JP2015202666A - Manufacturing method for ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method for an ink cartridge in which ink leakage inspection can be excellently performed.SOLUTION: An ink cartridge has a seal member unit 20, incorporated in an enclosure of the ink cartridge, at a connection part, the seal member unit 20 has a seal member molded out of an elastic material and an outer sheath molded out of a non-elastic material, in two colors, and a part, abutting on the seal member unit 20, of the enclosure is provided with a rib 106, a deposition surface of the seal member unit 20 for the enclosure and a surface opposed thereto being parallel with each other and flat. A manufacturing method for the ink cartridge which is connected to an ink jet printer and used is characterized in that a rib fusion state after deposition is inspected with an infrared ray.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an ink cartridge that can be used in an inkjet printer.

  The ink cartridge that can be attached to and detached from the printer main body of the ink jet printer is provided with a connecting portion that can be connected to the printer main body so that ink can be supplied to the printer main body by communicating with the ink. As a configuration of the connecting portion, there is a form in which an ink supply needle is provided on the printer main body side and inserted into the seal member 19 on the ink cartridge side. The sealing member 19 described in Patent Document 1 shown in FIG. 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape by an elastomer or the like, and a ring-shaped convex portion 100 is provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical shape. By inserting this into the insertion opening 101 of the cartridge body, the ring-shaped convex portion 100 is brought into close contact with the elastic body by being pushed in the direction of expanding the inner wall of the insertion opening 101 of the cartridge body.

  In such a configuration, dust 102 adheres to the convex portion 100 of the seal member 19 in the manufacturing process of the ink cartridge as shown in FIG. In some cases, ink leakage occurred. Since the film 103 is attached to the outside of the insertion port 101, ink leakage can be prevented until the ink cartridge is used.

  However, after the ink cartridge is installed in the printer main body, there is a case where the ink leaks from the gap due to the dust 102 as indicated by the arrow ink leakage path 105 due to a capillary phenomenon. That is, the ink travels between the film 103 and the seal member 19 from the gap between the cartridge body and the seal member 19 and leaks to the printer body side. Even if the ink leakage is small, if the period after the ink cartridge is mounted is long, it causes ink contamination of the printer main body. Thus, in the ink cartridge manufacturing process, when another member is assembled in this way, leakage inspection is performed in order to prevent the outflow of defective products such as ink leaking from the assembly portion. In the leak inspection, a method is generally adopted in which a portion other than the member to be inspected is sealed as in Patent Document 2, compressed air is introduced into the member, and the pressure drop of the compressed air is confirmed after a predetermined time has elapsed.

JP 2004-237719 A JP-A-2005-96171

  However, the ink cartridge using the sealing member as described above has the following problems. That is, recent ink jet printers handle various inks including various materials. Therefore, it is necessary to select a material having ink resistance that does not cause deterioration of the material even when the seal member is in contact with ink, and does not cause dissolution of components having an influence on printing into the ink.

  In addition, since the ink cartridge is mounted on the printer body by a user's manual operation, it is necessary to select a material that minimizes the operation force. From this, it is conceivable to select a material having a soft hardness as the elastomer material. However, once such dust has adhered, it may not be able to be easily removed by washing or blowing. In particular, since the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical seal member is easily touched to the outside, dust easily adheres, and if it is inserted into the cartridge main body in such a state, problems may occur as described above.

  In addition, in recent high-speed production apparatuses for mass production, there has been a problem in ink leakage inspection time. That is, it is necessary to inspect leakage from a small gap due to dust, and it takes time to detect a slight pressure change. Thus, there is a problem that the time for the inspection itself becomes long, so that the productivity is lowered or the cost is increased due to an increase in the number of samples.

In order to achieve the above object, an ink cartridge manufacturing method of the present invention used by being connected to an ink jet printer has a seal member unit assembled to a housing of the ink cartridge at a connection portion, and the seal member unit The seal member made of an elastic material and the exterior made of a non-elastic material are molded in two colors, and a rib is provided at a contact portion with the seal member unit of the housing, and the welding surface with the housing of the seal member unit In addition, in an ink cartridge in which surfaces opposite to each other are parallel and flat, the rib melting state after welding is inspected with infrared rays.
The exterior is characterized in that it is a material in which a material type included in the housing and a material type included in the seal member are mixed.
The exterior is characterized by having infrared transparency.
The exterior and the rib of the housing are welded by laser irradiation.

  According to the present invention, it is difficult for dust to adhere to the outer peripheral portion of the seal member in the ink cartridge manufacturing process, and even if it adheres, it can be easily removed, and the occurrence of ink leakage can be suppressed. In addition, it is possible to provide an ink cartridge that improves productivity by reducing the time for the ink leakage inspection.

6 is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of an insertion port of an ink cartridge described in Patent Document 1. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of an insertion opening of an ink cartridge when mounted on a printer body described in Patent Document 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of an inkjet printer. It is an exploded view of an ink cartridge. It is the schematic of a sealing member unit, (a) is a front view, (b) is AA sectional drawing in (a). It is the enlarged view seen from the insertion port of the cartridge main body. It is a front view of the sealing member unit welded to the cartridge main body seen with the visible light camera. It is a front view of the sealing member unit welded to the cartridge main body seen with the infrared camera.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an ink cartridge and an ink jet printer according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. Each of the following embodiments is a preferred example for carrying out the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these configurations.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet printer as an image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the ink cartridge 1 as an ink container is mounted on the printer main body (apparatus main body) 30. In addition to the carriage 31, the inkjet head 32, the mounting unit 33, the transport unit 34, the control unit 35, and the input / output unit 36, the printer main body 30 includes an openable / closable exterior cover, a supply unit, a feeding cassette, and a discharge cassette. A tray and operation unit are provided.

  The carriage 31 is provided with a mounting portion (hereinafter also referred to as “cartridge mounting portion” or “holder”) 33 to which the inkjet head 32 and the ink cartridge 1 are detachably mounted. In the present embodiment, a head unit (also referred to as a “cartridge mounting unit”) 38 in which the inkjet head 32 and the mounting portion 33 are integrated is detachably mounted on the carriage 31.

  A mounting portion 33 provided on the carriage 31 is detachably mounted with ink cartridges 1C, 1Bk, 1M, and 1Y that respectively store cyan (C), black (Bk), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) inks. It is configured to be. The ink cartridge 1Bk is wider and has a larger capacity than the other three ink cartridges 1C, 1M, and 1Y. Further, the ink jet head 32 includes color head portions for ejecting cyan (C), black (Bk), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) ink, respectively, and ink supplied from the ink cartridge 1. Is configured to be discharged.

  When a user attaches / detaches or replaces the ink cartridge 1 to / from such a carriage 31, first, the user opens an exterior cover (not shown) that covers the carriage 31, the transport unit 34, and the like. To. When the open state of the exterior cover is detected by the printer main body, the carriage 31 moves to the “cartridge replacement position”. The user can insert the ink cartridge 1 into the carriage 31 at the cartridge replacement position, and can take out the ink cartridge 1 from the carriage 31 at the cartridge replacement position.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the supply port 8 is provided in the vicinity of the bottom surface, which is the lower part of the front surface 2c of the cartridge body. The supply port 8 is provided at one end of the ink supply path 22, and the other end of the ink supply path 22 is connected to the ink storage chamber 11. A seal member unit 20 is provided in the ink supply path 22. As shown in FIG. 5, the seal member unit 20 includes a seal member 19 and an exterior 21. The seal member 19 has a cylindrical shape and is formed of an elastomer containing a PP material. Further, the exterior 21 is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the seal member 19 by two-color molding, and is a polymer containing two materials: a PE material that is the same material as the cartridge body and a PP material that is a material type included in the seal member 19. It is made of alloy.

  A slit 104 that can be opened and closed is provided at the end of the seal member 19 on the back side (side closer to the ink storage chamber 11 than the supply port 8), and no ink supply needle (not shown) is inserted. In the state, the slit 104 is in a closed state. The ink supply path 106 is closed by the closed state, whereby the supply port 8 and the ink storage chamber 11 are in a non-communication state, and air flow from the supply port 8 is prevented. When the ink supply needle is inserted into the ink supply path, the slit 104 is pushed open to open, and communication between the ink supply needle and the ink storage chamber 11 is ensured. Further, the inner peripheral surface of the seal member 19 is elastically brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the ink supply needle so as to prevent ink leakage. By connecting the ink supply path 22 to the ink supply needle in this manner, the ink in the ink storage chamber 11 can be supplied to the ink supply needle.

  As shown in FIG. 6, a welding rib 107 is provided at a contact portion of the cartridge main body 108 with the exterior 21. By providing the welding rib 107, the rib is melted and welded, so that flatness is not required as much as the welding of the surfaces without the rib. The outer casing 21 has infrared transparency, and the cartridge main body 108 has infrared absorption. By irradiating the laser from the seal member unit 20 side, the welding rib 107 of the cartridge main body 108 generates heat and is welded. The transmittance of the outer casing 21 in this embodiment is about 80% with respect to a member having a thickness of 1 mm, and the carbon black content in the resin of the cartridge main body 108 is about 1 to 3%. The laser is a semiconductor laser and has a wavelength of 940 μm.

  In this embodiment, the seal member 19 is formed in two colors with the exterior 21 as described above, and the exterior 21 side is welded to the cartridge main body 108. Since the surface of the outer casing 21 is sufficiently smooth and not sticky, it is difficult for dust to adhere to it, and even if dust adheres to the outer periphery of the outer casing 21, it can be easily removed by washing or blowing. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of leakage from the gap due to the dust being caught in the manufacturing process.

  Further, the leakage inspection of the welded portion between the seal member unit 20 and the cartridge main body 108 is performed by inserting a test needle into the slit 104 of the conventional seal member 19 to open the slit 104 and supplying compressed air to reduce the pressure drop. It was judged in. However, since it is necessary to inspect for leakage from a small gap due to dust, it takes time to detect a slight pressure change.

  Therefore, this time, by using an infrared camera, it is possible to perform a leak inspection according to the state after the welding rib 107 is welded. When the welded rib 28 is photographed through the surface of the exterior 21, infrared rays are transmitted to the weld rib 107 side at the welded portion, but the infrared rays are reflected on the welded surface side of the exterior 21 at the insufficiently welded portion. A difference from the welded portion occurs, and this can be determined.

  In the conventional inspection camera using visible light, the portion 108 where the welding rib 107 is insufficiently welded as shown in FIG. 7 cannot be determined due to insufficient contrast. However, when an infrared camera having about 2 million pixels is used to capture an image with an infrared illumination peak emission wavelength of 850 nm, the infrared rays have a low refractive index, and thus are difficult to diffusely reflect within the resin of the exterior 21. As a result, since it easily penetrates to the welding rib 107, it is possible to sufficiently determine the portion 108 where the welding is insufficient as shown in FIG. Therefore, inspection can be performed only with the time taken by the infrared camera and image processing, and productivity is improved.

1 ink cartridge, 2c front, 4 ink leakage path, 8 supply section (supply port),
11 Ink storage chamber, 19 Seal member, 20 Seal member unit, 21 Exterior,
22 ink supply path, 31 carriage, 32 ink jet head,
33 mounting section (cartridge mounting section, holder), 34 transport section, 35 control section,
36 I / O section, 100 ring-shaped convex section, 101 insertion slot, 102 dust,
103 film, 104 slit, 105 ink leakage path,
106 welding ribs, 107 insufficiently welded parts, 108 cartridge body

Claims (4)

The ink cartridge used by connecting to the ink jet printer has a seal member unit assembled to the housing of the ink cartridge at the connection portion,
Further, the seal member unit is molded in two colors with a seal member made of an elastic material and an exterior made of an inelastic material,
A rib is provided at a contact portion of the housing with the seal member unit,
In the ink cartridge in which the welding surface of the sealing member unit and the surface facing the housing are parallel and flat to each other,
A method for producing an ink cartridge, comprising: inspecting a melted state of a rib after welding with infrared rays. The method of manufacturing an ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the exterior is a material obtained by mixing a material type included in the housing and a material type included in the seal member. The method for manufacturing an ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the exterior has infrared transparency. The method of manufacturing an ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the exterior and the rib of the casing are welded by laser irradiation.