JP4167961B2 - ink cartridge - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink cartridge of an ink jet recording apparatus in which an ink jet recording head and an ink cartridge are mounted on a carriage and ink is supplied by exchanging the cartridge.

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 an ink is stored in the other region. Yes.
By adopting such a structure, the ink is supplied to the recording head through the porous body, so that it is possible to prevent inconvenience due to the oscillation of the ink.
European Patent Application No. 581531

By the way, the ink jet recording apparatus pressurizes the ink in the pressure generating chamber to generate ink droplets, and if the ink contains bubbles, the pressure decreases and the ink droplet ejection performance also decreases. Ink from which dissolved air is excluded is injected into a porous body.
On the other hand, in order to maintain the airtightness and secure the connection with the recording head, a packing made of an elastic member is fitted in the ink supply port, but there is a minute space between the packing and the cartridge body. There is a problem that the air in this space expands and flows into the recording head, causing inconvenience in ink ejection.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge of an ink jet recording apparatus that can reliably exclude air remaining in an ink supply port.

In order to solve such a problem, the invention of claim 1 is an ink cartridge comprising an ink containing region for containing ink and an ink supply port communicating with the ink containing region, and an ink cartridge near the ink supply port. A recess is formed on the surface, and the opening of the ink supply port is sealed with a low density polyethylene film having a high gas permeability and a low moisture permeability, and a recess on the surface of the ink cartridge near the ink supply port Thus , a space is formed between the ink cartridge and the air cartridge, and the air cartridge is wrapped with an airtight film in a reduced pressure state.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, only the air dissolved in the ink in the vicinity of the ink supply port passes through the low density polyethylene film and is discharged into the space formed by the space and the air shielding film, and in the vicinity of the ink supply port. By reducing the dissolved degree of air in the ink as much as possible and reducing the amount of dissolved air in the entire ink in the cartridge as much as possible, it is possible to reliably prevent generation of bubbles in the recording head.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an ink cartridge targeted by the manufacturing method of the present invention, which contains three types of inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow. In FIG. The container body is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped that is slightly widened, and is made by injection molding a polymer material such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, etc., in order to facilitate joining with each member by thermal welding.

  The container body 1 includes foam chambers 6, 6, 6 for storing a porous body 5 made of an elastic material suitable for absorbing ink from the partition plates 2, 3, 4, an ink chamber 7 for storing ink as it is, 7 and 7 are separated.

  An ink supply port 8 that engages with an ink supply needle of the recording head is provided at the lower end of each foam chamber 6, and the opening of the container body 1 is drilled so as to be positioned in the vicinity of the ink supply port 8 of the foam chamber 6. It is sealed with a lid 11 having ink inlets 9, 9, 9 provided and air communication ports 10, 10, 10.

  A convex portion 12 for compressing the porous body 5 in cooperation with the lid body 11 is formed at the bottom of each foam chamber 6, and a concave portion 13 that forms an empty chamber having a certain opening area at the upper end thereof. And a through hole 14 extending from the recess 13 to the ink supply port 8 is formed. An expanded portion 15 is formed at the outer end of the through-hole 14 so as to be liquid-tightly engaged with the ink supply needle of the recording head, and a packing 16 is inserted. The filter material 17 is stuck so that 13 may be covered.

  The surface of the filter material 18, the concave portion 12, and the through-hole 14 in contact with the ink is subjected to a treatment for improving the wettability with respect to the ink by irradiating ultraviolet rays.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the packing 16 is formed by forming thin ring-shaped ribs 16b on the surface 16a. As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the packing 16 has an ink resistant surface on the upper surface 16a. The adhesive 19 having the properties is applied so that the space S between the container body 1 and the container body 1 is completely filled. Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, the pressing member 20 having a window 20a through which the ink supply needle can be inserted is brought into elastic contact with the lower end of the packing 16 and thermally welded to the container body 1, and the rib of the packing 16 is The packing 16 is inserted in a state in which the expansion portion 15 is elastically deformed by 16b.

  By adopting such a method, the communication between the space S existing between the side portion of the packing 16 and the expanded portion 15 and the through hole 14 can be cut off.

  The tip of the ink supply port 8 formed by inserting the packing 16 in this way can be damaged by the insertion of the ink supply needle, and is preferably made of a low density polyethylene film having high gas permeability and low moisture permeability. An air-tight film 21 is attached, and a meat stealing portion 22 is provided between the bottom 1a of the container body 1 so that a space can be secured even when sealed by a packaging bag or the like. ing.

  On the surface of the lid body 11, meandering grooves 23, 23, 23 are formed with one end communicating with the atmosphere communication port 10 and the other end extending to the other side of the lid body 11 as shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the film 23 can be opened to the atmosphere by peeling off the tongue piece 24a so as to cover the ink injection port 9, the atmosphere communication port 10, and the groove 23. 24 is stuck. As this film 24, it is desirable to use an air-tight film such as a low-density polyethylene film having a high gas permeability and a low moisture permeability.

Next, the manufacturing method will be described.
FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a pallet for transferring the container main body during the manufacturing process. The pallet 30 has a position where the outer periphery of the bottom surface 1a of the container main body 1 fits in the surface, and an opening. At least four pins 31 and 32 at positions where the inner surface of 1b is fitted are planted, and a recess 33 is formed at a position where the ink supply port 8 faces, and further, a recess 33 is formed around the pin. In this ink injection step, a step portion 34 is formed to form a seal portion.

  First, the container body 1 (FIG. 7 (I)) formed in advance by injection molding is set on the pallet 30 with the opening 1b aligned with the pin 31 so that the bottom surface 1a faces upward, and ink-resistant at the tip. 7 is applied to the ink supply port 8 by temporary press-fitting, and then the push-in jig 40 is rotated about the center to reduce the friction and press-fitted to a predetermined position (FIG. 7 ( II)). When the press-fitting is performed while twisting in this way, the packing 16 is fitted into the ink supply port 8 without causing the end region such as the peripheral edge to be turned up or twisted. Can be reliably prevented, and the gap between the container body 1 can be filled with an adhesive.

  In addition, after the packing 16 is immersed in the ink and the ink is attached, the packing member 16 is loaded in the same manner as described above, and the pressing member 20 having the window 20a through which the ink supply needle can be inserted is attached to the lower end of the packing 16 as described above. By insulatively contacting and thermally welding to the container main body 1, ink is injected in advance into the space 20 (FIG. 4) in which ink is difficult to enter in an ink filling process described later, and the outer side surface of the packing 16 and the expanding portion 15 And the ink supply port 8 can be blocked.

  An airtight film 21 made of a heat-welding material is set so as to cover the ink supply port 8, and the periphery of the ink supply port 8 is heated and pressurized by a jig 41, and the ink supply port 8 is sealed with the film 21. (FIG. 7 (III)), a lot number and an expiration date are printed or stamped on the bottom surface 1a and the side surface 1c as necessary.

  At the stage when all the operations on the bottom surface 1a of the container body 1 are completed, the container body 1 is turned upside down and the container body 1 is reset on the pallet 30 so that the opening 1b of the container body 1 faces upward.

  A tape of filter material such as non-rust steel mesh material or non-woven fabric, which becomes a filter having a width slightly larger than the width of the concave portion 13 formed in the convex portion 12 that passes through the ink supply port 8 and the through port, The filter material 17 is formed by cutting it into a predetermined size in an oblique direction with respect to the direction. The filter material 17 is set so as to cover the concave portion 13, and heated and heated by the jig 42 to such an extent that the container body 1 is slightly softened after setting. And heat-welded (FIG. 8 (I)). When the tape of the filter material 17 is formed by weaving a non-rust steel wire, it is possible to prevent fraying by cutting it so as to be non-parallel to the direction of the wire to be warp and weft. it can.

  If no fraying occurs, the following effects are obtained. That is, when the wire constituting the filter material 17 enters the region of the packing 16, the wire is sandwiched between the ink supply needle of the recording head and the packing 16 when the cartridge is mounted on the recording head. The maintenance of the air tightness between the ink supply needle of the recording head and the cartridge is lowered, and the problem of causing the intrusion of air from the outside and hindering the ink supply to the recording head occurs. The problem can be avoided reliably.

  Also, the tape material is cut obliquely as described above, compared to the shaping method in which the filter material is punched out by press so as to match the shape of the convex portion 12 to which the filter material 17 is fixed, usually circular or elliptical. If the shaping method is used, the tape material can be effectively used in addition to preventing fraying of the wire.

Next, the process proceeds to the press-fitting process of the porous body 5.
FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (b) show examples of the porous material insertion device and the porous material insertion step, respectively, and the porous material insertion device is as shown in FIG. 9 (a). The compression members 43 are formed in a comb-like shape and are movable in the opposing direction, and the pressing member 44 is positioned between them and can be moved up and down.

  The compression members 43 and 43 are moved in the horizontal direction to sandwich the porous material 5 (FIG. 9 (b) I), and compressed until the outer end width of the compression members 43 and 43 becomes smaller than the inner width of the foam chamber 6. The members 43 and 43 are moved to the pressing member 44 side, and the porous material 5 is compressed so that the width becomes smaller than the width of the foam chamber 6 (FIG. 9 (B) II).

  Subsequently, it moves to the foam chamber 6, moves the pressing member 44 between the two compression members 43, 43 to the container body 1 side, and pushes the porous material 5 into the foam chamber 6 from the upper end (FIG. 9B). III). Next, after the pressing member 44 is slightly lowered, the container 1 is retracted from the porous insertion device.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 8 (II), the porous material 5 molded slightly larger than the volume of the foam chamber 6 is set in the foam chamber 6 in a compressed state.

  Next, the lid member 11 is positioned in the opening 1b of the container main body 1, and the plane of the lid 11 is inserted through the jig 45 in a plane including the opening 1b while pressing the lid member 11 against the container main body 1 with a predetermined pressure. Ultrasonic vibration is applied in a direction including the vertical direction, a vertical direction, or an oblique direction, or a combined direction, and the opening 1b of the container body 1 and the back surface of the lid member 11 are friction-melted and bonded. (FIG. 8 (III)).

  After welding, a heating rod 46 heated to a temperature sufficient to soften the material constituting the container main body 1 and the lid member 11 is brought into contact with the periphery of the joining portion, or hot air is jetted from the jet nozzle 47 at the time of joining. The burr | flash etc. which arose by removing are removed (FIG. 10).

When the container is completed in this way, it moves to the ink injection station.
FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of the ink injection device. Reference numeral 50 in the drawing is a pedestal for holding the pallet 30 and is configured to move up and down as indicated by an arrow A by a drive mechanism (not shown). Yes. Reference numeral 51 denotes a base, which has a through-hole. The lower surface is formed by a stepped portion 34 on the peripheral surface of the pallet 30 and the upper surface is formed by a lid member 52 which will be described later. 55.

  52 is a lid member as described above, and a through hole 56 is formed in a region facing the injection chamber 53, and a piston member 57 that can move up and down as shown by an arrow B in the figure while maintaining an airtight state is provided. Has been inserted.

  The piston member 57 is a flow communicating with an air supply device (not shown) so as to oppose the injection needle 58 and the air communication port 10 of the container 1 at a position facing the ink injection port 9 of the container 1 set in the injection chamber 53. A path 60 is provided. The injection needle 58 is connected to the branch pipe 62 via the flow path 59 and the tube 61.

  Reference numeral 63 denotes a gas-liquid separation unit. In this embodiment, the upper end and the lower end are liquid-tightly fixed to the cylinder 65 so that the hollow fiber bundle 64 is used as a liquid flow path, and the cylinder 65 is connected to a vacuum pump 66 to be hollow. The cylinder 65 is configured to apply a negative pressure to the outer periphery of the yarn. One end of the cylinder 65 is connected to the ink tank 68 by a tube 67 and the other end is connected to the branch pipe 62 via a stop valve 69.

  Reference numeral 70 denotes a measuring tube, which includes a cylinder 71 and a piston 72, and the top dead center side is connected to the branch pipe 62 by a tube 73. In the figure, reference numeral 74 denotes a stop valve, and 75 denotes a pump for ink pressure feeding.

  When the pallet 30 on which the container 1 in which the assembly of each member has been completed by the above-described process has reached the ink injection device and is set below the injection chamber 53 (FIG. 12 (I)), the cradle 50 is the base. It rises until it comes into close contact with the lower surface of the base 51 (FIG. 12 (II)).

  Next, the piston 56 is lowered to such an extent that a space can be ensured between the lid member 11 of the container 1 and the stop valve 74 is opened while the stop valve 68 communicating with the gas-liquid separation unit 63 is kept closed. Then, the vacuum pump 55 is operated to depressurize the injection chamber 53, the tubes 61 and 73, and the measuring tube 70 to a predetermined pressure (FIG. 13I).

  When the pressure has been reduced to a predetermined pressure, the stop valve 74 is closed, and the stop valve 68 is opened to inject a predetermined amount of ink 7 into the metering pipe 63 (FIG. 13 (II)). At the same time, the piston member 57 is lowered to the bottom dead center. As a result, the packings 77 and 78 at the lower end of the piston member 47 are brought into elastic contact with the ink supply port 10 and the atmosphere communication port 10 of the container 1, and the injection needle 58 enters the vicinity of the bottom surface of the container 1.

  In this insertion process, preferably, when the injection needle 58 is positioned immediately above the filter 17, the ink can be reliably filled without leaving bubbles in the filter 17, the recess 13, the through hole 14, and the packing 16. Ink can be evenly absorbed by the entire porous material 5 by forming the ink ejection ports of the ink injection needles radially.

  Further, since the gas-liquid separation unit 63 is connected close to the measuring tube 70, the ink immediately after deaeration by the gas-liquid separating unit 63 flows into the measuring tube 70.

  Next, when the stop valve 69 is closed and shut off from the gas-liquid separation unit 63, the stop valve 74 is opened and the piston of the metering tube 70 is pressed to discharge a predetermined amount of ink. A predetermined amount of ink is injected (FIG. 14)).

  At this time, since the ink reliably deaerated by the gas-liquid separation unit 60 is injected into the porous body 5, the ink cannot be completely discharged in the above-described decompression step (FIG. 13 (I)). The gas adsorbed in the pores 5 is easily dissolved, and bubbles are not generated in the porous material 5 or remain in the porous material 5 and are uniformly absorbed by the porous body 5.

  In particular, when the tube 61 connecting the stop valve 74 and the ink injection needle 58 is heated so that the temperature rises by about 10 to 20 ° C. from the room temperature during the ink injection period, the viscosity of the ink decreases and the porous body 5 is reduced. It is possible to reliably enter the pores.

  As a result, since gas does not exist at least in the porous material 5 at the time when the injection of ink is completed, it is possible to guarantee the print quality without containing bubbles.

  When the ink injection is completed, the exhaust port 60 is opened to the atmosphere, and the ink remaining on the upper portion of the porous material 5 is completely absorbed by the porous material 5 due to the differential pressure from the atmospheric pressure. Thereafter, the cradle 50 is lowered, the pallet 40 is moved to the next process, and ink adhering to the ink inlet 9 and the like is wiped off by vacuum suction or cloth, and finally a conduit is brought into contact with the ink inlet 9. Then, a minute positive pressure is applied, and the ink adhering to the back of the lid 11 is wiped off to the porous body 5 side.

  The container 1 is tilted so that the atmosphere communication port 10 faces upward and accommodated in a decompression container, and the air-shielding film 24 cut to a size that covers at least the atmosphere communication port 10, the ink injection port 9, and the narrow groove 23. Is temporarily fixed by heat welding with a jig 80 (FIG. 15). At this time, even if the pressure in the container 1 rises due to the temperature rise, the atmosphere communication port 10 is positioned as high as possible. Therefore, the expanded air is quickly discharged from the atmosphere communication port 10 and the ink injection port. Ink leakage from 9 can be prevented.

  Next, the region covering the groove 19 is heated to weld one half of the film 24, and the other half is welded to such an extent that it can be peeled off, and a capillary is formed by the narrow groove 19 and the film 24. In the case where the ink cartridge is accommodated in the deaeration chamber before the other half of the film 24 is adhered, and the deaeration is suppressed to about 200 mmHg, the ink is supplied more than the filter 17 generated by the packing 16. The cartridge can be re-depressurized while suppressing the physical growth of bubble generation nuclei remaining in the vicinity of the mouth, and the ink cartridge is filled with as much ink as possible by suppressing the ejection of ink from the ink inlet. can do.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the completed ink cartridge 70 has at least a buffer material 81 in contact with the ink supply port 8 so as not to damage the seal 16 of the ink supply port 8, and an air shielding film. The 24 tongue pieces 24a are folded and inserted into a bag 83 with a bag 83a made of an airtight film.

  Then, the ridge 83a in the vicinity of the opening is folded inward to have a uniform thickness, and then the vicinity of the opening is thermally welded and sealed in a reduced pressure environment (FIG. 17 (a)), provided near the ink supply port 8. The meat stealing portion 22 formed forms a decompression space with the bag 83. On the other hand, if the film 21 for sealing the ink supply port 8 is made of a low density polyethylene film having high gas permeability and low moisture permeability, only air dissolved in the ink in the vicinity of the ink supply port. Passes through the film 21 and is discharged into the decompression space formed by the meat stealing portion 22 and the bag 83. As a result, the air solubility of the ink in the vicinity of the ink supply port can be reduced as much as possible to prevent bubbles from flowing into the recording head.

In addition, the film 21 that seals the ink supply port 8, the ink injection port 9 of the lid 11, the exhaust port 10, and the film 24 that seals the groove 23 have high gas permeability and low moisture permeability. By using an air-shielding film such as a polyethylene film, the amount of dissolved air in the entire ink in the cartridge can be reduced as much as possible, and the generation of bubbles in the recording head can be reliably prevented.
Desirably, it is desirable to enclose the bag 83 within 72 hours after re-deaeration.

  In particular, when the recording head is filled with ink for the first time, it is necessary to ensure that bubbles in the recording head are dissolved and eliminated in the ink, so that the ink in the cartridge is maintained at a degassing degree of about minus 300 mmHg. Desired. In order to maintain a high degree of deaeration in the ink in this way, the volume of the meat stealing portion 22 of the container is increased, or the dead space is positively formed between the bag 83 and the cartridge. It is desirable that the buffer material 81 be provided with a recess or a through hole, or that a spacer be enclosed and sealed.

  Finally, the product is put in a case 84 and finished into a product (FIG. 17B). Since the ink cartridge bundled as an accessory of the recording apparatus main body is an ink cartridge that is first mounted on the recording head of the recording apparatus, select one filled with the above-mentioned high deaeration ink, For supply, it is desirable to supply an ink cartridge having a slightly low degree of deaeration, and the case 84 is configured to be distinguishable by symbol or color so that the two types of cartridges can be easily distinguished.

  In the above-described embodiment, the cartridge provided with the ink chamber has been described as an example. However, as shown in FIG. 18, the container 1 is filled with the porous material 5 and only the porous material 5 is filled with the ink. Obviously, the present invention can be applied to the manufacture of the cartridge 85 for storing the cartridge.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 19, in the small cartridge 86, only one opening 87 which serves both as an ink injection port and an air release port is formed. In such a case, FIG. As shown, the ink injection needle 58 and the flow path 60 communicating with the exhaust device are arranged coaxially, so that one opening 87 of the cartridge 85 can be used simultaneously for the ink injection operation and the exhaust operation.

1 is an assembled perspective view showing an embodiment of an ink cartridge that is a subject of the present invention. FIG. FIGS. 1A and 1B are cross-sectional views showing an embodiment of the ink cartridge. FIGS. 1A and 1B are a top view and a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the packing, respectively. FIGS. 1A and 1B are enlarged sectional views showing one embodiment of the ink supply port. FIGS. 1A and 1B are a diagram illustrating the structure of the lid of the ink cartridge with the film removed, and a diagram in which the film is attached. It is a figure which shows one Example of the pallet which hold | maintains and conveys a container. FIGS. (I) to (III) are diagrams showing initial steps of the ink cartridge forming step. FIGS. (I) to (III) are diagrams showing intermediate stages of the ink cartridge forming process. FIG. 1 (a) is a view showing an embodiment of the porous material insertion device, and FIGS. 2 (I) to (III) are diagrams showing the steps of inserting the porous material into the container body. It is a figure which shows the shaping process of the external shape of a cartridge. It is a block diagram which shows one Example of an ink injection apparatus. FIGS. (I) and (II) are diagrams showing initial steps in the ink injection step. FIGS. (I) and (II) are diagrams showing intermediate stages of the ink injection process. It is a figure which shows the last process of an ink injection process. It is a figure which shows the sticking process of an airtight film. It is a figure which shows the process of the first half in a packaging process. It is a figure which shows the process of the latter half in a packaging process. It is a figure which shows the other Example of the ink cartridge which can apply the manufacturing method of this invention. It is a figure which shows the other Example of the ink cartridge which can apply the manufacturing method of this invention. It is a figure which shows the other Example of the ink injection apparatus suitable for an ink cartridge same as the above.

Explanation of symbols

    DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container body 5 Porous body 6 Foam chamber 7 Ink chamber 8 Ink supply port 9 Ink inlet 10 Atmospheric communication port 11 Cover material 16 Packing 16b Ring-shaped rib 81 Ink cartridge 83 Bag

Claims (2)

An ink cartridge comprising an ink containing region for containing ink and an ink supply port communicating with the ink containing region, wherein a recess is formed on the surface of the ink cartridge near the ink supply port, and the opening of the ink supply port However, it is sealed with a low-density polyethylene film with high gas permeability and low moisture permeability, and a space is formed between the ink cartridge and the ink cartridge near the ink supply port to form a space under reduced pressure. An ink cartridge packaged with an airtight film.   The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the space is formed by a meat stealing portion provided in a container main body constituting the ink cartridge.

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