JPH05293969A - Ink jet recording apparatus and method for replacing ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the leakage of ink from a nozzle and the mixing of air bubbles into the nozzle at the time of the replacement of an ink cartridge. CONSTITUTION:When the replacing period of an ink cartridge is confirmed by an ink residual amount detection means such a sensor, at first, the head fixing jig of an ink jet recording apparatus is detached and a recording head and the ink cartridge are integrally detached from a carriage. The detached recording head fitted with the ink cartridge is attached to the recording head fixing part 65 provided to the ink jet recording apparatus 1 to be fixed by a lock switch 7. In this state, the ink cartridge is replaced. Therefore, no unreasonable force is applied to the carriage at the time of the detachment and attachment of the ink cartridge.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink cartridge exchangeably coupled to a recording head, and an ink cartridge exchanging method for exchanging an ink cartridge in the ink jet recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet recording apparatus, especially,
Using the electrothermal conversion element, generate bubbles in the ink,
An ink jet recording apparatus of a type in which an ink droplet is ejected from a nozzle by a pressure generated at this time is attracting attention as a recording apparatus that enables color recording easily, and its market is gradually expanding.

In a conventional ink jet recording apparatus,
Ink to the recording head was supplied from an ink tank installed at a position apart from the recording head through an ink supply pipe. However, recently, by adopting a replaceable head unit in which a recording head and an ink cartridge are integrated, further miniaturization and cost reduction are progressing, and the market of inkjet recording apparatuses is expanding.

However, the ink cartridge integrated type system has a short service life of the recording head and is in the range of 10 to 20 cc.
It is suitable when the recording head is near the end of its service life by using a certain amount of ink. In the case of a recording head with a longer life that can withstand the use of ink near 100 cc,
It was difficult to configure an ink cartridge capable of supplying a large amount of ink with the recording head so as to be integrated with the recording head, and to mount the recording unit on the carriage because the recording unit becomes large as a whole. Therefore, JP-A-63-87242 and JP-A-3-3432
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49, there is known an ink jet recording head recording apparatus which separates a recording head from an ink cartridge and can replace only the ink cartridge when ink is consumed.

9 and 10 are cross-sectional views for explaining the replacement of the ink cartridge in such a separation type recording unit. FIG. 9 shows the ink cartridge being removed, and FIG. 10 shows the ink cartridge. The situation at the time of installation is shown. In the figure, 11 is an ink cartridge, 12 is an air intake port, 13 is an ink cartridge side coupling part, 14 is an ink holding member in an empty state, 15 is an ink holding member in a filled state, 16 is an ink cartridge receiving part, and 18 is A recording head, 19 is a nozzle portion, 20 is a coupling portion on the recording head side, 30 is a carriage, 31 is a sliding shaft,
Reference numeral 32 is a recording head fixing spring member, 33 is a bubble, 34 is air, and 35 is ink.

The recording head 18 is integrated with the ink cartridge receiving portion 16, and is fixed to the carriage by a recording head fixing spring member 32 provided in the carriage 30. Inside the ink cartridge receiving portion 16, a coupling portion 20 on the recording head side that communicates with the nozzle portion 19 of the recording head 18 projects. The ink cartridge 11 has an ink holding member housed therein, and has an air intake port 12 and a connecting portion 1 on the ink cartridge side.
3 is provided. As shown in FIG. 9A or FIG. 10B, the ink cartridge 11 is attached to the ink cartridge receiving portion 16 to supply the ink to the recording head 18. The carriage 30 is supported by a slide shaft 31 and performs printing while moving the slide shaft 31 by a drive mechanism (not shown).

Ink is consumed by printing, and as shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), when the ink holding member 14 in the ink cartridge becomes empty, the ink is exhausted and the ink cartridge is replaced. The removal of the ink cartridge 11 is performed by pulling out the ink cartridge 11 from the ink cartridge receiving portion 16 as shown in FIG. 9B. When the empty ink cartridge 11 is separated from the ink cartridge receiving portion 16 and removed, as shown in the enlarged view of the nozzle portion in FIG. 9C, the air 34 is sucked from the nozzle portion 19 and the ink flow Bubbles 33 are mixed in the passage. The inclusion of the air bubbles 33 causes defective printing or an unprintable state.

After the empty ink cartridge 11 is removed, a new ink cartridge 11 containing the filled ink holding member 15 is attached. Figure 10
As shown in (A), a new ink cartridge 11 is inserted into the ink cartridge receiving portion 16. that time,
Due to the increase in pressure in the ink supply system, the ink 35 may leak from the nozzle portion 19 as shown in FIG. Ink leakage may stain the nozzle surface, stain the recording paper, or cause printing defects.

Further, when the ink cartridge is detached and attached, a large force is applied to the carriage due to separation and joining at the joining portion on the ink cartridge side and the recording head side, and there is also a problem that the carriage feeding accuracy is deteriorated. is there.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and stains are generated due to ink leakage from nozzles in an ink jet recording apparatus in which a recording head and an ink cartridge can be replaced. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus and an ink cartridge replacement method which are free from troubles such as occurrence of defective printing or unprintable state due to inclusion of air bubbles in the recording head and occurrence of poor carriage feeding accuracy due to force applied to the carriage. To do.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for replacing an ink cartridge which is replaceably coupled to a recording head, wherein a recording head fixing portion is provided in a part of an ink jet recording apparatus. The recording head removed from the printing unit is fixed to the recording head fixing unit to replace the ink cartridge. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in an ink jet recording apparatus having a recording head and an ink cartridge that is replaceably connected to the recording head, a recording head fixing portion for replacing the ink cartridge is provided and one of the recording head fixing portions is provided. A protective member for protecting the nozzle surface of the recording head is provided in the portion. According to a third aspect of the invention, in the recording head in which the ink cartridges are replaceably coupled, the recording head is provided with a protection member for protecting the nozzle portion movably provided on the nozzle surface.

[0012]

According to the present invention, when the ink cartridge is replaced, the recording head together with the recording head is removed from the carriage and is attached to the recording head fixing portion provided in a part of the ink jet recording apparatus. Separation and connection are performed. Further, a protective member that protects the nozzle surface of the recording head at the time of replacement can be used. Therefore, ink will not be generated when the ink cartridge is replaced without causing the contamination due to ink leakage from the nozzles, defective printing or printing failure due to the inclusion of bubbles in the recording head, and poor carriage feed accuracy due to the force applied to the carriage. It becomes possible to replace the cartridge.

[0013]

1 is a perspective view showing an outline of an ink jet recording apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an inkjet recording device, 2 is a recording head, and 3
Is a setting unit, 4 and 5 are recording sheets, 6 is a recording head fixing unit, and 7
Is a lock switch. The recording paper 4 is inserted into the inkjet recording apparatus 1, and printing is performed by a print signal input from a word processor, a personal computer, or the like (not shown).
The print signal is given to the recording head 2 and the recording head 2
Prints while scanning the recording paper 5 with the carriage. The printed recording paper 5 is discharged to the upper part.

An ink cartridge is replaceably connected to the recording head 2. When the time to replace the ink cartridge is recognized by the ink remaining amount detecting means such as a sensor, first, the head fixing jig (not shown) of the inkjet recording apparatus is removed, and the recording head and the ink cartridge are integrally removed from the carriage. Therefore, no excessive force is applied to the carriage during removal. The recording head with the removed ink cartridge is attached to the recording head fixing portion 6 provided in a part of the inkjet recording apparatus 1 and fixed by the lock switch 7. In this way, the ink cartridge is replaced with the recording head 2 fixed to the recording head fixing portion 6.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an example of the recording head fixing portion described in FIG. In the figure, 8 is a recording head fixing portion,
Reference numeral 9 is a fixing spring member, and 10 is an elastic member. The recording head fixing portion 8 is formed as a recess in a part of the base of the ink jet recording apparatus, and a fixing spring member 9 for fixing the recording head is provided on a part of the inner wall of the base. The fixing spring member 9 is provided so as to be retractable by the lock switch 7 described in FIG. Elastic member 10
Is provided to protect the nozzle surface of the fixed recording head in an airtight state.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a recording head with an ink cartridge. (A) Ink cartridge,
FIG. 6B is a sectional view showing the recording head, and FIG. In the figure, 11 is an ink cartridge, 12 is an air intake port, 13 is an ink cartridge side coupling portion, 15 is an ink holding member in a filled state, 16 is an ink cartridge receiving portion, 17 is a concave portion, 1
Reference numeral 8 is a recording head, 19 is a nozzle portion, and 20 is a coupling portion on the recording head side. The ink cartridge 11 houses an ink holding member inside, and is provided with an air intake port 12 and an ink cartridge side coupling portion 13. Inside the ink cartridge receiving portion 16 fixed to the recording head 18, a coupling portion 20 on the recording head side that communicates with the nozzle portion 19 of the recording head 18 projects. As shown in FIG. 3C, the ink cartridge 11 is inserted into the ink cartridge receiving portion 16 on the recording head side, and the coupling portion on the ink cartridge side is coupled to the coupling portion on the recording head side to eject ink. It is supplied to the part 19.
In the combined state shown in FIG. 3C, the recording head is attached to the carriage to perform printing.

When the ink cartridge is replaced, the recording head is removed from the carriage and fixed to the recording head fixing portion as described above. 4 and 5 are for explaining the replacement status of the ink cartridge in the embodiment of the present invention. First, a method for removing the ink cartridge from the recording head will be described with reference to FIG. 4, those parts that are the same as those corresponding parts in FIGS. 2 and 3 are designated by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof will be omitted. Reference numeral 14 is an empty ink holding member.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the recording head 18 integrated with the ink cartridge 11 is inserted into the recording head fixing portion 8. At that time, a lock switch (not shown) is operated to bring the fixing spring member 9 into a retracted state. (B) As shown in the figure, with the recording head 18 pushed in, the fixing spring member 9 is inserted into the recess 1 of the ink cartridge receiving portion 16.
7 (see FIG. 4A), the recording head 18 is fixed, and the ink cartridge 11 is pulled out in the arrow direction and taken out. When the recording head 18 is fixed, the nozzle portion 19 is protected by being pressed against the elastic member 10 provided on the bottom portion of the recording head fixing portion 8, so that the inside of the nozzle is shielded from the outside air. Therefore, when separating the used ink cartridge, air bubbles do not enter the nozzle.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a method of attaching a new ink cartridge to the recording head. In the figure,
The same parts as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. (A) As shown in the figure, the ink holding member 1 in an empty state
After the used ink cartridge 11 containing 4 is removed, a new ink cartridge 11 containing the filled ink holding member 15 is fixed to the recording head fixing portion 8 as shown in FIG. It is inserted into the ink cartridge receiving portion 16 of the head 18 and pressed from above. As a result, the tip of the connecting portion 20 on the recording head side is removed by, for example, breaking the lid provided on the connecting portion 13 on the ink cartridge side, the ink flow paths of the recording head 18 and the ink cartridge 11 are connected, and Supply is possible. When the ink cartridge 11 is connected, the nozzle portion is pressed against the elastic member 10, so that no ink flows out from the nozzle portion 19. afterwards,
By the lock switch, the fixing spring member 9 provided inside the recording head fixing portion 8 is retracted, the entire recording head is removed from the recording head fixing portion 8, and the recording head is attached to the carriage of the inkjet recording apparatus to enable printing.
Air port 11 provided on the top of the ink cartridge 11
Can control the pressure of the ink supply system in the recording head.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken from a direction perpendicular to the nozzle row, for explaining the replacement state of the ink cartridge in another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the protective member of the recording head is configured such that the nozzle portion is exposed from the protective member when the recording head is attached to the carriage, and the nozzle portion is covered by the protective member when the recording head is removed from the carriage. ing. A thin film elastic member is suitable as the protective member. In the figure, parts similar to those in FIGS. 4, 5 and 10 are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. Reference numeral 21 is a thin film elastic member.

In this embodiment, when the recording head 18 is removed from the ink jet recording apparatus, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the surface of the nozzle portion 19 is covered with the thin film elastic member 21.

The thin film elastic member 21 will now be described. The thin film elastic member 21 has a shape as shown in FIG. 7A by itself, and has a separation line 22 at the center thereof. The thin film elastic member 21 is attached to the recording head 18, and as shown in FIG.
8 is removed, the thin film elastic member 21 is
As shown in (B), the part of the separation line 22 is closed to protect the nozzle part 19. Recording head 1
When 9 is attached to the carriage 30 for printing, the holding portion 23 of the thin film elastic member 21 is sandwiched between the carriage 30 and the outer wall of the ink cartridge receiving portion 16 of the recording head 18, as shown in FIG. 6B. Meanwhile, it is pulled up and fixed by the step portion of the carriage 30. Therefore, both ends of the thin film elastic member 21 are pulled, and
As shown in (C), an opening is formed at the separation line 22 provided in the central portion of the thin film elastic member 21, and the nozzle row 24 appears from the opening to enable printing.

As described above, when the recording head 18 is attached to the carriage 30 and printing is performed, the separation line of the thin film elastic member 21 serves as an opening and the nozzle portion 19 as shown in FIG. 6B. The nozzle row of appears and printing is performed. If the ink runs out, see Figure 6.
As shown in (C), the ink cartridge 11 that has become the empty ink holding member 14 is removed from the carriage 30. The recording head 18 has such a thin film elastic member 21.
By including the above, it is possible to protect the recording head from the drying of the ink in the nozzle in the removed state and the mixing of dust in the nozzle, and when replacing the ink cartridge, as shown in FIG. As shown in the drawing, since the thin film elastic member 21 protects the nozzle portion, elasticity for preventing ink leakage from the nozzle portion as described in FIG. 2 is provided on the bottom portion of the ink cartridge fixing portion 8. Member 1
There is no need to set 0. In FIG. 6D, the method of replacing the ink cartridge from the recording head fixed to the recording head fixing portion 8 is the same as the method described in FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the thin film elastic member 21 for protecting the nozzle surface described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8A shows a shape in which an arcuate opening is provided at the end of the separation line in order to improve the repeatability of the end of the opening. In FIG. 8B, only the end portion of the opening is made of the elastic member 25, and the main body 26 is made of a material having a good ink absorbing property.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in a conventional recording head with a separable ink cartridge, contamination due to ink leakage from a nozzle that occurs when the ink cartridge is replaced, recording There is an effect that the ink cartridge can be replaced without causing printing failure or printing failure due to the inclusion of air bubbles in the head, and poor carriage feeding accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an example of a recording head fixing portion in FIG. It

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an example of a recording head with an ink cartridge.

[Figure 4]

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an ink cartridge replacement state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an ink cartridge replacement state according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a thin film elastic member.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of another embodiment of the thin film elastic member.

FIG. 9

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing how to replace an ink cartridge in a conventional separation type recording unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 inkjet recording device, 2 recording heads, 3 setting parts, 4, 5 recording papers, 6 recording head fixing parts, 7 lock switches, 8 recording head fixing parts, 9 fixing spring members, 10 elastic members, 11 ink cartridges, 1
2 air intake port, 13 ink cartridge side coupling part, 14 empty ink holding member, 15 filled ink holding member, 16 ink cartridge receiving part,
17 concave portion, 18 recording head, 19 nozzle portion, 20
Recording head side coupling portion, 21 thin film elastic member, 22 separation line, 23 holding portion, 30 carriage, 31 sliding shaft, 32 recording head fixing spring member, 33 air bubble, 3
4 air, 35 ink.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of replacing an ink cartridge that is replaceably coupled to a recording head, wherein a recording head fixing portion is provided in a part of an inkjet recording device, and the recording head removed from a printing portion is fixed to the recording head fixing portion. And a method for replacing the ink cartridge, wherein the ink cartridge is replaced. 2. An ink jet recording apparatus having a recording head and an ink cartridge exchangeably coupled to the recording head, wherein a recording head fixing portion for replacing the ink cartridge is provided, and recording is performed on a part of the recording head fixing portion. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising a protective member for protecting a nozzle surface of a head. 3. A recording head, in which an ink cartridge is replaceably coupled, having a protective member for protecting a nozzle portion movably provided on a nozzle surface.