JPH023321A - Ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accommodate ink also below the lower limit of an area wherein the execution of normal printing in the vertical direction is enabled for a recording head and thereby to enable the easy increase of a capacity of an ink cartridge, by supporting at least a part of the weight of an ink bag by a spring means which is displaced vertically. CONSTITUTION:When there is a large quantity of ink in an ink bag 13, a compression coil spring 22 is pressed to be compressed by the weight of the ink through an inner lid 23, and the lower surface 26 of the ink bag 13 is positioned below the lower limit A-A of an area in the vertical direction wherein the execution of normal printing is enabled for a recording head 11. However, the upper surface 27 of the ink bag 13 is positioned between the upper limit B-B and the lower limit A-A in the area in the vertical direction wherein the execution of normal printing is enabled, and therefore the atmospheric pressure and a pressure inside a nozzle 28 can be kept in a state of equilibrium by a surface tension of the ink in a minute orifice 29 in the fore end of the nozzle 28 inside the recording head 11, and thus normal discharge of the like is effected. According to this constitution, it is possible to accommodate the ink also below the lower limit A-A of the area wherein the execution of normal printing is enabled for the recording head 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ink cartridge installed as an ink supply source in an inkjet recording apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

Recording devices such as printers and facsimiles can be divided into thermal types, wire dot types, inkjet types, laser beam types, etc. depending on the recording method.

Among these, the inkjet method (inkjet recording device) supplies ink to a recording head with minute orifices, and scans the recording head on a sheet (recording medium such as paper or thin plastic plate) based on print data. 1. The ink droplet is configured to form flying ink droplets from the orifice toward the sheet to form a dot pattern on the sheet.

As an ink supply source for such an inkjet recording apparatus, an ink cartridge that can be replaced within a shell is used.

As one type of ink cartridge, a flexible ink bag filled with ink is stored in a cartridge case, and when it is installed in a recording device, the ink is taken out from the ink bag through the opening of the cartridge case. The one that supplies the recording head is used.

The recording head is formed with an orifice (usually multiple) for turning the supplied ink into particles and discharging ink droplets onto the sheet, and depositing the ink droplets on the sheet.At the orifice (ink ejection opening), atmospheric pressure and internal pressure of the orifice are formed. is balanced by the surface tension of the ink.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The pressure inside the orifice increases when the ink car 1 to the cartridge are installed vertically above the recording bed.
If installed vertically downward, negative pressure will be created, and if the degree of pressurization is large, the ink inside the orifice will flow out from the orifice, and if the degree of negative pressure is large, the ink inside the orifice will flow toward the back of the recording head. There is a problem in that the ink flows into the area or toward the ink cartridge, and the ink cannot be held inside the orifice, making it impossible to print normally.

Therefore, in conventional ink cartridges, the mounting position of the ink bag is limited in the vertical range relative to the recording head, and it is necessary to install the ink bag in a very limited vertical area where normal printing can be performed. Ta.

On the other hand, as mentioned above, there are restrictions on the storage position (vertical position) of the ink supplied to the recording head, and ink can only be stored in a limited vertical area, so the amount of ink stored in the ink bag is below a certain level. There was also the problem that the ink capacity was insufficient due to restrictions.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides an ink cartridge configured to house a flexible ink bag in a cartridge case and to take out ink from the ink bag, with a spring means for vertically displacing at least a part of the weight of the ink bag. By supporting this, the above objective is achieved.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, an elastic body is installed to hold the weight of the ink bag in the ink cartridge, and it becomes possible to store ink below the normal printable area in the vertical direction with respect to the recording head. .

〔Example〕

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an ink supply system using an ink cartridge according to the present invention.

In FIG. 4, a removable ink cartridge 12 is provided as means for supplying ink to the recording head 11 of the inkjet recording apparatus.

The ink cartridge 12 has a structure in which a sealed ink bag 13 made of a flexible sheet is housed inside a case, and is installed by being inserted along a cartridge guide 14 installed in the recording apparatus.

When the ink bag 13 is installed, an ink needle (hollow needle) 16 installed in the recording device pierces and penetrates the ink supply port 15 made of a gono material provided at the tip of the ink bag 13.
The ink inside is ink bag 13 - ink needle 16 → tube 1
7 → ink remaining amount detection means 18 → tube 19 → sent to recording head 11.

By driving the recording head based on print data, the ink supplied to the recording sheet 11 lands on the recording sheet as flying ink droplets from a fine orifice, forming an image consisting of a dot pattern. be done.

The pressure inside the nozzle inside the recording head 11 that communicates with the orifice and the atmospheric pressure are kept in equilibrium by the surface tension of the orifice.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the ink cartridge 12 in FIG. 4, that is, an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a compression coil spring 22 is installed inside the lower case 21.
is installed, and this compression coil spring 22 is connected to the lower case 2.
1 and a plate-shaped inner lid 23, a sealed ink bag 13 made of a flexible sheet is placed on the inner lid 23, and an upper case 24 is connected to the lower case 21. The ink bag 13 is held in the case 21, 24 in a state where it is compressed by elastic force.

The ink supply port 15 made of a rubber-like elastic material is tightly fitted and fixed within a plug member 25 which is sealed and fixed to the ink bag 13.

The ink bag 13 is held in a predetermined position by compressing the plug member 25 between the arcuate notches formed in the lower case 21 and the upper case 24.

FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the relationship with the recording/rad 11 when the ink bag 13 is filled with a large amount of ink, and FIG. 3 shows the amount of ink remaining in the ink bag 13. FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 when the amount is reduced;

In FIGS. 2 and 3, when the ink cartridge is installed, the ink needle (hollow needle) 16 installed in the recording device pierces the ink supply port 15 made of rubber-like elasticity and is exposed inside the ink bag 13. The ink in the ink bag 13 is as described above (ink needle 16, tube 17, remaining ink amount detection means 18, tube 19, recording head 11).
supplied to.

A plurality of nozzles 28 filled with ink are provided in the recording head 11, and two fine orifices at the tips of each nozzle 28 form ink ejection ports.

As shown in FIG. 2, when there is a large amount of ink in the ink bag 13, the compression coil spring 22 is pressed and compressed by the weight of the ink through the inner lid 23, and the lower surface 26 of the ink bag 13 is used for recording. It is located below the lower limit A-A of the vertical area in which normal printing can be performed with respect to the pad 11.

However, since the upper surface 27 of the ink bag 13 is located between the upper limit B-B of the vertical area where normal printing is possible and the lower IEIJA-A, the fine orifice at the tip of the nozzle 28 in the recording head 11 At the (ink ejection port) 29, the atmospheric pressure and the pressure inside the nozzle 28 can be maintained in equilibrium due to the surface tension of the ink, and normal recording (ink ejection) can be performed.

As the ink in the ink bag 13 is consumed by recording, the ink bag 13 made of a flexible material is crushed as shown in FIG. 3, and as the weight of the ink decreases, the compression coil The length (height) of the spring 22 increases, and the inner lid 23 and the ink bag 13 rise.

Therefore, when the remaining amount of ink becomes small as shown in FIG. Therefore, normal printing can always be performed until the ink in the ink bag 13 is used up.

In this way, by supporting the ink bag 13 with the compression coil spring 22, when the ink bag 13 is filled with ink as shown in FIG. Ink can be stored below A-A, so ink bag 1
The ink capacity of No. 3 can be easily increased.

As another embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned compression coil spring 22
Instead, an elastic body such as a leaf spring or rubber can be used to achieve the same effect.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in an ink cartridge configured to house a flexible ink bag in a cartridge/nozzle case and take out ink from the ink bag, Since at least a part of the weight of the ink bag is supported by the spring means that displaces it up and down, it is possible to store ink even below the lower limit of the area where normal printing is possible in the vertical direction with respect to the recording head. This makes it easy to increase the capacity of ink cartridges.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is an exploded perspective view of an ink cartridge according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing the positional relationship with the recording head when a large amount of ink is stored in the ink cartridge of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 when the amount of ink is reduced, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an ink supply system using the ink cartridge according to the present invention. 11- Recording head, 1' 2--1------
Ink cartridge, l 3--------- Ink bag, 21.24 Cartridge case, 22------
--- Spring means (compression coil spring'), 23 ---
−−−−−−Ichichu lid.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an ink cartridge configured to house a flexible ink bag in a cartridge case and take out ink from the ink bag, a spring means for vertically displacing at least a part of the weight of the ink bag; An ink cartridge characterized by supporting.