JP3381789B2 - ink 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 cartridge installed in a casing of a recording apparatus and supplying ink to a recording head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink cartridge for supplying ink to a recording head via an ink supply tube has an ink outlet for supplying ink to the recording head on one end side as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-7350. A rectangular ink bag made of a flexible material provided with ink enclosed therein,
It is composed of a case for accommodating the ink bag and a lid. Such an ink cartridge is loaded in the recording apparatus such that the ink outlet is the tip, and the ink is supplied to the recording head through the ink supply tube by penetrating the ink supply needle on the recording apparatus side.

In such an ink cartridge, since the ink outlet is accurately positioned with respect to the ink supply needle of the recording apparatus, as shown in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-99633, the ink outlet is located on the ink outlet side. It has been proposed to form engagement recesses and engagement projections on the recording device side.

[0004]

By the way, such an ink cartridge is constructed by accommodating a flat ink bag enclosing the ink so that the ink outlet of the flat ink bag is exposed from a hard case accommodating the ink bag. There is. In such an ink cartridge, it is necessary to accurately attach and fix the ink outlet to the hard case.
That is, since the hard case is stored in the predetermined storage portion of the ink cartridge provided in the recording apparatus, if there is an error in the relative position between the hard case and the ink supply port, the ink supply needle will move from the center of the ink outlet. The ink is leaked over a long period of time because it is inserted in a displaced position. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to accurately engage the ink outlet with the ink supply needle even with a large-sized ink cartridge. An object is to provide an ink cartridge of an inkjet recording device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present invention in order to achieve such problems, Lee ink outlet is provided at one end, an ink bag in which ink is sealed, an ink from Lee ink outlet consists of a case housing a supply capable Lee ink bag to the outside, the ink outlet is mounted on the holder
Ink that is inserted into the ink supply needle that communicates with the recording head
In the cartridge, the ink outlet is
Comprising a bondable junction click bag, and a fixing groove on the outer periphery of the distal end side of the joint and comprising a fitting portion in a region where the case facing the fixed groove of the ink outlet, the ink outlet is inserted to <br/> fixing the fixing groove in the fitting portion of the case.

[0006]

With the fixing groove of the ink outlet of the ink bag, the ink can be fitted in the case and fixed at a prescribed position, and the ink outlet is reliably engaged with the ink supply needle even in a large-sized ink cartridge.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of an ink cartridge of the present invention, in which a flexible ink bag 1 has two films of aluminum foil, for example, an outer side, in order to improve gas barrier property. Is a nylon film and the inside is sandwiched by a polyethylene film, and is made of an aluminum laminated film. Two aluminum laminate films are stacked and the periphery is joined by heat welding or the like. Bonding surface (shown as the shaded area in the figure)
An ink outlet 2 for drawing out the ink in the ink bag 1 to the outside is joined to one side of the above by heat welding or the like. Ink outlet 2
Is a plastic molded product, the joint surface of which is formed into at least one pair of tapered knife edge shapes facing each other, and meat is formed so that a sufficient heat-melting area (so-called margin) of the joint surface can be secured. It is thickly constructed.

The ink outlet 2 is provided with a fixing groove 2a, and the ink outlet 2 is fitted into the case body 4 and fixed. By providing the fixing groove 2a in the ink outlet 2 as described above, the shape of the fitting portion 4b of the case 4 is not complicated, and the ink outlet 2 of the ink bag 1 can be easily and accurately positioned. Can be attached to. The case body 4 has a positioning hole 4 on the surface in the insertion direction, that is, a surface on which the fixing groove 2a is formed, so as to sandwich the fixing groove 2a.
a and a guide hole 4g are provided.

The ink bag 1 constructed as described above is fixed to the bottom surface of the case body 4 with a double-sided tape (not shown), and the detection plate 5 for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink bag 1 is provided on the lid side with the double-sided tape. It is fixed by etc. The detection plate 5 is provided with a detection protrusion 5a that is exposed to the outside of the case body 4 when the remaining amount of ink is low.

The lid 6 is fixed to the case body 4 by fitting a pair of corners 6a and a pair of holes 4d of the case body 4 and snap-fitting a pair of claws 6b and a pair of recesses 4e. First, the corners 6a and the holes 4d are fitted, and then the claws 6b and the recesses 4e are snap-fitted and fixed. The claw 6b is configured to bend in the arrow D direction, bends when the lid 6 is inserted in the arrow E direction, and fits in the recess 4e. When removing the lid 6, it is possible to easily remove it by inserting a jig into the notch 4f of the case body 4 and twisting it in the F direction.

Next, the mounting mechanism of the ink cartridge and the recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows a mechanism for positioning the ink cartridge of the present invention in the holder of the recording apparatus. The holder 9 provided in the recording apparatus guides the insertion of the ink cartridge 8 and also moves the ink cartridge to a predetermined position. Upper and lower frames 10 for holding 8 are provided.

The holder 9 is provided with a shutter 12 for protecting the supply needle 15 and the like provided on a needle seat frame (not shown) of the holder 9 from being touched by the hand when the ink cartridge 8 is not present. The frame 10 is provided with a pair of elastically displaceable lock arms 10a (only one side is shown) for locking the shutter 12 at the illustrated position. The shutter 12 is rotatably supported around a rotation center 12a and is biased to the illustrated position by a shutter spring (not shown). At this time, the shutter 12 is engaged with the groove portion of the lock arm 10a and is in the holding state (locked state). When the ink cartridge 8 is inserted between the upper and lower frames 10 in the direction of arrow I, a pair of functional ribs 4c on the upper surface and the lower surface of the ink cartridge 8 on the ink outlet side are guided by the pair of rails 10b and moved inward. .

A pair of functional ribs 4 of the ink cartridge 8
c reaches the lock arm 10a, and the lock arm 10a
Is elastically displaced in the direction of arrow J. Shutter 12 at this time
Goes out of the groove of the lock arm 10a and is pushed by the ink cartridge 8 to rotate about the shutter rotation center 12a and escape to the upper portion of the lid 6 of the ink cartridge 8.

When the ink cartridge 8 is moved further inward, the positioning hole 4a of the ink cartridge 8 is engaged with the positioning shaft 16 provided on the needle seat frame to determine the vertical position of the ink cartridge 8. At the same time, the guide hole 4g formed in the upper part of the ink outlet of the ink cartridge 8 is engaged with the guide shaft 17 and the ink cartridge 8
The left and right positions of are determined.

As shown in FIG. 5, the positioning shaft 16 and the guide shaft 17 have tapered tips and project from the tip of the ink supply needle 15 by ΔL, so that the functional rib 4c and the rail 10b are provided. If rough positioning is performed with an error of about the diameter of the positioning hole 4a and the guide hole 4g by, the positioning shaft 16 and the guide shaft 17 are positioned before the ink supply needle 15 contacts the ink outlet 2. The guide hole 4g is accurately guided to a predetermined position so that the center of the ink outlet 2 faces the tip of the ink supply needle 15.

When the ink cartridge 8 is moved further in this state, the pair of leaf springs 13 (only one side is shown) held by the upper and lower frames 10 mesh with the pair of functional ribs 4c, and the ink cartridge 8 is moved to the upper and lower frames. 10
Held in. In this state, the elastic displacement of the lock arm 10a has the original shape (the shutter 12 and the lock arm 10a).
The state in which the groove portion of a is engaged) is returned. When the ink cartridge 8 is held by the upper and lower frames 10, the supply needle 15 penetrates the outlet rubber 3 and the ink outlet 2 and reaches the ink in the ink bag 1. When the ink cartridge 8 is inserted into the holder 9 in a direction other than the illustrated direction, the functional ribs 4c and the pair of erroneous insertion prevention ribs 4w of the ink cartridge 8 come into contact with the pair of erroneous insertion prevention surfaces 10c of the upper and lower frames 10 and move to the holder 9. Prevent the insertion of.

As described above, at the beginning of insertion, the ink cartridge is positioned by the functional ribs 4c and the rails 10b, and the ink cartridge is moved a long distance inward, and immediately before contacting the ink supply needle 15, the positioning hole 4a and the guide hole 4g. The positioning accuracy of the pair of frames 10 of the recording apparatus can be lowered to some extent by positioning the positioning shaft 16 and the guide shaft 17 and the play between the pair of frames 10 and the ink cartridge can be secured at the beginning of insertion. It is possible to easily move a large cartridge inward by pressing force. Since the ink outlet 2 is fixed to the fitting portion 4b of the case body 4 by the fixing groove 2a,
The ink outlet port 2 maintains the prescribed position of the case body 4 even when receiving an external force due to the insertion of the ink supply needle 15, and the ink outlet port 2 is reliably engaged with the ink supply needle 15 even in the case of a large ink cartridge. Ink can be supplied to the recording head without causing ink leakage. In other words, even if the delicate feeling that the ink outlet port 2 comes into contact with the ink supply needle 15 cannot be detected because the ink storage amount is large and heavy and the ink supply port 15 is pressed with a strong force during mounting, the center of the ink outlet port 2 is set to the ink supply needle. 15 can be inserted.

When a force that tilts the cartridge due to vibration or the like is applied while it is mounted in the recording apparatus, the positioning shaft 16 and the guide shaft inserted into the upper and lower positioning holes 4a and the guide hole 4g of the ink outlet 2. Since the vertical posture can be maintained from 17, the bending force is prevented from acting on the ink supply needle 15. In addition, since the positioning shafts that are arranged so as to sandwich the ink supply needle support the cartridge at two points, rolling of the cartridge is prevented, and the detection protrusion that is displaced according to the remaining amount of ink in the ink bag accurately determines the remaining amount of ink. Can be detected. Moreover,

When the ink cartridge 8 is taken out from the holder 9, the functional rib 4c and the leaf spring 13 are disengaged from each other, the functional rib 4c reaches the lock arm 10a, and the lock arm 10a is elastically displaced in the arrow J direction. At this time, the shutter 12 is moved by a shutter spring (not shown).
The shutter 12 is returned to the illustrated position and the shutter 12 is the lock arm 10.
It engages with the groove portion of a and becomes a holding state (lock state).

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the fixing groove of the ink outlet of the ink bag can be fitted in the case and fixed at a predetermined position, and the ink outlet can be used even if the ink cartridge is large and heavy. The ink can be reliably supplied to the recording head without causing ink leakage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of an ink cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a member forming an ink outlet.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a fixing groove of an ink outlet.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a snap fit shape between a case and a lid.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a positioning mechanism when mounting the ink cartridge of the present invention on a recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ink bag 2 Ink outlet 2a Fixed groove 4 case body 4a Positioning hole 4b Fitting part 4c Functional rib 4d hole 4e Recess 4f Notch 4g guide hole 4w Rib for preventing incorrect insertion 4x shutter rib 4y guide rib 4z protrusion 5 Detection plate 6 lid 8 ink cartridges 9 holder 10b rail 10c Incorrect insertion prevention surface 15 Ink supply needle 16 Positioning axis 17 Guide shaft

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-2-108550 (JP, A) JP-A-2-70443 (JP, A) JP-A-2-198862 (JP, A) (58) Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/175

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ink outlet is provided at one end side, the ink bag is filled with ink, and a case is accommodated in the holder so that the ink can be supplied to the outside from the ink outlet. The ink outlet is the recording head
Ink cartridge that is inserted into the ink supply needle that communicates with
In the above, the ink outlet may be joined to the ink bag.
When, and a fixing groove on the outer circumference of the front end side of the junction,
The ink wherein the casing comprises a fitting portion in a region opposed to the fixing groove of the ink outlet, the ink outlet is fixed by inserting the fixing groove in the fitting portion of <br/> the case cartridge. 2. A positioning hole that engages with a positioning protrusion of the holder when the case is mounted on the holder.
The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink cartridge is formed on the case . In 3. A state in which the surface of the ink bag is mounted on the holder is substantially perpendicular position, the ink collected above and below sandwiching the ink outlet side of the outlet side of the case, preparative said ink outlet the positioning holes that engages the position-decided Me projection provided on the holder prior to engage the supply needle is formed, also taken the ink plane crossing the ink outlet is formed surface of the case and The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a rib guided by a rail provided on the holder is formed on the outlet side.