JP3591594B2 - Ink jet recording device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus for writing a recording image such as a character on a recording medium by discharging ink droplets from a nozzle, and more particularly to a structure of an ink supply path for guiding ink from an ink storage source to an ink jet recording head.

An ink jet recording apparatus that prints characters and images on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from nozzle openings has a filter plate between an ink tank and a recording head for the purpose of eliminating dust and bubbles in ink. .
However, when the number of nozzle openings provided in the recording head increases to 64 or even 128 with the improvement in resolution and the flow rate of ink from the ink tank to the recording head increases, the inflow of foreign matter into the recording head is prevented. There is a problem that the head loss in the filter plate becomes large, and the supply of ink to the print head cannot catch up with the amount of ink consumed for printing.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to increase the opening area of the filter plate and reduce the fluid resistance of the filter plate, but the ink flow passing through the filter plate is biased and bubbles are stagnated. However, there is a possibility that a new problem of lowering the print quality may be caused.
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and its purpose is to reduce flow path resistance as much as possible, and to the extent that inconvenience does not occur in printing due to stagnation of bubbles. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of supplying ink.

In order to solve such a problem, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to a carriage on which an ink jet recording head for ejecting ink through a head frame is mounted, and a carriage provided on the head frame and having an ink supply port of an ink cartridge. An ink- jet recording apparatus comprising: an ink supply needle that engages and supplies ink through an ink introduction port of the recording head.
In the middle of an ink supply path having one end connected to the ink cartridge and the other end connected to the ink jet recording head, an upper filter chamber in which the ink jet recording head side is expanded, and a plurality of lower filters in which the ink cartridge side is expanded. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a chamber provided so that the plurality of lower filter chambers communicate with the upper filter chamber; and a filter plate disposed on a joint surface between the upper filter chamber and the lower filter chamber .
In the invention according to claim 2, the lower filter chamber is offset with respect to an inflow port of the upper filter chamber.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the lower filter chamber is separated by a triangular pyramid-shaped partition, and a tip of the partition is in contact with the filter plate.

According to the first aspect of the invention, since the lower filter chamber is divided with respect to the upper filter chamber, ink can be supplied to the recording head without causing an increase in flow path resistance even if bubbles remain in the upper part. .
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the ink can be passed obliquely to the surface of the filter plate, and the area of the filter plate can be effectively used.
Further, according to the invention of claim 4, ink can be supplied to the recording head along the partition wall without stagnation.

Therefore, the details of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiment.
FIG. 1 shows an ink jet printer in which the ink jet head unit of the present invention is used. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage, which is supported by a guide member 2 and is connected to a step motor 4 via a timing belt 3 and a platen 5. It is configured to be able to reciprocate in parallel to.

  The carriage 1 has an ink jet recording head 6 described later on its lower surface, and a printing unit 7 on its upper surface, which is detachably mounted. The recording head 6 is supplied with a drive signal via a flexible cable 8. In the drawing, reference numeral 9 denotes recording paper, and reference numeral 10 denotes capping means for sealing the recording head during non-printing.

  FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the above-described printing unit. The printing unit includes a holder 11 mounted on the carriage 1 and an ink cartridge 20 housed in the holder 11. An ink jet recording head 6 is provided on the opposite surface, in this embodiment, on the lower surface.

  The recording head 6 is connected by a flexible cable 13 to a terminal plate 12 which is electrically connected to a terminal (not shown) on a carriage connected to the flexible cable 8 of the printer main body so as to be able to come and go.

  On the other hand, the inside of the ink cartridge 20 is divided into two areas, an ink chamber 22 for storing ink as it is by a wall 21 and a foam chamber 24 filled with a porous foam material 23. These two chambers communicate with each other through a through hole 25 provided.

  A convex portion 26 for pressing the bottom surface of the foam material 23 is formed on the bottom surface of the foam chamber 24, a through hole 27 for forming an ink supply path is formed here, and a first filter plate 31 is provided at the upper end. In addition, an ink supply port 28 for receiving an ink supply needle 16 described later is provided at the lower end.

  On the other hand, the upper end of the holder 11 is formed in a needle shape so that the upper end thereof penetrates a seal 29 sealing the ink supply port 28 of the ink cartridge 20 and can be fitted to the packing 30. An ink supply needle 16 having a through hole 15 connected to an ink flow path 14 communicating with the head 6 is implanted.

  In the middle of such an ink supply path, between the lower end of the ink supply needle 16 and the through hole 14 communicating with the recording head 6 in this embodiment, a second filter plate 32 is provided as shown in FIG. A provided filter chamber 33 is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the first filter plate 31 is made of a stainless steel wire having a wire diameter of several μm, that is, a thin steel wire of about 1/10 of a steel wire used for a twill filter. It is constituted by the formed sintered nonwoven fabrics 40 and 41, and is attached to the mounting portion 26 a of the projection 26 so as to cover the through hole 27 communicating with the ink supply port 28.

  Among these nonwoven fabrics 40 and 41, the first nonwoven fabric 40 located on the recording head 6 side has a small dynamic pressure loss when ink is supplied to the recording head 6, that is, a low flow path resistance and a high meniscus strength. The filter is formed as a non-woven fabric having a thickness as small as possible and having a sufficiently high porosity so that the filter is as high as possible, that is, the mesh size is small, and the flow path resistance is as small as possible. The second nonwoven fabric 41 to be laminated is not particularly required to have a meniscus strength, but has a sufficient thickness to reinforce the first nonwoven fabric 40 and is formed as a nonwoven fabric having a flow path resistance as small as possible. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the second filter plate 32 assembled so as to block the through hole 14 communicating with the recording head 6 has the same wire diameter as the first nonwoven fabric 40 on the ink cartridge 20 side. Is formed as a sintered nonwoven fabric formed using a stainless steel wire of several μm.

  The second filter plate 32 is a filter having a low dynamic pressure loss and a high meniscus strength as much as possible when supplying ink to the recording head 6, that is, a filter having a small mesh size and a flow path resistance as small as possible. It is formed as a nonwoven fabric having a small thickness and a sufficiently high porosity.

  Since the second filter plate 32 is protected on one side by the head frame 11a of the recording head 6 and is surrounded by the ink supply needles 16, the second filter plate 32 is used for reinforcement like the first filter plate 31. Although the nonwoven fabric 41 is not required, if a reinforcing nonwoven fabric is provided as in the case of the first filter 31, the self-retaining property is enhanced and the assembling becomes easy.

  As described above, since the first filter plate 31 has sufficient mechanical strength and has shape retention properties by itself, it is easy to assemble, and the first filter plate 31 has a low meniscus strength in spite of a low flow path resistance. Therefore, at the time of printing, the ink can be smoothly supplied to the recording head 6 while filtering the solid particles and the like and not allowing the passage of bubbles until almost no ink is held in the foam material 23.

  Further, the foam material 23 is compressed by the convex portion 26 to increase the capillary force in the vicinity thereof. However, the foam material 23 is pressed by providing the first filter plate 31 with sufficient mechanical strength. You can also

The second filter plate 32 has its own characteristics, that is, the solid particles remaining in the ink while smoothly flowing the ink supplied from the ink cartridge 20 to the through holes 14 on the nozzle side with a low flow path resistance. further filtered to completely eliminated clogging of the recording heads 6.

  In this embodiment, when ink is consumed by the recording head 6 by printing, the ink absorbed in the foam material 23 of the cartridge 20 is sucked out by the recording head 6 and passes through the first filter plate 31 to form a through hole. The ink flows into the ink supply needle 16 through the ink supply path 15, and flows into the filter chamber 33 via the ink supply path 15.

  Since the cross-sectional area of the filter chamber 33 is substantially the same as that of the ink supply path 15, the filter chamber 33 flows into the recording head 6 via the through hole 14 without decreasing the flow velocity.

  By the way, since the second filter plate 32 is provided so as to obliquely cross the filter chamber 33, the filter plate 32 has a sufficiently large opening area, and the fluid resistance by the filter plate 32 is reduced as much as possible. In addition, since the filter head 32 itself forms a strong meniscus in spite of having a low flow resistance, it is held by the foam material 23 while filtering solid particles and the like during printing. The ink is smoothly supplied to the recording head 6 without allowing air bubbles to pass until almost no ink remains.

  Further, since the ink flows almost evenly over the entire surface of the second filter plate 32, stagnation does not occur on the filter plate 32, and after the dust and bubbles contained in the ink are removed by the filter plate 32, the recording head Flow into 6.

  By the way, in order to increase the dot formation density, an ink jet type recording head forms a plurality of nozzle opening rows in one recording head, provides an independent common ink chamber for each nozzle opening row, In some cases, the rows are arranged in a staggered manner by shifting the rows by a half pitch of the pitch of the nozzle openings.

   FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of such an ink jet type recording head. In the drawing, reference numeral 50 denotes a pressure generating chamber forming substrate on which two rows of pressure generating chambers 51 and 52 are formed. The surface is sealed with a diaphragm 53. On the surface of the vibration plate 53, lower electrodes 54, 55 which are individually separated corresponding to the pressure generating chambers 51, 52 are formed. On the surfaces of these electrodes 54, 55, piezoelectric vibrators 56, 57 are provided. The upper electrodes 58 are formed on the surfaces of the piezoelectric vibrators 56 and 57 so as to extend over the plurality of piezoelectric vibrators 56 and 57.

  Reference numeral 59 denotes a fixed substrate, which has a function of fixing an actuator unit including the pressure generating chamber forming substrate 50 and the vibration plate 53 and a function as an ink supply port forming plate for receiving ink supply from the outside. Communicating holes 60, 61, 62, 63 communicating at both ends of the chambers 51, 52 and two ink inlets 67, 68 for independently supplying ink to two common ink chambers 65, 66 described later. Is provided.

Reference numeral 69, a common ink chamber forming plate, the ink introducing port 67,6 8 ink each to supply a common ink chamber for the pressure generating chambers 51 and 52 via the communication hole 60, 62 from 65 and 66 One surface is sealed by the fixed substrate 59 and the other surface is sealed by the nozzle plate 70. The nozzle plate 70 has two nozzle opening rows 71 and 72 formed therein. The pressure generation is performed through the communication holes 73 and 74 of the common ink chamber forming plate 69 and the communication holes 61 and 63 of the fixed substrate 59. It communicates with the chambers 51 and 52.

  FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a recording head for color printing in which the above-described recording head 80 is mounted on a common head frame 81. The recording head is divided into a plurality of rooms and inks of respective colors are independently provided. The ink supply passages 83, 83, 83 of the ink supply needles 82, 82, 82 inserted into the recording heads 80, 80, 80 extend from the respective rooms of the ink cartridges accommodated in the recording heads 80, 80, 80 toward the recording heads 80, 80, 80. ing.

  On the other hand, the head frame 81 connected to the ink supply path 83 of the ink supply needle 82 and supplying the ink to the recording head 80 can supply ink to the two ink introduction ports 67 and 68 of each recording head 80 independently. Are formed with two through holes 84 and 85.

  A filter chamber including an expanded portion is formed in a region where the ink supply path 83 and the two through holes 84 and 85 connected to the ink supply path 83 are in contact with each other, and a second filter plate 86 is disposed here.

  FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing the vicinity where the filter plate 86 is provided. The lower end of the ink supply path 83 is expanded substantially hemispherically to form an upper half filter chamber 87. On the recording head side, a hemispherical concave portion having substantially the same shape as the outer periphery of the filter chamber 87 is divided into two filter chambers 89 and 90 by a conical partition 88 having a ridge 88a passing through the center point. The lower ends of the filter chambers 89, 90 are connected to through holes 84, 85 extending to the recording head 80.

The through holes 84, 85 are positioned so as to approach the outer walls 89a, 90a at the upper ends of the filter chambers 89, 90 to which they are connected, respectively, in the horizontal direction. Stagnation is prevented from occurring on the outer walls of the filter chambers 89 and 90.

  The second filter plate 86 described above is fixed between the upper filter chamber 87 and the lower filter chambers 89 and 90 so as to be sandwiched between the ink supply needle 82 and the head frame 81. It is provided so as to be in contact with.

  According to this embodiment, since the upper filter chamber 87 is formed in a substantially hemispherical shape and the volume of the space near the filter plate 86 is large, even when air bubbles or the like adhere to the inner wall of the upper filter chamber 87, The recording head 80 can also supply ink without obstructing the flow of ink.

Further, since the through holes 84 and 85 are provided horizontally close to the outer walls 89a and 90a at the upper ends of the filter chambers 89 and 90, stagnation which is likely to occur in the curved portion does not occur. On the side, the partition portion 88 is formed in a conical shape, and the ink flows along the flat walls 88b, 88b, so that there is naturally no stagnation, so that the ink can be supplied to the recording head 80 smoothly.

  FIG. 8 shows a flow path suitable for supplying ink from one ink supply needle to four common ink chambers. A filter chamber 94 that smoothly expands into a mold is provided, and a cocoon-shaped filter chamber 96 having a constricted central portion is also formed on the head frame 95 side. Is provided.

  The lower filter chamber 96 communicates with the upper ends of ink supply through-holes 100 to 103 formed in accordance with the positions of the ink introduction ports 67 and 68 of the recording head 98. The two through holes 100 and 103 are aligned so as to be in contact with the wall surfaces of the filter chambers 94 and 96. These through holes 100 to 103 are connected by a narrow groove 96a and, unlike the above-described embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7, a certain space is provided between the lower surface of the filter 97 and each of the through holes 100 to form all the through holes. 100 to 103 communicate with each other in the filter chamber 96.

  According to this embodiment, when ink is supplied from one ink supply needle 92 to four common ink chambers, even if an imbalance occurs in the suction pressure between the common ink chambers, all the flow paths Since 100 to 103 communicate with each other in the lower filter chamber 96 without the filter plate 97 interposed therebetween, the entire filter chamber 96 has a uniform pressure, and ink can pass through the entire surface of the filter plate 97. The pressure loss at 97 can be suppressed as much as possible, and even if air bubbles adhere to the filter plate, it is possible to avoid a situation where supply of ink to some common ink chambers becomes impossible.

  Further, the filter chambers 94 and 96 are formed in a cocoon shape so as to cover all the through holes 100 to 103, and a large volume is secured as compared with the opening area of the through holes 100 to 103. Even when air bubbles enter the filter chamber 94 formed in the supply needle 92 and expand, it is possible to absorb the expansion with a large volume and prevent the air from adhering to the filter plate 97 as much as possible. Become.

Further, since the ink supply needle 92 is constricted directly below, it is possible to supply ink to the through holes 100 and 103 on both sides in a well-balanced manner, and the through holes 100 and 103 on both sides are located at the ends of the upper filter chamber 94. Since it is provided so as to be in contact with the wall surface, stagnation at the end can be eliminated.

Further, since the lower surface of the filter plate 97 does not contact the partition portion of the order to branch to the hole 100 to 103, it is possible to prevent adhesion of bubbles to the lower surface of the filter plate 97 as much as possible .

  FIG. 9 shows another embodiment for independently supplying ink to two common ink chambers from one ink supply needle. A funnel-shaped filter chamber 112 for expanding the print head side is formed, and through holes 114 and 115 are formed in the head frame 113 so as to communicate with respective common ink chambers of the print head. The upper ends of the through holes 114 and 115 are divided by a partition 116 and connected to filter chambers 117 and 118 which are expanded toward the ink supply needle. A second filter plate 119 is provided so as to be in contact with the partition 116. ing.

  In this embodiment, the ink flowing from the ink cartridge into the ink supply needle 110 spreads in a funnel-shaped filter chamber 112 formed at the lower end of the ink supply needle 110, passes through a filter plate 119 opposed to this, and passes through the lower portion of the filter plate. It flows into the filter chambers 117 and 118 and flows into the recording head via the through holes 114 and 115.

The large cross-sectional area filter chamber 112 is formed in a funnel shape, since the bottom of the filter chamber 117, 118 to be receiving port side is arranged in a dispersed, ink flows without causing stagnation in this area. Since the filter plate 119 having a large area is arranged here, the head loss is small.

  In the above-described embodiment, the inlet and the outlet are located on the same line. However, as shown in FIG. 10, the through holes 114 and 115 communicating with the recording head are fixed from the center axis of the ink supply needle 110. By offsetting the amount Δd, the ink is allowed to flow obliquely to the filter plate 119 and pass through a wider area, thereby suppressing the head loss at the filter plate 119.

  In the above-described embodiment, the filter chamber is also provided in the lower portion. However, as shown in FIG. 11, three or more through holes 119-1 to 119-4 are located on the outer periphery of the ink supply needle. The through holes 119-1 to 119-4 are connected to the individual ink introduction ports of the recording head, or are merged and connected to the ink introduction ports. Obviously exerts the same effect.

By the way, in order to further improve the quality of color printing by an ink jet printer, a recording head 6 that can independently eject five color inks of light cyan, dark cyan, light magenta, dark magenta, and yellow is used. Can be It should be noted that, for yellow, since the color is light, the effect of distinguishing between the two shades is not remarkable, so that only the dark color system is normally used.

  Correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 12, an ink cartridge 7 having storage chambers C1, C2, M1, M2, and Y for storing inks of five different colors is provided in a head frame 122 to which a recording head 130 is fixed. A cartridge holder 123 to which (FIG. 15) is attached is provided.

  A lid 125 is provided at one upper end of the upper portion of the cartridge holder 123 so as to be rotatable by shafts 124, 124. The ink cartridge 7 is dropped into the storage chamber 126, and is rotated below the lid 125 in this state. Thus, the cartridge 7 can be fitted to the ink supply needles 131, 132, 133, 134, and 135, and the cartridge 7 can be taken out of the storage chamber by pulling up the lid 125.

  FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of the ink supply channel formed in the above-described head frame 122. In the figure, reference numerals 131, 132, 133, 134, and 135 denote ink supply needles having the same structure, respectively. Each of the ink supply ports 151, 152, 153, 154, 155 (FIG. 15) of the ink cartridge 7 has a predetermined interval L on the straight line L1 so as to face the ink supply ports 151, 132a, 133a, 134a, 135a. It is liquid-tightly fixed to the head frame 122 so as to alternately have a height ΔH between adjacent ones.

  The recording head 130 has ink introduction ports 161, 162, 163, 164, and 165 on the same straight line L <b> 2 that can receive ink of each color independently, and ink supply needles 131, 132, 133, 134, and 135. Is fixed to the head frame 122 so as to be offset from the arrangement line L1 by a small distance ΔL.

  On the other hand, the ink supply ports 161, 162, 163, 164, 165 of the recording head 130 are provided in the head frame 122 so as to secure a length ΔL or more extending horizontally in the direction of the ink supply needles 131, 132, 133, 134, 135. The holes 171, 172, 173, 174, and 175 are formed from positions opposed to the ink supply needle 143, for example, as shown in FIG. It is connected through a horizontal filter chamber 183 that is slightly downward, extends substantially horizontally, and has a width about the diameter of the ink supply needle 133.

  In the filter chambers 181, 182, 183, 184, and 185, second filter plates 191, 192, 193, 194, and 195 are sandwiched between the head frame 122 and the ink supply needles 131, 132, 133, 134, and 135. So as to extend in the horizontal direction.

  In this embodiment, when the cartridge 7 is inserted into the storage chamber 126 and the lid 125 is rotated downward, the ink cartridge 7 descends and the ink supply needles 131 and 133 projecting from the ink supply needles 132 and 134 by ΔH. , 135 are brought into contact with the ink supply ports 151, 153, 155 (FIG. 15A).

  In this state, when the lid 125 is further rotated to push the ink cartridge 7, only the ink supply needles 131, 133, 135 fall into the ink supply ports 151, 153, 155 of the cartridge 7. Next, the ink supply needles 132 and 134 located at low positions contact the ink supply ports 152 and 154 (FIG. 15B).

  In this state, since some of the ink supply needles 131, 132, and 135 have already been indented into the ink supply ports 151, 153, and 155, all of the ink supply needles 131 to 135 are moved with relatively light force. 151-155.

  When the recording head 7 is sealed with the cap 10 and a negative pressure is applied to the nozzle openings of the recording head 130 at the stage when the ink cartridge 7 is mounted, the ink storage chambers C1, C2, M1, M2, The Y ink flows from the ink supply needles 131 to 135 into the recording head 130 via the filter chambers 181 to 185.

  A part of a flow path connecting the ink cartridge 7 and the recording head 130 is substantially horizontal, and is constituted by horizontal filter chambers 181 to 185 having a width about the diameter of the ink supply needles 131 to 135. Since the filter plates 191 to 195 are disposed so as to obliquely cross the ink flow path, the cross-sectional area of the filter plates 191 to 195 can be increased as compared with the cross-sectional area of the flow path. In addition, the stagnation of the ink flow can be eliminated and the flow path resistance can be reduced, so that bubbles can be quickly eliminated and ink can be smoothly supplied to the recording head 130.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the flow path resistance connecting the ink supply needles 131 to 135 and the corresponding ink introduction ports 161 to 165 of the recording head 130 can be minimized even if the flow path lengths vary. Since the uniformity can be achieved, it is possible to increase the degree of freedom of the recording head and the ink cartridge, for example, it is possible to reduce the size of the head and the size of the ink cartridge.

FIG. 16 shows another embodiment of the present invention taking one channel as an example. In this embodiment, an ink supply needle 133 and a through hole 164 formed in the head frame 122 are provided. The filter chamber 183 is formed such that the upper wall 183a of the filter plate is inclined such that the ink supply needle 133 side is upward, and the volume of the upper space of the filter plate 193 is larger than the volume of the lower space. It is split up and down.

  According to this embodiment, even if the bubble B that has entered the ink supply needle 133 due to replacement of a cartridge or the like expands due to a rise in air temperature or the like, it can be accommodated above the filter plate 193 and the wall 183 a of the filter chamber 193 can be accommodated. It can be raised along the slope to prevent the filter plate 183 from adhering.

  In the above-described embodiment, the ink cartridge is configured to be moved in the up and down direction to be attached and detached. However, it is apparent that the same effect can be obtained by applying the ink cartridge to one that is moved in the horizontal direction and detached. is there.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which five color inks are accommodated in the same cartridge has been described. However, a case in which six color inks are accommodated, a light color three color ink, and a dark color three ink Obviously, the same effect is obtained even when the inks of the respective colors are applied to the cartridges housed in independent cartridges.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the recording head is fixed to the carriage, but an add-on type in which the cartridge holder is configured to be detachable from the carriage and the recording head is provided in the cartridge holder. Obviously, the same effect can be obtained by applying the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an ink jet printer to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an embodiment of an ink supply path connecting an ink cartridge and a recording head used in the above device. FIGS. 3A and 3B are enlarged views showing the vicinity of a second filter plate provided in the ink supply path of the first embodiment. FIGS. 1A to 1C are an enlarged cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a filter plate, and an enlarged view of a nonwoven fabric, respectively. FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view showing one embodiment of a recording head. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an embodiment of an ink supply path suitable for the recording head. 7A and 7B are an enlarged sectional view showing the vicinity of the filter plate of the ink supply path shown in FIG. 7 and a top view showing the structure of the filter chamber on the holder side. FIGS. 3A to 3C are cross-sectional views showing one embodiment of an ink supply flow path suitable for supplying ink from a single ink supply needle to a large number of common ink chambers. 3A and 3B are a top view and a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of FIG. FIGS. 7A and 7B are a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the ink supply channel and a top view showing the structure on the filter chamber side. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the same flow path structure in terms of the positional relationship of through holes that form ink flow paths by communicating with the ink supply needle and the recording head. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the same flow path structure in terms of the positional relationship of through holes that form ink flow paths by communicating with the ink supply needle and the recording head. FIGS. 1A and 1B are a perspective view and a sectional view, respectively, showing the structure near a cartridge holder and a print head in a printing apparatus using dark and light color inks, separated from a carriage. FIGS. 2A and 2B are a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the head frame and a top view excluding the ink supply needle, respectively. FIG. 3 is a top view and a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a flow path connecting an ink supply needle and an ink introduction port of a recording head to one flow path. FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating states when the ink cartridge is mounted. FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view illustrating another embodiment of the flow path connecting the ink supply needle and the ink introduction port of the recording head, taking one flow path as an example.

Explanation of reference numerals

    Reference Signs List 1 carriage 6 ink jet recording head 7 printing unit 14 ink flow path connected to recording head 15 ink supply path of ink supply needle 16 ink supply needle 20 ink cartridge 31 first filter plate 32 second filter plate 33 filter chamber 81 Head frame 83 Ink supply path 86 Filter plate 87 Upper half filter chamber 88 Partitions 89, 90 Filter chamber 92 Ink supply needle 93 Ink supply path 94 Filter chamber 95 Head frame 96 Filter chamber

Claims (6)

A carriage on which an ink jet recording head that discharges ink through a head frame is mounted, and ink provided through the ink introduction port of the recording head that is provided on the head frame and engages with an ink supply port of an ink cartridge. In an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink supply needle for supplying,
In the middle of an ink supply path having one end connected to the ink cartridge and the other end connected to the ink jet recording head, an upper filter chamber in which the ink jet recording head side is expanded, and a plurality of lower filters in which the ink cartridge side is expanded. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a chamber provided so that the plurality of lower filter chambers communicate with the upper filter chamber; and a filter plate disposed on a joint surface between the upper filter chamber and the lower filter chamber.   The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower filter chamber is offset with respect to an inlet of the upper filter chamber.   3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the lower filter chambers is connected to an ink supply port formed for each common ink chamber of the ink jet recording head through a through hole.   2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower filter chamber is separated by a partition having a triangular pyramid cross section, and a tip of the partition is in contact with a filter plate.   2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of lower filter chambers communicate with each other below a filter plate.   2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the through holes communicating with the plurality of lower filter chambers are arranged as close as possible to a vertical line from a wall end of the upper filter chamber.

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