JP5629165B2 - Wiring member - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wiring member provided in a cartridge. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wiring member provided in a cartridge such as a toner cartridge, an ink jet cartridge, or an ink cartridge with a head that is mounted on a printing apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, or a multifunction machine.

In an ink jet printer that is cited as an example of a printing apparatus, usually, ink stored in an ink cartridge mounted on a cartridge mounting portion in the printing apparatus is sent to a recording head, and the recording head is a recording medium such as paper. Images and characters are recorded by ejecting and applying ink droplets onto the screen.

The recording head in an ink jet printer controls the ejection of ink droplets using heat and vibration, and when the ink cartridge runs out of ink and the ink ejection operation occurs without ink being supplied, There is a possibility of failure.

Therefore, in an ink jet printer, an ink cartridge provided with a wiring member composed of seven electrodes or nine electrodes to monitor the remaining amount of ink in the ink cartridge so that the recording head does not run idle. Has been proposed. The electrodes provided in the ink cartridge are in contact with the electrodes provided in the printer, exchange ink information of the ink cartridge with each other, and information management of the ink remaining amount is performed by a control circuit of the printer. (For example, patent document 1, patent document 2) Moreover, the structure of the some electrode with which the wiring member proposed by this patent document 1 and 2 was equipped with the electrode to which a high voltage is applied in order to prevent the short circuit between electrodes. The structure arrange | positioned at the extreme end part of a some electrode is taken.

As an ink cartridge, an ink cartridge with a head including a recording head has been proposed. This recording head includes a large number of electrodes in contact with the electrodes of the recording apparatus, and exchanges information with each other through the electrodes to control the temperature of the recording head. (For example, Patent Document 3)

Among the above-mentioned patent documents, the ink cartridge of Patent Document 1 is an ink cartridge having a wiring member provided with nine electrodes. As shown in FIG. 3, the wiring member provided in the ink cartridge of Patent Document 1 has four electrodes arranged in the upper stage and five electrodes in the lower stage. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, thin plate springs are vertically arranged in two rows so that the electrodes on the printer side correspond to the electrodes of the wiring member. When the ink cartridge having the wiring member is mounted on the printer, the electrode on the printer side and the electrode of the wiring member are brought into contact with each other, and information on the cartridge such as ink information is mutually exchanged. Various information management such as quantity will be performed.

JP 2007-196664 A JP 2002-198627 A JP-A-6-320750

However, in the cartridge provided with a plurality of electrodes proposed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, there is often a problem that printing cannot be performed due to poor contact between the thin spring electrode on the printing apparatus side and the electrode of the cartridge. It has occurred. As a result of the present inventors diligently researching the above-mentioned problems, it has been found that these poor contacts are largely caused by variations in the strength of the electrode portions arranged on the wiring members constituting the plurality of electrodes. It was. Further, in the case of having a large number of electrodes as in the cartridge with a head proposed in Patent Document 3, the above problem of poor contact occurs further, and in particular, the wiring member constituting the electrode arrangement is a flexible wiring member. In this case, the inventors have also found that the problem of poor contact is remarkable.

In view of the above problems, the present inventors have further studied the above problems, and as a result, the configuration of the electrodes of the cartridge to be mounted on the printing apparatus is reduced in size as the printing apparatus is miniaturized. It has also been found that extending the electrodes in the mounting direction, i.e., the vertical direction, has a large variation in strength in the horizontal direction, i.e., the lateral direction, particularly with respect to the mounting direction of the cartridge.

Furthermore, as a result of earnest research on the problem that the present inventor causes poor contact, the electrode provided in the cartridge is always in contact with the pressing force of the spring electrode corresponding to the thin spring electrode on the printer side. However, due to the above factors and causes, a cartridge having a plurality of electrodes mounted on the printing apparatus is subjected to vibration of the printing apparatus, and the thin spring plate electrode and the cartridge electrode The inventor has recognized that the contact between the two is temporarily lost, resulting in poor contact.

That is, the conventional wiring member having a large number of electrodes has a problem that printing is not possible due to contact failure due to vibration of the printing apparatus. Therefore, the present inventor has recognized that a wiring member that can be printed well without causing poor contact that often occurs and a cartridge including the wiring member are necessary.

Based on the above findings, the present invention eliminates variations in the strength of the electrodes provided in the wiring member, and even if the printing device vibrates, the contact between the electrode terminal of the wiring member and the electrode of the printing device that is the spring plate electrode It is an object to provide an electrode in which contact failure is suppressed. It is another object of the present invention to provide a wiring member provided with an electrode that suppresses contact failure and a cartridge provided with the wiring member. This object is achieved by a combination of features described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous specific examples of the present invention.

1st invention of this invention is a wiring member provided with the some electrode part, Comprising: The said electrode part is mounted | worn with the mounting part of a printing apparatus, and contacts with the electrode part of the said mounting part, and forms a contact part The electrode portions are arranged such that the contact portions are formed in a plurality of rows in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing apparatus, and upstream of the direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing apparatus. The conductive member extended from at least one of the two electrode parts located at both ends of the electrode part located on the lower sulfur side opposite to the side is disposed so as to be close to the other electrode part. The wiring member is formed by extending the conductive member in a direction substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing apparatus .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the wiring member according to the first aspect, wherein the shape of the conductive member is linear or curved and a combination thereof.

A third aspect of the present invention, the conductive member is a wire member according to the first invention or the second invention which is characterized in that a plurality of arranged.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wiring member including a plurality of electrode portions, wherein the electrode portions are mounted on a mounting portion of a printing apparatus and contact the electrode portions of the mounting portion. The electrode portions are arranged so that the contact portions are formed in a plurality of rows in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing device, and the wiring member is mounted on the printing device. The conductive member extended from at least one electrode part of the two electrode parts located at both ends of the electrode part located on the lower sulfur side in the direction opposite to the upstream side is close to the other electrode part Since the conductive member is disposed so as to extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing apparatus, variations in the strength of the electrodes provided on the wiring member are suppressed, and the vibration of the printing apparatus is suppressed. Even if there is an electrode with a wiring member Contact failure with the electrodes provided in the printing apparatus can be suppressed. Therefore, good printing can be performed.

Further, the conductive member is located on the lower sulfur side in the direction opposite to the upstream side, rather than the plurality of electrodes located on the upstream side in the direction of mounting the wiring member to the printing apparatus. Since it is configured , there is no variation in strength between the conductive member and the electrode member. Therefore, even if the variation in the strength of the electrode provided in the wiring member is further suppressed and the printing apparatus vibrates, the contact failure between the electrode provided in the wiring member and the electrode provided in the printing apparatus can be further suppressed.

In particular, with respect to the mounting direction with respect to the mounting portion, the conductive member is positioned downstream of the plurality of electrode portions even if there is a risk that strength variation may occur on the upstream side due to an impact during mounting or the like. Thus, variation is further suppressed by the strength on the downstream side, and contact failure can be suppressed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the shape of the conductive member is a linear shape or a curved shape and a combination thereof, variation in the strength of the electrodes provided in the wiring member is further suppressed, and the printing apparatus Even if there is vibration, it is possible to further suppress contact failure between the electrode provided in the wiring member and the plurality of electrodes provided in the printing apparatus. Therefore, good printing can be performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since a plurality of the conductive members are arranged, variation in strength of the plurality of electrodes can be further suppressed. Further, the conductive member, so it is also possible to adopt a configuration that is disposed in a gap between the electrode portions, variations in the strength of the electrode with the wiring member, even if vibration of a more suppressed further printing device wiring member Contact failure between the electrode provided and the electrode provided in the printing apparatus can be further suppressed. Therefore, good printing can be performed.

Schematic diagram of an electrode showing an exemplary embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing another embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of an electrode showing an example of an electrode showing the prior art Schematic diagram of an electrode showing an example of an electrode showing the prior art

Embodiment examples of the configuration of the present invention described above will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 are schematic views schematically showing the configuration of the electrodes. The electrode is also a schematic diagram in which a total of nine electrode portions of electrodes 1 to 9 are formed on a wiring member (not shown). In the present embodiment example, each of the electrodes 1 to 9 forms a vertically long rectangular electrode portion. Each of the electrode portions has a total of nine contact portions, that is, contact portions 10 to 18 that come into contact with an electrode of a printer (not shown).

More specifically, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 1, the electrode unit configured as illustrated is mounted on the electrode mounting unit of the printing apparatus in the direction of the arrow illustrated in FIG. That is, the electrode 1, the electrode 2, the electrode 3, and the electrode 4 are arranged at regular intervals at the lower part. An electrode 6 is arranged so as to be positioned between the electrode 1 and the electrode 2. Similarly, the electrode 8 is disposed between the electrode 3 and the electrode 4. Further, the electrode 7 is arranged between the electrode 6 and the electrode 8 on the upper side of the electrodes 1 to 4, that is, on the side opposite to the electrode mounting direction. Further, the electrode 5 and the electrode 9 are arranged in a configuration located outside the electrode 6 and the electrode 8.
That is, the configuration of the present invention is a wiring member having a plurality of electrode portions, and the electrode portions are mounted on a mounting portion of a printing apparatus and contact the electrode portions of the mounting portion to form a contact portion. The electrode portions are arranged such that the contact portions are formed in a plurality of rows in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing apparatus, and the upstream side in the direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing apparatus The conductive member extended from at least one electrode part of the two electrode parts located at both ends of the electrode part located on the lower sulfur side in the opposite direction is disposed so as to be close to the other electrode part, The conductive member is formed so as to extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the wiring member is mounted on the printing apparatus.

And it is the conductive member 5a which is an extension of the electrode portion which is also a configuration of the present invention, and the both end electrode portions are substantially brought close together so that the conductive member 5a improves the strength in the width direction. The strength of the electrode part and the wiring member can be improved, whereby the variation in strength between the part having the electrode and the part not having the electrode on the wiring member can be suppressed. As described above, the electrode part provided in the wiring member of the present invention is the conductive member 5a which is an extension of the electrode part, and the both end electrode parts are substantially arranged so that the conductive member 5a improves the strength in the width direction. Therefore, even if there is a vibration of the printing apparatus, the contact failure between the electrode provided in the wiring member and the electrode provided in the printing apparatus is suppressed. Can do. Therefore, it is possible to achieve an effect that good printing can be performed. Moreover, as shown in the figure, the electrode 6 and the electrode 8 can be configured to extend in the electrode mounting axis direction. By setting it as such a structure, the effect which further suppresses the intensity | strength variation of the said electrode can be improved. Such a configuration is also included in the configuration of the present invention.

Moreover, in this invention, the said electrically-conductive member can be set as the structure located in the downstream rather than the said several electrode part regarding the mounting direction with respect to a mounting part. Since the conductive member is positioned downstream of the plurality of electrode portions in the mounting direction with respect to the mounting portion, there is no variation in strength between the conductive member member and the electrode portion. The variation in the strength of the electrode provided in the wiring member is further suppressed, and even if the printing apparatus vibrates, the contact failure between the electrode provided in the wiring member and the electrode provided in the printing apparatus can be further suppressed. In particular, with respect to the mounting direction with respect to the mounting portion, the conductive member is positioned downstream of the plurality of electrode portions even if there is a risk that strength variation may occur on the upstream side due to an impact during mounting or the like. Thereby, variation is suppressed by the strength on the downstream side, and poor contact can be suppressed.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the electrode 5 and the electrode 9 are conductive members 5b and 9a, which are also extensions of the electrode portions, and the both ends are arranged so that the conductive members 5b and 9a improve the strength in the width direction. The electrode portions are configured to be substantially close to each other. Thus, by providing the conductive members 5b and 9a, it is possible to suppress variation in the electrodes and to provide further strength.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 will be described. In this embodiment, the electrode 5 and the electrode 9 are conductive members 5c and 9b which are also extensions of the electrode portions, and the both ends of the conductive members 5b and 9a are improved so as to improve the strength in the width direction. The electrode portions are configured to be substantially close to each other. Thus, by providing the conductive members 5b and 9a, it is possible to suppress variation in the electrodes and to provide further strength.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 will be described. In this embodiment, the electrode 5 and the electrode 8 are conductive members 5d and 8a which are also extensions of the electrode portions, and the both ends of the conductive members 5d and 8a are improved so as to improve the strength in the width direction. The electrode portions are configured to be substantially close to each other. Furthermore, it is set as the structure provided with the electrically-conductive member 5e extended below. Thus, by providing the conductive members 5b, 5e, and 8a, it is possible to suppress variations in the electrodes and to provide further strength.

In the present invention, a configuration including a conductive member extending downward is also included in the configuration of the present invention.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 5 will be described. FIG. 5 shows an example of an embodiment in which the electrode shape is random. The electrode parts shown in FIG. 5 are made substantially close to the electrode 19 shown in FIG. 5 so that the conductive member 19a improves the strength in the width direction. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to suppress variations in the electrodes and to provide further strength.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 will be described. The wiring member shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 has a configuration in which the five-pole electrodes 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 are provided in the mounting direction, that is, the lower part and the four-pole electrodes 20, 21, 22, 23 are provided in the upper part. It is said. Each of the electrodes 20 to 28 forms a vertically long rectangular electrode, but various rectangular shapes can be employed. Each of the electrodes has a total of nine contact portions that come into contact with a spring electrode of a printer (not shown). The direction of the arrow is the mounting direction in which the ink cartridge is mounted on the printer.

FIG. 6 shows the conductive member 29 in contact with the electrode 24 in the upper direction of the electrode 23, then between the electrodes 22 and 23, and in the lower direction of the electrode 22, and further between the electrodes 21 and 22. Then, the electrodes 21 and 20 are positioned in the upper direction, and are extended while exhibiting a random curved shape so as to finally come close to the electrode 28.

In FIG. 7, the conductive member 29 in contact with the electrode 28 is extended while exhibiting a random curved shape so as to be close to the electrode 24. As shown in the figure, the conductive member 29 is further extended in the gap between the electrodes 25, 26, and 27 so as to exhibit branching.

Next, the wiring member shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is configured to have a mounting direction, that is, a four-pole electrode at the bottom and a five-pole electrode at the top.

In FIG. 8, a conductive member extended so as to exhibit a linear shape is provided in the upper portion, and a conductive member extended so as to exhibit a random curved shape is brought into contact with the lower portion of the conductive member.

In FIG. 9, a conductive member extended to have a linear shape is provided at the top, and a conductive member extended to have a random curved shape at the bottom of the conductive member and to branch in the gaps between the electrodes. Are in contact.

Here, as shown in FIG. 9, the gap between the electrode portions may be surrounded by a conductive member and extended so as to exhibit a circular shape.

Next, FIGS. 10 to 13 describe other embodiments in the case where the electrode shape is random. The wiring member shown in FIGS. 10 to 13 has a configuration in which the five-pole electrodes 34, 35, 36, 37, and 38 are provided in the mounting direction, that is, the lower part, and the four-pole electrodes 30, 31, 32, and 33 are provided on the upper part. It is said. Each of the electrodes 30 to 38 has a random shape. Each of the electrodes has a total of nine contact portions that come into contact with an electrode of a printer (not shown). The direction of the arrow is the mounting direction in which the ink cartridge is mounted on the printer.

FIG. 10 shows that the conductive member 39 brought into contact with the electrode 38 is passed from the upper direction of the electrode 30 between the electrodes 30 and 31 and between the electrodes 36 and 37 to the lower part of the electrode 36 and further to the electrodes 35, After extending between 36 and between the electrodes 32 and 33, it is extended so as to exhibit a random curved shape so as to finally come close to the electrode 34.

11 and 12 are provided with a conductive member extended so as to exhibit a linear shape at the upper part, and further extended so as to exhibit a random curved shape at the lower part of the conductive member and branching in the gap between the electrodes. The electrically conductive member is brought into contact.

FIG. 13 shows that a conductive member extended so as to exhibit a linear shape is provided at the top, and a conductive member extended so as to have a curved shape and branching is provided at the lower portion of the conductive member. Yes. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 13, the conductive member may extend so as to surround the gap between the electrode portions and exhibit a circular shape.

By configuring the conductive member as illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 13, it is possible to suppress variations in the electrodes and to provide further strength. Further, the arrangement of the plurality of electrodes of the wiring member and the conductive member according to the present invention should be arranged so as to avoid a plurality of spring electrodes of the recording apparatus and a plurality of electrodes of the wiring member from simultaneously contacting with respect to the insertion direction of the wiring member. Are also included in the present invention. This is because a short circuit between a plurality of electrodes when the wiring member is mounted can be prevented.

The embodiments described in FIGS. 1 to 13 can be combined in various ways and are not limited to the above-described embodiments.

Furthermore, when mounting the ink cartridge to the printer, many mounting methods are adopted so that the wiring member is mounted from the bottom to the top. The electrode on the lower side of the member is often worn. Therefore, if the conductive member is provided on the upper side of the wiring member, variations in the electrodes can be suppressed and the strength of the wiring member can be further increased.

As described above, in the present invention, the shape of the conductive member may be a linear shape or a curved shape, and a combination of these may be arranged in the gap between the electrodes of the wiring member. Therefore, the wiring member of the present invention can further suppress variations in strength between the portion having the electrode and the portion not having the electrode on the wiring member. In the case of the ink cartridge using the wiring member not configured as in the present invention described above, the complaint of contact failure from the user has been about 3% so far, but the ink using the wiring member configured in the present invention Regarding the cartridge, the claim could be reduced to 0.01%. As a result of investigating the content of the claim 0.01%, it was found that the memory was not defective but a memory failure. Therefore, with the configuration of the present invention, the contact failure can be essentially 0%.

14 and 15 are examples of electrodes showing the prior art. 6 shows the mounting direction, that is, a configuration with four electrodes at the bottom and five electrodes at the top, and FIG. 7 shows a configuration with four electrodes at the bottom, three electrodes at the top. Yes.

The wiring member of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various combinations and combinations of the number and arrangement of the electrode portions are possible, and such a configuration is also included in the configuration of the present invention.

The wiring member of the present invention can be applied to various cartridges provided with a wiring member regardless of the type of ink, such as an ink cartridge, a toner cartridge, and an ink cartridge with a head.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electrode 2 Electrode 3 Electrode 4 Electrode 5 Electrode 6 Electrode 7 Electrode 8 Electrode 9 Electrode 10 Contact part 11 Contact part
12 Contact portion 13 Contact portion 14 Contact portion 15 Contact portion 16 Contact portion 17 Contact portion 17 Contact portion 18 Contact portion 19 Electrode 3a Conductive member 5a Conductive member 5b Conductive member 5c Conductive member 5d Conductive member 5e Conductive member 8a Conductive member 9a Conductive member 9b Conductive member 19a Conductive member 20 Electrode 21 Electrode 22 Electrode
23 Electrode 24 Electrode 25 Electrode 26 Electrode 27 Electrode 28 Electrode 29 Conductive Member 30 Electrode 31 Electrode 32 Electrode 33 Electrode 34 Electrode 35 Electrode 36 Electrode 37 Electrode 38 Electrode 39 Conductive Member

Claims (3)

A wiring member provided with a plurality of electrode parts, wherein the electrode part is mounted on a mounting part of a printing apparatus and contacts the electrode part of the mounting part to form a contact part, and the contact part is the wiring member The electrode portions are arranged so as to be formed in a plurality of rows in a direction perpendicular to the direction of mounting to the printing apparatus, and on the downstream side of the upstream side of the direction of mounting of the wiring member to the printing apparatus. The conductive member continuously extended from one electrode part of the two electrode parts located at both ends of the electrode part located is arranged so as to be close to the other electrode part, and the conductive member is the wiring member A wiring member, wherein the wiring member is continuously extended in a direction substantially perpendicular to a direction of mounting to the printing apparatus .   The wiring member according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the conductive member is a linear shape or a curved shape and a combination thereof. Wherein the conductive member is the wiring member according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein a plurality of disposed.

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