JPH05162325A - Liquid jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the leakage of ink from an ink tank and to fill the ink tank with ink to the full by constituting at least a part of a material constituting an ink tank of a gas permeable and liquid impermeable material. CONSTITUTION:For example, an ink tank 1 is formed from a porous resin material composed of fluoroplastic or polyethylene and limiting the passage of a liquid by its water repellency, pore size and void. In this case, it is desirable that the pore size is 100mum or less and the void is 95% or less in order to limit the passage of ink. Since the solvent such as alcohol contained in ink is low in surface tension and easy to pass through pores, it is desirable to suppress the content of the solvent such as alcohol in ink to 10% or less.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus using an ink jet recording system for recording by ejecting ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, many information recording devices such as printers, facsimiles and word processors have been developed.

Of the recording devices mounted on these devices, the inkjet recording device is widely adopted because of its advantages such as low cost, low noise and low running cost due to its simple structure.

Further, among the ink jet recording apparatuses, the bubble jet recording method proposed by Canon has the advantages of high resolution and high speed recording in addition to the above advantages.

[0005]

However, since most of the ink jet recording systems use liquid ink, it is necessary to pay attention to the handling thereof. In other words, it is necessary to take design measures to prevent ink leakage against changes in the use environment and physical distribution environment.

Further, as the size of personal computers, word processors, etc. is reduced, the entire apparatus is often carried and carried, and changes in the operating environment have a great influence on the ink jet recording system.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, an ink tank 50 made of a material such as a deformable film is used to hold the ink 51.

However, when the ink tank 50 is composed only of a plastic sheet or the like, air is mixed through the sheet, and the air entering the inside is compressed and expanded due to environmental changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure, and the pressure in the tank is in a pressurized state. In addition, the pressure is reduced and ink ejection becomes unstable.
To prevent this, a method of laminating a thin film of a metal such as aluminum on a plastic sheet or vapor depositing a metal to block air is adopted, but this is supposed to increase the cost. It was Furthermore, if the ink tank case 52 made of plastic or the like is provided in order to improve the operability of the ink tank, there is a drawback that the volume ratio of the ink to the entire ink tank is reduced and the volume efficiency is deteriorated.

As another conventional example, as shown in FIG. 6, an absorber 61 is provided in the ink tank portion 60, and ink is held by impregnating the absorber 61 with the ink. It was The absorber 61 is made of a porous material such as urethane foam and holds ink by the action of a capillary tube.

However, since the ink is held by the porous absorber, there is a resistance in the supply of the ink from the absorber to the recording head, and the flow velocity of the ink from the ink tank to the recording head is limited, and the recording head has It has been an obstacle to speeding up.

Also, the density of the cells of the porous absorber must be made small in order to prevent ink leakage, which leads to a reduction in the volume of ink impregnated in the absorber and a reduction in the volumetric efficiency of the ink tank. Was there. In addition, ink is likely to be left behind in a portion of the absorber farther from the ink supply portion to the recording head, resulting in a decrease in ink consumption efficiency.
For example, when an absorber having a cell density of about 1 to 2 cells / mm is used, the amount of ink that can be used for recording is about 30 to 60% of the ink tank volume.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, the present inventor has completed the present invention as a result of earnest research.

That is, the present invention provides a liquid jet recording apparatus comprising at least an ink tank and a recording head for recording by ejecting ink from the ink tank,
At least a part of a material forming the ink tank is a gas permeable liquid impermeable liquid.

Although the entire ink tank may be made of a gas permeable liquid impermeable material, it is not always necessary to achieve the object of the present invention, and a part of the ink tank is gas permeable. The ink tank may be made of a liquid impermeable material and the other part may be made of a gas and liquid impermeable material.

Regarding the gas permeable liquid non-permeable material constituting the ink tank in the present invention, some specific examples are described in the examples, but the material is not limited to these.

[0016]

In the present invention, by making at least a part of the material forming the ink tank impermeable to the gas permeable liquid, it is possible to prevent the ink from leaking from the ink tank, and the ink absorber is not used. The ink tank can be filled with 100% ink, thus improving the efficiency of the ink tank.

Further, the gas can flow in and out through the gas permeable liquid impermeable portion of the ink tank, so that the ink tank can be stably supplied without being pressurized or decompressed even when the inside of the ink tank is subjected to environmental changes such as temperature and pressure. it can.

[0018]

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

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing the appearance of an information processing apparatus 604 incorporating the recording apparatus according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 7, 601 is the above-mentioned printer unit, 602 is a keyboard unit having keys for inputting characters, numbers and other characters, keys for giving various commands, and 603 is a display unit. It is a display unit provided.

In addition, there is a power supply unit for supplying electric power to the above-mentioned electric circuit, for example, a rechargeable battery, a disposable dry battery, or a case where the information processing apparatus main body is fixed and used. There is an AC power supply exchanger. Example 1 FIG. 1 is for explaining an inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

The ink tank 1 is a bag-shaped container made of a gas-permeable liquid-impermeable material, and has an ink 2 inside.
Holding The ink tank 1 is connected to the case 3, and the connecting portion is sealed so that liquid and gas do not leak. A recording head 4 is connected to the case 3, and the ink 2 in the ink tank 1 is supplied to the recording head 4 through the ink flow path 3 a of the case 3. The recording head 4 is composed of a substrate 4a on which an electrothermal converter is arranged and a nozzle plate 4b on which nozzles are formed. The nozzle plate 4b is formed by selectively applying electric energy.
Ink is ejected from the nozzle portion of to record on the recording medium 5.

In the present embodiment, the ink tank 1 is made of, for example, fluororesin, polyethylene or the like which is made porous, and is configured to limit the passage of liquid by the water repellency of the material and the pore diameter and porosity. There is. In this case, a pore diameter of 100 μm or less and a porosity of 95% or less are desirable values for limiting ink passage. Since the solvent such as alcohol contained in the ink has a small surface tension and easily passes through the porous pores, the content of the solvent such as alcohol in the ink is preferably 10% or less.

Alternatively, the ink tank 1 may be made of a non-porous and breathable material such as urethane resin. Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, an example in which the ink tank is made of a flexible sheet is shown, but the ink tank may have a structure that does not deform.

FIG. 2 shows an ink jet recording apparatus showing another embodiment according to the present invention when the ink tank is covered with a rigid case. In this example, since the ink tank 21 is covered with the rigid case 26 made of plastic or the like, it is easy to handle, and the rigid case 26 is provided with the vent hole 26a.
By reducing the hole diameter of a, the amount of evaporation of ink to the outside is reduced. Third Embodiment FIG. 3 is an ink jet recording apparatus showing another embodiment according to the present invention, in which ink 32 is held in a tank formed by a case 30 and a lid 31, and the atmosphere communication hole 31 a of the lid 31 is held. Is provided with a ventilation pipe 33. The ventilation pipe 33 is made of a gas permeable liquid impermeable material,
One end is closed and the other end is connected to the atmosphere communication hole 31a so that air and liquid do not leak. Also the ventilation pipe 33
Is changed to ink 3 by changing the attitude of the inkjet recording device.
Even if the state of No. 2 changes, the gas portion is always in contact with the ventilation pipe 33 and communicated with the outside air. For example, they are arranged in an S shape as shown in the figure. In this case, by reducing the amount of material of the ventilation pipe 33, the structure becomes inexpensive and the ink filling efficiency of the ink tank can be increased. Embodiment 4 FIG. 4 is an ink jet recording apparatus showing another embodiment of the present invention, in which ink 42 is held in a tank formed by a case 40 and a lid 41, and an atmosphere communication hole 40b of the case 40 and The atmosphere communicating hole 41a of the lid 41 has a ventilation member 43 formed of a gas permeable liquid impermeable material.
a and 43b are provided and sealed so that liquid does not leak. In the case of this example, a plurality of atmospheric communication parts are provided,
By covering each of them with a gas permeable liquid impermeable material, even if the state of the ink 42 changes due to the attitude change of the ink jet recording apparatus, any one of the atmosphere communicating portions is always in contact with the gas portion in the tank, and the atmosphere is not exposed to the outside air. I understand. In this case, the material of the ventilation members 43a and 43b can be made smaller, resulting in a cheaper configuration. Further, the efficiency of filling the ink in the ink tank becomes higher.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the ink jet recording method is applied to a recording head and a recording apparatus of the bubble jet method proposed by Canon Inc. is shown. For example,
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740,79.
What is carried out using the basic principle disclosed in No. 6 is preferred.

As the structure of the recording head, in addition to the combined structure of the discharge port, the flow path and the electrothermal converter as disclosed in each of the above-mentioned specifications, the recording head is arranged in a region where the heat acting portion is bent. The present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. Nos. 4,558,333 and 4,459,600, which disclose the configurations.

In addition to the electrothermal converter, a recording head using an electromechanical converter such as a piezo element may be used.

Further, although the serial type recording apparatus is shown in the above embodiment, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recordable width. The full-line type recording head may have a configuration that fills the maximum width by combining a plurality of recording heads or a configuration that is integrally formed.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the type in which the recording head and the ink tank are integrally formed is shown. However, the ink tank is separately configured and the ink is supplied by connecting to the recording head fixed to the apparatus main body. The present invention is effective even in a configuration in which

Regarding the types and the number of the recording heads mounted, for example, in addition to a single color ink and a recording head provided, a plurality of recording heads corresponding to a plurality of recording inks having different recording colors and densities are used. It may be provided.

In addition, as the form of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to one provided integrally or separately as an output terminal of information processing equipment such as a word processor or a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a scanner or the like, May take the form of a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the ink from leaking from the ink tank, and to improve the efficiency of the ink tank because the ink tank can be filled with 100% ink because an absorber is not used. Can be reduced.

Further, since gas can flow in and out through the ink tank, stable ink supply can be performed without being pressurized or depressurized even when the inside of the ink tank is subject to environmental changes such as temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Further, since the absorber is not used, the flow path resistance in the ink path from the ink tank to the recording head can be made small, high speed ejection of the recording head is possible, and the recording speed of the recording apparatus is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an ink jet recording apparatus for explaining a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of an ink jet recording apparatus for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of an ink jet recording apparatus for explaining a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of an ink jet recording apparatus for explaining a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of an ink jet recording apparatus of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another conventional inkjet recording device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of an information processing apparatus incorporating a recording apparatus according to this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 21, 50, 60 Ink tank 3, 23, 30, 40 Case 31, 41 Lid 2, 22, 32, 42, 51 Ink 3a, 23a, 30a, 40a, 53a, 60a Ink flow path 4, 24, 34 , 44, 54, 64 recording heads 4a, 24a, 34a, 44a, 54a, 64a substrate parts 4b, 24b, 34b, 44b, 54b, 64b nozzle plates 5,45 recording medium 33 ventilation pipes 43a, 43b ventilation members

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A liquid jet recording apparatus comprising at least an ink tank and a recording head for recording by ejecting ink from the ink tank, wherein at least a part of a material forming the ink tank is gas permeable. A liquid jet recording apparatus, which is liquid impermeable. 2. The liquid jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gas permeable liquid impermeable material is a porous material. 3. The liquid jet recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the porous material has a pore diameter of 100 μm or less and a porosity of 95% or less.