JPH0234353A - Liquid injection recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the leakage of a liquid, and to improve reliability by installing a liquid repellent porous member and a porous member having high recording liquid maintenance. CONSTITUTION:A porous member 12 charged into a ventilating chamber 7 has ink repellent properties, and air is admitted through but ink is repelled. A porous member 14 has ink packing lower than a porous member 13, but it has larger ink maintenance. The quantity of ink is housed at high packing by the porous member 13 occupying the greater part of a tank 3. The ink is fed to the liquid chamber of an ink discharge unit 2 in response to the discharge of ink while being transferred to the porous member 14 having high holding power even by the same head, and air not intrude into an ink feed 15 even when ink in the tank 3 is reduced because the porous member 14 is interposed. Air is taken into the tank 3 through the ink repellent porous member 12, thus preventing leakage to the outside of ink even when the attitude of a recording head 1 is changed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording head, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a recording head section that performs recording by ejecting liquid, and a recording liquid (hereinafter referred to as ink) supplied to the recording head section. This invention relates to a liquid ejecting recording head that is integrally configured with an ink storage section that accommodates an ink container.

(Prior Art) A conventional recording head of this type is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. In these figures, 101 denotes an ink storage section (hereinafter referred to as an ink tank) 102 and an ink discharge section having an ink discharge function. 104 is an ink ejection port provided on the ink ejection surface of the ink ejection portion 1123, and 105 is a filter provided between the ink tank 102 and the ink ejection portion 103. be. The ink tank 102 has a housing 1 serving as its outer housing.
06 and a lid 107, and the inside is filled with a porous body 108 as shown in FIG. By impregnating the ink 10
9 is supplied to the ink ejection section 103 via a filter 105. 11O is ink tank 1
This is a vent hole for communicating 02 with the atmosphere.

The recording head 101 configured in this way is mounted on a carriage 111 as shown in FIG.
12, and the carriage 111 is connected to the guide shaft 11 by a drive wire 113 and a drive motor 114.
from the recording head 101 while being moved along Z.
Ink is ejected in the direction to record on the recording sheet 116. 117 is a platen that holds the recording sheet 115; 118 is a sheet feed motor that causes the platen 117 to feed the sheet; and 119 is a flexible wiring that supplies an ink ejection signal for recording to the recording head 101.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional integrated liquid jet recording head 101 as described above, as shown in FIG.
The ink 109 is retained by impregnating the ink tank 102 with the ink tank 102.
0, but since the porous body 108 is press-filled, the pores are often collapsed, and the amount of ink filled cannot be increased considering the tank volume, and the filling efficiency is lower than normal. is less than 50%, and if you keep the filling amount higher than this, the ventilation hole 11 will close when you change the position of the head.
There was a risk that the ink 109 would leak from the ink 109, and moreover, there was a large amount of ink remaining, resulting in low usage efficiency considering the volume. Furthermore, in order to maintain a sufficient amount of ink used, it was necessary to use an ink tank with a large capacity.

The purpose of the present invention is to focus on the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to solve the problems, it is an object of the present invention to improve the ink filling efficiency, reduce the ink filling efficiency, and improve the reliability and usage efficiency without the risk of ink leaking from the ventilation holes. Our goal is to provide a good liquid jet recording head.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a recording head unit having an ejection port for ejecting liquid and an energy generating element provided corresponding to the ejection port and generating energy used for ejecting the liquid. and a liquid storage section for storing liquid to be supplied to the recording head section, in which the recording liquid storage section supplies the recording liquid to the recording head from a vent side that communicates the inside of the recording liquid storage section with the atmosphere. A first porous member having liquid repellency toward the supply path, a second porous member having a high porosity for accommodating the recording liquid, and a second porous member having a lower porosity than the second porous member in contact with the supply path. It is characterized by containing three porous members.

[For production]

According to the present invention, the second porous member provided in most parts of the recording liquid storage section can hold the recording liquid with high filling efficiency, and the green liquid can be transferred to the third porous member having a high liquid retention property. The recording liquid can be supplied to the recording liquid discharge section through the supply path without the risk of sucking air through the porous member, and
Since air is allowed to flow through the recording liquid storage portion through the liquid-repellent first porous member, there is no possibility that the recording liquid will leak from the ventilation hole due to vibration or movement of the recording head.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail and specifically below based on the drawings.

FIGS. 1A to 1D show an embodiment of the present invention. 1st A
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a print head that integrates a print head section (hereinafter referred to as an ink ejection unit) 2 with an ink ejection function and an ink tank 3 via a housing 4, and the ink tank 3 and ink It is separated by a partition wall 6 from a unit mounting section 5 to which the discharge unit 2 is mounted.

Further, 7 is a ventilation chamber having a communication hole 8 between it and the ink tank 3, and air can be communicated between the ink tank 3 and the atmosphere through this ventilation chamber 7 as described later. .

In addition, 9 is an ink discharge port, and 10 in FIG.
11 is a lid sealed on the housing 4, and 11 is an electrode section for signal supply provided in the ink ejection unit 2.
The bottom of the unit mounting portion 5 is hollowed out and exposed so that it can be connected to wiring (not shown). Furthermore, 1st A
In the figure, 12, 13 and 14 are all porous members, such as foamed urethane, foamed valve, and foamed PVA.
(polyvinyl alcohol), etc., and have mutually different ink retention properties, ink filling efficiencies, or ink repellency.

That is, the porous member 12 loaded in the ventilation chamber 7 has ink repellency due to the ink repellent treatment, and allows air to flow through it but does not accept ink. In addition, the porous member 14 has a lower ink filling rate than the porous member 13 but has a greater ink retention ability. However, if the retention force is too large, a high negative pressure will be generated on the side of the ink discharge section 2. , refilling of ink may be delayed and the response frequency of the head may become low. Therefore, it goes without saying that it is necessary to select a porous member having an appropriate holding power depending on the structure of the ink ejection port 9, the physical properties of the ink, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1C, this porous member 14 is pressed into contact with the supply port 15A on the ink tank 3 side of the ink supply path 15 provided at the bottom between the ink tank 3 and the unit mounting portion 5. The ink held in the porous member 14 can be guided to the liquid chamber 2A of the ink ejection unit 2 via the ink supply path 15.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1D, the lid 10 is provided with a ventilation hole 16 that takes in the atmosphere.
The atmosphere can be communicated with the ink tank 3 through the communication hole 8.

FIG. 2 shows a comparison of the ink retention properties of porous members 13 and 14.
The non-independent pore diameter is smaller and the porosity is lower than that of No. 3, and therefore the ability to absorb and retain ink is stronger.

Therefore, when the same head pressure is applied, the remaining amount of ink is larger in the porous member 14 than in the porous member 13. however,
The porous member 13 has a larger amount of ink per the same volume, and since this has the property that ink can be easily drained, ink can easily transfer from the porous member 13 to the porous member 14. Further, the ink holding power of the porous member 14 is set to such a level that it does not interfere with the replenishment of the liquid chamber 2A by ejecting ink.

Therefore, in the liquid jet recording head 1 configured in this way, the porous member 13 that occupies most of the space in the ink tank 3 can accommodate an amount of ink at a sufficiently high filling rate, and even if this ink has the same water head, the holding force is Highly porous member 1
4, the ink is supplied to the liquid chamber 2^ of the ink discharge unit 2 according to the discharge of ink, and the presence of this porous member 14 prevents air from flowing even when the ink in the tank 3 is low. The ink does not enter the ink supply path 15. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the ink from shaking and rippling in the tank due to vibrations caused by the movement of the carriage. Furthermore, since air is drawn into the ink tank 3 through the ink-repellent porous member 12 housed in the ventilation chamber, ink does not flow even if the attitude of the recording head 1 is changed. There is no leakage to the outside.

3A and 3B illustrate another embodiment of the invention.
In this example, a cylindrical part 17 for holding the porous member 12 is provided on the lower surface side of the lid 1O without providing a special ventilation chamber in the housing 4, and the porous member 12 is held in the cylindrical part 17. It is designed to be fitted into the ink tank 3.

The rest of the structure is the same as the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, in a liquid jet recording head in which a recording head section and a recording liquid storage section are provided in an integrated housing, the liquid repellency and air permeability are provided in contact with the ventilation hole communicating with the recording storage section. A first porous member is provided, and a third porous member having a low porosity and high recording liquid retention property is provided in contact with the supply port opening into the storage portion of the recording liquid supply path leading from the storage portion to the recording head portion. The second porous member, which has a higher porosity than the third porous member and has a higher recording liquid filling rate, is provided in most of the other spaces in the recording liquid storage section. It is an object of the present invention to provide a small liquid jet recording head with high reliability, which can hold sufficient recording liquid in a storage section regardless of the recording head, and which is free from the risk of liquid leakage due to vibration or the like. It has become possible.

FIG. 48 is a sectional view taken along the line A--A in FIG. 4A, and FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a liquid jet recording apparatus equipped with a recording head.

1... Recording head 1 2... ink ejection unit, 3... Ink tank, 4... Housing,

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1A and FIG. 1A are perspective views and external views showing an example of the structure of the liquid jet recording head of the present invention, FIGS. 1C and 1I) are partial cross-sectional views of FIG. 1A, respectively, and FIG. 3A and 3B are perspective views and partial cross-sectional views showing the structure of other embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a conventional liquid ejection system. A perspective view of the external appearance showing an example of the configuration of the recording head, 8--Communication hole, 9--Ink ejection opening, 10--Lid! ! ...Electrode part, 12.13.14--Porous member, 15--Ink supply path, 15A--Ink supply port, 1B--Vent hole, 17-- Bay portion. ~ Sunmoto Yoruaki j te hani ka ゛ 71 u 3 Ll Receive the bait sweat pressure of the decoration's pillar curvature (H No. I hole; come I row d Fukuto 11 corresponding i FX diagonal 15:05 Figure 4
Figure A 109 Ink 4A Reception sheet 115 Ningen yen axis liquid I #cough" A chapter on a sword with a chapter ox ox diagram Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A recording head section having an ejection opening for ejecting liquid, and an energy generating element provided corresponding to the ejection opening and generating energy used for ejecting the liquid, and the recording head. a liquid storage part for storing liquid to be supplied to the recording head, the recording liquid storage part having a liquid storage part for supplying the recording liquid to the recording head from a vent side that communicates the inside of the recording liquid storage part with the atmosphere. A first porous member having liquid repellency toward the supply path, a second porous member having a high porosity for accommodating the recording liquid, and a porous member in contact with the supply path having a lower porosity than the second porous member. A liquid jet recording head comprising a third porous member.