JP5880156B2 - Liquid cartridge and droplet ejecting apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid cartridge that stores liquid, and a droplet ejecting apparatus that includes the liquid cartridge.

  In a liquid droplet ejecting apparatus having a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid, a configuration may be provided in which the altered liquid is ejected from the liquid ejecting head. By discharging and removing the altered liquid from the head, the state of the head can be returned to a state where a new liquid without alteration can be ejected. As a configuration for receiving the discharged liquid, for example, an absorber that absorbs the liquid may be provided. Further, as in Patent Document 1, it is conceivable to collect the discharged liquid and return it to the ink cartridge.

JP 2001-315359 A

  When the absorber as described above is provided, it is necessary to provide a considerably large absorber so that the absorber does not become full during the assumed period of use of the apparatus. In this case, an increase in the size of the entire apparatus cannot be avoided, which is not preferable. Further, even when Patent Document 1 is adopted, not all recovered liquids can be reused. For this reason, after all, it is necessary to separately provide a configuration such as an absorber that receives the discharged liquid. Therefore, Patent Document 1 is not sufficient to suppress the increase in size of the apparatus.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid cartridge that can suppress an increase in size of the entire apparatus even when the apparatus as a mounting destination has a configuration for discharging liquid, and a droplet ejecting apparatus including the liquid cartridge. It is in.

  The liquid cartridge of the present invention is a liquid cartridge that is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of a liquid ejecting apparatus having a liquid ejecting head, and stores a liquid used in the liquid ejecting head; The liquid ejecting head includes a first liquid receiving portion and a second liquid receiving portion that receive the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head, the first liquid receiving portion having an absorber that absorbs the liquid, and the second liquid receiving portion. The liquid receiving part is connected to the liquid storage part, and the liquid received by the second liquid receiving part flows into the liquid storage part.

  According to the liquid cartridge of the present invention, since the absorber is provided in the first liquid receiving portion, the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head can be absorbed by the absorber of the cartridge. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide an absorber on the device side. Further, since the liquid cartridge is replaced when the liquid runs out, the absorber is also replaced at that time. Therefore, even if an absorber is provided in the cartridge, it is not necessary to provide a very large absorber in each cartridge.

  Further, the second liquid receiving part of the liquid cartridge is connected to a liquid storage part in which unused liquid is stored. Accordingly, reusable liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head can be returned from the second liquid receiving part to the liquid storing part. Thereby, while being able to reduce the quantity of the liquid thrown away, the magnitude | size of an absorber can also be made small.

  As described above, it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the entire apparatus while the liquid droplet ejecting apparatus in which the liquid cartridge is mounted is configured to discharge the liquid to the first liquid receiving portion.

  Further, in the present invention, the liquid sprayed to the second liquid receiving portion is provided between the first liquid receiving portion and the second liquid receiving portion, and sprayed to the second liquid receiving portion. It is preferable to have the wall part to suppress. When the liquid cartridge is in a posture for receiving the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head, the second liquid receiving portion is closer to the droplet ejecting head than the first liquid receiving portion. It is preferable that it exists in. According to these, it is suppressed that the liquid which cannot be reused which was injected to the 1st liquid receiving part is scattered to the 2nd liquid receiving part.

  In the present invention, there is provided a cover that covers at least one of the first liquid receiving portion and the second liquid receiving portion, and the cover is formed with a hole through which the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head passes. It is preferable that According to this, it is suppressed that the non-reusable liquid ejected to the first liquid receiving part is scattered to the second liquid receiving part. In addition, when the user replaces the cartridge, it is possible to prevent as much as possible that the user directly touches the first or second liquid receiving portion to which the liquid may adhere.

  According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a liquid droplet ejecting apparatus comprising: a liquid ejecting head having a nozzle for ejecting liquid; a cartridge mounting portion connected to the liquid ejecting head; and the liquid mounted removably on the cartridge mounting portion. A control unit configured to control the liquid ejecting head, and the control unit is configured to eject the liquid from the nozzle of the liquid ejecting head when the liquid ejecting head ejects the liquid. Liquid is ejected toward a liquid receiving portion selected from one liquid receiving portion and the second liquid receiving portion. In this liquid droplet ejecting apparatus, depending on the state of the liquid in the nozzle, whether to flush the first liquid receiving part and discard the liquid or to flush the second liquid receiving part and reuse the liquid is selected. it can.

  In the present invention, the liquid ejecting head includes a plurality of types of the nozzles that eject a plurality of types of liquids, respectively, and two or more types of liquids are mixed in at least some of the nozzles. In the liquid ejection, the control unit causes the liquid ejection head to eject liquid to the first liquid receiving portion of the liquid cartridge, and two or more types of liquids are not mixed in all of the plurality of types of nozzles. In the liquid ejection in the state, the control unit preferably causes the liquid ejection head to eject the liquid to the second liquid receiving portion of the liquid cartridge. In a state where two or more kinds of liquids are mixed in the nozzle, the liquids mixed by the flushing are ejected, and therefore such liquids cannot be reused. Therefore, in a state where the liquid in the nozzle is mixed, the liquid is ejected toward the first liquid receiving portion having the absorber, and otherwise, the liquid is ejected toward the second liquid receiving portion. Thus, the mixed liquid can be discarded while other liquids can be reused appropriately.

  Further, in the present invention, a cap member that is in close contact with the liquid droplet ejecting surface on which the plurality of types of nozzles of the liquid ejecting head are formed and covers the plurality of types of nozzles in common, and connected to the cap member, A suction means for decompressing the inside of the cap member, and the liquid is discharged from the plurality of types of nozzles by performing decompression by the suction means in a state where the cap member is in close contact with the droplet ejection surface. In the flushing after the suction purge is performed, the control unit preferably causes the liquid ejecting head to eject liquid to the first liquid receiving portion of the liquid cartridge. If the cap covers a plurality of types of nozzles in common when the suction purge is performed, liquid may be mixed in the plurality of types of nozzles. Therefore, in the flushing after the suction purge is executed, the liquid is ejected toward the first liquid receiving portion. Therefore, the liquid mixed by suction purge can be reliably discharged.

  In the present invention, after the suction purge is performed, the control unit causes the liquid droplet ejecting head to perform flushing toward the first liquid receiving part, and then further toward the second liquid receiving part. It is preferable to perform flushing. After the suction purge, flushing is preferably performed until the mixed liquid in the nozzle is completely discharged, but even in that case, it is not necessary to discard all of the liquid ejected by flushing. That is, in a state where the flushing has progressed to some extent and the mixing ratio in the nozzle is considerably low, even if such liquid is returned to the liquid storage portion of the cartridge having a certain capacity, there is almost no influence. Therefore, in the present invention, the flushing immediately after the suction purge is performed toward the first liquid receiving portion and the liquid is discarded, but the subsequent flushing is performed toward the second liquid receiving portion and the mixing ratio is low. Reuse the liquid.

  In the liquid cartridge of the present invention, since the absorber is provided in the first liquid receiving portion, the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head can be absorbed by the absorber of the cartridge. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide an absorber on the device side. Further, since the liquid cartridge is replaced when the liquid runs out, the absorber is also replaced at that time. Therefore, even if an absorber is provided in the cartridge, it is not necessary to provide a very large absorber in each cartridge.

  Further, the second liquid receiving part of the liquid cartridge is connected to a liquid storage part in which unused liquid is stored. Accordingly, reusable liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head can be returned from the second liquid receiving part to the liquid storing part. Thereby, while being able to reduce the quantity of the liquid thrown away, the magnitude | size of an absorber can also be made small.

  As described above, it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the entire apparatus while the liquid droplet ejecting apparatus in which the liquid cartridge is mounted is configured to discharge the liquid to the first liquid receiving portion.

  Further, according to the state of the liquid in the nozzle, the liquid droplet ejecting apparatus of the present invention flushes the liquid to the first liquid receiving part and discards the liquid, or flushes the second liquid receiving part and reuses the liquid. Can be selected.

1 is a schematic plan view of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment. It is a top view of an inkjet head. It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view of a suction cap, and the front view of an inkjet head and a wiper. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an ink cartridge. 2 is a plan view of an ink cartridge. FIG. It is a functional block diagram of a control part and each part. It is a flowchart which shows a series of flows from a maintenance operation | movement to printing. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which concerns on the modification of an ink cartridge. It is a functional block diagram concerning the modification of a control part. It is a flowchart which shows the flow which the control part which concerns on the modification of FIG. 9 controls discard flushing.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of the ink jet printer according to the present embodiment.

(Schematic configuration of inkjet printer)
As shown in FIG. 1, an ink jet printer 1 (droplet ejecting apparatus) includes a carriage 2 that can reciprocate in a scanning direction (left and right direction in FIG. 1), and an ink jet head 3 (liquid ejecting head) mounted on the carriage 2. , A transport mechanism 5 that transports the recording paper P in the transport direction (downward in FIG. 1), ink cartridges 6a to 6d that store ink, a maintenance unit 7 that maintains and recovers the droplet ejection performance of the inkjet head 3, and a control unit 90 (control means) and the like. The control unit 90 controls each unit in the apparatus as shown in FIG. The control unit 90 includes hardware such as a CPU and various memories, software such as program data stored in the memory, and dedicated circuits such as a drive circuit that generates a drive signal for driving each unit of the inkjet printer 1. Contains. Various controls by the control unit 90 described below may be executed in cooperation between hardware and software, or may be executed by a dedicated circuit. In addition, hardware, software, and a dedicated circuit may be executed in cooperation.

  The carriage 2 is configured to be reciprocally movable along two guide rails 17a and 17b extending in parallel with the scanning direction. An endless belt 18 is connected to the carriage 2. The carriage drive motor 19 drives the endless belt 18 in accordance with the control of the control unit 90 (see FIG. 6). The carriage 2 is configured to move in the left-right direction in conjunction with the travel of the endless belt 18.

  The carriage 2 holds an inkjet head 3 and a tube joint 4. An ink tube is connected to the tube joint 4 as described later, and four colors of ink are supplied. The tube joint 4 and the inkjet head 3 are connected to each other by an ink flow path (not shown). The ink flow path is provided for each ink color. The ink supplied to the tube joint 4 is supplied to the inkjet head 3 for each color via the ink flow path.

  The lower surface of the ink jet head 3 (the surface on the opposite side of the paper surface in FIG. 1) is a horizontal droplet ejection surface 3a (see FIG. 3) through which a plurality of nozzles 30 are opened. The plurality of nozzles 30 are arranged in the transport direction and constitute four nozzle rows that eject ink of four colors (black, cyan, yellow, magenta), respectively. In addition, the inkjet head 3, together with the carriage 2, includes a recording area in which droplets are ejected from the nozzles 30 onto the recording paper P and an area outside the scanning direction (for example, a maintenance position where the maintenance unit 7 is disposed). It is possible to move between.

  A specific configuration of the inkjet head 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet head 3 is disposed on the upper surface of the flow path unit 20, in which the plurality of nozzles 30 and the plurality of pressure chambers 24 respectively communicating with the plurality of nozzles 30 are formed. And a piezoelectric actuator 21.

  A plurality of nozzles 30 are formed on the lower surface of the flow path unit 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the plurality of nozzles 30 are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction (conveyance direction of the recording paper P), and correspond to four colors of ink (black, yellow, cyan, magenta), respectively. Four nozzle rows 30a are configured.

  The flow path unit 20 has a plurality of pressure chambers 24 communicating with the plurality of nozzles 30, respectively. The plurality of pressure chambers 24 are arranged in four rows like the plurality of nozzles 30. Furthermore, four manifolds 25 each extending in the transport direction are formed in the flow path unit 20. The four manifolds 25 respectively supply four color inks of black, yellow, cyan, and magenta to four pressure chamber rows. The four manifolds 25 are connected to four ink supply holes 26 formed on the upper surface of the flow path unit 20. Four inks from the tube joint 4 are supplied to the four ink supply holes 26 one by one for each ink supply hole 26.

  The piezoelectric actuator 21 is formed of a laminated body in which individual electrodes 32, a piezoelectric layer 31, and a diaphragm 33 are laminated. The piezoelectric layer 31 is disposed so as to straddle all the pressure chambers 24. Each of the individual electrode 32 and the diaphragm 33 is made of a metal plate. The individual electrode 32 is provided corresponding to each pressure chamber 24, and is disposed in a region facing the pressure chamber 24 on the upper surface of the piezoelectric layer 31. The diaphragm 33 is disposed so as to straddle all the pressure chambers 24 between the piezoelectric layer 31 and the flow path unit 20. The diaphragm 33 functions as a common electrode for all the pressure chambers 24.

  When the control unit 90 applies a predetermined drive voltage between any one of the individual electrodes 32 and the diaphragm 33 as a common electrode in the piezoelectric actuator 21 (see FIG. 6), the piezoelectric element sandwiched between the two electrodes. Piezoelectric deformation occurs in the layer 31. This piezoelectric deformation of the piezoelectric layer 31 causes a volume change in the pressure chamber 24 to apply pressure to the ink in the pressure chamber 24. At this time, ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle 30 communicating with the pressure chamber 24.

  In the ink jet printer 1, the liquid is ejected from the ink jet head 3 by (1) ejecting ink onto the recording paper P to form an image on the paper P, and (2) flushing. There is an injection for. In the flushing, ink is ejected from the inkjet head 3 in order to discharge the ink. When the ink in the inkjet head 3 dries over time or deteriorates for some reason, the ink from the tube joint 4 is discharged by discharging a certain amount of ink from the nozzle 30 by flushing. Newly flows into the nozzle 30. Thereby, it can suppress that printing quality falls with the quality-changed ink. Flushing is performed before printing, between printing when printing is continuously executed, after a maintenance operation described later, and the like. Details of flushing and the configuration relating to flushing will be described later.

  Returning to FIG. 1, a holder 10 (cartridge mounting portion) to which four ink cartridges 6 a to 6 d for storing four color inks are mounted is fixed to the casing 1 a (device main body) of the printer 1. The holder 10 is disposed within the scanning range of the carriage 2 in the scanning direction and outside the recording area on the recording paper P by the inkjet head 3. The tube joint 4 and the holder 10 are connected by four ink tubes (not shown). As a result, the four color inks stored in the four ink cartridges 6a to 6d are supplied to the tube joint 4 by the ink tubes. Each of the ink cartridges 6 a to 6 d is configured to be detachable from the holder 10. As a result, when the ink runs out of ink, it can be replaced with a new ink cartridge filled with ink.

  The transport mechanism 5 includes two transport rollers 25 and 26 that are respectively disposed upstream and downstream in the transport direction from the inkjet head 3 and are driven by a transport motor 27. The transport motor 27 is driven according to the control of the control unit 90 (see FIG. 6). The transport mechanism 5 drives the two transport rollers 25 and 26 under the control of the control unit 90 to transport the recording paper P in the transport direction (downward in FIG. 1).

  The control unit 90 controls the carriage drive motor 19, the piezoelectric actuator 21, and the transport motor 27 to eject four colors of ink onto the recording paper P from the inkjet head 3 that is linked to the carriage 2 that moves in the scanning direction. At the same time, the recording paper P is transported in the transport direction (front of FIG. 1) by the two transport rollers 25 and 26. As a result, the inkjet printer 1 prints a desired image, character, or the like on the recording paper P.

(Maintenance unit)
Next, the maintenance unit 7 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the maintenance unit 7 is arranged at a position (maintenance position) on the outer side (right side in the figure) in the scanning direction than the recording area (transport area of the recording paper P) of the inkjet head 3. When the carriage 2 moves to this maintenance position, the maintenance unit 7 faces the droplet ejection surface 3a of the inkjet head 3 and performs maintenance operations such as capping, suction purge, and wiping on the inkjet head 3. The maintenance unit 7 includes a suction cap 51, a suction pump 52, a wiper 53, and the like for performing a maintenance operation. Capping is an operation of covering the droplet ejection surface 3 a of the inkjet head 3 with the suction cap 51. In the suction purge, the ink in the ink flow path is sucked and discharged from the plurality of nozzles 30 of the inkjet head 3, thereby causing bubbles and dust mixed in the ink, or ink that has been thickened or mixed in color, etc. It is an operation to discharge. Wiping is an operation of wiping the droplet ejection surface 3 a with the wiper 53.

  Hereinafter, each part of the maintenance unit 7 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper surface of the suction cap 51 faces the droplet ejection surface 3 a of the inkjet head 3 when the carriage 2 is in the maintenance position. The suction cap 51 has protrusions 51a and 51b that protrude upward. The protrusions 51a and 51b are both formed of a flexible material such as rubber or synthetic resin. As shown in FIG. 1, the protrusion 51 a is formed in a rectangular shape along the periphery of the suction cap 51 in a plan view. The projection 51b extends from one side of the projection 51a to the other side along the sheet conveyance direction in plan view. The protrusion 51a and the protrusion 51b partition the upper surface of the suction cap 51 that faces the droplet ejection surface 3a into a region α and a region β.

  A suction channel 51 c is formed in the suction cap 51. One end of the suction flow path 51c opens to the lower surface of the suction cap 51 and is connected to the suction pump 52 through a tube. The other end of the suction channel 51 c branches off and opens on each of the region α and the region β on the upper surface of the suction cap 51. The driving of the suction pump 52 is controlled by the control unit 90 (see FIG. 6).

  The suction cap 51 is driven up and down by the cap driving unit 56 and is brought into close contact with the droplet ejection surface 3a (capping). The drive of the cap drive unit 56 is controlled by the control unit 90 (see FIG. 6). When the suction cap 51 is in close contact with the droplet ejection surface 3a, the region α is formed of three colors (yellow, cyan, magenta) of the four nozzle rows 30a of the inkjet head 3 on the droplet ejection surface 3a. The region where the corresponding three nozzle rows 30a are formed is covered. On the other hand, the region β covers the region where the black nozzle row 30a is formed on the droplet ejection surface 3a.

  When the suction cap 51 is in the capping state, the suction pump 52 is controlled by the control unit 90 and sucks air between the suction cap 51 and the droplet ejection surface 3a through the suction channel 51c. Thereby, the space between the suction cap 51 and the droplet ejection surface 3a is depressurized, and ink is forcibly discharged from the plurality of nozzles 30 into this space (suction purge). The ink is discharged from the nozzle row 30a corresponding to the color ink to the region α side of the suction cap 51, and the ink is discharged from the nozzle row 30a corresponding to the black ink to the region β side of the suction cap 51. When the suction purge is completed, the control unit 90 controls the cap driving unit 56 to lower the suction cap 51 and separate it from the droplet ejection surface 3a.

  The wiper 53 is aligned with the suction cap 51 in the scanning direction, and is disposed closer to the recording area than the suction cap 51 (the conveyance area side of the recording paper P: the left side in FIG. 1). The wiper 53 is driven up and down by a wiper driving unit 57. Thus, the wiper 53 selectively takes a contact position where the upper end of the wiper 53 can contact the droplet ejection surface 3a and a separation position where the upper end is spaced downward from the droplet ejection surface 3a. The driving of the wiper driving unit 57 is controlled by the control unit 90 (see FIG. 6). The wiper 53 is moved to the contact position after the suction purge by the wiper driving unit 57. When the ink jet head 3 moves from the maintenance position to the recording area, the ink attached to the droplet ejection surface 3a is wiped off by the wiper 53 (wiping). Thereafter, the wiper 53 is returned to the separation position by the wiper driving unit 57.

(Flushing)
Next, flushing and a configuration related to flushing will be described. There are various reasons why the inkjet head 3 needs to be flushed. For example, as described below, color mixing occurs in the ink in the nozzle 30 due to suction purge or wiping.

  When the suction purge is performed, both the inside of the suction cap 51 and the ink flow path of the inkjet head 3 are decompressed. The ink discharged by the suction purge is accumulated between the suction cap 51 and the droplet ejection surface 3a. Therefore, when the cap driving unit 56 lowers the suction cap 51 and separates it from the droplet ejection surface 3a, the ink on the suction cap 51 side may be drawn back into the ink flow path of the inkjet head 3. In particular, in the region α of the suction cap 51, three colors of color ink are discharged from the three nozzle rows 30a that are covered in common in this region during the suction purge. Therefore, three colors of ink in the region α are mixed, and such mixed color ink may flow into the ink flow path. Further, even during wiping, since the droplet ejection surface 3a is wiped with one wiper 53, the ink attached to the wiper 53 may be mixed with the ink in the nozzle 30 corresponding to a color different from this ink. There is.

  As described above, when color mixing occurs in the ink in the nozzle 30 or the ink flow path, the color mixing ink must be discharged by flushing in order to maintain high-quality printing. On the other hand, the discharged mixed color ink cannot be used for printing and must be discarded. For this reason, it is necessary to store waste ink caused by flushing in any of the apparatuses. As a reference example, it is conceivable that a fixed waste liquid space is prepared in any one of the casings 101 and ink discharged by flushing is continuously stored therein. However, if the waste ink is stored without being renewed until the expected period of use of the apparatus is reached, a considerably large waste liquid space must be secured. In such a case, an increase in the size of the entire apparatus cannot be avoided, which is not preferable.

  Therefore, the ink jet printer 1 has a configuration for receiving the ink discharged by the flushing at the upper part of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d. As described above, the holder 10 in which the ink cartridges 6 a to 6 d are mounted is disposed within the scanning range of the carriage 2. When the carriage 2 moves to the position of the holder 10 in the scanning direction, the droplet ejection surface 3a of the inkjet head 3 faces the upper part of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d above the holder 10. When ink is ejected from the nozzle 30 in this state, the ink is discharged to the upper part of at least one of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d. As described above, when the ink cartridges 6a to 6d are provided with a configuration for receiving ink, when the ink cartridges 6a to 6d are replaced, the configuration for receiving ink is also replaced at the same time. Since the time until the ink cartridges 6a to 6d are replaced is shorter than the entire use period of the apparatus, the configuration for receiving ink can be suppressed to a small scale.

  Hereinafter, a configuration for receiving the discharged ink in the ink cartridges 6a to 6d will be specifically described. This configuration is common to the ink cartridges 6a to 6d. Therefore, hereinafter, only the ink cartridge 6a will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The ink cartridge 6a has a housing 101 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The housing 101 includes an outer wall 101 a and wall portions 102 to 104. The outer wall 101a includes both side walls in the scanning direction, both side walls in the transport direction, and a bottom wall (a wall portion surrounded by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. 4 and 5). The wall portion 102 is along a plane orthogonal to the scanning direction, and is disposed substantially at the center of the housing 101 in the scanning direction. Further, the wall 102 extends from one side wall of the outer wall 101a to the other side wall in the transport direction. The wall 103 extends horizontally from the lower end of the wall 102 to one side wall of the outer wall 101a along the scanning direction. The wall 104 extends horizontally from a position in the vertical direction of the wall 102 toward the side wall of the outer wall 101a toward the side opposite to the arrangement side of the wall 103 in the scanning direction.

  The wall portions 102 to 104 partition the internal space of the housing 101 defined by the outer wall 101a into an ink storage chamber 105 (liquid storage portion) and concave portions 106 and 107. The ink storage chamber 105 is an internal space defined by the outer wall 101a and the wall portions 102 to 104, and stores ink. The recess 106 opens to the left in FIG. A foam 110 (absorber) is provided at the bottom of the recess 106 (above the wall 103). The foam 110 is made of a porous material such as a sponge that absorbs ink well, and has a size and a shape that fits into the recess 106 in a plan view. The recess 107 opens on the right side in FIG. The recess 106 and the recess 107 are separated from each other by the wall 102.

  The wall portion 104 is provided with a valve 120. In the valve 120, a flow path 120 a that connects the inside of the recess 107 and the inside of the ink storage chamber 105 is formed. A check valve is provided in the middle of this flow path. As a result, the valve 120 can allow ink to flow from the recess 107 side to the ink storage chamber 105 side, but conversely, the ink cannot flow out from the ink storage chamber 105 side to the recess 107 side. It is configured. The upper part of the valve 120 is arranged above the upper part of the foam 110. Further, the upper part of the valve 120 and the upper part of the foam 110 have a wall 102 between them and are separated by the wall 102.

  The foam 110 and the valve 120 are members that receive ink during flushing. When flushing the foam 110, the control unit 90 controls the carriage drive motor 19 so that a certain nozzle row 30a fits in the recess 106 of the ink cartridge 6a in plan view as shown in FIG. Thus, the carriage 2 is moved. In this state, the control unit 90 drives the piezoelectric actuator 21 corresponding to the nozzle row 30a aligned with the concave portion 106, and ejects ink from all the nozzles 30 included in the nozzle row 30a all at once. This ink is received by the upper portion (first liquid receiving portion) of the foam 110. The foam 110 absorbs and holds the received ink. The ink received in form 110 is not reused. That is, the form 110 is used to discard ink. For this reason, it is preferable that the size of the foam 110 is adjusted with a margin sufficient to continue receiving ink until the ink cartridge is replaced.

  On the other hand, when flushing the valve 120, the control unit 90 controls the carriage drive motor 19 so that a certain nozzle row 30a has a valve 120 of the ink cartridge 6a in plan view as shown in FIG. The carriage 2 is moved so as to be within the opening 120b of the flow path 120a. In this state, the control unit 90 drives the piezoelectric actuator 21 corresponding to the nozzle row 30a aligned with the valve 120, and ejects ink from all the nozzles 30 included in the nozzle row 30a all at once. Thereby, the ink in the nozzle 30 is discharged to the valve 120. This ink is received by the upper portion (second liquid receiving portion) of the valve 120. The received ink flows into the ink storage chamber 105 through the flow path 120a. That is, when ink is discharged to the valve 120, the ink can be returned to the ink storage chamber 105 for reuse.

  As described above, the control unit 90 can selectively discharge ink to either the foam 110 or the valve 120 of the ink cartridge 6a. Similarly, the control unit 90 can selectively discharge ink to any one of the foam 110 and the valve 120 with respect to the other ink cartridges 6 b to 6 c. Hereinafter, the flushing that discharges the ink toward the form 110 and discards it is referred to as a discard flushing. Further, the flushing for discharging the ink toward the valve 120 and returning it to the valve 120 is referred to as reflux flushing.

(Flushing selection control)
Next, flushing selection control will be described. As described above, when the control unit 90 controls the flushing, [1] which one of the waste flushing and reflux flushing is performed, and [2] which of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d is performed when the waste flushing is performed. Each of the ink discharge can be selected. In addition, since ink is returned to the ink storage chamber 105 when performing reflux flushing, the ink is inevitably discharged to the ink cartridge corresponding to the inkjet head 3 that performs flushing. The control unit 90 performs the above selection according to the following conditions.

  [1] Selection of waste flushing and reflux flushing: (Condition 1) After flushing or wiping, waste flushing is selected. At this timing, as described above, color mixing may occur in the ink in the nozzle 30. In this case, when reflux flushing is performed, the ink mixed in the ink in the ink storage chamber 105 is mixed.

  (Condition 2) On the other hand, after waste purging or wiping, if waste flushing is performed to some extent, switch to reflux flushing. This is because if waste flushing progresses and the degree of color mixing in the nozzle 30 becomes considerably low, the quality of the ink is hardly affected even if the ink is returned to the ink storage chamber 105 having a certain capacity.

  (Condition 3) For flushing before printing and flushing during printing (for example, flushing performed by the carriage 2 coming to the maintenance position while the printing operation is moving), reflux flushing is selected. There is little risk of color mixing in the nozzle 30 before or during printing, and ink discharged by flushing is often reusable. However, when the viscosity of the ink increases so much that it is not suitable for reuse (for example, when the period during which ink is not ejected at a certain nozzle 30 is longer than a predetermined length), the ink is removed by waste flushing for the first several times. Discard and then perform reflux flushing.

  [2] Selection of ink cartridge: (Condition 4) In the flushing of the inkjet head 3 that ejects a certain color, the control unit 90 selects an ink cartridge corresponding to the ink of that color. For example, when flushing is performed on the inkjet head 3 that ejects black ink, the ink is discharged from the ink cartridges 6 a to 6 d corresponding to the black ink.

  When the condition 4 is followed, the following advantages (a) to (c) are obtained: (a) When the ink containing the pigment and the ink containing the dye are mixed, aggregation occurs. For this reason, for example, when the pigment ink and the dye ink are discharged toward the same position of the same foam 110, they are aggregated, and a film is formed on the surface of the foam 110, which may reduce the absorption efficiency. However, according to Condition 4, since an ink cartridge having the same color as the inkjet head 3 to be flushed is selected, aggregation of the pigment ink and the dye ink hardly occurs.

  (B) When ink bounces back from the foam 110 to the valve 120, the ink to be discarded is returned to the ink storage chamber 105, and color mixing may occur. However, according to the condition 4, since the ink cartridge of the same color as the ink jet head 3 to be flushed is selected, even if the ink bounces back to the valve 120, it is difficult for color mixing to occur in the ink storage chamber 105.

  (C) According to the condition 4, since the foam 110 as the disposal destination is fixed for each inkjet head 3, it is easy to configure the foam 110 according to the circumstances for each ink color. For example, when an ink of a certain color is easy to dry and the frequency and amount of flushing must be increased in the inkjet head 3 that ejects the ink, the foam 110 corresponding to the inkjet head 3 can be enlarged.

(Flow from flushing to printing)
Next, a flow in which the inkjet printer 1 executes from a maintenance operation to printing will be described with reference to FIG. First, the inkjet printer 1 performs capping, suction purge, and wiping in this order as a maintenance operation (steps S1 to S3). As a result, the risk of color mixing in the nozzle 30 increases. Next, the inkjet printer 1 discards the mixed color ink in the nozzles 30 into the form 110 by performing discard flushing (step S4). The waste flushing is performed by simultaneously ejecting ink from the nozzle row 30a a predetermined number of times that the degree of color mixing of the ink in the nozzle 30 is expected to be considerably reduced. Thereby, the ink jet printer 1 performs the reflux flushing at the stage where the color mixture is considerably reduced (step S5). The reflux flushing is performed by simultaneously ejecting ink from the nozzle row 30a one or more times.

  Next, the ink jet printer 1 stands by until a print command is sent from the outside (Step S6, No → Step S6). When a print command is sent from the outside, the ink jet printer 1 performs reflux flushing (step S7). As a result, the ink in the nozzle 30 whose viscosity has increased during standby is discharged and returned to the ink storage chamber 105. Then, the ink jet printer 1 executes printing in accordance with an external printing command (step S8).

(Summary of this embodiment)
According to the present embodiment described above, the form 110 for discarding the ink is provided in the ink cartridges 6a to 6d. Therefore, there is no need to provide a fixed space for discarding ink in the apparatus. Further, the ink cartridges 6a to 6d are replaced when ink runs out. Therefore, since the foam 110 is also exchanged at that time, the foam 110 provided in each cartridge does not need to be so large. Further, the ink cartridges 6 a to 6 d are provided with a valve 120 for returning ink to the ink storage chamber 105. Accordingly, reusable ink discharged from the nozzle 30 can be returned to the ink storage chamber 105. As a result, the amount of ink discarded can be reduced, and the form 110 can be made smaller. From the above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the entire apparatus even if a configuration for discarding ink is provided.

  In the present embodiment, the upper part of the valve 120 and the upper part of the foam 110 are separated by a wall 102 existing between them. Therefore, even when the ejected ink bounces off the foam 110 at the time of waste flushing, the wall 102 suppresses the ink from scattering to the valve 120. Further, the upper part of the valve 120 is disposed above the upper part of the foam 110. In other words, when the carriage 2 is disposed above the holder 10 and any of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d is in a position where it can receive ink ejected from the inkjet head 3, the upper portion of the valve 120 is placed on the foam 110. Compared to the droplet ejection surface 3a, the position is closer. Thereby, it is further suppressed that the ink bounced off from the foam 110 is scattered to the valve 120.

[First Modification]
Hereinafter, each modification of the above-described embodiment will be described. The ink cartridge 200 according to the first modification is employed in the above-described embodiment instead of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d. The ink cartridge 200 includes a housing 201 in which partition walls 202 to 204 are provided in an outer wall 201a. The outer wall 201a has the same configuration as the outer wall 101a described above. Similar to the wall 102, the wall 202 extends along a plane perpendicular to the scanning direction, and extends from one side wall to the other side in the transport direction on the outer wall 201 a. The wall 203 extends horizontally from a position in the vertical direction of the wall 202 to one side wall of the outer wall 201a in the scanning direction. The wall portion 204 extends horizontally from the lower end portion of the wall portion 202 to the side wall of the outer wall 201a toward the side opposite to the arrangement side of the wall portion 203.

  A foam 110 is disposed at the bottom of the recess 206 (above the wall 203). Further, the wall portion 204 is provided with a valve 120 that allows the inside of the recess 207 and the inside of the ink storage chamber 205 to communicate with each other. In this modification, the upper part of the foam 110 is disposed above the upper part of the valve 120, which is the reverse of the above-described configuration. Further, in this modified example, a cover 211 that covers the upper end of the recess 206 and a cover 212 that covers the upper end of the recess 207 are provided. The cover 211 is configured by a protruding portion that protrudes from the side wall of the outer wall 201a and the wall portion 202 to the vicinity of the center of the recessed portion 206 in the scanning direction. The cover 212 includes a protruding portion that protrudes from the side wall of the outer wall 201a and the wall portion 202 toward the center of the recess 207 in the scanning direction. The cover 211 and the cover 212 are formed with a through hole 211a and a through hole 212a, respectively. The through-hole 211a is a hole through which ink ejected from the inkjet head 3 passes during waste flushing. The through hole 212a is a hole through which ink ejected from the inkjet head 3 passes during reflux flushing.

  According to the present modification, the covers 211 and 212 effectively suppress the ink that has bounced off the foam 110 from being scattered to the valve 120 side during waste flushing. In addition, when the user replaces the cartridge, it is possible to prevent the user from directly touching the foam 110 to which ink may be attached. In addition, since the wall 202 is between the upper part of the foam 110 and the upper part of the valve 120, the ink is further prevented from scattering from the foam 110 to the valve 120. In the present modification, the upper portion of the foam 110 is disposed above the upper portion of the valve 120, but the upper portion of the foam 110 may be disposed below the upper portion of the valve 120 as in the above-described embodiment. Further, only one of the covers 211 and 212 may be provided.

[Second Modification]
The control unit 300 according to the second modification is employed in the above-described embodiment instead of the control unit 90. Similar to the control unit 90, the control unit 300 includes hardware such as a CPU, software such as program data, and various dedicated circuits, and executes the following control by various cooperation.

  In the above-described embodiment, the ink cartridges 6a to 6d are selected according to the condition 4 when the waste flushing is performed. On the other hand, in this modified example, an ink cartridge is selected according to the following condition 5: (Condition 5) Only one of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d is flushed, and the foam 110 is received by this cartridge. When the cumulative amount of ink reaches the limit, the other cartridge is flushed. In addition, when following this condition, it is not necessary to provide the foam 110 in all the ink cartridges 6a to 6d. Even when the foam 110 is provided in a part of these, a cartridge to be used for waste flushing among the cartridges provided with the foam 110 may be selected in order.

  In order to perform flushing according to the condition 5, the control unit 300 of the present modification includes an injection destination storage unit 301, an injection number calculation unit 302, and an injection destination change unit 303. Regarding the functional units other than these, the control unit 300 has the same configuration as the control unit 90. The ejection destination storage unit 301 stores selected cartridge information that is information indicating the currently selected cartridge among the ink cartridges 6a to 6d. When performing the waste flushing, the control unit 300 controls the carriage drive motor 19 to move the carriage 2 to the cartridge position indicated by the selected cartridge information stored in the ejection destination storage unit 301. Then, the control unit 300 aligns the position of each nozzle row 30a with the form 110 of the cartridge, and causes the inkjet head 3 to perform flushing.

  Further, the ejection destination storage unit 301 stores cartridge usage information, which is information indicating whether each of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d is a cartridge that has not been used for waste flushing or has already been used for waste flushing. Yes. Each time the cartridge is replaced, the cartridge usage information is updated to indicate that the replaced cartridge is not yet used for waste flushing.

  Further, in the case where the foam 110 is provided in only some of the ink cartridges 6a to 6d, the ejection destination storage unit 301 stores the foam installation information indicating which cartridge the foam 110 is provided in. It is good to be.

  The ejection number calculation unit 302 counts the number of times flushing has been performed from the selection of the cartridge to the current time regarding the cartridge indicated by the selected cartridge information stored in the ejection destination storage unit 301. For example, the ejection number calculation unit 302 increments the counter variable by 1 each time ink is ejected all at once from one nozzle row 30a. Alternatively, 1 may be added for each injection from one nozzle 30. This counter variable is set to an initial value of zero when flushing has never been performed.

  The injection destination changing unit 303 inquires about the counter variable held by the injection number calculating unit 302. If it is determined that the counter variable has exceeded a predetermined value, the ejection destination changing unit 303 changes the currently selected cartridge to the next cartridge. Specifically, the injection destination changing unit 303 changes the selected cartridge information stored in the injection destination storage unit 301 to information indicating the next cartridge, and resets the counter variable in the injection number calculation unit 302 to zero. . The predetermined value is set such that, for example, a value obtained by multiplying the ink ejection amount per unit number by the predetermined value matches the limit amount that the form 110 can receive. When selecting the next cartridge, the ejection destination changing unit 303 inquires of the cartridge usage information stored in the ejection destination storage unit 301 and selects a cartridge that has not been used yet for waste flushing. When the ejection destination storage unit 301 stores the foam installation information, the ejection destination changing unit 303 selects the next cartridge from the cartridges on which the form 110 is provided based on the information.

  Next, a flow in which the control unit 300 controls the waste flushing will be described with reference to FIG. First, the control unit 300 controls the carriage drive motor 19 and the like so that each nozzle row 30a is arranged at the position of the cartridge form 110 indicated by the selected cartridge information stored in the ejection destination storage unit 301. Move 2. Then, the controller 300 drives the piezoelectric actuator 21 to simultaneously eject ink from the nozzle row 30a (step S11). Next, the number-of-injections calculation unit 302 counts the number of injections by adding 1 to the counter variable for each simultaneous injection (step S12).

  Next, the injection destination changing unit 303 refers to the counter variable of the injection number calculation unit 302 and determines whether or not the injection number exceeds a predetermined value (step S13). When the injection destination changing unit 303 determines that the number of injections does not exceed the predetermined value (step S13, No), the control unit 300 proceeds to the process of step S15. If it is determined that the number of times of ejection has exceeded the predetermined value (step S13, Yes), the ejection destination changing unit 303 changes the currently selected cartridge to another cartridge (step S14). That is, the ejection destination changing unit 303 updates the selected cartridge information stored in the ejection destination storage unit 301 to information indicating another cartridge, and resets the counter variable in the ejection number calculation unit 302. Then, the process proceeds to step S15.

  In step S15, the control unit 300 determines whether or not simultaneous injection has been performed a required number of times. If it is determined that the required number of injections has not been performed yet (step S15, No), the process returns to step S11. If it is determined that the necessary number of times has been performed (step S15, Yes), the control unit 300 ends the discard flushing.

  When the ink cartridge for waste flushing is selected according to condition 5 as in this modification, the following advantages are obtained: (d) Since the next cartridge is used when the form 110 of one cartridge is full, the form 110 is used. It is not necessary to allow so much room for the size of the. Therefore, the form 110 can be made small, and it contributes to suppression of the enlargement of an apparatus.

(Other variations)
The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design changes can be made as long as they are described in the claims.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the form 110 receives ink discharged by waste flushing. Flushing is performed by driving the piezoelectric actuator 21 to eject ink from the nozzle 30. However, the present invention may be applied to a case where ink is discharged from the nozzle 30 by other methods. For example, the ink discharged from the nozzle 30 by the pressure purge may be received by the foam 110. In the pressure purge, for example, a pressure pump for supplying ink from the ink cartridges 6a to 6d to the tube joint 4 while pressurizing the ink is provided, and the ink is forced from the nozzle 30 while pressurizing the ink by the pressure pump. Is discharged.

  The liquid ejection apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to a printer, and can be applied to a facsimile, a copier, and the like. The head is not limited to the serial type that moves with the carriage, but may be a line type that is fixed to the apparatus housing. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a liquid droplet ejecting apparatus used in other fields such as an apparatus that forms various conductive patterns by discharging a liquid conductive material onto a substrate. In such an industrial apparatus for ejecting a particularly expensive liquid, it is preferable to recover and reuse the liquid discharged by flushing or the like as much as possible.

6a to 6d Ink cartridge 1 Inkjet printer 3 Inkjet head 7 Maintenance unit 10 Holder 30 Nozzle 51 Suction cap 52 Suction pump 90 Control unit 105 Ink storage chamber 110 Form 120 Valve

Claims (8)

A liquid cartridge that is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of a liquid ejecting apparatus having a liquid ejecting head,
A liquid reservoir that stores liquid used in the liquid jet head;
A first liquid receiving portion and a second liquid receiving portion for receiving the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head;
The first liquid receiver has an absorber that absorbs the liquid,
The liquid cartridge, wherein the second liquid receiving part is connected to the liquid storing part, and the liquid received by the second liquid receiving part flows into the liquid storing part.   A wall portion provided between the first liquid receiving portion and the second liquid receiving portion to suppress scattering of the liquid injected to the first liquid receiving portion to the second liquid receiving portion; The liquid cartridge according to claim 1.   When the liquid cartridge is in a posture for receiving the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head, the second liquid receiving portion is closer to the droplet ejecting head than the first liquid receiving portion. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the liquid cartridge is a liquid cartridge. A cover that covers at least one of the first liquid receiving portion and the second liquid receiving portion;
The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cover is formed with a hole through which the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head passes. A liquid ejecting head having a nozzle for ejecting liquid;
A cartridge mounting portion connected to the liquid jet head;
The liquid cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is detachably mounted on the cartridge mounting portion,
Control means for controlling the liquid ejecting head,
When the liquid ejecting head causes the liquid ejecting head to eject the liquid, the control unit selects the liquid selected from the first liquid receiving portion and the second liquid receiving portion of the liquid cartridge from the nozzle of the liquid ejecting head. A liquid droplet ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid toward a receiving portion. The liquid ejecting head includes a plurality of types of the nozzles that eject a plurality of types of liquids, respectively.
In the liquid ejection in a state where two or more kinds of liquids are mixed in at least some of the nozzles, the control unit ejects the liquid onto the first liquid receiving portion of the liquid cartridge onto the liquid ejection head. Let
In the ejection of liquid in a state where two or more kinds of liquids are not mixed in all of the plurality of kinds of nozzles, the control means ejects liquid onto the liquid ejection head to the second liquid receiving portion of the liquid cartridge. The liquid droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 5, wherein: A cap member in close contact with the droplet ejection surface on which the plurality of types of nozzles of the liquid ejection head are formed, and covering the plurality of types of nozzles in common;
Suction means connected to the cap member and decompressing the inside of the cap member,
In the ejection of the liquid after the suction purge in which the liquid is discharged from each of the plurality of types of nozzles by performing pressure reduction by the suction unit in a state where the cap member is in close contact with the droplet ejection surface, The droplet ejecting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit causes the liquid ejecting head to eject a liquid to the first liquid receiving portion of the liquid cartridge. The control means includes
The flushing of the liquid droplet ejecting head toward the first liquid receiving portion after the suction purge is performed, and further flushing toward the second liquid receiving portion. 8. A droplet ejection device according to item 7.