222 of the ink containing bag 202, and at positions corresponding to the guide ribs 225 and 226 of the supply port member 222. The notches 215 and 216 for forming the opening 218 are formed.

  With this configuration, when the ink cartridge 10 is used up and the ink cartridge 10 is removed from the cartridge holder 6 and the cartridge case 201 is reused, the ink containing bag 202 is replaced and reattached to the cartridge case 201 again. .

  In this case, when the ink containing bag 202 is replaced, the supply port member 222 having the guide ribs 225 and 226 is also replaced at the same time. Therefore, even if the guide ribs 225 and 226 are damaged, the cartridge case 201 can be reused as it is.

  As described above, the supply port member of the liquid storage bag is provided with the guide groove or the guide groove that engages with the guide groove or the guide rib provided along the mounting direction on the cartridge holder side. By exchanging the bag, the guide rib or the guide groove is also exchanged, so that the case member can be reused, the life of the case member of the liquid cartridge is prolonged, and the number of reusable times is improved.

  Next, an ink cartridge which is a liquid cartridge according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 is an external perspective view of the ink cartridge, FIG. 11 is a side view of the ink containing bag, which is a liquid containing bag, FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the ink containing bag, and FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the case member. FIG. 14 is a perspective explanatory view of the case member with the ink containing bag attached thereto, FIG. 15 is a perspective explanatory view of the cartridge holder on the apparatus main body side, and FIG. 16 is a side explanatory view of the cartridge holder.

  In this ink cartridge 10, a hook member 227 that protrudes outward from the cartridge case 201 and contacts the cartridge holder 6 when mounted is provided on the ink containing bag 202 on the side opposite to the supply port member 222 in the mounting direction of the bag body 221. It has been. The cartridge case 201 is formed with notches 231 and 232 from which the hook member 227 protrudes.

  By adopting such a configuration, for example, even when the ink containing bag 202 is set in the cartridge case 201 in a contracted state such as being slightly bent, the hook member 227 comes into contact with the end surface of the cartridge holder 6 and is caught. , The ink containing bag 202 can be extended from the contracted state.

  As a result, when the ink containing bag 202 is crumpled, the ink is not completely sucked out and there is a high possibility that the remaining amount is increased. The remaining amount can be reduced.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 17, the ink cartridge 10 of the correct color is set by providing the mark 228 that is the same as the color of the ink stored in the ink storage bag 202 at the tip of the hook member 227. Can be easily determined. The mark 228 can be configured by painting, sealing, the surface color of the material of the hook member 227 itself, and the like.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a serial type image forming apparatus has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a line type image forming apparatus. Further, the example has been described in which the guide rib is provided on the liquid cartridge side and the guide groove is provided on the cartridge holder side. However, when the guide groove is provided on the liquid cartridge side and the guide rib is provided on the cartridge holder side, the liquid cartridge The guide groove may be formed in the supply port member.

1 Device Main Body 6 Cartridge Holder 10 Ink Cartridge (Liquid Cartridge)
23 Carriage 34, 34a, 24b Recording head 201 Cartridge case (case member)
202 Ink storage bag (liquid storage bag)
225, 226 Guide rib 261, 262 Guide groove

Claims (5)

A liquid bag body containing the liquid discharged from the recording head;
A liquid containing bag having a supply port member having a supply port for supplying the liquid in the liquid bag body to the outside;
A case member that holds the liquid containing bag inside and is attached to a cartridge holder of the image forming apparatus main body,
A liquid cartridge, wherein the supply port member of the liquid storage bag is provided with a guide groove or a guide groove that engages with a guide groove or a guide rib provided along the mounting direction on the cartridge holder side.   The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the case member is provided with an opening at a portion corresponding to the guide rib or the guide groove of the supply port member.   The hooking member which protrudes outside from the case member and contacts the cartridge holder side at the time of mounting is provided on the side opposite to the supply port member in the mounting direction of the liquid bag body. Or the liquid cartridge of 2. A liquid bag body containing the liquid discharged from the recording head;
A liquid containing bag having a supply port member having a supply port for supplying the liquid in the liquid bag body to the outside, and
The supply port member is provided with a guide rib or a guide groove that engages with the guide groove or the guide rib provided along the mounting direction on the cartridge holder side on the image forming apparatus main body side. .   An image forming apparatus comprising the liquid cartridge according to claim 1.

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