JP2873520B2 - Inkjet cartridge - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet cartridge for supplying ink to ink ejection means in an ink jet recording system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as the form of computers has been reduced from a desktop type to a laptop type and a notebook size type, printers have also been required to be reduced in size with good portability. Under these circumstances, the disposable type ink jet cartridge has been attracting attention as a printer system for a laptop type notebook size computer because of its ease of use and ease of miniaturization of the printer. Naturally, the inkjet cartridge itself is required to have good portability, small size, and small thickness. However, when trying to reduce the size and thickness, there are problems such as insufficient rigidity of the housing and a significant decrease in the effective ink amount. Therefore, the following ink-jet cartridge has been proposed as a configuration for realizing the miniaturization and thinning of the ink-jet cartridge while achieving the rigidity of the housing portion, securing the capacity of the ink storage portion, and the like. Hereinafter, the above-described conventional ink jet cartridge will be described. FIG. 3 is a front view of the overall configuration of a conventional inkjet cartridge. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 3 denotes a head having an ink discharge means, 11 denotes an electric connection means for transferring electric energy, and 1 denotes an ink storage section 6 which supports the head 3 and the electric connection means 11. The housing 2 is an ink lid for sealing the ink storage unit, the reference numeral 6 is an ink storage unit formed by the housing 1 and the ink lid 2, and the reference numeral 4 is filled in the ink storage unit 6 with ink. Reference numeral 7 denotes an ink sealing member formed of a liquid such as silicone or a porous material such as urethane in order to prevent the backflow of ink. Reference numeral 8 denotes a rib provided on the housing 1 and forming an ink storage portion 6. Is an ink supply port for guiding the ink 4 from the ink storage unit 6 to the head 3, 10 is a nozzle provided on the head 3 so as to face the recording paper, and 9 is a back pressure for supplying the ink 4 to the head 3. Hole.

[0003] The structure of the ink jet cartridge configured as described above will be described below. Case 1
Is formed of a highly rigid engineering plastic having high chemical resistance such as modified polyphenylene oxide and polyethylene terephthalate. The ink lid 2 is formed of a metal such as stainless steel or a resin such as polyimide, and is adhered to the housing 1. Here, the ink lid 2 may be formed of the same material as the housing 1 in some cases. The head 3 is incorporated in the housing 1 and is covered with a resin or the like except for the periphery of the nozzle 10 and the electrical connection means 11. As shown in the figure, the ink 4 is continuously filled up to the ink container 6, the ink supply port 5, and the end face of the nozzle 10 of the head 3. Here, the ink 4 is
The ink is supplied to the ink flow path of the head 3 by capillary force.
The filter 12 that has been placed in the ink supply port 5 by that time
Removes air bubbles and dust. The ink container 6 is formed with ribs 8 as shown in FIG. 4 on the bottom surface of the housing 1, and the ink container 6 is adhered and sealed with the ink lid 2 on the upper surface of the housing 1, so as to be substantially uniform. A pipe having a simple cross-sectional shape is realized. Since the duct has a meandering configuration, the rigidity of the casing 1 is improved, and the problem of ink leakage caused by deformation of the casing 1 or the ink lid 2 even when an external force is applied is eliminated. be able to. In particular, this is an effective configuration when reducing the thickness of the cartridge. As another method of forming the ink containing section 6, it can be realized by using a flexible tube member 13 as shown in FIG. Since the flexible tube member 13 is a separate member, the degassed ink can be easily injected, and the housing 1 is kept in a sealed state.
Can be mounted on When the cartridge is mounted on the carriage, a needle or the like is interlocked so as to communicate with the ink supply port 5 and the back pressure hole 9, so that a sealed state is maintained at the time of transport, and deterioration in the transport state of the ink is prevented. As described above, the ribs 8 as shown in FIG. 3 are provided to improve the rigidity of the cartridge. At this time, the rib 8 also serves to fix the flexible tube member 13 to the housing 1. further,
In consideration of the distribution of the external force acting on the ink jet cartridge which can be considered in advance, for example, the width of the fingertip of a human, the arrangement interval a of the rib 8 is made narrower than this size.
The structure is such that no external force acts on the flexible tube member 13.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional configuration has the following problems. In the initial state, the ink 4 is continuously filled up to the ink storage portion 6, the ink supply port 5, and the end face of the nozzle 10 of the head 3, and is supplied to the ink flow path of the head 3 by capillary force every time the ink is ejected. However, where the adhesive force of the ink 4 to the inner wall of the ink container 6 becomes larger than the surface tension of the ink 4, the ink 4 remains on the inner wall of the ink container 6 and the effective ink capacity is reduced. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an ink-jet cartridge having an extremely large effective ink capacity as compared with the conventional one.
(Ink storage means).

[0005]

Since SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention to achieve the above object, all of the inner wall of the ink containing means constituted by an ink-repellent member, or the inner wall of said ink containing means all
In addition, an ink-repellent coating material is applied.

[0006]

With the above construction, the adhesion of ink to all of the inner walls of the ink storage portion is significantly reduced, and the volume of ink supplied to the flow path of the head and the nozzle end surface is increased. That is, by increasing the effective ink capacity, the printing amount per ink cartridge can be significantly increased.

[0007]

FIG. 1 shows an ink container of an ink jet cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the configurations of 1, 2, 6, and 8 are the same as those shown in the conventional example of FIG. 3, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 denotes an ink-repellent member, which forms the inner wall of the ink storage section by a method such as integral molding or two-layer molding together with the material of the housing 1. As the material, a Teflon-based or silicone-based resin is used. On the other hand, reference numeral 15 shown in FIG. 2 denotes an ink-repellent coating film formed on the inner wall of the ink containing section 6 using an ink-repellent coating material. In addition to the above resin, it is also conceivable to coat a metal layer having ink repellency, such as gold, by vapor deposition or plating. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink lid 2 is a member that constitutes the ink containing portion 6 by being sealed and adhered to the housing 1, so that the ink
The portion corresponding to the inner wall of the ink containing section 6 needs to be made of an ink repellent material. As a method for realizing the same, the same as described above can be considered. When the ink-repellent member 14 and the ink-repellent coating film 15, which are the above-described ink-repellent materials, for example, a fluororesin, are used as they are, it is difficult to bond the housing 1 and the ink lid 2 as they are. The surface can be bonded by chemical treatment. Usually, the treatment is carried out in a nitrogen stream by mixing metallic sodium with liquid ammonia or naphthalene liquid. In this case, an epoxy-based or silicone-based adhesive is generally used. Further, a method of welding, heat bonding, and thermocompression bonding utilizing heat melting at 260 to 380 ° C. is also conceivable. In addition, as a method of forming the ink containing section 6, a conventional example can be realized by using a flexible tube member 13 as shown in FIG. Teflon-based or silicone-based resin is also used as the material for the above. Here, when manufacturing a thin-walled tube by paste extrusion or the like, if it is a Teflon-based tube, PTF
E, a material such as RTV can be considered if it is a silicone type.

[0008]

As described above, according to the present invention, the entire inner wall of the ink storing means is constituted by an ink repellent member, or the entire inner wall of the ink storing means is coated with an ink repellent coating material. Accordingly, the adhesive force of the ink to the inner wall of the ink storage portion is significantly reduced, and the capacity of the ink supplied to the flow path of the head and the nozzle end surface is increased.
That is, by increasing the effective ink capacity, the amount of printing per ink cartridge can be greatly increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a tubular ink container integrally formed of an ink-repellent material according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the inner wall of the tubular ink container when an ink-repellent material is applied thereto according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of a conventional inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a cutaway view of a conventional integrally formed tubular ink storage means.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an example of a conventional ink storage unit, which is a cutaway view of an ink storage unit of a flexible tube member.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... housing | casing, 2 ... ink lid, 3 ... head, 4 ... ink, 5 ... ink supply port, 6 ... ink storage part, 7 ...
Ink sealing member, 8 rib, 9 back pressure hole, 10 nozzle, 11 electrical connection means, 12 filter, 13 flexible tube member, 14 ink repellent member, 15 ink repellent coating film.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takumi Inoue 1006 Oaza Kadoma, Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-5-8404 (JP, A) JP-A-61- 228960 (JP, A) JP-A-5-124200 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 2/175

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A ink has an ink tube-shaped ink holding means you accommodate for supplying Louis ink ejection means to eject the recording sheet, the conduit inner wall ink-repellent material of the ink receiving unit An ink jet cartridge characterized by comprising: 2. An ink storage device for storing ink for supplying ink to an ink discharge device for discharging ink onto recording paper, wherein an entire inner wall of the ink storage device is formed of an ink-repellent material. An ink jet cartridge characterized by the following.