JP4453725B2 - Liquid sealing member and liquid conducting material - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a liquid sealing member and the liquid-conductive material. In particular, the present invention is used in a liquid ejecting apparatus, relates to a liquid-conducting material using the liquid sealing member and the liquid sealing member can maintain the quality of the liquid.

  A liquid ejecting apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus performs recording by ejecting a liquid such as ink onto a recording material such as a recording sheet from a liquid ejecting head such as a recording head. The liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid container such as an ink cartridge that can be attached to and detached from the main body of the liquid ejecting apparatus. The liquid storage container supplies the liquid stored therein to the liquid ejecting head via a liquid conducting material such as a liquid supply tube.

JP 2001-221974 A

  When the liquid evaporates and thickens, or bubbles are generated in the liquid, the liquid ejecting head may cause liquid ejection failure. In order to prevent the liquid from evaporating and thickening, it is necessary to reduce the amount of the liquid that evaporates through the liquid container, the liquid conducting material, and the liquid ejecting head. In order to prevent bubbles from being generated in the liquid, it is necessary to reduce the amount of air that permeates the liquid container, the liquid conducting material, and the liquid ejecting head and dissolves in the liquid.

According to a first aspect of the present invention , there is provided a liquid sealing member for sealing a liquid, comprising a base material formed from a layered compound kneaded material containing a polymer compound and an inorganic layered compound, the base material being extruded The molded liquid inorganic sealing compound is provided with a liquid sealing member in which the direction along the layer is arranged along the direction of extrusion in the substrate.

  When the content of the inorganic layered compound in the layered compound kneaded material is 1% by weight or more and 50% by weight or less, the amount of the ink solvent or air passing through the liquid sealing member is reduced while maintaining the properties of the polymer compound. can do.

  The liquid sealing member may have a surface layer that prevents the inorganic layered compound from peeling off. This can prevent the inorganic layered compound from peeling off on the surface when the liquid sealing member is bent. In this case, the surface layer may be integrally formed with the polymer compound not including the inorganic layered compound. Thereby, the layer containing the inorganic stratiform compound and the surface layer not containing can be easily and integrally molded.

The liquid conducting member that conducts the liquid container and the liquid ejecting unit and supplies the liquid from the liquid container to the liquid ejecting unit may include the liquid sealing member.

The liquid conducting material, which is formed from a layered compound kneaded material containing a polymer compound and an inorganic layered compound, seals a substrate provided with a groove, and an opening of the groove welded to one surface of the substrate And a sealing film for forming a liquid flow path portion, and the sealing film comprises, from the base material side, a welding film that is welded to the base material, a layered compound kneading material containing a polymer compound and an inorganic layered compound A kneaded film formed from the above and a heat-resistant film having a softening point higher than that of the welding film may be included.

  The above summary of the invention does not enumerate all the necessary features of the present invention, and sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be the invention.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the scope of claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are included. It is not necessarily essential for the solution of the invention.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an ink jet recording apparatus 10 using an embodiment of the present invention with a cover removed, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an ink supply system of the ink jet recording apparatus 10. It is. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ink jet recording apparatus 10 includes a carriage 42 that reciprocates in a main scanning direction on a recording object 11 such as a recording sheet, and a recording head unit 300 mounted on the carriage 42. A plurality of ink cartridges 400 containing inks of different colors, a cartridge holder 200 for removably fixing the plurality of ink cartridges 400 to the main body of the ink jet recording apparatus 10, and the cartridge holder 200 and the recording head unit 300. A long ink conducting material 100 to be connected is provided. The ink stored in the ink cartridge 400 is supplied to the recording head unit 300 via the cartridge holder 200 and the ink conducting material 100. The recording head unit 300 performs recording by ejecting ink onto the recording material 11 while reciprocating along the guide shaft 48 together with the carriage 42. The cartridge holder 200 is an example of a container holding member.

  In the ink cartridge 400, the cartridge holder 200, the ink conducting material 100, and the recording head unit 300, at least a part of the portion in contact with the ink is formed of a layered compound kneaded material in which an inorganic layered compound is kneaded into a polymer material. For this reason, the ink cartridge 400, the cartridge holder 200, the ink conducting material 100, and the recording head unit 300 are difficult to pass the ink solvent and the atmosphere. Therefore, in the ink jet recording apparatus 10, the ink solvent is difficult to evaporate. The atmosphere is difficult to dissolve in ink.

  The inorganic layered compound is preferably montmorillonite, which is an example of scumite, but may be other sukumite, mica, vermiculite, halosite, or a synthetic analog thereof. The content of the inorganic layered compound in the layered compound kneaded material is preferably 1% by weight or more and 50% by weight or less, more preferably 5% by weight or more and 30% by weight or less. In this case, the layered compound kneaded material can maintain the characteristics of the polymer material. Further, the ink cartridge 400, the cartridge holder 200, the ink conducting material 100, and the recording head unit 300 can be injection molded.

  FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the ink cartridge 400. The ink cartridge 400 includes a lower case 410, an upper case 420, and an ink sealing film 430. The lower case 410 has a concave portion 412a on the surface to be joined with the upper case 420, and an ink supply portion 414 that supplies ink to the outside on the end surface. The ink sealing film 430 is welded to the outer periphery of the recess 412a, and forms an ink storage portion 412 that stores ink together with the lower case 410. The upper case 420 is combined with the lower case 410 to form a resin case for the ink cartridge 400. The lower case 410 and the upper case 420 are molded from a layered compound kneading material. When forming the lower case 410 and the upper case 420, the layered compound kneaded material contains, for example, polypropylene as the polymer material.

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the ink sealing film 430. The ink sealing film 430 includes a welding film 432, a kneading film 434, and a heat-resistant film 436 in this order from the side to be welded to the lower case 410. The welding film 432 contains the same series of materials as the lower case 410 and is welded to the lower case 410. When the lower case 410 contains polypropylene, the welding film 432 is made of unstretched polypropylene. The kneaded film 434 is formed of a layered compound kneaded material, and prevents the ink solvent or the air from passing through the ink sealing film 430. When forming the kneaded film 434, the layered compound kneaded material contains polypropylene as a polymer material. The heat resistant film 436 is formed of a material having a higher softening point than the welding film 432, and maintains the shape of the ink sealing film 430 when the welding film 432 is welded.

  FIG. 5 is a plan view of the cartridge holder 200, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge holder 200 taken along the line AA of FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the cartridge holder 200 includes a plate-like member 202 and a sealing film 204 that is welded to one surface of the plate-like member 202. As shown in FIG. 5, the plate-like member 202 is a substantially rectangular plate-like member, and a plurality of cylindrical cartridge connecting portions 210 to which the ink supply portions 414 of the ink cartridge 400 are connected and the ink conducting material 100 are connected. The plurality of conducting material connecting holes 220 and the plurality of cartridge connecting portions 210 are connected to the conducting material connecting holes 220. The groove part 230 is formed on one surface of the plate-like member 202 and becomes a liquid flow path when sealed with the sealing film 204. The plate-like member 202 is made of a layered compound kneading material. When the plate member 202 is formed, the layered compound kneaded material contains polypropylene as a polymer material. The sealing film 204 is formed by sandwiching a kneaded film between a welding film and a heat-resistant film, for example, like the ink sealing film 430 shown in FIG. 4, but may have other configurations. .

  FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the ink conducting material 100. The ink conducting material 100 is long and has a plurality of cylindrical holder side coupling portions 102 inserted into the conducting material coupling holes 220 of the cartridge holder 200 at one end. In addition, a plurality of cylindrical head side connecting portions 104 connected to the recording head unit 300 are provided at the other end. The holder side connecting portion 102 and the head side connecting portion 104 are molded in two colors together with a base material 110 (described later) of the ink conducting material 100 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the ink conducting material 100 in the width direction. The ink conducting material 100 includes a base material 110 and an ink sealing film 120. The base material 110 is formed of a layered compound kneading material, and has a plurality of groove portions 112a formed on one side and spaced apart from each other along the longitudinal direction. The ink sealing film 120 is welded to one surface of the substrate 110, and the plurality of flow path portions 112 are formed by sealing the openings of each of the plurality of groove portions 112a. As shown in FIG. 1, the ink conductive material 100 connects the cartridge holder 200 and the recording head unit 300. The recording head unit 300 moves together with the carriage 42. For this reason, the ink conduction | electrical_connection material 100 needs to have flexibility. When forming the base material 110 of the ink conductive material 100, the layered compound kneaded material contains a thermoplastic elastomer, for example, a SEPS (polystyrene-polyethylene-polypropylene-polystyrene) polymer as a polymer material. The ink sealing film 120 is formed by sandwiching a kneaded film between a welded film and a heat resistant film, for example, similarly to the ink sealing film 430 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. There may be.

  FIG. 11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing an outline of the configuration of the base material 110 by enlarging the cross section. FIG. 11 shows a state of being cut in the thickness direction along the longitudinal direction of the substrate 110. In addition, in the same figure, the inorganic layered compound 142 is shown enlarged for explanation.

  A substrate 110 shown in FIG. 11 has a thick intermediate layer 132 composed of an inorganic layered compound 142 and a polymer compound 140, and surface layers 130 and 134 disposed on the surface of the intermediate layer 132. The intermediate layer 132 and the surface layers 130 and 143 are formed by extruding a layered compound kneaded material obtained by kneading the inorganic layered compound 142 and the polymer compound 140 from a mold in a certain direction. In FIG. 11, the direction of extrusion is the right direction (or left direction). Due to this extrusion force, the inorganic layered compound 142 is arranged in the middle layer 132 along the direction of extrusion. Thereby, the inorganic layered compound 142 can be densely arranged in the direction perpendicular to the direction of extrusion. Therefore, in the base material 110, the amount of the ink solvent or the air that passes through in the direction perpendicular to the direction of extrusion (the vertical direction in the drawing) can be reduced.

  At the time of extrusion molding, the polymer compound 140 is cured faster than the center when the surface comes into contact with the outside air. In this case, since the polymer compound 140 cured in the vicinity of the surface is gradually cured toward the center while pushing around the inorganic layered compound 142, the surface layers 130 and 134 are polymers that do not include the inorganic layered compound 142. Formed by Compound 140. Accordingly, the intermediate layer 132 including the inorganic layered compound 142 and the surface layers 130 and 134 not including the inorganic layered compound 142 can be easily and integrally molded. In addition, since the intermediate layer 132 and the surface layers 130 and 134 are integrally molded including the same polymer compound 140, it is possible to prevent peeling between these layers.

  The surface layers 130 and 134 prevent the inorganic layered compound 142 disposed on the intermediate layer 132 from peeling off. Thereby, when the base material 110 is bent, the inorganic layered compound 142 can be prevented from peeling off on the surface. Moreover, since the inorganic layered compound 142 does not jump out on the surface of the base material 110, the problem that the inorganic layered compound 142 catches another member on the surface of the base material 110 can be prevented.

  FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the recording head unit 300. The recording head unit 300 includes a connecting member 302, a base member 304, and a head body 306. The head main body 306 ejects ink onto the recording material 11 shown in FIG. 2 in accordance with a signal input from the main body of the ink jet recording apparatus 10. The base member 304 fixes and holds the head main body 306 and supplies ink to the head main body 306.

The connection member 302 includes a connection base 310 and a sealing film 320 that is welded to one surface of the connection base 310. The connection base 310 includes a plurality of conductive material connection portions 312, a head side connection portion 314, and a plurality of flow channel grooves 316. The conductive material connecting portion 312 is exposed from the film hole portion 322 formed in the sealing film 320, and a plurality of inks are individually received when the head side connecting portion 104 of the ink conductive material 100 is inserted. The head side connecting portion 314 is sealed by the sealing film 320 and is connected to the base member 304 to supply a plurality of inks to the base member 304 individually. The channel groove portion 316 guides the plurality of inks received by the conductive material connecting portion 312 to the head side connecting portion 314 individually.
The connecting substrate 310 is formed of a layered compound kneading material. When forming the connection base material 310, the layered compound kneaded material contains polyphenylene ether resin as a polymer material. The sealing film 320 has the same configuration except for the composition of the ink sealing film 430 and the welding film 432 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for example. In the sealing film 320, the layer corresponding to the welding film 432 is formed of the same series of materials as the polyphenylene ether resin. The sealing film 320 may have other configurations.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a manufacturing process of the lower case 410 and the upper case 420 of the ink cartridge 400, the plate-like member 202 of the cartridge holder 200, and the base material 110 of the ink conductive material 100. First, a pellet of a layered compound kneaded material in which an inorganic layered compound is kneaded with a polymer material is prepared (S10). Then, the pellet is melted (S20), poured into a mold, and the lower case 410, the upper case 420, the plate member 202, and the substrate 110 are injection molded (S30). Thus, the lower case 410, the upper case 420, the plate member 202, the base material 110, and the connection base material 310 can be formed by injection molding.

  As described above, in the ink jet recording apparatus 10, the lower case 410 and the upper case 420 of the ink cartridge 400, the plate-like member 202 of the cartridge holder 200, and the base material 110 of the ink conductive material 100 are made of an inorganic layered polymer material. Since it is formed using a layered compound kneaded material kneaded with a compound (for example, montmorillonite), the atmosphere is difficult to dissolve in the ink. For this reason, gas is ejected from the recording head unit 300 instead of ink, so-called dot dropout is reduced, and recording quality is unlikely to deteriorate even if continuous recording is performed. In addition, the number of cleaning operations is reduced because ink is ejected to recover from missing dots. Therefore, more ink can be used for recording. Further, since the solvent of the ink is difficult to evaporate until the ink is ejected from the recording head unit 300, the ink is difficult to thicken.

  In addition, a member that has been conventionally injection-molded can be manufactured in the same process as in the prior art, except that the number of processes for manufacturing a layered compound kneaded material is increased. Therefore, the manufacturing cost does not increase.

  The ink jet recording apparatus 10 is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus. The ink cartridge 400 is an example of an ink container, and the recording head unit 300 is an example of a liquid ejecting unit. However, the liquid ejecting apparatus is not limited to this. Another example of the liquid ejecting apparatus is a color filter manufacturing apparatus that manufactures a color filter for a liquid crystal display. In this case, the cartridge for storing the color material is an example of the liquid storage container. Still another example of the liquid ejecting apparatus is an electrode forming apparatus that forms electrodes such as an organic EL display and an FED (surface emitting display). In this case, a cartridge that stores an electrode material (conductive paste) of the electrode forming apparatus is an example of a liquid storage container. Still another example of the liquid ejecting apparatus is a biochip manufacturing apparatus that manufactures a biochip. In this case, the cartridge for storing the bioorganic matter and the sample of the biochip manufacturing apparatus is an example of the liquid storage container. The liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention includes other liquid ejecting apparatuses having industrial use. The recording object is an object on which recording is performed by ejecting a liquid. In addition to recording paper, a circuit board on which circuit patterns such as electrodes of a display are recorded, a CD-ROM on which a label is printed, DNA The preparation on which the circuit is recorded is included.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiment. It is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

1 is a perspective view showing an ink jet recording apparatus 10 with a cover removed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an ink supply system included in the ink jet recording apparatus 10. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an ink cartridge 400. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an ink sealing film 430. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cartridge holder 200. FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge holder 200 in the AA cross section of FIG. 5. 2 is a perspective view of an ink conducting material 100. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the ink conducting material 100 in the width direction. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a recording head unit 300. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a manufacturing process of an ink cartridge lower case 410 and the like. It is an expanded sectional view which expands and shows the composition of the section of substrate 110.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Inkjet recording device, 11 ... Recording object, 42 ... Carriage, 48 ... Guide shaft, 100 ... Ink conduction material, 102 ... Holder side connection part, 104 ... Head side connection part, 110 ... Base material, 112 ... Flow Road portion, 112a ... groove portion, 120 ... ink sealing film, 130 ... surface layer, 132 ... intermediate layer, 134 ... surface layer, 140 ... polymer compound, 142 ... inorganic layered compound, 200 ... cartridge holder, 202 ... plate shape Members 204, sealing film 210, cartridge connecting portion, 220, conducting material connecting hole, 230, groove portion, 300, recording head unit, 302, connecting member, 304, base member, 306, head body, 310, connecting base 312 ... conductive material connecting part, 314 ... head side connecting part, 316 ... flow channel groove part, 320 ... sealing film, 322 ... fill Hole portion, 400 ... ink cartridge, 410 ... lower case, 412 ... ink containing portion, 412a ... concave portion, 414 ... ink supply portion, 420 ... upper case, 430 ... ink sealing film, 432 ... welding film, 434 ... kneading film 436 ... heat resistant film

Claims (4)

A liquid conducting material that conducts the liquid container and the liquid ejecting unit and supplies liquid from the liquid containing container to the liquid ejecting unit,
A substrate formed of a layered compound kneaded material containing a polymer compound and an inorganic layered compound, and provided with a groove formed along the longitudinal direction;
A sealing film which is welded to one surface of the base material and seals an opening of the groove to form the liquid channel portion;
With
The sealing film has a softening point from the base material side, a welding film that is welded to the base material, a kneading film formed from a layered compound kneading material containing a polymer compound and an inorganic layered compound, and a welding film. Has a high heat-resistant film,
The base material is molded by extrusion so as to be in the direction of extrusion along the longitudinal direction of the base material ,
The inorganic layered compound, together with a direction along the layer is disposed along the direction of the extrusion within the substrate, the liquid conductive material to be densely arranged in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the extrusion. 2. The liquid conducting material according to claim 1, wherein the content of the inorganic layered compound in the layered compound kneaded material is 1 wt% or more and 50 wt% or less. The liquid conducting material according to claim 1, wherein the base material has a surface layer that prevents the inorganic layered compound from peeling off. The liquid conducting material according to claim 3, wherein the surface layer is integrally formed with the polymer compound not including the inorganic layered compound.

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