JP5014076B2 - Ink tank - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink tank for storing ink used in an ink cartridge mounted on an ink jet printer, and a manufacturing method thereof.

  The ink capacity of ink cartridges mounted on currently marketed inkjet printers is determined so as to satisfy the specifications of inkjet printers that better meet market needs by feeding back the results of market research and the like.

  On the other hand, since ink cartridges are consumables and are produced in large quantities, various ink amounts are required to meet all market needs.

  However, the high-mix low-volume production is not suitable for mass production and costs high, and the price of the ink cartridge becomes high. If it does so, the commercial property of an ink cartridge may fall.

  For this reason, in the future, it is necessary to make the ink cartridge basic by narrowing down the size and shape to some extent from the convenience of the line on the premise of mass production.

  Even in such a background, in the ink cartridge, the ink amount may be unavoidably changed according to the shipping country and the specifications of the ink jet printer, and it is difficult to keep the ink amount constant.

  When the ink amount of the ink cartridge is changed, the ink amount of the existing cartridge may be reduced or increased.

  When the ink amount is reduced with respect to the existing cartridge, it can be dealt with by merely reducing the ink injection amount as compared with the current state.

  However, when increasing the ink amount relative to the existing cartridge, it is not possible to guarantee reliability by simply increasing the ink injection amount as it is, and in the worst case ink leakage may occur. I can't.

  Therefore, whenever the amount of ink is increased relative to the existing cartridge, the ink tank, the absorber, and the peripheral parts of the ink cartridge are examined and redesigned each time, and a prototype is newly manufactured and prototyped and evaluated. There is a need.

  However, every time you increase the amount of ink compared to an existing cartridge, it takes a lot of development cost and time to examine, redesign, prototype, and evaluate the ink cartridge. Has been a conflicting issue.

  In such a situation, the configuration that can easily increase the ink amount by diverting the existing cartridge as it is, can cope with variations in various ink amounts, and can easily and quickly respond to market needs.

Such a configuration is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In Patent Document 1, an ink tank of an ink cartridge is configured by connecting two components. And, for each of the two components, insert the absorber so that it protrudes from the absorber insertion opening, and connect the two components so that these absorbers come into contact in a compressed state. Yes.
Japanese Patent No. 3308751

  However, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, when two components are connected to each other by ultrasonic welding, the absorber protruding from the absorber insertion opening of each component is sandwiched between the welding connection surfaces. There was a problem of getting out. Even if the amount of protrusion of the absorber is accurately controlled, the absorber is compressed and spreads laterally when the absorbers come into contact with each other, so that the absorber is sandwiched between the welding connection surfaces.

  In addition to ultrasonic welding, there is also a method called vibration welding that can be more firmly connected. However, since vibration welding is performed by frictional heat generated by moving two components relative to each other by about 1 mm to 2 mm (this is referred to as amplitude during vibration welding), it is compared with the ultrasonic welding described above. And it becomes easy to insert | pinch an absorber at the time of the movement in the case of welding.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink tank and a method for manufacturing the same that can prevent the absorber from being caught when two components are connected to each other.

In order to achieve the above object, the ink tank of the present invention comprises:
A first and a second structural body for accommodating first and second absorbers for holding ink, respectively, wherein the first absorber and the second absorber are in contact with each other; An ink tank in which a structure and the second structure are connected,
The first absorbent body protrudes outward from the absorbent body insertion opening of the first structural body in the connecting direction of the first structural body and the second structural body. Inserted so that there is no
The second absorbent body protrudes outward from the absorbent body insertion opening of the second structural body in the connecting direction of the first structural body and the second structural body. Inserted into
The size of the surface of the second absorber facing the first absorber is such that the surface fits inside the surface of the first absorber facing the second absorber. ,
The first structural body and the second structural body are coupled by vibration welding, and a ridge on a surface of the second absorbent body facing the first absorbent body in a moving direction at the time of vibration welding. The distance between the surface of the first absorbent body facing the second absorbent body is larger than the amplitude at the time of vibration welding .

  As described above, according to the ink tank of the present invention, since the first component is configured to push the first absorber into the interior through the absorber insertion opening, the second component and The effect that it is possible to prevent the second absorbent body from being caught during the connection is obtained.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an ink cartridge including an ink tank 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. On the other hand, FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of an ink cartridge including a conventional ink tank 400.

  Hereinafter, it demonstrates, comparing these.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the ink tank 100 of the present embodiment includes a first structure 101 having an ink supply unit 104 (see FIG. 2), a buffer chamber 204, and an atmosphere communication port 205 (see FIG. 2). The second structure 201 is connected to the second structure 201.

  The first structural body 101 is a common unit in which an existing cartridge is diverted, and the amount of ink held by the first absorber 102 (see FIG. 2) is constant. Further, the second component 201 is selected from a plurality of units with different amounts of ink held in the second absorber 202 (see FIG. 2).

  As described above, the ink cartridge 100 according to the present embodiment selects and connects only one second component 201 having a necessary ink amount to the first component 101 using the existing cartridge. An ink tank can be configured. Therefore, it is possible to cope with variations in various ink amounts, and it is possible to easily and quickly respond to market needs.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the conventional ink tank 400 is an integrated large-capacity ink tank redesigned in accordance with the increase in the ink amount. Therefore, every time the amount of ink is increased, all parts related to the ink tank are examined and redesigned, and a prototype is newly manufactured and prototyped and evaluated. Therefore, it is difficult to easily and quickly respond to market needs.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the ink tank 100 of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ink cartridge 100 shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the side. FIG. 2 also shows the dimensional relationship from the absorber insertion opening of the first absorber 102 accommodated in the first component 101 and the second absorber 202 accommodated in the second component 201. It is shown.

  FIG. 3 is a view of the first structure body 101 and the second structure body 201 shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the upper surface and the lower surface, respectively. FIG. 3 also shows a region where the first absorber 102 and the second absorber 202 are in contact with each other.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the first structural body 101 houses the first absorbent body 102 that absorbs and holds ink, and serves as a component part of the ink tank 100. The first structural body 101 has an ink supply unit 104 that is in contact with the first absorbent body 102 via the filter 103 and supplies the ink held by the first absorbent body 102 to the ink ejection member 105. is doing.

  The second component 201 accommodates a second absorber 202 that absorbs and holds ink, and serves as a component of the ink tank 100. In addition, the second structure 201 has an air communication port that allows the buffer chamber 204 that temporarily stores the ink flowing out of the second absorber 202 to communicate with the outside air of the second structure 201. 205.

  The 1st structure 101 and the 2nd structure 201 are connected so that the 1st absorber 102 and the 2nd absorber 202 may contact.

  Here, the fiber density of the first absorber 102 in contact with the ink supply unit 104 is preferably larger than the fiber density of the second absorber 202 from the viewpoint of ink supply. It is known that as the fiber density of the absorber increases, the capillary force for holding the ink increases, and the ink is collected in a portion where the capillary force is large.

  The first absorbent body 102 is inserted into the first structural body 101 so as not to protrude outward from the absorbent body insertion opening (= the connecting surface with the second structural body 201) of the first structural body 101. ing. The second absorbent body 202 is inserted into the second structural body 201 so as to protrude outward from the absorbent body insertion opening (= the connecting surface with the first structural body 101) of the second structural body 201. Yes.

  Thus, since the 1st structure 101 was set as the structure which pushes the 1st absorber 102 into an inside from an absorber insertion opening, the 2nd absorber 202 is connected at the time of the connection with the 2nd structure 201. Can be prevented from being caught.

  Further, it is important that the first absorbent body 102 and the second absorbent body 202 are in contact with each other, and it is more preferable that the contact portion is in a compressed state.

  Therefore, the concave amount A from the tip of the first absorber 102 to the absorber insertion opening of the first component 101, and from the tip of the second absorber 202 to the absorber insertion opening of the second component 201. The convex amount B is such that “the concave amount A <the convex amount B”. Thereby, the 1st absorber 102 and the 2nd absorber 202 can be made to contact in the state compressed reliably. This dimensional relationship is determined by each component tolerance, what level the compression state of the first absorbent body 102 and the second absorbent body 202 is set to, and the like.

  Moreover, although the 1st structure 101 and the 2nd structure 201 are connected by methods, such as welding, it is preferable to use vibration welding to make it more reliable in strength.

  Vibration welding is a welding method in which the amplitude is increased as the frequency is lower. The low frequency has the advantage that damage to each component can be reduced, but on the other hand, since the amplitude is increased, the amount of movement of the connected components in the direction perpendicular to the connecting direction increases. Therefore, the second absorber 202 may be caught during vibration welding.

  Therefore, in order to reliably prevent the second absorbent body 202 from being caught during vibration welding, the size of the surface of the second absorbent body 202 that faces the first absorbent body 102 is the same as the first absorbent body 102. The size is such that it fits inside the surface facing the second absorber 202. Therefore, a plurality of absorber side ribs 203 are provided inside the second component 201.

  Furthermore, in the moving direction at the time of vibration welding, wrinkles on the surface of the second absorber 202 facing the first absorber 102 and wrinkles on the surface of the first absorber 102 facing the second absorber 202 The distance between the two is larger than the movement amount during vibration welding.

  The relationship between the sizes of the first absorbent body 102 and the second absorbent body 202 is shown in FIG. The first absorbent body 102 is inserted into the entire inner side of the first structural body 101, whereas the second absorbent body 202 is a plurality of absorbent bodies provided over the entire inner side of the second structural body 201. It is inserted inside the side rib 203. For this reason, when the 1st structure 101 and the 2nd structure 201 are connected, the area | region where the 1st absorber 102 and the 2nd absorber 202 contact is the 2nd absorber 202. It has the same area as the contact surface.

  Further, at the time of vibration welding, the first absorber 102 and the second absorber 202 are already in contact with each other, so that a resistance force is generated in the contact region, and influence on the welding reliability, or between the absorbers Concerns such as dust generation due to rubbing can be considered.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the region of the convex amount C from the tip of the second absorber 202 to the tip of the absorber side surface rib 203 is set so that “convex amount B <convex amount C”. The free region of the second absorber 202 is assumed. Thereby, the deformation | transformation of the 2nd absorber 202 is attained at the time of vibration welding, the influence on welding and the friction of absorbers can be prevented, and reliability can be ensured.

  Here, a manufacturing method of the ink tank 100 of the present embodiment will be described.

  First, the 1st absorber 102 is inserted in the 1st structure 101 so that it may not protrude outside from the absorber insertion opening of the 1st structure 101 (1st insertion process). As described above, the first structural body 101 is a common unit in which the amount of ink held by the first absorber 102 is constant. Therefore, the 1st structure 101 can be manufactured with a common line.

  Next, the 2nd absorber 202 is inserted in the 2nd structure 201 so that it may protrude outside from the absorber insertion opening of the 2nd structure 201 (2nd insertion process). As described above, the second configuration body 201 is selected from a plurality of units in which the amount of ink held by the second absorber 202 is different. Therefore, the second structural body 201 can be manufactured by any of a plurality of offlines divided according to the amount of ink held by the second absorber 202.

  Thereafter, only one second component 201 is selected from the plurality of second components 201 manufactured off-line according to the amount of ink held by the second absorber 202. And the selected 2nd structure 201 and the 1st structure 101 manufactured by the common line are connected so that the 1st absorber 102 and the 2nd absorber 202 may press-contact ( Connecting step).

  Therefore, in the production line of the ink tank 100, the line of the first structural body 101 that becomes the production main line can be shared. Moreover, it becomes possible to select the 2nd structure 201 freely from the 2nd structure 201 manufactured in several offline. As a result, the production main line can be shared and the process can be simplified, so that investment in the production line can be suppressed and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. As a result, a highly reliable ink cartridge can be provided to the user at a low cost.

1 is an external perspective view of an ink cartridge including an ink tank according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the side. It is the figure which looked at the 1st structure and 2nd structure shown in FIG. 1 from the upper surface and the lower surface, respectively. It is an external perspective view of an ink cartridge including a conventional ink tank.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Ink tank 101 1st structure 102 First absorber 103 Filter 104 Ink supply part 105 Ink discharge member 201 2nd structure 202 2nd absorber 203 Absorber side rib 204 Buffer chamber 205 Atmospheric communication port

Claims (5)

A first and a second structural body for accommodating first and second absorbers for holding ink, respectively, wherein the first absorber and the second absorber are in contact with each other; An ink tank in which a structure and the second structure are connected,
The first absorbent body protrudes outward from the absorbent body insertion opening of the first structural body in the connecting direction of the first structural body and the second structural body. Inserted so that there is no
The second absorbent body protrudes outward from the absorbent body insertion opening of the second structural body in the connecting direction of the first structural body and the second structural body. Inserted into
The size of the surface of the second absorber facing the first absorber is such that the surface fits inside the surface of the first absorber facing the second absorber. ,
The first structural body and the second structural body are coupled by vibration welding, and a ridge on a surface of the second absorbent body facing the first absorbent body in a moving direction at the time of vibration welding. An ink tank characterized in that a distance between a surface of the first absorbent body facing the second absorbent body is larger than an amplitude at the time of vibration welding . The first component is:
An ink supply unit that supplies ink held by the first absorber to an ink discharge member;
The second component is:
A buffer chamber for temporarily storing ink flowing out of the second absorber;
An atmosphere communication port for communicating the inside of the second structural body with the outside atmosphere;
The ink tank according to claim 1 , wherein the first absorber has a higher capillary force than the second absorber. In the state before the first and second absorbers are inserted into the first and second structural bodies, respectively, and before the first structural body and the second structural body are connected,
In the connecting direction of the first structure and the second structure, the amount of protrusion from the tip of the second absorber to the absorber insertion opening of the second structure is the first absorption. It is larger than凹量from the tip of the body to the absorbent body insertion opening of the first structure, an ink tank according to any one of claims 1 or 2. The ink tank according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein a contact portion between the first absorber and the second absorber is in a compressed state. The first component is a common unit in which the amount of ink retained by the first absorber is constant,
Wherein the second structure is characterized in that the amount of ink held in the second absorber is one selected from among a plurality of different units each one of the claims 1-4 1 The ink tank according to the item.

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