JP4872700B2 - Ink lead-out needle, ink supply mechanism and recording apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink lead-out needle, an ink supply mechanism, and a recording apparatus that lead out ink in an ink cartridge.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet recording apparatus that includes a recording head that performs printing by ejecting ink droplets from nozzles onto a recording medium has been widely used.
In this ink jet recording apparatus, an ink cartridge for supplying ink is mounted. When the ink cartridge is mounted, an ink outlet needle is inserted into the outlet port of the ink cartridge, and an ink outlet hole formed in the ink outlet needle Through this, the ink stored in the ink cartridge is led out.
As an ink lead-out needle provided in such an ink jet recording apparatus, there is one in which a core bar is provided inside a circular pipe so as to form a plurality of ink lead-out holes. This ink lead-out needle is a combination of two parts, a circular pipe and a core rod, and a large number of minute inks are formed by a plurality of grooves formed along the axial direction and at intervals in the circumferential direction around the core rod. A lead-out hole is formed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-50558 JP 2004-98661 A

  By the way, a new ink cartridge has its outlet port covered with a film and hermetically sealed, and when the ink cartridge is mounted on an ink jet recording apparatus, the above-described ink outlet needle breaks the film. At this time, the film may be deformed by first being pressed against the ink lead-out needle, closely contacting the tip of the ink lead-out needle while reducing the volume in the sealed lead-out port, and then torn. When the film is broken in this way, the tip of the ink lead-out needle enters the lead-out port in a state where the air is pressurized due to the decrease in volume. As a result, air may enter the ink outlet hole of the tip opening of the ink outlet needle.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an ink lead-out needle, an ink supply mechanism, and an ink supply mechanism that can prevent air from entering into an ink lead-out hole that occurs when an ink lead-out needle breaks a film of an ink cartridge. An object is to provide a recording apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the ink lead-out needle of the present invention is provided with a core rod having a conical tip formed inside the circular pipe and forming a plurality of ink lead-out holes between the circular pipe, An ink lead-out needle that is inserted into a lead-out port of the ink cartridge and leads out the ink stored in the ink cartridge, wherein a protrusion is formed at the tip of the circular pipe.

  According to the ink lead-out needle of this configuration, when the film of the ink cartridge is pressed against the ink lead-out needle, the volume in the sealed lead-out port is reduced, but the protrusion formed at the tip of the circular pipe is the film. A gap is maintained between the tip of the ink lead-out needle and adhesion is prevented. Therefore, even if the film is subsequently torn, the air in the outlet can be discharged well from the gap formed by the protrusion between the film and the tip of the ink outlet needle. Therefore, it is possible to prevent air from entering the ink outlet hole that is generated when the ink cartridge film is torn with the ink outlet needle.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said protrusion part is formed in the both sides of the said circular pipe, respectively.

  According to this configuration, the film is pushed and broken at the three points aligned in the lateral direction of the conical tip portion of the core rod and the protruding portions on both sides of the circular pipe, so that the cut can be made horizontally. Then, the film is divided into a lower half and an upper half, and even if ink is about to leak from the outlet of the ink cartridge, leakage can be suppressed at the remaining portion of the lower half of the film.

  Furthermore, the ink supply mechanism of the present invention has the ink lead-out needle and a cartridge holder to which an ink cartridge is detachably attached, and the ink lead-out needle is inserted into the lead-out port attached to the cartridge holder. The ink stored in the ink cartridge is led out through the ink lead-out hole of the ink lead-out needle.

  According to this ink supply mechanism, when the ink cartridge is mounted in the cartridge holder, it is possible to prevent air from entering the ink outlet hole that occurs when the ink cartridge film is torn with the ink outlet needle. It can be supplied smoothly without defective discharge.

  In addition, the recording apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the ink supplied from the ink supply mechanism is ejected from a nozzle to print on a recording medium.

  According to this printing apparatus, when the ink cartridge is mounted in the cartridge holder, air can be prevented from entering the ink outlet hole that occurs when the ink cartridge film is torn with the ink outlet needle, and the ink discharge can be prevented. High-quality printing can be performed without defects such as missing dots due to defects.

Hereinafter, embodiments of an ink lead-out needle, an ink supply mechanism, and a recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the present embodiment, application to a media processing apparatus composed of publishers will be described as an example.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a publisher (media processing apparatus), and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a label printer portion installed in the publisher.

  The publisher 1 is a media processing device that writes data on a disk-shaped medium (recording medium) such as a CD or DVD and prints on the label surface of the medium, and includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped case 2. . Opening and closing doors 3 and 4 that can be opened and closed to the left and right are attached to the front surface of the case 2. The upper left end of the case 2 is provided with an operation surface 5 on which display lamps, operation buttons, and the like are arranged, and the lower end of the case 2 is provided with a media discharge port 6 for discharging the created media. ing.

  The open / close door 3 on the right side when viewed from the front opens and closes when a blank medium is set or when a created medium is taken out.

  The opening / closing door 4 on the left side when viewed from the front is for opening and closing when the ink cartridge 12 of the label printer (recording apparatus) 11 shown in FIG. 2 is replaced. When the opening / closing door 4 is opened, a plurality of doors are arranged in the vertical direction. The cartridge mounting portion 14 having the cartridge holder 13 is exposed. In addition, although not shown in the case 2 of the publisher 1, in addition to the label printer 11, a blank media stacker that can stack a plurality of unused blank media, a media drive that writes data to the media, and already created A created media stacker for storing media, a media transport mechanism for transporting media between each unit, and the like are provided.

  The label printer 11 is an ink jet printer, and includes ink cartridges 12 for each color (six colors of black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, and light magenta in this embodiment) attached to the ink supply mechanism 71. The ink cartridge 12 is mounted on each cartridge holder 13 of the cartridge mounting portion 14 from the front.

  The label printer 11 includes a carriage 62 having an inkjet head 61 having an ink discharge nozzle (not shown). The carriage 62 is horizontally shown along the carriage guide shaft by a driving force of a carriage motor (not shown). Move back and forth in the direction.

  The label printer 11 includes an ink supply mechanism 71 having a cartridge mounting portion 14 to which the ink cartridge 12 is mounted. The ink supply mechanism 71 has a vertical structure and is erected on the base 72 of the publisher 1 and arranged in the vertical direction. One end of a flexible ink supply tube 73 is connected to the ink supply mechanism 71, and the other end of the ink supply tube 73 is connected to the carriage 62.

Then, the ink of the ink cartridge 12 mounted on the ink supply mechanism 71 is supplied to the carriage 62 via the ink supply tube 73, and passes through a damper unit and a back pressure adjustment unit (not shown) provided on the carriage 62, and then the inkjet head. 61 is discharged from a nozzle (not shown).
The ink supply mechanism 71 is provided with a pressurizing mechanism 74 so as to dispose a main portion on the upper portion thereof. The pressurizing mechanism 74 pressurizes the ink cartridge 12 and ink in the ink cartridge 12. The ink stored in the pack is sent out.

  An ink suction mechanism 81 is provided on the lower side of the carriage 62 at the home position (position shown in FIG. 2). The ink suction mechanism 81 includes a cap 82 that covers the nozzles of the inkjet head 61 exposed on the lower surface of the carriage 62 disposed at the home position, and waste discharged to the cap 82 by the head cleaning operation and ink filling operation of the inkjet head 62. A waste ink suction pump 83 for sucking ink;

Then, the waste ink sucked by the waste ink suction pump 83 of the ink suction mechanism 81 is sent to the waste ink absorption tank 85 through the tube 84.
The waste ink absorption tank 85 has an absorbent material (not shown) disposed in a case 86, and the upper surface thereof is covered with a cover 88 having a plurality of air holes 87.
A waste ink receiving portion 89 which is a part of the waste ink absorption tank 85 is provided below the waste ink suction mechanism 81 so that the waste ink dropped from the waste ink suction mechanism 81 is received and absorbed by the absorbent material. It has become.

Next, the main part of the ink supply mechanism 71 will be described.
First, the ink cartridge 12 detachably mounted on the ink supply mechanism 71 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The ink cartridge 12 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped cartridge case 151, and a pair of upper and lower air chambers 152 separated by a partition plate (not shown) are formed inside the cartridge case 151. Each air chamber 152 stores an ink pack 153 that stores ink. Each ink pack 153 is provided with an ink outlet member 154 communicating with the inside of the ink pack 153.

  A pair of upper and lower attachment holes 155 that communicate between the inside and the outside of the cartridge case 151 are provided at the center of the rear surface 151a of the cartridge case 151, and the outlets 159 of the ink outlet members 154 are provided via the attachment holes 155. Is exposed. The ink outlet needles 159 (described later) arranged in the cartridge holder 13 are inserted into the outlet ports 159, and the ink is led out through the ink outlet needles. In the vicinity of the mounting hole 155 on the rear surface 151 a of the cartridge case 151, a pair of upper and lower air introduction holes 156 for press-fitting air into the air chambers 152 are provided.

  Further, a pair of left and right insertion holes 157 are provided on the rear surface 151a of the cartridge case 151 so as to sandwich the attachment hole 155 and the air introduction hole 156. These insertion holes 157 are for inserting a positioning member in the cartridge holder 13 and do not communicate with the internal space of the cartridge case 151.

  An IC chip 158 is provided at the front end of one side surface of the cartridge case 151. The IC chip 158 is electrically connected to the control unit of the publisher 1 when the ink cartridge 12 is inserted into the cartridge holder 13 and mounted. The IC chip 158 stores information regarding the type and remaining amount of ink in each ink pack 153.

  The ink cartridge 12 crushes the ink pack 153 by introducing pressurized air into the air chamber 152 from the air introduction hole 156 of the cartridge case 151, and the ink contained in the ink pack 153 is discharged to the ink. Pumping is performed via the member 154.

  4 shows a state in which the ink cartridge 12 is mounted on the cartridge holder 13 of the ink supply mechanism 71. The cartridge holder 13 includes a bottom plate portion 131 and a bottom plate portion 131 that extend in the direction in which the ink cartridge 12 is attached / detached. A holder base 133 having a back wall 132 standing on the back side in the mounting direction of the ink cartridge 12, and a slider 135 held on the holder base 133 so as to be slidable in the mounting / removing direction of the ink cartridge 12. A pair of left and right slider urging springs 136 that urge the slider 135 in the removing direction of the ink cartridge 12 are provided.

  The slider 135 has a bottom wall part 138 and a side wall part 139, and the ink cartridge 12 is inserted inside the side wall part 139 when the ink cartridge 12 is attached. Then, the bottom wall 138 is pushed by the inserted ink cartridge 12 and moves integrally with the ink cartridge 12.

  Here, an engagement groove 160 is formed on the lower surface of the ink cartridge 12, and the engagement groove 160 engages the pin 101 at the tip of the lock lever 100 rotatably supported by the holder base 133. Thus, the ink cartridge 12 is positioned.

In other words, the engagement groove 160 forms a heart cam mechanism with the lock lever 100. When the ink cartridge 12 is inserted into the slider 135 and pushed in at the time of attachment, the lock lever 100 enters the engagement groove 160 in the middle thereof, When the operation force is released after the ink cartridge 12 and the slider 135 are pressed to the back position, the ink cartridge 12 and the slider 135 are slightly returned to the removal direction mainly by the urging force of the slider urging spring 136 and the pin of the lock lever 100 101 is locked by reaching the locking position 160 a of the engagement groove 160 by the guide of the engagement groove 160.
As a result, the ink cartridge 12 is mounted in the cartridge holder 13.

  On the other hand, at the time of removal, the ink cartridge 12 is pressed again to the back position together with the slider 135 from the above-mentioned mounting state, so that the locking of the lock lever 100 by the engagement groove 160 is released by the guide of the engagement groove 160. When the operating force is released in this state, the ink cartridge 12 is pushed out of the cartridge holder 13 mainly by the biasing force of the slider biasing spring 136.

  The holder base 133 is provided with an ink lead-out mechanism 110 for leading the ink of the ink cartridge 12 toward the ink jet head 62 described above. The ink lead-out mechanism 110 is provided from the back wall 132 of the holder base 133 to the ink cartridge 12. A pair of upper and lower ink outlet needles 111 (only the upper side is shown in FIG. 4) extending along the attaching / detaching direction of the ink.

  These ink lead-out needles 111 are inserted into the lead-out ports 159 of the pair of upper and lower ink lead-out members 154 of the ink cartridge 12 when the ink cartridge 12 is attached. As a result, the ink stored in the ink pack 153 of the ink cartridge 12 can be derived via the ink outlet needle 111.

  The pressurizing mechanism 74 described above is a pair of upper and lower parts (only the upper side is shown in FIG. 4) provided from the holder base 133 side so as to extend along the attachment / detachment direction of the ink cartridge 12 and move along this direction. A supply valve 75 is provided. When the ink cartridge 12 is attached, these supply valves 75 abut against the rear surface 151a of the ink cartridge 12 shown in FIG. 3 so as to close the upper and lower air introduction holes 156 and are pressed by the biasing force of a spring (not shown). Become. As a result, air can be supplied to the air introduction hole 156 of the ink cartridge 12 via the supply valve 75 and the ink pack 153 can be pressurized.

  In the present embodiment, the ink lead-out needle 111 includes a circular pipe 112 and a core rod 113 fitted inside the circular pipe 112 as shown in FIGS.

  The circular pipe 112 has a multi-stepped cylindrical shape with a smaller diameter toward the tip side, and the most cylindrical portion 115 at the most tip side has a constant diameter except for the tapered chamfered portion 116 at the tip. The inner peripheral portion of the cylindrical portion 115 is a small-diameter hole portion 117 having a small diameter on the proximal end side, and a large-diameter hole portion 118 having a constant diameter larger than the small-diameter hole portion 117 from the intermediate portion to the distal end side. Yes.

  The core rod 113 is a shaft-like member whose tip is a conical tip portion 120 having a tapered cone shape. A large-diameter shaft portion 121 having a large diameter on the side close to the cone tip portion 120 is separated from the cone tip portion 120. A small-diameter shaft portion 122 having a smaller diameter than the large-diameter shaft portion 121 is formed on the end side. A plurality of groove portions 123 extending in the axial direction are formed in the large-diameter shaft portion 121 of the conical tip portion 120 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. In these groove portions 123, the portion from the intermediate portion of the large diameter shaft portion 121 to the small diameter shaft portion 122 is deepened, and the tip side portion of the large diameter shaft portion 121 is gradually made shallower toward the conical tip portion 120.

  Then, such a core rod 113 is inserted inside the circular pipe 112, and the large-diameter shaft portion 121 is fitted into the large-diameter hole portion 118 at that time. In this state, between the circular pipe 112 and the core rod 113, a plurality of ink outlet holes 124 that open to the front at the numerous groove portions 123 of the core rod 113 and the inner peripheral surface of the large-diameter hole portion 118 of the circular pipe 112. Will be formed.

  These ink outlet holes 124 communicate with an ink outlet hole 125 in a portion where the core rod 113 of the circular pipe 112 is not fitted, and the ink is directed toward the ink jet head 62 through the ink outlet hole 125. To derive. Ink discharge holes are formed between the circular pipe 112 and the core rod 113 by forming a groove portion on the inner peripheral surface of the circular pipe 112 instead of forming the groove portion 123 on the outer peripheral surface of the core rod 113. It is also possible.

  With the core rod 113 fitted to the specified position, the distal end position of the circular pipe 112 protrudes more distally than the proximal end position of the conical distal end portion 120 of the core rod 113 and more than the distal end position of the core rod 113. Located on the rear end side.

As shown in FIG. 7, at the tip of the ink lead-out needle 111, the protrusion 126 protrudes toward the tip on the left and right sides of the flat tip surface 112a with a constant axial position of the circular pipe 112, respectively. Is formed. These protrusions 126 have a tip portion 128 protruding in a semicircular shape.
The ink lead-out needle 111 is attached to the holder base 133 such that these protrusions 126 are horizontal in a plane including their centers. It should be noted that the central axis of the conical tip 120 is positioned at the center between the two protrusions 126 on this plane.

  In the new ink cartridge 12, a film (not shown) is attached to the rear surface 151a so as to cover and seal the outlet 159 of the ink outlet member 154. Therefore, when the ink cartridge 12 is mounted on the cartridge holder 13, the film is broken by the ink lead-out needle 111.

  At that time, first, the film of the ink cartridge 12 is pressed against the tip portion of the ink outlet needle 111 to be deformed, and the volume in the sealed outlet 159 is reduced. Thereby, the pressure in the outlet 159 increases. However, the protrusion 126 formed on the front end surface 112 a of the circular pipe 112 maintains a gap between the film and the front end of the ink lead-out needle 111 to prevent adhesion.

  Therefore, even if the film is torn after that, the pressurized air in the outlet 159 is well discharged from the gap formed by the protrusion 126 between the film and the tip of the ink outlet needle 111.

  As described above, according to the embodiment, even if the film is torn, the air in the outlet 159 is well discharged from the gap formed by the protrusion 126 between the film and the tip of the ink outlet needle 111. Therefore, it is possible to prevent air from entering the ink outlet hole 124.

  In addition, when the film is torn, the film is pushed and broken by a load concentrated at three points in the horizontal horizontal direction of the conical tip portion 120 of the core rod 113 and the protrusions 126 on both sides of the circular pipe 112. Can be cut sideways. Then, the film breaks so as to be divided into a lower half and an upper half, and even if ink leaks from the outlet 159 of the ink cartridge 12, ink leaks out at the remaining portion of the lower half of the film. Can be suppressed.

  As a result, ink can be supplied smoothly without defective ejection, and printing can be performed with high quality without problems such as missing dots due to defective ejection of ink.

It is an external appearance perspective view of a publisher (media processing apparatus). It is a perspective view of the recording device part installed in the publisher. It is a perspective view of an ink cartridge. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a cartridge holder portion of the recording apparatus. It is sectional drawing of an ink derivation needle. It is a perspective view of an ink lead-out needle. It is a partial expansion perspective view in the front-end | tip part of an ink lead needle.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Label printer (recording device), 12 ... Ink cartridge, 13 ... Cartridge holder, 71 ... Ink supply mechanism, 111 ... Ink delivery needle, 112 ... Circular pipe, 113 ... Core rod, 124 ... Ink delivery hole, 126 ... Projection Part, 159 ... outlet.

Claims (4)

Inside the circular pipe, a conical tip is formed at the tip of the circular pipe, and a core rod is formed to form a plurality of ink outlet holes between the circular pipe, and the ink cartridge is inserted into the outlet of the ink cartridge. An ink lead needle for leading the ink stored in the ink lead hole ,
At the tip of the circular pipe, a protrusion protruding to the tip is formed ,
The distal end of the circular pipe and the distal end of the projection are positioned on the distal side of the proximal end position of the conical distal end of the core rod, and located on the rear end side of the distal end position of the conical distal end. An ink lead-out needle characterized by:   2. The ink lead-out needle according to claim 1, wherein the protrusions are formed on both sides of the circular pipe.   An ink lead-out needle according to claim 1 or 2, and a cartridge holder to which an ink cartridge is detachably mounted, wherein the ink cartridge is attached to the cartridge holder and the ink lead-out needle is inserted into the lead-out port. An ink supply mechanism for discharging the stored ink through the ink outlet hole of the ink outlet needle. 4. A recording apparatus for printing on a recording medium by ejecting ink supplied through the ink outlet hole of the ink outlet needle in the ink supply mechanism according to claim 3 from a nozzle.

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