JPH05330029A - Ink jet cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent damage to an electrical connecting means during carry and improve portability, in an ink jet cartridge in which an ink jet means of an ink jet recording system, the electrical connecting means, and an ink storage part are integrated. CONSTITUTION:A head 1 is provided with an electrical connecting means 17, a jet nozzle 18 and an ink jet means 24. The electrical connecting means 17 is on the rear of the face of the jet nozzle 18 and engages with each terminal. A recess 22 is provided in the side of a housing 19 and the electrical connecting means 17 is situated inside this. The terminals 23 on a circuit board 16 are formed like dimples. To fit an ink jet cartridge to a holder 20, the cartridge is inserted in the direction shown by the arrow, thereby engaging with the projection of the holder 20, on which the circuit board 16 is fixed, and firmly pressing the connecting means 17 to the dimple terminals 23, so that damage to the electrical connecting means 17 is prevented during carry.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet cartridge in which an ink ejecting means, an electrical connecting means and an ink containing portion in an ink jet recording system are integrated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ink jet cartridges have been widely used in printers for laptop and notebook size computers because they are easy to use because they are disposable type and it is easy to downsize the printer.

Conventionally, this type of ink jet cartridge has a structure as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The configuration will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 3, the head 1 has an electrical connection unit 2, an ejection nozzle 3, and an ink ejection unit (not shown), and is mounted on the front surface of the housing 4. The housing 4 has an ink supply hole 6 for guiding the ink 5 to the head 1 and has an ink containing portion 7 built therein. The ink containing portion 7 is made of a porous material such as sponge and filled with the ink 5, and has a filter 8 for removing bubbles and dust in the ink supplied to the head 1. Reference numeral 9 is a back cover that fits in the housing 4 and stores the ink containing portion 7.

In FIG. 4, the platen 10 is a recording paper 11
Is wound and held and guided in the main scanning direction, the carriage 12 is equipped with an ink jet cartridge, and the carriage shaft 13 guides the ink jet cartridge in the sub scanning direction. The clamp means 14 presses the inkjet cartridge toward the front surface portion 15 of the carriage 12, and the circuit board 16 is connected to the electrical connection means 2 from a power source (not shown) of the printer. Then, the ink jet cartridge is mounted on the carriage 12 in a predetermined direction, and the clamp means 14 is rotated upward to press the flat surface of the carriage 12 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. At this time, the terminals of the electrical connecting means 2 and the circuit board 16 are connected to the terminals facing each other.

With the above structure, the ink 5 filled in the ink containing portion 7 and the ink supply hole 6 is guided to the ink flow path of the head 1 by the capillary phenomenon and flows to the end surface of the ejection nozzle 3. During this time, when passing through the filter 8, bubbles, dust, etc. in the ink 5 are removed. When electricity is supplied from the power supply to the electrical connection unit 2 in accordance with the ejection signal, the ink ejection unit heats the ink 5 and a phase change occurs, which causes rapid pressure fluctuations and ejection energy to eject the ink 5. . Ink 5 after ejection
Since the back pressure is constantly received, the end face of the nozzle 3 is sequentially filled to prepare for the next discharge.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional structure, since the electrical connecting means 2 is attached to the outside of the housing 4, there is a risk of damaging the electrical connecting means 2 when carrying it.

The present invention solves the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet cartridge capable of improving the portability without damaging the electrical connection means when carrying it.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ink ejecting means for ejecting ink from a discharge nozzle onto a recording paper, and an electrical element required between the ink ejecting means and the printer body. An ink jet cartridge comprising an electrical connection means for supplying and receiving energy and a housing for accommodating ink to be supplied to the ink ejection means, wherein the electrical connection means is provided on the back side of the ejection nozzle surface. It is what

[0009]

In the above structure, the electric connecting means is provided on the surface other than the surface of the casing of the ink jet cartridge, so that the electric connecting means is not damaged when carrying the ink jet cartridge.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the same components as those shown in the above-mentioned conventional example will be described with the same reference numerals. In FIG. 1A, 1 is a head,
A housing 19 having an electrical connection means 17 and a discharge nozzle 18.
Is arranged on the front surface of. The electrical connection means 17 is provided on the back side of the surface of the discharge nozzle 18 so as to fit with each terminal. The casing 19 has excellent chemical resistance such as modified polyphenylene oxide and polyethylene terephthalate,
It is made of high-rigidity engineering plastic, and the size of the card that is convenient for carrying is, for example, (about 56 mm x 87 mm, thickness 2 mm to 8 mm). The holder 20 is made of high-rigidity engineering plastic or light metal, and is held on the carriage 12. Further, the holder 20 is provided with rails (not shown) that fit into guide grooves 21 provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the housing 19. A recess 22 is provided on the side surface of the housing 19, and the electrical connection means 17 is provided inside the recess 22. The terminals 23 provided on the circuit board 16 are formed in a dimple shape.
When the ink jet cartridge is fixed to the holder 20, the ink jet cartridge is inserted in the direction of the arrow A and the circuit board 16 is inserted.
The electrical connection means 17 and the dimple terminal 23 are pressed into contact with each other by being fitted into the convex portion of the holder 20 to which is fixed. The method of pressure contact may utilize the elastic force of the resin and the coil spring, or the anisotropic conductive material may be used instead of the dimple terminal 23.

In FIG. 1B, 6 is an ink supply hole,
Reference numeral 8 denotes a porous filter, which is formed by controlling the aperture ratio and the flow rate to have pores of about several μm, and is made of a chemical resistant resin or ceramic material. Reference numeral 24 is an ink ejecting means, which supplies electric energy to the conductive ink in response to an electric signal. The non-conductive resin layer 25 forming the head insulates the ink ejecting means 24 from each other, and the ejecting nozzles 18 are arranged at the locations corresponding to the ink ejecting means 24. The electrical connection means 17 is provided on the back surface between the ink ejection means 24 at the end face corresponding to the ejection nozzle 18, and thin gold vapor deposition or the like is performed.

Next, the operation will be described. Ink is continuously filled up to the end faces of the porous filter 8, the ink supply hole 6 and the ejection nozzle 18, and when the ink ejection means 24 is energized, the ink is heated and starts boiling. The vapor bubble grows to some extent and then is deprived of heat by the surrounding ink to shrink. The ink ejecting means 24 utilizes such a pressure change caused by the growth and contraction of a series of vapor bubbles to eject ink in response to an electric signal.

A portion of the front surface of the housing 19 corresponding to the head 1 is provided with a step so that the housing 19 and the head 1
The front surface of the recording paper is the same surface, so that the recording paper 1
The distance between the print surface of No. 1 and the ejection nozzle 18 is considerably shortened. With such a configuration, the distance from the ejection nozzle 18 to the recording paper 11 can be shortened, and an electrical short circuit due to the conductive ink adhering to the ink ejection surface can be prevented.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.
The difference from the above-described embodiment is that the holder rotating portion 26 is pressed against the electrical connecting means 17 in the direction of the arrow. With this configuration, a thin inkjet printer can be realized.

[0015]

As is apparent from the above-described embodiments, the ink jet cartridge of the present invention is provided with the electrical connection means on the back side of the ejection nozzle surface. The connection means can be prevented from being damaged, and the distance between the printing surface of the recording paper and the end surface of the discharge nozzle can be shortened to reduce the load on the ink discharge means. It is possible to prevent an electrical short circuit between the terminals of the connecting means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is an external perspective view of an inkjet cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a partial sectional view of a portion B of the inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of an inkjet cartridge according to another embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the inkjet cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 recording paper 17 electrical connection means 18 ejection nozzle 19 housing 24 ink ejection means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hideaki Horio 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink ejecting means for ejecting ink onto a recording paper from an ejecting nozzle, an electrical connecting means for supplying and receiving necessary electrical energy between the ink ejecting means and a printer body, and the ink ejecting. An ink jet cartridge having a housing for containing ink to be supplied to the means, wherein the electrical connection means is provided on the back surface side of the ejection nozzle surface.