JPH01269545A - Supply method of solid ink - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To conduct positive stabilized operation, and to eliminate the need for arrangement onto a carriage by inserting massive solid ink to a housing means, dividing the massive solid ink into a plurality of lumps and supplying an ink jet printing head with the solid ink from the housing means. CONSTITUTION:Integrally molded massive solid ink 1 is charged into an ink housing vessel 2 from an ink charging port 3. A slider 5 is pushed and moved manually up to the position of locking through solid ink, and locked. The housing vessel is lowered automatically, the locking of the slider is released by a releasing pin 6, and the lump of the solid ink is pushed against a cam 7 for breaking by the force of a spring 8, is broken and separated by the revolution of the cam for breaking, and falls into an ink reservoir chamber 9. The solid ink is heated by a heater, and introduced to a printing head and printing is performed. Consequently, since the ink reservoir chamber is supplied with the solid ink as it is, the solid ink is not affected by an ambient temperature, and the quantity of ink fed is kept constant. The time required for supplying ink can also be set at an extremely short value. Since ink is not liquefied in a feeder, ink is fed positively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device that uses solid ink that undergoes a phase change within a hot melt type head.

(Prior Art) Various methods have been proposed for supplying ink for so-called hot-melt inkjet, which utilizes a phase change that liquefies in the head and becomes jettable, and then returns to a solid state on the print-impregnated paper surface. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-98546, a part of a solid ink ring is heated as required and the liquefied ink is supplied to a reservoir; This method involves sequentially dropping pellets shaped into a shape that is easy to lay down or transport into a storage chamber.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the former method, in which the ink is liquefied by heating and then supplied to the reservoir, the amount of ink supplied tends to be affected by the environmental temperature, and it takes a relatively long time from when the heating device is activated until the ink supply is completed, so the supply device must operate during printing,
Supply HW1 and the reservoir are required to be connected at all times. As a result, there are negative effects such as the need to dispose the feeding device on the carriage, which increases the weight of the carriage. Furthermore, a portion of the ink liquefied within the supply device is not supplied to the reservoir and solidifies again within the supply device. Furthermore, there is always an ink portion that is softened and deformed between the solid ink portion that liquefies and the non-liquefied portion, and there is a risk that both of these may obstruct the operation of the ink pressing means within the cylinder.

In the latter method, in which solid ink in the form of powder or pellets is dropped into a storage chamber, there is a risk that the powder particles or pellets will soften and fuse together in a relatively high-temperature environment, thereby impeding the supply operation. In order to avoid this danger, there are also examples where the pellets are stored in the feeding device without touching each other.
However, W4 problems remain, such as loading the pellets into the supply M W = I is time-consuming and the volumetric efficiency of the pellet storage container is reduced.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate such drawbacks, to realize a method for supplying solid ink that operates reliably and stably, does not require placement on a carriage, and has high ink storage volume efficiency.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A method for supplying solid ink of the present invention includes a step of forming the solid ink into a lumpy volume, and a step of forming the solid ink into a lumpy volume, and a step of forming the solid ink into a lumpy volume. and a step of separating the lump-like solid ink into a plurality of lumps and supplying them from the storage means to the inkjet print head.

Note that the separation of the solid ink does not involve a phase change such as liquefaction of the ink due to heating or the like.

[Effect]

The integrally molded ink lump is separated into a plurality of lumps as necessary by the supply device, and is dropped and supplied as a solid to the ink storage chamber.

〔Example〕

The integrally molded solid ink 1 shown in FIG. 1(a) is charged into the ink storage container 2 from the ink input port 3 in the direction of the arrow 4.

The slider 5 is manually pushed and moved to the locking position w1 through the solid ink 1, and is dropped into a hole installed in the ink storage container 2 by a temporary spring (not shown) and locked. After that, the storage container 2 is placed as shown in Figure 1(b)! The slider 5, which also serves as an indicator of the remaining amount of ink, is automatically lowered by the release pin 6, and the solid ink lump 1 is pressed against the breaking cam 7 by the force of the spring 8. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1(C), the breaking cam 7 rotates, and the solid ink 1 is broken off and separated, and falls into the ink storage chamber 8 in the direction of the arrow 10.

A groove 11 is formed in the solid ink 1 in order to stabilize the amount of ink supplied and to reduce the torque applied to the breaking cam 7.

The solid ink 1 that has fallen into the ink storage chamber 8 is heated by a heater (not shown) and introduced into a print head (also not shown) to perform printing.

The power system for the rotation of the breaking cam 7 and the vertical movement of the ink storage container 2 is as shown in FIG. The ink storage container 2 is moved up and down via the lever cam 16 and the lever 15.

In this embodiment, when the rotation direction of the motor 130 is counterclockwise, the power is transmitted to the lever cam 1B via the planetary gear 14 and the reduction stage shown by the solid line, and the power is transmitted to the lever cam 16 at 180@
With each rotation, the ink storage container 2 moves up and down via the lever 15. At this time, the ON/OFF of the motor power is determined by a micro switch and a detector such as a cam (not shown) that detects every 1806 rotations of the lever cam 16. Full control.

The storage container 2 rises as shown by the one-dot chain line and the solid ink 1 is replenished into the ink storage container 2. 7, the solid ink 1 is broken and ink is supplied to the ink storage chamber 9. When the ink storage capacity is lowered, the stopper 12 (FIG. 1 (^) to (C)) is used to position the solid ink 1. .

When the rotation direction of the motor 13 is clockwise, the power is transmitted to the breaking cam 7 through the planetary gear 14 and the reduction stage shown by the two-dot chain line, and the motor performs the above-mentioned ink salt breaking operation. The power ON-OFF also detects every 1800 rotations of the breaking cam 7. When actually installed in a printing device, the power system including the ink storage container 2 and the breaking cam 7 is as shown in FIG. Since the printing head 17 is arranged on a side frame 19 substantially orthogonal to the guide shaft 18 for main scanning and does not need to be arranged on the carriage 20, the carriage does not become heavy.

In FIG. 3, 21 is a platen, and 22 is printing paper.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, since the solid ink is supplied to the ink chamber in its solid state, the amount of supplied ink is constant regardless of the environmental temperature. In addition, the time required for ink supply is extremely short (it can be set), there is no need to necessarily mount a supply device on the carriage, and the weight of the carriage can be reduced.

Further, since the ink does not liquefy within the supply device, there is no risk of the operation of the supply mechanism being hindered due to re-solidification, making it possible to reliably supply ink. Furthermore, since the ink salt, which was originally integrally molded, is used separately, there is no risk of powder particles or pellets fusing together, and the volumetric efficiency of the ink storage container is also increased.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) to 1(C) are schematic diagrams showing the operation of the solid ink supply method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a supply device according to the solid ink supply method of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a supply device according to the solid ink supply method of the present invention arranged in a printing device. 1... Solid ink 2... Ink storage container 3... Ink inlet 5... Slider 6... Release pin 7... Breaking cam 9... Ink 1 chamber 11... Groove 12...Stopper 13...Motor 14...Planetary gear 15...Lever 16...Lever cam 17...Print head -20...Carriage 21...Platen 22...Beyond the printing paper Applicant Seiko Epson Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Kizobe Suzuki and 1 other person 7. 1-stock ink Figure 1 (Q) Figure 1 (b) 1. ・Migushiri 5.・Nukuzu 7- 6, ・Aflkura to 2n7, ・Ill eyebrow 14 8, ・λ7 Nosig 9! 4↓rita f 72, ・Nut7pa 1st leap (c) Fig. 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for supplying solid ink to a hot-melt inkjet print head, comprising the steps of: forming the solid ink into a lump; inserting the lump-like solid ink into a storage means; A method for supplying solid ink, comprising the step of separating the ink into a plurality of masses and supplying the ink to the inkjet print head from the storage means.