JP3908656B2 - Ink cartridge for inkjet printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to 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 supplied by exchanging the cartridge.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In an ink jet printer in which an ink container is mounted on a carriage having an ink jet recording head mounted thereon, in order to prevent fluctuations in water head pressure due to ink swinging due to movement of the carriage and printing defects due to foaming. In addition, as described in Patent Document 1, an ink storage container is divided into two regions, a porous body is stored on the recording head side, and ink is stored in the other region. Yes.
[0003]
By adopting such a structure, the supply of ink to the recording head is performed through the porous body, so that inconveniences caused by ink oscillation can be prevented as much as possible.
However, since the recording head and the porous body are joined by pressing a protrusion communicating with the recording head into a through-hole formed in a side portion of the container, the piezoelectric vibrator is used as an ink discharge actuator. There is a problem that it cannot be applied to a recording head that dislikes the mixing of bubbles into the pressure generating chamber, such as an ink jet recording head to be used.
[0004]
In order to solve such a problem, it is conceivable to use an O-ring A that elastically contacts the peripheral surface of the ink supply needle of the recording head as shown in FIG. This causes not only a burden on the recording head and carriage, but also because each O-ring is supported by the cartridge body B on its outer periphery, if there is an error in the position of the ink supply needle of the recording head, the O-ring is mounted. In particular, there is a problem that it is difficult to mount the cartridge in which the three color tanks C, D, and E are integrated as shown in FIG.
[Patent Document 1]
European Patent Application No. 581531 Specification
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the object of the present invention is to be able to be mounted with a light mounting force and a large margin, and with an ink supply needle in a dead space as small as possible. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink cartridge for an ink jet printer that can be bonded while maintaining high airtightness and can surely prevent air bubbles from entering a recording head.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, a container constituting an ink containing portion that contains ink, an ink supply port that communicates with the ink containing portion and supplies ink to a recording head, and the ink supply In an ink cartridge comprising a packing member that is loaded into a port and that engages with an ink supply needle of a recording apparatus having a tapered tip, the packing member is mounted and fixed to the inner surface of the ink supply port A cylindrical portion made of a material, formed integrally with the cylindrical portion, one end connected to the inner surface of the cylindrical portion, the other end facing the inside of the cylindrical portion, and opposite to the ink containing portion is formed so as to narrow the opening area in the direction, structure further the other end in a non-contact state with the inner surface of the tubular portion, and by a tapered portion made of the elastic material formed so as to be located in the cylindrical portion Is, when the ink supply needle is inserted, the tapered side of the tapered portion of the packing member is formed with the tip in contact the ink supply needle and the bullet which is tapered.
Accordingly, when the ink supply port is inserted into the ink supply needle of the recording head, the tapered portion is cylindrical when the tapered region at the tip of the ink supply needle penetrates and engages the tapered portion of the packing member. Since the ink supply needle and the ink supply port have a certain degree of freedom of movement without contact with the portion, the ink supply needle is reliably engaged with the ink supply port by absorbing the relative displacement between the ink supply needle and the ink supply port.
[0007]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, one end of the tapered portion is formed so as not to contact the inner surface of the cylindrical portion.
As a result, one end of the taper portion moves and deforms inside the cylindrical portion corresponding to the ink supply needle, and is more reliably engaged with the ink supply needle.
[0008]
【Example】
Therefore, details of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiments.
1 (a) and 1 (b) show an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body container, and three chambers from partition plates 2 and 3 as shown in FIG. The foam chamber 11 is divided into four, five, and six, and each of the chambers 4, 5, and 6 contains a porous body 20 that is suitable for absorbing ink by the partitions 10, 10, and 10, respectively. Is separated into an ink chamber 12 for storing the ink.
The volume of the porous body 20 is selected to be larger than the volume of the foam chamber 11 and is compressed and accommodated in the foam chamber 11. In addition, the volume ratio of the ink amounts stored in the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 is selected so that the foam chamber 11 side is increased by about 20 to 30%.
[0009]
In this way, by setting the amount of ink on the foam chamber 11 side to be larger than the amount of ink in the ink chamber 12, when three colors of ink are provided in one cartridge, the consumption of each color ink is caused by an imbalance. This makes it difficult to visually recognize variations in the ink chamber liquid level and eliminates unnecessary consumer concerns about the remaining amount of ink. Also, when the cartridge is discarded, the ink is absorbed by the porous body. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the outflow and protect the environment.
[0010]
At the lower end of each foam chamber 11, ink supply ports 13, 13, 13 that engage with the ink supply needles 50 of the recording head are provided, and two upper ends of the container body 1 are placed at positions facing the foam chamber 11, respectively. Sealed with a lid 16 having a set of ink inlets 14, 15.
[0011]
Protrusions 16 a and 16 b are formed in the area located in the foam chamber 11 on the back surface of the lid 16 so as to surround the ink injection ports 14 and 15, and the porous body 20 supplies ink to these protrusions 16 a and 16 b. It is pressed against the bottom surface where the mouth 13 is formed.
[0012]
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 to supply ink. The vicinity of the mouth 13 is compressed with the highest pressure.
[0013]
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 that forms an empty chamber having a certain opening area at the upper end. A through hole 24 is provided with one end communicating with this and the other end communicating with a packing described later, and a filter 25 is fixed to the upper and other ends of the recess 23.
[0014]
A packing member 30 is formed as a funnel-shaped packing that is formed of an elastic material such as rubber provided at the lower end of the ink supply port 13 and expands upward. The lower end is configured as a thicker cylindrical portion 31 than the other portions, the peripheral upper end 33 of the tapered portion 32 abuts on the step portion 13a of the ink supply port 13, and the boundary with the tapered portion 32 is It is configured as a thin connection portion 34.
[0015]
Accordingly, 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 stepped portion 13a. Therefore, when the ink supply needle is attached or detached, the ink supply port 13 is firmly attached. Will be fixed. Further, since the taper portion 32 that secures airtightness with the ink supply needle is fixed to the ink supply port 13 by the thin connection portion 34, the tape supply portion 32 can be moved to some extent without being deformed. The airtightness with the ink supply needle can be ensured while absorbing the relative positional deviation with respect to 50.
[0016]
The partition 10 separating the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 is provided with a communication hole 19 for gas-liquid separation by forming a long hole continuous from the bottom surface of the container 1 to a certain height. A porous body 20 is accommodated in the foam chamber 11 in a state where a part thereof is in contact with the hole 19 and is pressed to some extent by the communication hole 19.
[0017]
On the other hand, the black ink cartridge, which is manufactured relatively smaller than the color ink cartridge but has a larger volume of the ink chamber 12 than the colored ink, has an ink chamber 12 and a foam chamber 11 as shown in FIG. A partition wall 17 extending from the bottom surface to the vicinity of the upper portion is formed between the partitioning partition 10 and the side wall 1a of the container body 1 to divide the ink chamber 11 into two chambers 12a and 12b. The entire container is prevented from being deformed by negative pressure or external pressure during use, thereby preventing ink leakage. The divided rooms 12 a and 12 b are connected to the foam chamber 11 through the communication hole 19 of the partition 10, but a communication hole may be provided below the partition wall 17.
[0018]
Further, when mounted on the carriage, the wall at a position that is easily visible from the outside, in this embodiment, the side wall 1a, is formed with a plurality of ribs 18 and 18 extending vertically on the inner surface, so that the ink can be quickly lowered from the wall surface 1a. And the contrast is increased so that the remaining amount of ink can be easily detected. In addition, the code | symbol 19a in the figure has shown the groove part mentioned later formed in the surface at the side of the foam chamber 11 of the partition 10. FIG.
[0019]
FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the lid 16 described above. In the figure, reference numerals 14 and 15 denote holes for ink injection, which are formed in a region in which a porous body is accommodated. The holes 14 are connected to the atmosphere communication ports 41, 41, 41 through meandering grooves 40, 40, 40.
[0020]
These grooves 40, 40, 40 form a capillary tube when an ink injection hole 14, 15 and a seal 42 covering the atmosphere communication port 41 are attached at the stage where the ink injection operation described later is completed. It is like that. The seal 42 is formed with a tongue piece 45 partially protruding from the lid 16 via a constricted portion 43 provided on the way to the atmosphere communication port 41. When the tongue piece 45 is peeled off from the lid body 16 with such a configuration, only the tongue piece 45 can be easily separated from the constricted portion 43, and only the atmosphere communication port 41 can be exposed.
[0021]
The seal 42 is printed with a pattern such as letters and illustrations on the surface of the main body 44 that always seals the grooves 40, 40, 40, and is attached to the tongue 45 that is connected to the main body 44 via the constricted portion 43. Is printed with different colors and patterns.
[0022]
For example, the main body 44 has a blue background, and characters and illustrations are printed in black, while the tongue 45 has a color with a high contrast to the background color of the main body 44 such as yellow or red. The characters and illustrations are printed in a base color, mainly black and blue. Thus, by making the color and pattern of the main body 44 and the tongue piece 45 clearly different, it becomes possible to alert the user to peel off the tongue piece 45.
[0023]
In the cartridge configured as described above, the ink supply port is sealed by the film 46, and the injection needle is inserted into the ink injection ports 14 and 15 in an airtight manner. Close the injection needle.
[0024]
When the exhaust means is operated in this state, the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 are depressurized. When the exhaust operation is stopped and the other injection needle is communicated with the metering tube when the pressure is reduced to a predetermined pressure, the ink contained in the metering tube is once absorbed by the porous body 20 and then the communication hole 19. And flows into the ink chamber 12 via.
[0025]
When the amount of ink defined by the metering tube has flowed, a seal 42 is stuck on the surface of the lid 16 to seal the inlets 14 and 15, the meandering groove 40, and the communication port 41 under reduced pressure. As a result, the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 are maintained in a reduced pressure state.
[0026]
In use of the cartridge configured as described above, when the tongue piece 45 of the lid body 16 is peeled off, the tongue piece 45 is separated from the main body 44 with the constricted portion 43 as a boundary. As a result, the ink injection port 14 communicates with the atmosphere communication port 41 through the groove 40. In use, the foam chambers 4, 5, and 6 communicate with the atmosphere via the meandering long groove 40, so that ink can be prevented from evaporating while ensuring air permeability.
[0027]
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 tapered portion 51 of the ink supply needle 50 seals the seal 46 as shown in FIG. It penetrates and 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.
[0028]
If such an ink supply needle 50 is used in such a manner that it is 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, As long as the tip of the needle engages with the hole of the packing member 30, the tapered portion 32 follows the ink supply needle 50 due to the elasticity of the connecting portion 34, so that the ink supply port 13 and the ink supply needle 50 are securely sealed. Can be stopped.
[0029]
When the ink is forced into the recording head by applying a negative pressure to the recording head, such as when the recording head is filled with ink immediately after the ink cartridge is installed or when the ink ejection capacity is restored. Since a large negative pressure acts on the cartridge side, the taper portion 32 of the packing member 30 that separates the cartridge from the atmosphere is deformed to the ink cartridge side.
[0030]
As a result, the taper portion 32 of the packing member 30 is elastically pressed by the ink supply needle 50 due to the pressure difference, thereby further improving the sealing performance.
[0031]
Further, without pushing until the ink supply needle 50 penetrates, as long as the taper portion 51 of the ink supply needle 50 comes into elastic contact with the taper portion 32 of the packing member 30 as shown in FIG. Since the elastic force toward the lower side is accumulated, airtightness with the ink supply needle 50 can be ensured.
[0032]
According to such a usage pattern, since the tip of the ink supply needle 50 is directly sealed, the dead space is extremely small, and air injection due to the piston effect caused by pushing can be prevented.
[0033]
In this state, when a negative pressure is applied from the nozzle opening side of the recording head, the ink absorbed in the porous body 20 flows from the through hole 24 into the recording head through the through holes 51 and 51 of the ink supply needle. .
[0034]
When a predetermined amount of ink is consumed and the amount of ink in the porous body 20 decreases and the liquid level decreases, 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.
[0035]
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.
[0036]
FIG. 6 shows this process. In the figure, symbol F indicates the water head pressure of the porous body 20 in the foam chamber 11, and symbol G indicates the amount of ink in the ink chamber 12. As apparent from FIG. The ink initially filled in the porous body 20 is consumed up to a certain amount w1, the water head pressure of the porous body 20 is a predetermined value, and the pressure of the ink chamber 12 is the ink holding of the porous body 20 near the communication hole 19 When the pressure is reduced to overcome the force, the ink gradually flows from the ink chamber 12 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. .
[0037]
As a result, 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.
[0038]
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 ink being intermittently supplied from the ink chamber 12 to the foam chamber 11. Ink is left.
[0039]
Therefore, 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 ink supply from the porous body 20 becomes impossible.
[0040]
Since a certain amount of ink ΔT can still be supplied to the recording head from when all the ink in the ink chamber 12 is absorbed by the porous body 20 until printing becomes impossible, the presence or absence of ink in the ink chamber 12 Will display the near end of the ink in the entire cartridge, and if a new cartridge is prepared at this stage, ink can be replenished quickly.
[0041]
Incidentally, as described above, the ink cartridge of the present invention needs to hold the inside at a negative pressure even during printing. In addition to ensuring airtightness between the ink supply port and the ink supply needle as described above, the ink chamber 12 is connected to the foam chamber. 11 is a very important factor. Therefore, next, a structure for managing the supply of ink from the ink chamber 12 to the foam chamber 11 will be described.
[0042]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, a stepped portion 60 having a raised ink chamber side is formed at the boundary between the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12, and a groove 61 for connecting the two chambers is formed in the lower portion thereof.
[0043]
According to this embodiment, the porous body 20 in contact with the communication hole 19 is reliably received by the step portion 60 to increase the compression ratio in the vicinity thereof, and the ink chamber 12 and the foam chamber 11 through the communication hole 19 are Not only can the pressure difference be ensured reliably, but ink in the ink chamber 12 can be collected by the groove 61 when the ink in the ink chamber 12 is reduced, and can be absorbed by the porous body 20. Therefore, the ink in the ink chamber can be supplied to the recording head without waste.
[0044]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the bottom surface of the ink chamber 12 is made higher than the foam chamber 11 side to form a step 62, and the lower portion of the porous body 20 is received by this step 62 and the porosity in the vicinity of the communication hole 19. While increasing the compression ratio of the material 20, an inclination 63 is provided from the ink chamber 12 toward the foam chamber 11 as necessary.
[0045]
According to this embodiment, it is possible to gather the ink in the ink chamber 11 while being shifted to the communication hole 19, and as a result, the ink in the ink chamber 12 is reliably supplied to the recording head regardless of the inclination of the carriage. be able to.
[0046]
The embodiment shown in FIG. 9 communicates with the upper part of the communication hole 19 of the partition that divides the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12, and the narrow groove portion 19a (see FIGS. 3) and a through portion 19b is formed at the lower end of the groove portion 19a in order to secure an air passage from the ink chamber 12 to the foam chamber 11.
[0047]
According to this embodiment, the upper portion of the porous body 20 is communicated with the communication hole 19 through the space formed by the narrow groove portion 19a.
[0048]
As a result, the communication hole 19 is connected to the upper portion of the porous body 20 via the narrow groove portion 19a and the region having a relatively small capillary force, so that the ink and air can be replaced smoothly. Ink can surely flow into the foam chamber 11 to prevent ink supply errors.
[0049]
FIG. 10 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 65 denotes a horseshoe-shaped protrusion provided at the bottom of the foam chamber 12 to secure a space in the vicinity of the communication hole 19. The ink in the ink chamber 12 easily flows into the foam chamber 11.
[0050]
In the above-described embodiment, the foam chamber 11 and the ink chamber 12 are partitioned by the single partition 10. However, in the case of a single color ink cartridge, FIG. 11 (b), an ink chamber 71 is formed so as to surround two or three of the foam chambers 70, and at least walls 72, 72, 72 that partition the foam chamber 70 and the ink chamber 71 are formed. By forming the communication hole 73 in one, not only can a large amount of ink be stored compared to the volume of the entire ink cartridge, but also the presence or absence of ink can be confirmed from a wide angle. In the figure, reference numeral 74 denotes an ink supply port.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIGS. 1A and 1B are cross-sectional views showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a color ink cartridge.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an ink container body of the ink cartridge.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an ink container main body of a black ink cartridge.
4A and 4B are top views showing the structure of the lid on the foam chamber side. FIG. 4A shows a state where the seal is not attached, and FIG. 4B shows a state where the seal is attached.
FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating a state in which the ink cartridge is mounted on the recording head, respectively.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between ink consumption, water head pressure, and ink amount in an ink chamber.
FIG. 7 is a diagram of an embodiment showing a structure of a boundary region between a foam chamber and an ink chamber.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the structure of the boundary region between the foam chamber and the ink chamber.
FIGS. 9A and 9B are views showing another embodiment of the structure in the vicinity of the boundary between the foam chamber and the ink chamber, respectively, and a cross-sectional structure taken along line AA.
FIGS. 10A and 10B are a longitudinal sectional view and a transverse sectional view showing another embodiment of the structure in the vicinity of the boundary between the foam chamber and the ink chamber, respectively.
FIGS. 11A and 11B are cross-sectional views showing other embodiments of the ink cartridge, respectively.
FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating an example of a conventional ink cartridge. FIG.
[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 20 Porous body 30 Packing 31 Cylindrical part 32 Tapered part

Claims (1)

A container that constitutes an ink containing portion for containing ink, an ink supply port that communicates with the ink containing portion and supplies ink to a recording head, and a recording that is loaded into the ink supply port and has a tapered tip. In an ink cartridge comprising a packing member engaged with an ink supply needle of the apparatus,
The packing member is formed integrally with the cylindrical portion made of an elastic material attached and fixed to the inner surface of the ink supply port, one end is connected to the inner surface of the cylindrical portion, and the other end is It is formed so as to narrow the opening area toward the inside of the cylindrical portion and in the direction opposite to the ink containing portion, and the other end is not in contact with the inner surface of the cylindrical portion, and in the cylindrical portion. is constituted by a tapered portion made of the elastic material formed so as to be positioned, when the ink supply needle is inserted, the ink supply needle tapered side of the tapered portion of the packing member is formed with the tip in a tapered shape An ink cartridge formed so as to elastically contact with the ink cartridge.

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