JP6015818B1 - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

A printing apparatus and a printing system with improved usability are provided. A printing apparatus includes a printing unit that performs printing using a liquid as a medium, liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 that can store a liquid supplied to the printing unit, and a liquid that can inject liquid into the liquid storage chamber. And a liquid container 23 having injection ports 49, 50, 51. The liquid container is movable in a direction in which at least a part of the inner surface of the liquid storage chamber increases the capacity of the liquid storage chamber as the liquid is injected. It is formed by liquid bags 42, 43, 44 composed of movable wall portions. [Selection] Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a printing equipment for printing using a liquid which is supplied with liquid such as ink from pourable liquid container.

  As an example of a printing apparatus, an ink jet printer that prints an image or the like by ejecting a liquid such as ink from a printing unit onto a medium is known. As such a printer, conventionally, apart from a printer main body provided with a printing section, a liquid container such as a tank capable of injecting a liquid such as ink used for printing is provided, and a liquid supply tube is provided from the liquid container. There has been a printer that performs printing using a liquid supplied through the printer (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2014-79909 A

  By the way, in the above printer, the operation of injecting the liquid into the liquid container is performed by the user. Therefore, further improvement in usability is required for such a printer.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and its object is to provide a printing equipment with improved usability.

Hereinafter, means for solving the above-described problems and the effects thereof will be described.
A printing apparatus that solves the above problems includes a printing unit that performs printing using a liquid as a medium, a liquid storage chamber that can store the liquid supplied to the printing unit, and a liquid that can inject the liquid into the liquid storage chamber. A liquid container having an inlet, and the liquid container is movable such that at least a part of the inner surface of the liquid container chamber is movable in a direction to increase the capacity of the liquid container chamber as the liquid is injected. It is formed by walls.

  When liquid is injected into the liquid storage chamber from the liquid injection port, if the inner surface of the liquid storage chamber is configured by a fixed wall portion, for example, the capacity of the liquid storage chamber does not change. Overflows from the liquid inlet. In this regard, according to the above-described configuration, the movable wall portion that forms at least a part of the inner surface of the liquid storage chamber is movable in a direction that increases the capacity of the liquid storage chamber as the liquid is injected. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the liquid from overflowing from the liquid inlet, and it is possible to improve the user-friendliness compared to the conventional case.

  In the printing apparatus, the liquid container further includes a liquid container housing having therein a space portion in which the plurality of liquid storage chambers are arranged adjacent to each other with the movable wall portion interposed therebetween, It is preferable that the capacity of the space portion is smaller than a total capacity obtained by summing up the respective capacities when each of the plurality of liquid storage chambers independently increases the capacity as much as possible.

  According to this configuration, the plurality of liquid storage chambers that are adjacent to each other through the movable wall portion in the arrangement space portion of the liquid storage housing have a total liquid amount stored in each liquid storage chamber at that time. When it is smaller than the capacity of the space portion in the housing, the liquid can be injected into the at least one liquid storage chamber from the liquid inlet until the difference between the total amount of the liquids and the capacity of the space portion becomes zero. The capacity of the space portion is a capacity of a space that can be occupied by at least one of the plurality of liquid storage chambers, and does not include a capacity of a space that cannot be occupied by the liquid storage chamber. For example, even if a part of the space portion communicates with the atmosphere outside the liquid container housing, the capacity of the space here does not become a capacity including the atmosphere.

In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that the liquid container communicates the liquid inlet with the liquid storage chamber at a position different from the movable wall portion.
According to this configuration, it is possible to reduce the possibility of hindering the liquid injection operation from the liquid injection port into the liquid storage chamber by moving the movable wall portion.

  In the printing apparatus, the liquid storage chamber communicates with the outside through the liquid injection port to which a liquid injection member is connected and the liquid supply port to which a liquid supply channel for supplying the liquid to the printing unit is connected. It is preferable that the sealing structure is formed.

According to this configuration, since the liquid storage chamber is not in communication with the atmosphere, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the internal liquid contacts the atmosphere and deteriorates.
In the printing apparatus, when the liquid amount in the liquid storage chamber decreases due to printing performed by the printing unit, the liquid storage body stores the liquid container by an amount corresponding to the decreased liquid amount. It is preferred that the volume of the chamber is reduced.

According to this configuration, even when the amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber decreases, the amount of air in the liquid storage chamber does not increase, so that deterioration of the liquid can be suppressed.
In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that the liquid container is formed of an elastic material in which the movable wall portion is flexible.

  According to this configuration, the liquid container has a minimum capacity that hardly stores liquid in the liquid storage chamber and a maximum capacity in which the capacity of the liquid storage chamber is increased as much as possible when the liquid is injected into the liquid storage chamber. In the meantime, the movable wall portion can be expanded and contracted.

  The printing apparatus further includes a housing that stores therein a storage unit in which a medium used for printing is stored, the printing unit, and the liquid container, and the liquid container includes the housing. It is preferable to be accommodated between the printing unit and the storage unit.

  According to this configuration, the space between the printing unit and the storage unit in the housing is effectively utilized as a placement space for the liquid container. For example, compared to the case where the liquid container is disposed beside the storage unit in the housing. This also contributes to a reduction in the layout space of the entire printing apparatus.

  Also, a printing system that solves the above-described problem is a printing system that can execute printing by injecting the liquid into the liquid storage chamber of the liquid container included in the printing apparatus using a liquid injection member having a predetermined capacity. In the system, the set capacity of the liquid injection member is set to be equal to or less than half of the maximum capacity of the liquid storage chamber.

  According to this configuration, in the liquid storage chamber when it is necessary to inject the liquid, it is normally possible to inject a liquid of more than half of its maximum capacity, while the liquid injection member used for injecting the liquid Since the set capacity is set to be less than half of the maximum capacity of the liquid storage chamber, one liquid injection member can be used up without leaving any liquid in the liquid injection.

  In the printing system, the liquid container further includes a liquid container housing having a space portion in which a plurality of the liquid storage chambers are arranged adjacent to each other with the movable wall portion interposed therebetween. The liquid injection member has a set capacity that is not more than half of the maximum capacity of the liquid storage chamber and a capacity that is half of the capacity of the space of the liquid container housing within the space. It is preferable that the capacity is set to be equal to or larger than the capacity divided by the number of the liquid storage chambers arranged adjacent to each other.

  According to this configuration, the set capacity of the liquid injection member is equal to or greater than the capacity obtained by dividing half the capacity of the space of the liquid container housing by the number of liquid storage chambers arranged adjacent to each other in the space. For this reason, it is possible to eliminate the use of a number of liquid injection members when injecting liquid into one liquid storage chamber.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a schematic configuration of the first embodiment of the printing apparatus. Sectional drawing of the liquid container shown by the 2-2 line arrow in FIG. The fragmentary sectional view which shows typically the printing apparatus when inject | pouring a liquid into a liquid container by the 3-3 line arrow in FIG. Sectional drawing of the liquid container in the printing apparatus of 2nd Embodiment.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of a printing apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an ink jet printer that performs printing by ejecting ink, which is an example of a liquid, onto paper, which is an example of a medium. The printer is a so-called serial printer that performs printing by moving the liquid ejecting head in a main scanning direction in which the printing method intersects the paper conveyance direction. In the following, the direction assumed when the user who uses the printer operates the operation panel unit and the opposite direction are “front-rear direction”, the vertical direction along the gravity direction is “up-down direction”, and the front-rear direction The direction that intersects the direction and the vertical direction is also referred to as a “left-right direction”.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 11 has a rectangular parallelepiped casing 12, and an operation panel unit 13 for operating various operations in the printing apparatus 11 is provided on the upper surface of the casing 12. ing. A rectangular discharge port 14 for discharging the paper P printed in the housing 12 to the front side is opened at a position below the operation panel unit 13 on the front side of the housing 12. From below the discharge port 14, a rectangular plate-shaped discharge tray 15 that supports the paper P discharged from the discharge port 14 is provided so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction, which is the discharge direction. A printing unit 16 that performs printing on the supplied paper P is provided at a position behind the discharge tray 15 in the housing 12.

  That is, a guide shaft 17 is installed in the housing 12 so as to extend in the left-right direction as the main scanning direction with respect to the paper P, and the guide shaft 17 is movable in the main scanning direction. A carriage 18 is supported. The carriage 18 reciprocates along the main scanning direction as a carriage motor (not shown) is driven. A liquid ejecting head 19 that performs printing by ejecting ink onto the paper P is supported on the lower surface side of the carriage 18.

  Although not shown, the liquid ejecting head 19 is provided with a plurality of nozzle rows composed of a number of nozzles that eject ink. A plurality (three in this embodiment as an example) of ink supply tubes 20 is an end portion on the downstream side with respect to the liquid ejecting head 19 as an example of the liquid supply flow path so as to individually correspond to each nozzle row. Is connected to the housing 12 in a connected state.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a liquid container mounting portion 21 and a cassette mounting portion 22 are provided in the housing 12 at a position below the discharge tray 15 and the printing portion 16. In the present embodiment, a cassette mounting portion 22 is provided below the liquid container mounting portion 21. The liquid container mounting portion 21 can be provided at various positions such as the outside of the housing 12 or the front end on either the left or right side of the housing 12. The liquid container mounting portion 21 can inject ink from the outside and can store the injected ink, and can supply the stored ink to the liquid ejecting head 19 via the ink supply tube 20. A container 23 is arranged.

  At the front end of the liquid container mounting portion 21 on the front side of the housing 12, an open / close door 25 that can be freely rotated and rotated about a rotation shaft 24 that extends in the left-right direction can be opened and closed (displaced). Is provided. The opening / closing door 25 is opened when the user injects ink from the outside to the liquid container 23. As shown in FIG. 1, an example of a liquid absorbent material made of polyurethane foam or the like that can absorb and retain ink at the lower end side of the rotary shaft 24 on the back surface side of the open / close door 25. The ink absorbing material 26 is provided.

  On the other hand, a paper feed cassette 27, which is an example of a storage unit capable of storing a plurality of sheets of paper P used for printing in a stacked state, is mounted on the cassette mounting unit 22 so that it can be inserted and removed in the front-rear direction. At the front end of the paper feed cassette 27, a hook-shaped grip 28 is provided for the user to hold when inserting and removing the paper feed cassette 27 from the cassette mounting portion 22. Further, when the paper feed cassette 27 is attached to the cassette attachment portion 22, the front end of the operation cassette portion 13 constituting the front surface of the housing 12 and the front / rear door 25 at the front end portion of the liquid container attachment portion 21 and the front and rear. It is formed in a size that is substantially the same position in the direction.

  The place where the paper P is accumulated in the paper cassette 27 is the front end of the liquid container 23 arranged in the liquid container mounting part 21 in a state where the paper cassette 27 is inserted into the cassette mounting part 22. It is located on the back side. In this way, even if ink is dripped at the front end of the liquid container 23 in a state where the paper feed cassette 27 is inserted into the cassette mounting portion 22, the dripped ink is hardly applied to the paper P. ing. It is further desirable if there is a weir structure that dams the ink between the position where the ink drips down from the front end of the liquid container 23 arranged in the liquid container mounting portion 21 and the place where the paper P is accumulated.

  Further, a path constituting member 29 whose rear part constitutes a part of the transport path of the paper P is provided at a position in the housing 12 which is the inner upper part of the cassette mounting portion 22. A paper feed roller 30 is supported in a swingable manner. In the housing 12, a separation slope 31 that is an upward slope toward the rear is formed at a position on the rear side of the paper feed roller 30. Then, following this separation slope 31, a conveyance path 32 extending vertically upward, a curved conveyance path 34 extending forward along the peripheral surface of the reversing roller 33, and a conveyance path 35 along the horizontal direction are formed, The conveyance path 35 is provided with a pair of conveyance rollers 36 that can convey the paper P toward the printing unit 16 by sandwiching and rotating the paper P.

  A support base 37 capable of supporting the paper P is provided at a position facing the liquid ejecting head 19 in the vertical direction in the printing unit 16. A paper feed roller pair 38 is provided at each position sandwiching the support base 37 from the front and rear. A paper discharge roller pair 39 is arranged. In FIG. 1, when the paper feed roller 30 rotates in accordance with the driving of a paper feed motor (not shown), the paper P stacked in the paper feed cassette 27 is sent out toward the separation slope 31 positioned rearward. Then, the sheets P separated one by one on the separation slope 31 are sent to the horizontal conveyance path 35 following the printing unit 16 through the vertical conveyance path 32 and the curved conveyance path 34, and the printing unit Ink 16 is ejected to the surface side facing upward. Then, the paper P printed by the ink ejection is discharged from the discharge port 14 as the discharge roller pair 39 rotates.

Next, a specific configuration of the liquid container 23 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the liquid container 23 includes a liquid container housing 40 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape. A hollow space 41 surrounded by front, rear, left, right, upper, and lower walls is provided in the liquid container housing 40, and the space 41 individually corresponds to each nozzle row of the liquid ejecting head 19. A plurality (three as an example in the present embodiment) of bag bodies 42, 43, and 44 are accommodated in an arrangement form that is adjacent in the left-right direction. Each of the bag bodies 42, 43, 44 is molded so as to form a sealed structure with an elastic material such as rubber or a non-elastic material such as polypropylene, and liquid storage chambers 45, 46 that can store ink therein. , 47 are formed. Incidentally, the capacity | capacitance of the space part 41 formed in the inside of the liquid container housing 40 is 200 ml as an example.

  In this case, since the bag bodies 42, 43, 44 are formed flexibly in the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47, the capacity of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 is increased in a direction in which the capacity increases from that point when ink is injected therein. The bodies 42, 43, 44 are expanded and deformed. That is, the bag bodies 42, 43, and 44 have a minimum capacity (for example, 3 ml) that shrinks the outer shape into a flat shape and hardly stores ink in the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47, and the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47. The outer shape expands and expands and contracts with the maximum capacity (for example, 100 ml) that increases the capacity of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 as much as possible. In this regard, the bag bodies 42, 43, and 44 that form the inner surfaces of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 increase the capacity of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 at that time as ink is injected. It functions as a movable wall that can move in the direction. In the following, it is assumed that the bag bodies 42, 43, 44 are formed of an elastic material.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the front wall 48 of the liquid container housing 40 has a plurality (three by way of example) of liquid inlets 49 that individually correspond to the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47. , 50, 51 are spaced apart in the left-right direction. These liquid inlets 49, 50, 51 have normally closed valves (not shown), and the corresponding bag bodies 42, 43, 44 are respectively connected to the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 44 from the inside of the liquid container housing 40. 47 is connected to communicate with each other. That is, the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 can communicate with the outside of the liquid storage body 23 through the liquid inlets 49, 50, 51.

  The liquid inlets 49, 50, 51 are not located at portions that are displaced according to the increase or decrease in the capacity of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 (for example, the wall portions of the bag bodies 42, 43, 44). The chambers 45, 46, and 47 are provided in portions that are not displaced even when the capacity increases or decreases (that is, the front wall portion 48 that is a fixed wall portion in the liquid container housing 40). Therefore, even when ink is injected until the internal pressure of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 increases and the bag bodies 42, 43, and 44 expand in the direction of increasing the capacity, the bag bodies 42 and 43 that expand in such a manner. , 44 does not interfere with the operation of injecting ink from the liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51.

  On the other hand, the rear wall portion 52 of the liquid container housing 40 has a plurality (three as an example in the present embodiment) of liquid supply ports 53, 54, 55 individually corresponding to the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47. They are spaced apart in the left-right direction. Each of the liquid supply ports 53, 54, 55 is connected to the other end of the ink supply tube 20 connected at one end to the liquid ejecting head 19 from the outside of the liquid container housing 40, while corresponding to the corresponding bag. The bodies 42, 43, 44 are connected from the inside of the liquid container housing 40 so as to communicate with the respective liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47. That is, the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 can supply ink toward the liquid ejecting head 19 through the liquid supply ports 53, 54, 55. Since the liquid supply ports 53, 54, 55 are also provided in the rear wall portion 52, which is a fixed wall portion, in the liquid container housing 40, as in the case of the liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51. The expansion of 42, 43, 44 does not interfere with the supply of ink from the liquid supply ports 53, 54, 55 to the liquid ejecting head 19 side.

  Therefore, next, regarding the operation of the printing apparatus 11 configured as described above, particularly when the ink is injected from the liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51 into the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 of the liquid container 23. This will be described below with attention.

  When the user recognizes that the remaining amount of ink in each of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 is in a near-end state (for example, a remaining amount of 5 ml), the user has the liquid storage chamber 45 in which the remaining ink amount is in a near-end state. , 46, 47, ink is injected. Here, the printing apparatus 11 notifies the near-end state as a result of calculating the amount of ink used or measuring the weight of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47. Then, the user can see the near-end state of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 by looking at such notification from the printing apparatus 11 or viewing the shape of each liquid storage chamber 45, 46, 47 from the outside. recognize. In the following, the case of injecting ink into the liquid storage chamber 46 formed in the bag body 42 located in the middle of the liquid container housing 40 among the three bag bodies 42, 43, 44 is taken as an example. I will explain.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when performing the ink injection operation, the user first turns the opening / closing door 25 on the front surface of the housing 12 from the closed position indicated by the two-dot chain line to the open position indicated by the solid line. 24 is pivotally displaced about the pivot. Then, the front wall portion 48 of the liquid container 23 disposed in the liquid container mounting portion 21 in the housing 12 is exposed toward the front of the housing 12, and the three provided on the front wall portion 48 are exposed. The liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51 are visible from the front of the housing 12.

  Therefore, the user can easily access the liquid injection port 50 communicating with the liquid storage chamber 46 in which the ink remaining amount is in the near-end state from the front side of the housing 12, and the liquid injection port 50 has a predetermined capacity. An elongated injection port portion 57 of an ink bottle 56 which is an example of a liquid injection member is inserted. Then, the normally closed valve of the liquid injection port 50 is opened against the urging force in the valve closing direction by the insertion operation of the injection port portion 57, and the inside of the liquid storage chamber 46 and the inside of the ink bottle 56 are communicated. As a result, ink is injected from the ink bottle 56 into the liquid storage chamber 46 of the bag body 43.

  Here, since the ink remaining amount in the liquid storage chamber 46 into which ink is injected is in a near-end state (for example, the remaining amount is 5 ml), the capacity in this near-end state (in this case, 5 ml) is as much as possible by injecting ink. The maximum amount of ink that can be increased (in this case, 100 ml) can be injected with an amount of ink corresponding to the volume difference at that time (in this case, 95 ml). In this case, when the capacity of the ink bottle 56 is a large capacity exceeding the capacity difference (for example, 95 ml) between the capacity (for example, 5 ml) in the near-end state of the liquid storage chamber 46 and the maximum capacity (for example, 100 ml), In this ink injection operation, all the ink in the ink bottle 56 cannot be injected into the liquid storage chamber 46. For this reason, the ink that cannot be completely injected remains in the ink bottle 56, and the ink remaining in the ink bottle 56 may be deteriorated before the next ink injection.

  Therefore, in the printing system of the present embodiment, the set capacity of the ink bottle 56 used at the time of ink injection is set to be equal to or less than half (for example, 40 ml) of the maximum capacity (for example, 100 ml) of the liquid storage chamber 46. In this case, the set capacity of the ink bottle 56 is arranged so that a capacity (for example, 100 ml) that is half of the capacity (for example, 200 ml) of the space 41 of the liquid container housing 40 is adjacent to the space 41. The volume (≈33.3 ml) or more divided by the number (for example, three) of the bags 42, 43, 44 is preferable.

  Since the ink bottle 56 having such a set capacity is used, one or two ink bottles 56 are used for the liquid storage chamber 46 in the near-end state (capacity = 5 ml) as described above when ink is injected. When ink of two liquid amounts (40 ml × 2 = 80 ml) is injected, the ink is injected into the liquid storage chamber 46 into which the ink is injected, and the capacity of the bag body 43 is formed. When the volume corresponding to the size (for example, 30 ml) is exceeded, the internal pressure of the liquid storage chamber 46 increases due to the ink injection pressure.

  Then, the bag body 43 forming the liquid storage chamber 46 expands and deforms from the outer shape corresponding to the molding size indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 to the larger outer shape indicated by the solid line as the internal pressure of the liquid storage chamber 46 increases. Then, the capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46 is increased to a capacity close to the maximum capacity (for example, 100 ml) (in this case, 85 ml = 5 ml + 40 ml × 2). When the injection port 57 of the ink bottle 56 that has been emptied by ink injection is extracted from the liquid injection port 50, the liquid injection port 50 is closed again by the normally closed valve, and the bag body 43 is liquid. Communication between the inside and outside of the liquid storage chamber 46 through the inlet 50 is blocked.

  In addition, when the other liquid storage chambers 45 and 47 are also in a near-end state, ink is injected into each of them. One ink bottle 56 is used for each ink injection. When each liquid quantity (40 ml) of ink is injected, the volume of each ink becomes 45 ml (= 5 ml + 40 ml), and the total capacity of all liquid storage chambers including the liquid storage chamber 46 is 175 ml (= 85 ml + 45 ml + 45 ml), which is smaller than the capacity (for example, 200 ml) of the space 41 of the liquid container housing 40.

  Thereafter, when ink in the liquid storage chamber 46 is consumed during printing by ejecting ink from the liquid ejecting head 19, the bag body 43 decreases the capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46 by a capacity corresponding to the consumed amount. It shrinks and deforms. At that time, the liquid storage chamber 46 is formed in a sealed structure by the bag body 43 and is not opened to the atmosphere, so that the possibility of deterioration of the ink stored inside can be reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the open / close door 25 is opened to inject ink into the liquid storage chamber 46, the ink absorbing material 26 provided on the back surface of the open / close door 25 is in the liquid storage body 23. The front end of the lower surface of the liquid container housing 40 is brought into contact. For this reason, even when ink is injected from the ink bottle 56 through the liquid injection port 50, the ink may accidentally leak from the liquid injection port 50 and flow downward through the front wall 48 of the liquid container housing 40. Such leaked ink can be absorbed and removed by the ink absorber 26 when the opening / closing door 25 is opened.

  Note that the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 in the near-end state that require ink injection are liquid storage chambers 45 formed by, for example, the bag body 42 located on the leftmost side in the liquid storage housing 40 in FIG. In some cases, similarly, the injection port portion 57 of the ink bottle 56 is inserted into the liquid injection port 49 to perform ink injection. In this case, when ink is injected until the internal pressure of the liquid storage chamber 45 increases, the bag body 42 expands and deforms from the outer shape corresponding to the molding size indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2 to the larger outer shape indicated by the two-dot chain line. The capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46 is increased. The bag bodies 42, 43, 44 are common to the bag bodies 42, 43, 44 in that the bag bodies 42, 43, 44 expand and deform as the ink is injected to increase the capacity of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47.

According to the printing apparatus 11 of this embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) When ink is injected into the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 from the liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51, the inner surfaces of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 are constituted by, for example, fixed wall portions. Since the capacity of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 does not change, the ink injected to exceed the capacity overflows from the liquid injection ports 49, 50, and 51 to the outside. In this regard, according to the present embodiment, the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 have the bag bodies 42, 43, and 44 as the movable wall portions that form the inner surfaces thereof at the time when ink is injected. It moves in the direction of increasing the capacity of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the ink from overflowing from the liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51 to the outside, and the usability for the user can be improved as compared with the conventional case.

  (2) When the total amount of ink stored in each liquid storage chamber 45, 46, 47 at the time of ink injection is smaller than the capacity of the space portion 41 in the liquid container housing 40, the total amount of these inks Ink can be injected from the liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51 into at least one of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 until the difference between the volume and the capacity of the space 41 becomes zero.

  (3) The liquid inlets 49, 50, 51 are provided on the front wall portion 48 of the liquid container housing 40 that functions as a fixed wall in the liquid container 23, and the bag bodies 42, 43, 44 that function as movable walls. It is not provided in this part. For this reason, the bag bodies 42, 43, and 44 are moved along with the ink injection, thereby hindering the ink injection operation from the liquid injection ports 49, 50, and 51 into the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47. The fear can be reduced.

  (4) The liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 in the bag bodies 42, 43, 44 that can communicate with the outside only at the portions of the liquid injection ports 49, 50, 51 and the liquid supply ports 53, 54, 55 are the atmosphere. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the possibility that the ink inside is in contact with the atmosphere and deteriorates.

  (5) A space between the printing unit 16 and the sheet feeding cassette 27 which is an example of the storage unit in the housing 12 is effectively used as a space for arranging the liquid container 23. For example, the liquid container 23 in the housing 12 is used. As compared with the case where the printer is arranged beside the paper feed cassette 27, the arrangement space of the entire printing apparatus 11 can be reduced.

  (6) In the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 in the near-end state where ink injection is required, it is possible to inject more than half of the maximum capacity of ink, and the ink bottle 56 used for ink injection is usually used. Is set to be less than half of the maximum capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46, so that it can be used up without leaving one ink bottle 56 when ink is injected.

  (7) The set capacity of the ink bottle 56 is the number of bag bodies 42, 43, 44 arranged so as to be half the capacity of the space portion 41 of the liquid container housing 40 so as to be adjacent to each other in the space portion 41. Since the capacity is equal to or greater than the divided capacity, it is possible to eliminate the use of several ink bottles 56 when ink is injected into one liquid storage chamber 45, 46, 47.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a printing apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described. In the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, only the configuration of the liquid container is different from that of the first embodiment, and other configurations are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment. Therefore, the configuration different from that of the first embodiment will be mainly described below, and the other components will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the liquid container 23 in the present embodiment includes a bag body 42 in which a plurality of liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 provided in the liquid container housing 40 are used in the first embodiment. 43 and 44 are not used. That is, the liquid container 23 of the present embodiment has the protrusions 61 at two positions spaced apart in the left-right direction between the liquid inlet 49 and the liquid inlet 50 on the inner surface of the front wall portion 48 of the liquid container housing 40. And projecting portions 62, and projecting portions 63 and 64 are projectingly provided at two positions separated in the left-right direction between the liquid inlet 50 and the liquid inlet 51. Similarly, on the inner surface of the rear wall portion 52 of the liquid container housing 40, the protrusion 65 and the protrusion 66 are provided at two positions spaced apart in the left-right direction between the liquid supply port 53 and the liquid supply port 54. At the same time, a protrusion 67 and a protrusion 68 are provided at two positions separated in the left-right direction between the liquid supply port 54 and the liquid supply port 55.

  In the liquid container housing 40, a partition wall portion 69 having a length corresponding to the distance between the inner surface of the front wall portion 48 and the inner surface of the rear wall portion 52 is provided with the protrusion 61 on the inner surface of the front wall portion 48. It is disposed between the protrusions 62 and between the protrusions 65 and 66 on the inner surface of the rear wall 52. Similarly, the partition wall 70 having the same length as the partition wall 69 is formed between the protrusion 63 and the protrusion 64 on the inner surface of the front wall 48 and the protrusion 67 and the protrusion 68 on the inner surface of the rear wall 52. It is arranged between. Each of the partition walls 69 and 70 has one end slidably contacting the inner surface of the front wall 48 in a state where ink does not leak, and the other end of each partition wall 69 and 70 is in contact with the inner surface of the rear wall 52. In this way, the ink is slidably contacted without leaking ink. Each partition wall 69 and 70 is also slidably in contact with the inner surface of the liquid container housing 40 at both ends in the direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG.

  As a result, in the liquid container housing 40 of the liquid container 23, the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 are formed by a plurality of (for example, three) bag bodies 42, 43, and 44 that function as movable walls. As in the case of the first embodiment, the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 having a sealed structure are formed by a plurality (in this case, two) of partition walls 69 and 70 that function as movable walls. The capacity of each of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 is increased or decreased by moving the partition walls 69, 70 in the left-right direction indicated by arrows in FIG. And the movement range in that case is prescribed | regulated by the protrusions 61-68 protrudingly provided by the inner surface of the front wall part 48 and the rear wall part 52. FIG.

  Therefore, for example, when the ink remaining amount in the liquid storage chamber 46 is in the near-end state, when ink is injected through the liquid injection port 50, the internal pressure of the liquid storage chamber 46 increases as the ink is injected. To do. When the ink injection further proceeds, the partition wall portions 69 and 70 are moved (moved and slid) in a direction to increase the capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46 by being pushed by the rising internal pressure. And the direction which increases the capacity | capacitance of the liquid storage chamber 46 by contact | abutting to the protrusion (in this case, the protrusion 61 and the protrusion 65, and the protrusion 64 and the protrusion 68) located in the front side of the moving direction The movement of the partition walls 69 and 70 to the stop is stopped, and the capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46 at that time becomes the maximum capacity.

  Thereafter, when ink in the liquid storage chamber 46 is consumed during printing by ejecting ink from the liquid ejecting head 19, the ink in the liquid storage chamber 46 is reduced by a volume corresponding to the consumed amount. However, the partition walls 69 and 70 do not move in the direction of decreasing the capacity unless they are energized so as to move in the direction of decreasing the capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46. However, since the internal pressure decreases due to a decrease in the ink from the liquid storage chamber 46, the amount of ink stored in the other adjacent liquid storage chambers (in this case, the liquid storage chambers 45 and 46) increases and the internal pressure increases. When it becomes higher, it is pushed by the internal pressure and moves in a direction to decrease the capacity of the liquid storage chamber 46.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the same effects as (1) to (5) in the first embodiment described above can be obtained.
In addition, you may change each said embodiment as follows.

  The ink absorbing material 26 attached to the back surface of the opening / closing door 25 has liquid inlets 49, 50, 50 at the front wall portion 48 of the liquid container housing 40 in the liquid container 23 even when the opening / closing door 25 is in the closed position. The structure which contacts the position used as the lower side of 51 may be sufficient.

  The opening / closing door 25 may be a rotational displacement about the rotational axis along the vertical direction, instead of the rotational displacement about the rotational axis 24 along the horizontal direction. Further, the opening / closing door 25 may be configured to slide between the closed position and the open position instead of being rotationally displaced between the closed position and the open position. Further, instead of the opening / closing door 25, a lid detachable on the front side of the liquid container mounting portion 21 in the housing 12 may be used.

  The open / close door 25 may be provided not on the front surface of the housing 12 but on either the left or right side surface of the housing 12. However, in that case, the liquid container 23 is exposed toward the left or right outer side when the liquid inlets 49, 50, 51 displace the open / close door 25 to the open position in the housing 12. It is necessary to be arranged as described.

  In the housing 12, the liquid container mounting unit 21 may be provided below the cassette mounting unit 22 to which the paper feed cassette 27 that is a storage unit that stores the paper P used for printing is mounted. Alternatively, in the housing 12, the liquid container mounting portion 21 may be provided on the left side or the right side of the cassette mounting portion 22, and may be further provided outside the housing 12. That is, the liquid container 23 may be an external type.

The liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 may be open to the atmosphere via an air communication portion instead of a sealed structure.
The liquid inlets 49, 50, 51 are not fixedly arranged on the front wall 48 of the liquid container housing 40, but a tube with a liquid inlet can be pulled out of the housing 12 from the bag bodies 42, 43, 44. The structure made into may be sufficient.

  -The capacity | capacitance of the space part 41 in the liquid container housing 40 and the minimum capacity | capacitance of each liquid storage chamber 45,46,47 are not restricted to the capacity | capacitance value of each embodiment. Further, the capacity of the space 41 in the liquid container housing 40 may be equal to or greater than the total capacity of the maximum capacity of each liquid storage chamber 45, 46, 47.

  The inner surfaces of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, 47 are flexible bag bodies 42, 43, 44 as in the first embodiment, and almost all of the inner surfaces are movable walls. The movable wall portion may be movable by being deformed so as to increase or decrease.

  In addition, the inner surfaces of the liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 may be configured to function as movable wall portions by sliding part of the inner surfaces by the partition wall portions 69 and 70 as in the second embodiment. In some cases, the partition walls 69 and 70 may be configured to increase or decrease the capacity by bending and deforming without moving (sliding) in the left-right direction. In this case, it is preferable that the partition wall portions 69 and 70 as the movable wall portions are configured by elastically deformable partition wall portions such as rubber.

The liquid container 23 may have a configuration in which only one liquid storage chamber 45, 46, 47 is provided instead of a plurality thereof.
In each of the above embodiments, the printing apparatus 11 may be a dot impact printer or a laser printer as long as it can print on a medium. The printing apparatus 11 is not limited to a serial printer, and may be a line printer or a page printer.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the printing apparatus 11 has been described using three types of ink as an example, but only one type of ink may be used, or two, four, or five or more types of ink may be used. May be used. The number of liquid storage chambers 45, 46, and 47 and the number of ink supply tubes 20 and the like may correspond to the number of types of ink to be used.

  The medium is not limited to the paper P, and may be a resin film, a metal foil, a metal film, a resin-metal composite film (laminate film), a woven fabric, a nonwoven fabric, a ceramic sheet, or the like.

  In the above embodiment, the printing apparatus 11 may be a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects or ejects liquid other than ink. Note that the state of the liquid ejected as a minute amount of liquid droplets from the liquid ejecting apparatus includes a granular shape, a tear shape, and a thread-like shape. The liquid here may be any material that can be ejected from the liquid ejecting apparatus. For example, it may be in a state in which the substance is in a liquid phase, such as a liquid with high or low viscosity, sol, gel water, other inorganic solvents, organic solvents, solutions, liquid resins, liquid metals (metal melts ). Further, not only a liquid as one state of a substance but also a substance in which particles of a functional material made of a solid such as a pigment or a metal particle are dissolved, dispersed or mixed in a solvent is included. Typical examples of the liquid include ink and liquid crystal as described in the above embodiment. Here, the ink includes general water-based inks and oil-based inks, and various liquid compositions such as gel inks and hot melt inks.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Printing apparatus, 12 ... Housing | casing, 16 ... Printing part, 20 ... Ink supply tube (liquid supply flow path), 23 ... Liquid container, 27 ... Paper feed cassette (accumulation part), 40 ... Liquid container housing, 41: Space portion, 42, 43, 44 ... Bag body (movable wall portion), 45, 46, 47 ... Liquid storage chamber, 49, 50, 51 ... Liquid injection port, 53, 54, 55 ... Liquid supply port, ink Bottle 56 (liquid injection member), 69, 70 ... partition wall (movable wall), P ... paper (medium).

Claims (3)

A printing unit that performs printing using a liquid as a medium;
A liquid storage chamber capable of storing the liquid supplied to the printing unit, and a liquid storage body having a liquid injection port capable of injecting the liquid into the liquid storage chamber;
A storage unit provided below the liquid storage chamber and storing a medium used for printing;
A housing that houses the printing unit, the liquid container, and the storage unit;
With
In the liquid container, at least a part of the inner surface of the liquid storage chamber is formed by a movable wall portion that is movable in a direction to increase the capacity of the liquid storage chamber as the liquid is injected, and is provided in the casing. When the opened / closed door is displaced to the open position, the liquid inlet is exposed to the outside so that the liquid can be injected from the outside of the housing, and provided on the back side of the open / close door. The liquid absorbing material is capable of absorbing the liquid leaking from the liquid inlet by contacting the surface below the liquid inlet in the liquid container, and the position of the liquid inlet below printing apparatus, wherein the medium of the storage section provided deviates et placed position to be stored in. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the storage unit is inserted into and removed from the casing from a side of the casing where the opening / closing door is provided. Printing according to between positions in which the said liquid is dripping position leaked from the liquid inlet medium is accumulated, in claim 1 or claim 2 characterized by having a weir structure damming the liquid apparatus.