JP3613346B2 - Ink cartridge filling method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of filling ink into an ink cartridge suitable for an ink jet printer in which an ink jet recording head and an ink cartridge are mounted on a carriage and ink is replenished by cartridge replacement.

In an ink jet printer of a type in which an ink container is mounted on a carriage having an ink jet recording head, in order to prevent fluctuations in water head pressure caused by ink oscillation due to movement of the carriage and printing defects due to foaming. to have been made to accommodate the multi-porous body in the ink container as described in Patent Document 1, supplying the ink through the multi-porous body. According to this, it is possible to prevent as much as possible the inconvenience caused by the oscillation of the ink.
European Patent Application No. 581531

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The present invention is to propose a method for reliably filling ink into an ink cartridge containing such a porous body .

In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, a main body container provided with a foam chamber, an ink supply port formed on the bottom surface of the main body container so as to communicate with the foam chamber, and an opening of the main body container Absorption of ink accommodated so as to form a space between the two through holes formed at positions facing the foam chamber and the ink supply port, and to form a space with the lid In the ink filling method of an ink cartridge comprising a porous body capable of being discharged, an exhaust hollow needle connected to an exhaust means in the space formed by the porous body and the lid in the foam chamber insert the from one of the holes, inserting a hollow needle for the ink supply to reach the other of said holes in said porous body portion, a hollow needle and an ink supply means for the ink supply Contact While blocking the, injecting a step of exhausting the cartridge by the hollow needle for the exhaust, the ink hollow needle communicated with the ink supply means for the ink supply while maintaining the evacuated state after the exhaust ends And a step of drawing out the exhaust hollow needle and the ink supply hollow needle after injecting a predetermined amount of ink, and a step of sealing a cartridge by sticking a sealing material to the through hole.

  Since ink rises sequentially from the lower ink supply port, it is possible to fill ink while expelling air to the upper space during ink filling, and ink is filled without leaving air in the porous material near the ink supply port it can. As a result, it is possible to prevent a defect such that the ink cannot be supplied to the recording head regardless of whether the ink remains sufficiently.

  FIGS. 1A and 1B show an embodiment of an ink cartridge targeted by the ink filling method of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body container, and partition plates 2, 3 The chambers 4, 5, 6 are divided into three chambers 4, 5, 6, and each of the chambers 4, 5, 6 has a porous body 20 made of an elastic material suitable for absorbing ink by the partition 10, 10, 10. It is separated into a foam chamber 11 for storing ink and an ink chamber 12 for storing ink as it is.

  The container 1 is configured so that at least the ink chamber 12 is transparent or translucent, and is configured so that the amount of ink in the ink chamber 12 can be visually confirmed from the outside.

  The porous body 20 is selected such that the volume before being accommodated in the foam chamber 11 is larger than the volume of the foam chamber 11, and is accommodated in a compressed state in the foam chamber 11.

  At the lower end of each foam chamber 11, ink supply ports 13, 13, 13 that engage with the ink supply needles of the recording head are provided. It is sealed with a lid 16 having a hole 14 and a through hole 15 for ink injection.

  Protrusions 16 a and 16 b are formed in a region located in the foam chamber 11 on the back surface of the lid body 16 so as to surround the through holes 14 and 15, and the porous body 20 is connected to the ink supply port 13 by these protrusions 16 a and 16 b. Is pressed against the bottom surface on which is formed.

  Of these protrusions 16 a and 16 b, the protrusion 16 a facing the ink supply port 13 is formed long so as to be positioned below the protrusion 16 b far from the ink supply port 13. The vicinity of 13 is compressed with the highest pressure.

  A convex portion 22 for compressing the porous body 20 in cooperation with the lid body 16 is formed at the bottom of each foam chamber 11, and a concave portion 23 forming an empty chamber having a certain opening area at the upper end thereof. And a through hole 24 communicating with the recess 23 and having the other end communicating with a packing member described later.

  A filter 25 having an ink passage area of 15 square mm to 30 square mm is fixed to the upper end of the recess 23. A packing member 30 formed of an elastic material and expanding upward is attached to the lower end of the through hole 24.

  A packing member 30 provided at the lower end of the ink supply port 13 is a funnel-shaped packing having a tapered portion 32 formed of an elastic material such as rubber and expanding upward as shown in FIG. It is configured as. A thick cylindrical portion 31 is provided on the large diameter side of the tapered portion 32 at the boundary with the tapered portion 32 via a thin connecting portion 34 as compared with other portions. Is fitted into the ink supply port so that it is in contact with the back step portion 13a of the ink supply port 13. The inner diameter of the opening 32 a of the tapered portion 32 is selected to be slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the ink supply needle 50.

  Thus, the cylindrical portion 31 is securely held in the ink supply port 13 and the peripheral upper end 33 is prevented from moving upward at the back step portion 13a. It will be firmly fixed to. Further, since the taper portion 32 that secures airtightness with the ink supply needle 50 is fixed to the ink supply port 13 by the thin connection portion 34, the taper portion 32 can be moved to some extent without causing deformation. The airtightness with the ink supply needle 50 can be secured while absorbing the relative positional deviation with respect to the needle 50.

  On the other hand, the partition 10 that divides the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 is provided with a communication hole 19 for gas-liquid exchange by forming a continuous hole extending from the bottom surface of the container to a certain height, and this communication hole. A porous body 20 is accommodated in the foam chamber 11 in a state where a part thereof is in contact with 19 and is pressed to some extent by the communication hole 19.

  The porous body 20 is compressed upward by about 5 to 10 mm from the bottom surface of the container 1 by the convex portion 22. As a result, the tension in the direction of symbol A in the figure is applied, the compression rate of the region B in the vicinity of the communication hole 19 is lowered, and the replacement of the air in the communication hole 19 with the ink in the ink chamber 12 may be hindered. There is.

  For this reason, in the present embodiment, the distance C between the convex portion 22 and the communication hole 19 is set to 1.5 times or more the height of the convex portion 22 so that the porous body 20 is firmly attached to the communication hole 19. It is configured.

  By adopting such a configuration, the porous body 20 has the highest compression rate in the vicinity of the filter 25 at the upper end of the convex portion 22, and the compression rate gradually decreases toward the communication hole 19. Thus, the capillary force gradually increases from the communication hole 19 toward the upper end of the convex portion 22, so that the ink in the ink chamber 12 can be reliably guided to the hole 24.

  FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the lid 16 described above. In the figure, reference numerals 14 and 15 denote the above-described through holes formed in a region in which the porous body is accommodated. In this embodiment, the through hole 14 is connected to the atmosphere communication ports 41, 41, 41 through meandering grooves 40, 40, 40.

  These grooves 40, 40, 40 form a capillary tube when a seal 43 covering the through holes 14, 15 and the air communication port 41 is attached at the stage where the ink injection operation described later is completed. ing. The seal 43 is provided with a cutting line 44 in the vicinity of the atmosphere communication port 41 so that the atmosphere communication port 40 can be easily exposed by pulling up the tongue piece 45.

Next, the ink filling method of the present invention will be described.
The cartridge thus configured is accommodated in a negative pressure environment with the ink supply port 24 sealed by the film 46 as shown in FIG. In this state, the sealing member S, S maintains airtightness in the exhaust hole 14 and the ink injection hole 15, and the one injection needle N1 is placed in the upper space of the foam chamber 11 and the other injection. The needle N2 is inserted through the porous body 20 so as to reach the bottom portion and as close to the communication hole 19 as possible. One injection needle N1 is connected to the exhaust means P, and the other injection needle N2 is closed by the valve V1.

  When the exhaust means P is operated in this state, the pressure in the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 is further reduced. At a stage where the pressure is reduced to a predetermined pressure, the exhaust means P is stopped to maintain the predetermined pressure. Thereafter, when the metering tube K is communicated by opening the valve V1 of the other injection needle N2, the ink accommodated in the metering tube K is absorbed by the porous body 20, and then the ink chamber via the communication hole 19. 12 flows in.

  When the ink defined by the metering tube K has finished flowing into the cartridge, the valve V1 of the injection needle N2 is closed, the exhaust means P is opened to the atmosphere, and the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 are returned to atmospheric pressure. The injection needles N1 and N2 are removed from the through holes 14 and 15.

  In this state, the metering tube K maintains a reduced pressure state, so that the ink can flow into the metering tube K by opening the valve V2. Then, the valve V2 is closed to prepare for the injection of ink into the next cartridge.

  On the other hand, under reduced pressure, the cartridge into which the ink has been injected is attached with a seal 42 to the surface of the lid 16 to seal the inlets 14 and 15, the meandering groove 40, and the air communication port 41.

  As a result, the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 are maintained in a reduced pressure state, and thus the injected ink is also maintained in a deaerated state. Thus, since ink is injected into the ink chamber 12 via the porous body 20, the ink can be filled without leaving the pores of the porous body 20, and the entire cartridge is stored under reduced pressure. Since excessive pressure increase due to temperature rise can be prevented, the ink filling rate can be increased and the cartridge can be downsized.

  In the cartridge configured as described above, when the tongue piece 45 of the lid 16 is peeled off in use, the through hole 14 of the foam chamber communicates with the air communication port 41 through the capillary formed by the groove 40 and the seal 43. Therefore, it is possible to prevent ink from leaking from the nozzle opening regardless of the water head difference from the recording head while preventing ink evaporation.

  In this state, when the ink supply port 13 of the ink cartridge is positioned and pushed into the ink supply needle 50 of the recording head, the ink supply needle 50 has its tapered portion 51 penetrating the film 46 as shown in FIG. It contacts the hole of the packing member 30. Since the packing member 30 is expanded upward, the packing member 30 penetrates the packing member 30 while being elastically deformed by being elastically pressed by the tapered portion 51 of the ink supply needle 50.

  If such an ink supply needle 50 is used in a form of being inserted into the packing member 30, even if there is a slight misalignment in the horizontal direction between the ink supply needle of the recording head and the center of the packing member 30, As long as the tip of the ink supply needle 50 engages with the hole of the packing member 30, the tapered portion 32 follows the ink supply needle 50 by elasticity, so that the ink supply port 13 and the ink supply needle 50 are securely sealed. can do.

  When ink is consumed by printing, the amount of ink in the porous body 20 decreases and the water head pressure decreases, so the pressure in the ink chamber 12 overcomes the ink holding force of the porous body 20 in the vicinity of the communication hole 19. Air bubbles enter the ink chamber 12 from the communication hole 19. As a result, the pressure in the ink chamber 12 rises and the ink flows into the foam chamber 11.

  The ink flowing into the foam chamber 11 is absorbed by the porous body 20 and slightly raises the ink liquid level in the foam chamber 11, and the ink holding force of the porous body 20 in the vicinity of the communication hole 19 and the pressure in the ink chamber 12 are balanced. At that time, the flow of ink from the ink chamber 12 to the foam chamber 11 stops.

  FIG. 5 shows this process. In the figure, symbol A indicates the water head pressure of the porous body 20 in the foam chamber 11, and symbol B indicates the amount of ink in the ink chamber 12. As is apparent from FIG. The ink initially filled in the porous body 20 is consumed up to a predetermined amount w1, and the water head pressure of the porous body 20 is a predetermined value, that is, the pressure of the ink chamber 12 is retained in the porous body 20 in the vicinity of the communication hole 19. When the pressure is reduced to overcome the force, the ink in the ink chamber 12 gradually flows into the foam chamber 11 until the ink holding force of the porous body 20 in the vicinity of the communication hole 19 recovers the pressure and balance of the ink chamber 12. .

  Accordingly, although the amount of ink in the ink chamber 12 gradually decreases, the water head pressure of the porous body 20 is maintained substantially constant, and ink can be supplied to the recording head with a constant pressure difference.

  When ink is consumed up to a predetermined amount w2 by the recording head, the ink in the ink chamber 12 disappears, but the porous body 20 is still equivalent to the case where ink is still intermittently supplied from the ink chamber 12 to the foam chamber 11 Thus, further printing is possible with the amount of ink absorbed in the porous body 20. When the specified amount w3 of ink is consumed, the supply of ink from the porous body 20 becomes impossible.

  By the way, since the ink of a certain amount Δw can still be supplied to the recording head from the time when all the ink in the ink chamber 12 is absorbed by the porous body 20 until printing becomes impossible, this characteristic is achieved in the present invention. For active use, the volume ratio of the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 is selected so that the amount of ink stored in the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 is in the range of 1 to 3 times on the foam chamber 11 side. Yes.

  That is, when the liquid absorption rate of the porous body 20 is 80%, for example, if the volume ratio of the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 is set to be 2: 1, about 20% of the total filled ink amount in the initial stage. Is consumed from the side of the foam chamber 11 and then about 40% of the total amount of ink filled in the ink chamber 12 is gradually absorbed into the foam chamber 11 and consumed.

  When all of the ink in the ink chamber 12 is consumed, 40% of the total amount of filled ink remains in the foam chamber 11, but 30% of the ink is converted into the total amount of filled ink in the foam chamber 11. As a result, about 10% of the total amount of filled ink remains in the foam chamber 11 finally.

  As a result, when three color inks are provided in one cartridge, the variation in the ink chamber liquid level due to the imbalance of the consumption amount of each color ink is visually eliminated, and the consumer's uselessness with respect to the remaining amount of ink is eliminated. You can eliminate worry.

  When the cartridge is discarded, the ink is absorbed in the porous body 20 and does not exist in the ink chamber 12 in a liquid state. Therefore, an announcement is made to replace the cartridge when all the ink in the ink chamber 12 runs out. As long as this is performed, it is possible to protect the environment by preventing the flow of ink from the cartridge as much as possible.

  Furthermore, since the presence or absence of ink in the ink chamber 12 indicates the near end of ink in the entire cartridge, if a new cartridge is prepared at this stage, it is possible to replenish new ink without causing ink shortage. It becomes.

  FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of a packing member for sealing the ink supply needle, which is formed of a flexible resin material and has a circular ring with a cross section that is slightly smaller in inner diameter than the outer diameter of the ink supply needle 50. And a ring-shaped mouth seal 61 having a circular cross section whose outer diameter is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the ink supply port 13, and two so that the mouth seal 61 is on the ink supply needle insertion side. A short thin cone-shaped connecting ring 62 that connects the seals 60 and 61 together is configured as a centering ring.

  On the outer peripheral surface of the needle seal 60, a movable bush 64 having an L-shaped cross section smaller than the inner diameter of the inner part of the ink supply port 13 is mounted to prevent the outer diameter of the seal 60 from expanding. Further, a fixed bushing 65 having an L-shaped cross section that guides the insertion of the ink supply needle 50 is mounted on the inner side of the mouth seal 61 so as not to come into contact with the needle seal 60, and the movable bush 64 is connected to the inner depth of the supply port 13. It is attached so as to be in sliding contact with the portion 13 a and so as to fit the mouth seal 61 into the ink supply port 13.

  The movable bush 64 is formed with a radial projection 66 on the surface that is in sliding contact with the inner back step portion 13a of the ink supply port 13, and a plurality of through holes 67 are formed between the protrusions 66 from the radial projection 66. When the ink is injected in a state where the inside is negative, the air inside is escaped from between the protrusions 66 to the outside of the alignment ring through the through hole 67.

  When the ink supply needle 50 is aligned with the ink supply port 13 and the cartridge is inserted, the ink supply needle 50 breaks the film 46 that seals the ink supply port 13 and enters into the inside, and is closely fitted to the movable bush 64. It penetrates into the through hole. The ink supply needle 50 is displaced along one of the radial directions while deforming the thin cone-shaped connecting ring 62 along the inner periphery step portion of the needle periphery seal 60 by the tapered portion 51 at the tip thereof. The outer periphery of the ink supply needle 50 is sealed without causing a large deformation in the seal 60 itself.

  FIG. 7 shows a third embodiment of a packing member for sealing the ink supply needle 50, and an annular seal 70 having a circular cross section made of an elastic material that comes into contact with the inner and rear step portion 13 a of the ink supply port 13. And an annular seal 71 made of an elastic material located on the film 46 side, and a bush 73 fixed to the ink supply port 13 in a state where these two seals 70 and 71 are elastically contacted.

  The inner diameters of these two seals 70, 71 are selected to be slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the ink supply needle 50, and the outer diameters of the seals 70, 71 are ink supply ports so as to elastically contact the ink supply port 13. It is selected to be slightly larger than the inner diameter of 13.

  When the ink supply port of the cartridge is positioned at the ink supply needle 50 and the cartridge is pushed in, the ink supply needle 50 passes through the film 46 and passes through the second seal 71 and the first seal 70. At this time, a part of the film 46 is pushed by the ink supply needle 50 and enters the ink supply port 13, but is handled by the second seal 71 positioned below and enters above the second seal 71. Is blocked. As a result, the first seal 70 reliably seals the periphery of the ink supply needle 50.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are cross-sectional views showing an embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention. Figures (a) and (b) show the structure of the upper surface of the lid on the foam chamber side. Figure (a) shows the state before sticking the seal, and Figure (b) shows the seal. It is a figure which shows the state after sticking. It is explanatory drawing which shows one Example of the filling apparatus for enforcing the ink filling method to the cartridge of this invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a bonding state between a packing member of an ink cartridge and an ink supply needle when the ink cartridge is mounted on a recording head. It is a diagram which shows the relationship between the ink consumption, water head pressure, and the ink amount of an ink chamber. It is a figure which shows the other Example of the packing member which seals an ink supply needle | hook. It is a figure which shows the other Example of the packing member which seals an ink supply needle | hook.

Explanation of symbols

    DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cartridge body, 2, 3 Partition plate, 10 Middle partition, 11 Foam chamber, 12 Ink chamber, 13 Ink supply port, 14, 15 Ink injection hole, 16 Cover body, 19 Communication hole, 20 Porous body, 24 Through hole, 30 packing, 41 Air communication port, 42 seal, N1 hollow needle for exhaust, N2 hollow needle for ink supply

Claims (5)

A main body container provided with a foam chamber, an ink supply port formed on the bottom surface of the main body container so as to communicate with the foam chamber, and an opening of the main body container is sealed and at a position facing the foam chamber Ink of an ink cartridge comprising two formed through holes and a porous body that is in close contact with the ink supply port and is capable of absorbing ink accommodated so as to form a space between the lid body In the filling method of
The said space a porous body and formed by said lid of said foam chamber, the hollow needle for exhaust gas connected to an exhaust means inserted from one of the holes, the porous from the other of said hole Inserting a hollow needle for ink supply so as to reach the inside of the body;
Evacuating the cartridge with the exhaust hollow needle in a state where the connection between the ink supply hollow needle and the ink supply means is interrupted;
A step of injecting ink by communicating the hollow needle for ink supply with the ink supply means while maintaining an exhaust state after exhausting; and
Pulling out the exhaust hollow needle and the ink supply hollow needle after injecting a predetermined amount of ink;
A step of adhering a sealing material to the through hole and sealing the cartridge;
A method for filling ink into an ink cartridge comprising: The communicated via a communicating hole to form chambers, and ink chamber for containing ink is formed, the ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink chamber via the communication hole is communicated with the ink supply port How to fill the ink. An ink chamber for storing ink, a foam chamber that communicates with the ink chamber via a communication hole, stores a porous body that absorbs the ink, and is provided with two through holes for insertion of a hollow needle; An ink supply port that communicates with a recording head; and a method of filling ink into an ink cartridge that supplies ink in the ink chamber to the recording head via the porous body.
Inserting a hollow needle for supplying ink so that a hollow needle for exhaust connected to the exhaust means reaches the space of the foam chamber and in the vicinity of the communication hole;
Exhausting the entire cartridge with the exhaust hollow needle in a state where the connection between the ink supply hollow needle and the ink supply means is interrupted;
A step of injecting ink in a state where the pressure by the exhaust is maintained after the exhaust is completed;
Pulling out the exhaust hollow needle and the ink supply hollow needle after injecting a predetermined amount of ink;
A step of adhering a sealing material to the through hole and sealing the cartridge;
A method for filling ink into an ink cartridge comprising: The cartridge loading method of the ink into the ink cartridge according to claim 1 or claim 3, is sealed by sheet Lumpur material under a negative pressure environment. The method of filling ink into an ink cartridge according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the injected ink flows into the foam chamber and then into the ink chamber.

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