JP4013975B2 - Ink cartridge for inkjet printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink cartridge that is detachably attached to a carriage in an ink jet printer, particularly an ink jet printer that forms an image on a recording medium by moving a carriage having a recording head.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the periphery of a carriage of an ink jet printer in which the recording head moves to form an image. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which an ink cartridge (hereinafter also simply referred to as a cartridge) 32 is installed in the carriage 34. The carriage 34 is movable along a guide rail 36 that extends in a direction perpendicular to the drawing, and ejects ink droplets from a recording head 38 fixed to the carriage 34 to thereby record a recording medium (not shown). In addition, images such as characters and figures are formed. The cartridge 32 is filled with ink to be supplied to the recording head 38. The cover 40 is for protecting the joint portion between the cartridge 32 and the recording head 38 from dust.

  A cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the recording head 38 is shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, a joint 42 is provided on the front surface (left side in this figure) of the cartridge 32, and this is in close contact with a rubber seal material 44 provided on the head holder 43 side to form an ink supply path. Ink is sent to the recording head 38.

  However, it may be inconvenient if bubbles 46 occur in the ink in the cartridge 32. That is, when vibration or the like is applied to the cartridge 32, the bubbles 46 are made finer, and when the fine bubbles are drawn into the head, the ejection becomes unstable or becomes non-ejected.

SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that an ink cartridge according to a first aspect of the present invention prevents bubbles generated in ink in the cartridge from being drawn into a recording head.

The ink cartridge according to the second aspect is intended to make it easy to configure the bubble reservoir.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer according to claim 1 of the present invention, which has been made in order to solve such a problem, is an ink cartridge configured to be detachable from a carriage of an ink jet printer, and supplies ink to a recording head. An ink supply port, an ink chamber that is in communication with the ink supply port, and filled with ink, and is formed in a position in the ink chamber at an upper position when the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage. and a bubble reservoir fasten bubbles generated, the bubble reservoir has a surface which is located above the ink cartridge when mounted on the carriage, the ink downward from surface located on said upper formed by a plurality of projections arranged in the moving direction of the carriage with protruding chamber, the ink It bubbles in contact with the surface located on the upwardly moved upward by the generated buoyancy within you characterized in that it consists of the space confined between the plurality of protrusions.

According to such a cartridge, the bubbles mixed in the ink chamber move upward by buoyancy and are collected in the bubble storage section. Bubbles that have come into contact with the bubble storage section are almost retained at that position and are not discharged from the ink supply port. Therefore, according to the cartridge of the first aspect, since the bubbles generated in the ink chamber are not drawn into the recording head, the ink discharge does not become unstable or non-discharge.

The cartridge according to claim 2, wherein, formed in cartridge according to claim 1, consists of a lid portion constituting the said surface and the open container part of the surface located on the upper, together with the projections on the lid portion It is characterized by that.

Therefore, according to the cartridge of the second aspect , since the container portion and the lid portion are divided and the projection is provided on the lid portion, the projection can be easily formed.

  Hereinafter, the cartridge 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, FIG. 1 shows an ink cartridge 2, FIG. 1 (a) is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the ink cartridge 2, and FIG. 1 (b) is a plan view below the lid portion 6 of the cartridge. 1 (c) is an AA arrow view of FIG. 1 (a). In the ink jet printer using the ink cartridge 2, the ink cartridge 2 is installed with the lid portion 6 facing upward as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the ink cartridge 2 is mainly composed of a container portion 4 having an open upper surface and a lid portion 6 covering the upper surface. The interior is divided into two by a partition 8, and an ink storage chamber 10 and an ink chamber 12 having a large volume are formed. The ink storage chamber 10 is filled with a porous ink absorber impregnated with ink, and the ink chamber 12 is filled with only ink. The ink storage chamber 10 and the ink chamber 12 are connected by a flow path 14 at the lower end of the partition 8, and ink in the ink storage chamber 10 is supplied from the flow path 14 to the ink chamber 12. The ink in the ink chamber 12 is supplied from the supply port 16 to the recording head. A joint 18 provided around the supply port 16 is a portion engaged with a seal material 44 (FIG. 4) provided on the recording head side, and a filter 20 provided to cover the supply port 16 is a foreign matter other than ink. The small holes 30 provided at the rear end of the container portion 4 are for causing atmospheric pressure to act on the ink storage chamber 10.

  A rib 22 corresponding to the protrusion of the present invention protrudes from a portion of the lid portion 6 positioned above the ink chamber 12. The rib 22 is positioned substantially at the center in the front-rear direction of the ink chamber 12, thereby forming spaces 24 a and 24 b above the ink chamber 12. The bubbles generated in the ink chamber 12 move upward by buoyancy and reach the space 24a (or space 24b). Once the bubbles reach the space 24a, they do not descend again and drift in the ink. Therefore, even when the ink cartridge 2 is moved at a high speed together with a carriage (not shown), the bubbles are not finely decomposed and do not drift through the ink chamber 12 and are drawn into the recording head from the supply port 16.

  Further, the lid portion 6 on which the rib 22 is formed is separated from the container portion 4 and has a very simple structure as shown in FIG. Can be formed easily even if formed at a small interval, and the other container portion 4 can be formed easily.

  The inside of the cartridge 2 is divided into an ink chamber 12 and an ink storage chamber 10, and the ink in the ink storage chamber 10 is impregnated in the ink absorber, so that the ink undulates in the ink storage chamber 10. There will be no air bubbles. Since the ink chamber 12 is narrower than the total volume of the cartridge 2, bubbles are not easily generated.

  As mentioned above, although one embodiment to which the present invention is applied has been described, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and can be implemented in various modes. For example, in this embodiment, in order to form the spaces 24a and 24b, the ribs 22 having a shape as shown in FIG. 1C are formed, but other shapes may be used. An example of this is shown in FIG. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are provided with prismatic projections instead of the ribs 22, and FIGS. 2 (c) and 2 (d) are projections having a cylindrical shape instead of a prismatic shape. 2 (e) and FIG. 2 (f) show a hollow cylindrical shape having a space, that is, a slit-like groove inside, and FIG. 2 (g) and FIG. It is smaller than the one shown in FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the structure corresponding to what was shown in FIG.

  2A and 2B, the upper portion of the ink chamber 12 is subdivided more than that shown in FIG. 1, and the space becomes smaller. Therefore, it is effective for capturing finer bubbles. Further, as shown in FIGS. 2C and 2D, the side surface of the cylinder 22 is smooth, so that once caught, the bubbles are not easily ruptured even when subjected to lateral vibration.

  As shown in FIGS. 2E and 2F, the upper portion of the ink chamber 12 is further subdivided as compared with those in FIGS. 2A and 2B, and is captured in a space in the cylinder. As for what was done, it hardly leaves | separates and it can prevent that a bubble is drawn in to a recording head.

  2 (g) and FIG. 2 (h), the space becomes larger than those shown in FIG. 2 (a) to FIG. 2 (f). However, the acceleration applied to the ink during the operation of the ink jet printer is mainly in the lateral direction (the direction perpendicular to the drawing in FIG. 1), and since the interval between the ribs 22 is narrow in this direction, the bubbles are held. The ability is higher than that shown in FIG.

  Also, other shapes may be used. For example, the protrusions shown in FIGS. 2 (c) and 2 (d) may be conical, and also shown in FIGS. 2 (e) and 2 (f). The hollow cylindrical protrusion may have no slit-like groove. The ink cartridge can achieve the same effect because the ribs 22 and the protrusions are located upward even when the supply port 16 is used not only horizontally but also obliquely downward.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the ink cartridge 2 to which this invention is applied. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the shape of a protrusion formed on the lid portion 6 of the cartridge 2. 4 is a side view showing a state in which the cartridge 32 is fitted to the carriage 34. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a cartridge 32 and a recording head 38. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Ink cartridge 4 ... Container part 6 ... Cover part 10 ... Ink storage chamber 12 ... Ink chamber 22 ... Rib (bubble storage part) 24a, 24b ... Space

Claims (2)

An ink cartridge configured to be detachable from a carriage of an inkjet printer,
An ink supply port for supplying ink to the recording head;
An ink chamber communicating with the ink supply port and filled with ink;
A bubble storage part that is formed at an upper position in the ink chamber when the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, and holds bubbles generated in the ink;
The bubble storage portion protrudes into the ink chamber from the surface positioned above when the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, and is arranged in the movement direction of the carriage from the surface positioned above to the bottom. An ink jet printer comprising: a space formed by a plurality of protrusions, which is formed in the ink chamber and moves upward by buoyancy to confine bubbles contacting the surface positioned above the plurality of protrusions. Ink cartridge. 2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1 , wherein the ink cartridge is formed of a container portion having an open surface located above and a lid portion constituting the surface, and the protrusion is integrally formed on the lid portion.

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