JP2013184421A - Liquid container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems of an ink tank configured to give information to a user by transmitting a light from a light emission unit by a light guide unit, in which the light guide unit can be fallen by molding, and such falling of the light guide unit can cause reduction in a light intensity value to be received by a light receiving unit due to a change in the distance or angle to the light receiving unit, and further can cause a light intensity crosstalk with an adjacent tank, resulting in deterioration of reliability of false attachment detection, in addition to deterioration of the accuracy of light intensity detection by the light receiving unit.SOLUTION: An abutment portion for regulating the falling of a light guide unit is provided. Even when the light guide unit is fallen, the light guide unit is prevented from being fallen any more by abutting on the abutment portion, and can be vertically raised. Thus, since light can be emitted within an allowable range of a light receiving unit without reduction in light intensity, false detection can be eliminated to enhance reliability.

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid storage container that detachably mounts on an ink jet recording apparatus and stores recording ink, a special liquid that improves ink fixing properties, and the like.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a configuration using a display element such as an LED is known as a configuration for notifying a user of an installed state of an ink tank or a remaining amount of ink. Patent Document 1 proposes a configuration in which a light-emitting unit such as an LED is separated from a display unit and a light guide unit is provided in an ink tank for optical connection between the two. According to this configuration, since the light emitting unit and the display unit can be individually arranged at optimal positions, visibility and operability are not hindered by the power supply and signal transmission / reception wirings, etc. It is possible to clearly notify the state of the ink tank.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, the ink tank includes at least a box member and a lid member, and a light guide unit that performs optical connection is provided on the lid member. By adopting such a configuration, even if two types of ink tanks with different ink capacities are required, two types of box members with different sizes in the width direction are prepared, so that the lid member can be shared and the cost can be reduced. Can be achieved.

  By combining the ink tank with the above structure with the light receiving unit on the printer main body side, it is possible to detect erroneous mounting of the ink tank. In Patent Literature 3, when a specific ink tank is caused to emit light and a light amount in a display unit of a light guide unit is detected for a plurality of ink tanks, A configuration that can be identified as being present has been proposed.

Japanese Patent No. 4533125 JP 2007-230191 A Japanese Patent No. 0379216

  However, in general, the light emitting unit is often arranged at the bottom of the ink tank due to wiring, and the display unit is often arranged at the top of the ink tank in consideration of user visibility. In such a configuration, the light guide portion needs to have a length substantially equal to the height of the ink tank. When the light guide part protruding from the ink tank becomes long in this way, the light guide part may fall down in the molded product even if the light guide part is formed in a shape in which the light guide part is erected straight above the mold. This phenomenon occurred more prominent particularly when the lid member shown in Reference 2 has a light guide portion.

  FIGS. 11A and 11B show a lid member having a light guide portion disclosed in Reference 2. FIG. (A) is a top view of a cover member, (b) is a side view of a cover member. The light guide part has a shape protruding from the lid part, and is connected by a connecting part. The light guide part stands upright with respect to the cover part, and α1 and β1 are set to 90 degrees. FIG. 12 shows the shape of a molded product obtained by carving the shape of the lid member of FIG. 11 into a mold. (A) is a top view of a cover member, (b) is a side view of a cover member. In contrast to the shape shown in FIG. 11, the shape of FIG. 12 is such that the light guide portion is tilted and α2 and β2 are smaller than 90 degrees. This occurs because the amount of heat applied to the E surface and the F surface differs during molding, and due to this temperature difference, the amount of shrinkage due to cooling of the E surface and the F surface differs after release. In the case of FIG. 12, since the temperature of the E surface is higher than that of the F surface, the amount of temperature change until the E surface reaches room temperature is large, and the amount of shrinkage is large. When such a difference in contraction amount occurs, the light guide portion is inclined in a direction in which α2 and β2 are reduced.

  When the light guide part falls down, there is a possibility that the erroneous mounting detection system disclosed in Patent Document 3 cannot be adopted. FIG. 13 shows a state in which the ink tank with the light guide portion tilted is mounted on the carriage of the printer main body. (A) is a top view of the state where the ink tank is mounted, and (b) is a side view thereof.

  When the light guide part falls as shown in FIG. 13B, the distance L between the light receiving part for detecting the light amount provided in the printer main body and the display part of the light guide part becomes long, and the light emission optical axis. Is inclined by γ degrees, and the amount of light reaching the light receiving portion may be significantly reduced. In such a state, even if the regular ink tank is mounted at the regular position, the required amount of light is not sufficient, and it may be detected that it is erroneously mounted. Further, even when the light guide portion falls as shown in FIG. 13A, the optical axis is inclined by θ degrees, which may cause erroneous detection.

  FIG. 14 is a top view of the entire carriage in which a plurality of ink tanks including an ink tank whose light guide portion is tilted are mounted on the main body carriage. (A) shows a state in which the ink tank with the light guide unit tilted is mounted at the normal position, and (b) shows a state in which the ink tank is erroneously mounted.

  In the case of FIG. 14 (a), even if the regular ink tank is mounted at the regular position, the light emitted from the light guide unit does not face the light receiving unit. There was a case. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 14B, even when an ink tank is erroneously installed, the light amount of the adjacent ink tank is detected by the light receiving unit, and it is detected that the ink tank is correctly installed. There was also.

  Such collapse due to molding can be suppressed by optimally setting the molding conditions. For example, if a molding method is adopted in which the lid part and the light guide part are individually molded by two-color molding, the collapse is reduced by setting the molding conditions according to the light guide part regardless of the molding state of the lid part. Can do. However, in the two-color molding, a molding machine and a mold are expensive, causing an increase in cost.

  Further, it is conceivable to take measures with the configuration shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a side view showing a state in which an ink tank incorporating a countermeasure for the light guide unit to be tilted is mounted on the main body carriage. This ink tank is provided with a connecting portion not only on the bottom side of the ink tank but also on the upper side in order to prevent the light guide portion from falling down, and has two connecting portions. However, in this configuration, a part of the light traveling in the light guide part escapes from the connecting part in front of the display part to the ink tank main body side, and a necessary amount of light cannot be obtained.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems. That is, it is an object to prevent light detection related to mounting of an ink tank or the like with an inexpensive configuration that can emit light from the light guide unit within a permissible range of the light receiving unit without a significant decrease in the amount of light.

  The present invention that achieves the above object can be mounted on a plurality of ink jet recording apparatuses, and includes an electrical pad that is electrically connected to the ink jet recording apparatus, a light emitting unit, and a control element that controls light emission of the light emitting unit. A liquid storage container having a substrate disposed at the bottom, and guides light from the light emitting unit provided on the substrate to the upper part of the liquid storage container in a state where the liquid storage container is mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus. A light guide part, and the light guide part is connected to the liquid storage container on the side near the light emitting part, and is in contact with the contact part of the liquid storage container at a point or a line on the other end side. It is a feature.

  The liquid storage container includes a box member that stores a liquid and a lid member that closes an opening of the box member, and the lid member includes the light guide portion.

  Further, the contact portion is provided on the box member.

  Further, the contact portion is any one of a quadrangular pyramid shape, a semicircular shape, and a triangular prism shape.

  According to the above configuration, even if the light guide unit falls down due to molding shrinkage, light from the light guide unit can be emitted with a light amount within an allowable range of the light receiving unit without significantly reducing the light amount. It is possible to prevent erroneous detection related to ink tank mounting and to improve reliability.

(A), (b) and (c) are a side view, a front view and a bottom view of an ink tank according to the present invention. It is a typical perspective view for demonstrating the outline of a structure of the ink tank which concerns on this invention. It is AA sectional drawing in FIG. 2 for demonstrating the structure outline of the ink tank which concerns on this invention. It is a cover member perspective view explaining the cover member of the ink tank which concerns on this invention. It is the side view and front view explaining the control board of the ink tank which concerns on this invention. (A) And (b) is typical for demonstrating the outline of functions, such as a light guide part arrange | positioned at the ink tank which concerns on this invention, (a) The side view of the ink tank with which the main body carriage was mounted | worn. (B) is an enlarged view of a main part thereof. (A) And (b) is a schematic diagram explaining the system which detects the incorrect mounting | wearing of the ink tank which concerns on this invention, (a) is the upper surface of the whole carriage with which the regular ink tank was mounted in the regular position of a main body carriage. It is a figure, (b) is a top view of the whole carriage misfitted. It is a side view of the ink tank mounted on the main body carriage for explaining the fall regulation of the light guide portion of the ink tank according to the present invention. It is a figure explaining the contact part which controls the light guide part fall of the ink tank which concerns on this invention, (a) is a perspective view of the contact part vicinity of only a box member, (b) is a lid on a box member It is a perspective view of the contact part vicinity in the process of assembling a member. It is a figure explaining the contact part of other shape which expresses the effect of the present invention, (a) is a perspective view near the 2nd contact part only of a box member, (b) is only a box member FIG. 6C is a perspective view of the vicinity of a third contact portion, and FIG. 5C is a side view of a state where an ink tank having a fourth contact portion shape is mounted on the main body carriage. (A) And (b) is the upper side figure and side view of a cover member in the ink tank of a prior art. (A) And (b) is the top view and side view of the lid member molded product which shape | molded the lid member shape of FIG. 11 in the ink tank of a prior art with the metal mold | die. (A) And (b) is the top view and side view of the state in which the ink tank in which the cover member molded product of FIG. 12 in the prior art ink tank was incorporated was mounted on the main body carriage. (A) And (b) is a schematic diagram explaining the system which detects the erroneous mounting in the ink tank of a prior art, (a) is a top view of the whole carriage in which the ink tank of FIG. 13 was mounted in the regular position. FIG. 14B is a top view of the entire carriage in which the ink tank of FIG. 13 is erroneously mounted. FIG. 6 is a side view of a state where an ink tank having a light guide tilting regulation different from that of the present invention is mounted on a main body carriage.

  Details of the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  In the following embodiments, ink is described as an example of the liquid used in the present invention. However, the applicable liquid is not limited to ink. For example, in the ink jet recording field, processing on a recording medium is performed. It goes without saying that liquids are included.

(Appearance of ink tank)
1A, 1B, and 1C are a side view, a front view, and a bottom view, respectively, of an ink tank that is a liquid storage container according to the present invention. In the following description, the front surface of the ink tank refers to a surface that enables operations (such as attachment / detachment operations) and provision of information to the user (light emission from a display unit described later) by facing the user. .

  In FIG. 1, an ink tank 1 of the present embodiment has a support member 3 supported at the lower part on the front side. When performing a mounting operation or the like on the carriage, the support portion 3 can be displaced around the base of the support portion 3. On the back side and the front side of the ink tank 1, there are provided a first engagement portion 5 and a second engagement portion 6 that can be engaged with a locking portion on the carriage side, respectively. The mounting state on the carriage is ensured. This series of operations at the time of mounting is performed by the mounting operation disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-58107.

(Ink tank parts configuration)
Next, the component configuration of the ink tank 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the ink tank 1 of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the lid member 204, and FIG. It is a side view and a front view. The ink tank 1 is roughly divided into a box member 203, a lid member 204, a negative pressure generation unit 210, and an ink supply unit 220. The box member 203 and the flexible sheet 201, which is one component of the negative pressure generating member, are bonded together to form a substantially sealed space, in which the contracted spring unit 202 and ink are stored. The ink tank generates a negative pressure with respect to the recording head by spreading the sheet 201 by the repulsive force of the spring unit 202 and applying a force in a direction that increases the volume of the sealed space. The box member 203 has an ink supply unit 220, and a filter 205 and a fiber absorber 206 are provided. Since the negative pressure generated by the repulsive force of the spring unit 201 is balanced with the meniscus force of the filter 205 when the ink tank is not attached, it is set so that air does not enter the box member. The ink tank 1 is formed by assembling and closing the lid member 204 in the opening of the box member 203. The support member 3 described above is provided on the box member 203.

  The lid member 204 has a light guide part 121, and the light guide part 121 protrudes from a lid part 125 that closes the opening of the box member 203. The lid part 125 and the light guide part 121 are connected by a connection part 124 on the bottom side of the ink tank, and the light guide part 121 is supported and erected by this connection part 124. By assembling the lid member 204 to the box member 203, the light guide unit 121 is disposed between the box member end face and the support member 3 as shown in FIG. 1. Further, a contact portion 400 that contacts the light guide portion 121 is provided on the box member main body side facing the display portion 122 at the tip of the light guide portion. The abutting portion 400 is provided for restricting the fall of the light guide portion 121, which is a feature of the present invention, and details will be described later. The lid member 204 is formed of a transparent material because the light guide unit 121 needs to guide light. In this embodiment, a polypropylene transparent material is used. The box member 203 is not limited thereto and may or may not be colored.

  A substrate 100 is provided on the bottom surface side of the support portion of the support member 3 at a portion where the bottom surface and the front surface of the ink tank 1 intersect. As shown in FIG. 5, a light emitting unit 101 and a control element 103 are provided on the substrate 100, and the control element 103 controls light emission of the light emitting unit 101 by an electrical signal supplied from the connector 152 through the pad 102. I do.

(Light guide unit light emitting system)
Next, the light emitting system of the light guide unit will be described with reference to FIG. 6A and 6B are views for explaining functions of the light guide unit 121 and the like disposed in the ink tank 1. FIG. 6A is a side view of the ink tank 1 mounted on the main body carriage 150, and FIG. It is an enlarged view. When the ink tank 1 is mounted on the carriage 150, the contact 152 provided on the carriage 150 and the electrode pad 102 provided on the ink tank 1 come into contact with each other, and electrical connection becomes possible. A light guide unit 121 for guiding light is disposed at a position facing the light emitting unit 101. In order to suppress attenuation of the light amount, the substrate 100 is arranged so that the light emitting unit 101 is on the light incident surface 123 of the light guide unit 121. It arrange | positions so that it may oppose in the vicinity. In this electrically connected state, when a light emission command is issued from the printer body side, light is emitted from the light emitting unit 101 via the control element. Light from the light emitting unit 101 enters the light guide unit 121 from the light incident surface 123 of the light guide unit 121. The incident light travels linearly and reaches the interface between the light guide 121 and air. At this time, light having an incident angle equal to or greater than a certain angle is totally reflected at the interface due to a difference in refractive index between polypropylene as a material of the light guide unit 121 and air. In Patent Document 1, in the case of polypropylene and air, light of about 43 ° or more is totally reflected. The totally reflected light further travels in the light guide unit 121 and is totally reflected again at the interface with air. This behavior is repeated in the light guide, and the light travels as indicated by an arrow, and finally reaches the display 122 at the upper end of the light guide 121. As described above, the light from the light emitting unit 101 passes through the light guide unit 121 to guide the light to the display unit 122 that can be viewed by the user, and presents predetermined information of the ink tank 1 with the light. It is possible to do. In addition, the light receiving unit 500 of the printer main body is disposed in the vicinity of the display unit 122 of the light guide unit 121, and it is possible to detect erroneous mounting of the ink tank 1 from the light amount of the display unit 122.

(Ink tank misloading detection system)
Next, the erroneous mounting detection system will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (b). FIG. 7A is a top view of the entire carriage 150 in a state where the ink tank 1 is mounted on the main body carriage 150 at a regular position, and FIG. 7B is a top view in a state of being erroneously mounted.

  First, detection of a state where the ink tank is mounted at the regular position will be described. The ink tank 1 is black, cyan, magenta, and yellow from the right. First, an ink tank of a color (cyan) to be confirmed is arranged by driving the carriage 150 in front of the light receiving unit 500. Next, only the light emitting unit 101 of the color (cyan) ink tank to be confirmed is caused to emit light. At this time, since the ink tank is correctly mounted, the light emitting unit 101 is turned on, and the light is transmitted from the display unit 122 through the light guide unit 121. The light receiving unit 500 arranged in front of the color (cyan) ink tank to be confirmed detects this light and determines that the amount of light is not less than a specified value. Based on the combination of the light emission instruction and the light amount equal to or greater than the specified value of the light receiving unit 500, it can be determined that the ink tank 1 is correctly attached.

  Next, detection of a state in which the wrong color ink tank is mounted will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7B illustrates detection in a state where cyan and magenta are mistakenly attached. First, as described above, only the light emitting portion 101 of the ink tank of the color (cyan) to be confirmed is caused to emit light. Here, since the cyan ink tank is mounted next to the ink tank, the light guide unit 121 of the ink tank adjacent to the ink tank to be confirmed emits light. The light receiving unit 500 detects a part of the light of the adjacent ink tank, but the light amount is much lower than the specified value. It is possible to determine that the ink tank to be confirmed is erroneously installed based on the light emission instruction and the light amount below the specified value. The detection system described above is a technique described in Patent Document 3.

(Leader's fall regulation)
Next, the fall regulation of the light guide unit 121 as a feature of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a side view of the ink tank 1 mounted on the carriage 150. As described above with reference to FIGS. 12A and 12B, the light guide unit 121 falls due to molding. In order to restrict this fall, a contact part 400 is provided on the box member 203 at a position facing the display part 122 of the light guide part 121. When the lid member 204 is disposed at the assembly position with the box member 203, the light guide unit 121 is tilted and thus comes into contact with the contact unit 400. When the light guide unit 121 and the contact unit 400 come into contact with each other, the connection unit 124 that supports the light guide unit 121 has low rigidity, and thus rotates around the connection unit 124 in the direction of the dotted arrow. Displace to return the fall. That is, as shown in FIG. 12B, even if the light guide unit 121 is tilted in the state of the lid member 204 alone, the lid member 204 is assembled to the box member 203 to form the ink tank 1, thereby guiding the light. The fall of the part 121 returns and can be rectified. When the light guide part 121 comes into contact with the contact part 400, part of the light traveling in the light guide part 121 escapes from the contact part 400 in contact with the ink tank. In order to suppress the escape of this light as much as possible, it is desirable that the contact portion 400 abuts the light guide portion 121 at a point or a line.

  FIG. 9 shows the shape of the contact portion 400 of this embodiment. FIG. 9A is a perspective view of the vicinity of the contact portion 400 of only the box member 203, and FIG. 9B is a perspective view of the vicinity of the contact portion 400 for explaining the process of assembling the lid member 204 to the box member 203. In the present embodiment, the abutment portion 400 adopts a quadrangular pyramid shape in order to abut the light guide portion 121 at a point. Since this quadrangular pyramid shape has a slope 401, when the lid member 204 is assembled to the box member 203 in the direction of the arrow, the fallen light guide 121 slides up on the slope 401 as shown in FIG. 9B. It can move smoothly and regulate the fall. In addition, there is no problem even if the contact portion 400 has a shape as shown in FIG. In FIG. 10A, the contact portion 400 has a triangular prism shape, and contacts the light guide portion 121 with a line. In FIG. 10B, the contact portion 400 has a hemispherical shape, and contacts the light guide portion 121 at a point. Further, in FIG. 10C, the light guide part 121 is tilted and restricted by the wall defining the box member 203, and this wall becomes the contact part 400 and contacts the light guide part 121. When the light guide part 121 is tilted as shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the contact part 400 of FIG. In this way, the effect of the present invention can be obtained as long as the light guide part 121 is in the shape of a contact part that contacts with a point or a line.

  The fall regulation of the light guide unit of the present embodiment is much more effective in terms of not reducing the light amount than the fall regulation of the light guide unit shown in FIG. Thereby, it is possible to suppress a loss of light amount to the lid portion 125 side (ink tank side) and to bring a lot of light to the light receiving portion 500.

  In addition, even if there is a lid member 204 with different tilt angles of the light guide part 121, the position of the light guide part 121 can be uniquely defined by the contact part 400, so that it corresponds to the tilt angle of the light guide part 121. There is no need to do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink tank 3 Support member 5 1st engaging part 6 2nd engaging part 100 Board | substrate 101 Light-emitting part (LED)
102 Pad (Contact terminal)
103 Control element (control unit)
121 light guide unit 122 display unit 123 light incident surface 124 coupling unit 125 lid unit 150 carriage 152 connector 201 sheet 202 spring unit 203 box member 204 lid member 205 filter 206 fiber absorber 210 negative pressure generation unit 220 ink supply unit 400 contact Part 401 slope 500 light receiving part

Claims (4)

A plurality of liquid storage units that can be mounted on an ink jet recording apparatus, and each includes a substrate having an electric pad electrically connected from the ink jet recording apparatus, a light emitting unit, and a control element that controls light emission of the light emitting unit. A container,
A light guide unit configured to guide light of the light emitting unit provided on the substrate to an upper part of the liquid storage container in a state where the liquid storage container is mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus; The liquid storage container is connected to the liquid storage container on the side close to the portion, and is in contact with the contact portion of the liquid storage container on the other end side with a point or a line. 2. The liquid storage container includes a box member that stores liquid and a lid member that closes an opening of the box member, and the lid member includes the light guide portion. The liquid container described in 1. The liquid container according to claim 1, wherein the contact portion is provided on the box member. The liquid container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the abutting portion has a quadrangular pyramid shape, a semicircular shape, or a triangular prism shape.