JPH06305162A - Ink residual amount detector of ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately detect the residual amt. of the ink in an ink tank while satisfying the cost reduction and miniaturization of an ink residual amt. detector and a demand reducing the wasteful consumption ink at a time of ink emitting capacity recovery processing. CONSTITUTION:In an ink jet recording apparatus consisting of an ink jet head 2 and the ink tank 3 supplying ink to the ink jet head 2 and having the ink jet cartridge 1 positioned and mounted with respect to a scanning carriage 4 in a freely detachable manner, at least a part of the joint member 5 having the ink jet head 2 and the ink tank 3 connected thereto is constituted of a light permeable member 6. An optical detection means 8 optically detecting the presence of the ink in the ink passage 7 facing the light permeable member 6 is directly positioned and fixed on the scanning carriage 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink remaining amount detecting device for an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an improvement of an ink remaining amount detecting device for detecting an ink remaining amount in an ink tank of an ink jet cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an ink jet recording apparatus, when ink in an ink tank is consumed, an ink jet cartridge (in a case where an ink jet head and an ink tank are separated, an ink tank) is replaced. However, it is already known that an ink remaining amount detecting device is provided in order to quickly grasp the replacement timing.

As a conventional ink remaining amount detecting device of this type, for example, a part of an ink tank is formed as a light transmitting portion, a light guide is provided adjacent to the light transmitting portion, and light is emitted to the light transmitting portion. There is known one provided with such a light emitting body (for example, JP-A-60-32667).

[0004]

However, the ink remaining amount detecting device of this type is certainly applicable to the type in which only the ink is filled in the ink tank.
A technical problem that the applicable range of the ink remaining amount detection device is limited because the ink absorber blocks the light itself and cannot be applied to the type in which the ink absorber impregnated with ink is built in the ink tank. Occurs. Therefore,
As a means for solving such a technical problem, for example, at least a part of a joint member in which an ink jet head and an ink tank are integrally or separably connected to each other is constituted by a transparent member, and the joint member is passed through. It is conceivable to detect the presence or absence of the ink that is used by the optical detection element.

However, in this type, since the optical detection element is normally uniquely attached to the control board on the scanning carriage side, the attachment error of the control board to the scanning carriage directly becomes the attachment error of the optical detection element. turn into. At this time, if the mounting error of the optical detection element is large, the floating of the optical detection element and the deviation of the optical axis itself are inevitably large, which causes a technical problem that leads to the detection error. In order to solve such a technical problem, for example, it is necessary to improve the optical detection element itself so as to suppress the deterioration of the detection performance due to the floating amount of the optical detection element, or to prevent the optical axis shift of the optical detection element. From the viewpoint, it is necessary to set the ink flow path diameter dimension of the joint member to be large to some extent in consideration of the mounting error of the optical detection element. However, improving the detection performance of the optical detection element leads to an increase in cost and cannot be said to be a preferable solution. Also, setting the ink flow path diameter dimension of the joint member to a certain large size makes the inkjet cartridge itself large. In addition to the above, for example, a priming process using an ink ejection performance recovery device (a process of suctioning negative pressure with the nozzle surface of the inkjet head sealed with a cap to remove thickened ink, dust, bubbles, etc. in the inkjet head) ), The ink flow path diameter of the joint member is large,
Inevitably, the amount of ink consumed by one priming process increases, and the technical amount of the ink consumed wastefully increases.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above technical problems, and is not limited to the structure of the ink tank, and the apparatus can be made inexpensive, downsized, and the ink ejection performance recovery process can be performed. Provided is an ink remaining amount detecting device for an ink jet recording apparatus, which is capable of accurately detecting the ink remaining amount in an ink tank while satisfying the requirement of reducing wasteful ink consumption.

[0007]

That is, the present invention is
As shown in FIG. 1, in an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet cartridge 1 which is composed of an ink jet head 2 and an ink tank 3 which supplies ink to the ink jet head 2 and which is removably positioned and attached to a scanning carriage 4, At least a part of the joint member 5 to which the inkjet head 2 and the ink tank 3 are connected in communication is constituted by a light transmissive member 6, and the presence or absence of ink in the ink flow path 7 facing the light transmissive member 6 is optically determined. It is characterized in that the optical detecting means 8 detected by the above is directly positioned and fixed to the scanning carriage 4.

In such a technical means, the ink jet cartridge 1 may be an ink jet head 2 and an ink tank 3 which are integrated.
In addition, the ink tank 3 is attached to the inkjet head 2.
It may be of a separation type for separating. In this case, the joint member 5 integrally connects the inkjet head 2 and the ink tank 3 to each other in the case of the integrated inkjet cartridge, and, on the other hand, in the case of the separated inkjet cartridge, the inkjet head. 2 and the ink tank 3 may be separably connected to each other, and may be integrally provided on the inkjet head 2 side, or
The inkjet head 2 and the ink tank 3 may be appropriately selected, such as being configured as a separate member.

The optical detecting means 8 is usually composed of a combination of a light emitting element and a light receiving element.
As a detection mode, the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged to face each other with the ink flow path 7 sandwiched therebetween, and the presence or absence of ink in the ink flow path 7 is detected according to the presence or absence of transmitted light to the ink flow path 7. Alternatively, the light emitting element and the light receiving element may be arranged in parallel on one side of the ink flow path 7 and the ink flow path 7
The presence / absence of ink in the ink flow path 7 may be detected depending on the presence / absence of reflected light. In particular, considering the ease of layout of the optical detection means 8, the ink flow path 7
It is preferable that the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged in parallel on one side, but in this case, an optical path member that surely guides the light from the light emitting element to the light receiving element side depending on whether ink is present or not. Need to be formed. As an optical path member of this kind, for example, the light guide member for incidence that guides the light from the light emitting element to the ink flow path 7 and the light from the light guide member for incidence are obliquely incident on the light transmissive member 6. It can be appropriately selected, for example, by forming an emission light guide portion that guides the light reflected by the flat surface portion to the light receiving element under the condition that ink does not exist in the flat surface portion and the ink flow path 7.

Further, the light emitting element and the light receiving element of the optical detecting means 8 may be attached individually, but from the viewpoint of reducing the relative position error between them, the light emitting element and the light receiving element may be attached. It is preferable to integrally incorporate it into a molded product such as plastic and attach this molded product.

Further, although the optical detecting means 8 is usually attached to the control board, the optical detecting means 8 is attached to enable the optical detecting means 8 to be directly positioned and fixed to the scanning carriage 4. The scanning carriage is configured by forming the control board portion as a flexible portion (for example, a portion having flexibility by providing cutouts or openings) or providing an elastic layer at a mounting portion of the control board. It is necessary to absorb a mounting error when positioning and fixing the optical detection means 8 with respect to the optical axis 4.

[0012]

According to the above-mentioned technical means, at least a part of the joint member 5 for connecting the ink jet head 2 and the ink tank 3 to each other is connected to the light transmitting member 6.
However, since the inkjet cartridge 1 is positioned and fixed to the scanning carriage 4, the light transmissive member 6 is positioned and arranged at a predetermined position with respect to the scanning carriage 4. On the other hand, since the optical detection means 8 is normally attached to the control board on the side of the carriage 4 for scanning, there is a risk that the optical detection means 8 may float or the optical axis may be displaced depending on the attachment error of the control board. By configuring the mounting portion of the control board as a flexible portion, the optical detection unit 8 is directly positioned and fixed to the scanning carriage 4 in a state where the floating amount and the optical axis shift amount are absorbed. . Therefore, the optical detection means 8 is also positioned and arranged at a predetermined position with respect to the scanning carriage 4. Therefore, the relative positional relationship between the optical detection unit 8 and the light transmissive member 6 of the joint member 5 is always kept constant, and the optical detection unit 8 reduces the diameter dimension of the ink flow path 7 of the joint member 5. The presence or absence of ink in the ink flow path 7 can be accurately detected even with the pressure being suppressed.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. 2 and 3 show the outline of a color ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, the color inkjet recording apparatus includes an inkjet cartridge 20 for each color component, and a scanning carriage 30 on which the inkjet cartridge 20 is mounted. In this embodiment, the ink jet cartridge 20 is composed of an ink tank 40 filled with ink and an ink jet head 50 to which the ink tank 40 is detachably mounted. On the other hand, the scanning carriage 30 slidably guides and supports both sides in the width direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction with a pair of guide rods 31 and 32, and four accommodating recesses for accommodating and retaining each inkjet cartridge 20. A positioning wall 34 that has 33, and one side in the width direction of the ink jet cartridge 20 contacts one side in the width direction of each accommodation recess 33.
And the other side in the width direction of each accommodating recess 33 is in contact with the other side in the width direction of the ink jet cartridge 20 at the time when the ink jet cartridge 20 is accommodated in each accommodating recess 33, and the movement in the detaching direction of the ink jet cartridge 20. The lock lever 35 is regulated to be rotatable. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 36 is a pressing spring that presses and urges the lock lever 35 at the closed position. Then, the scanning carriage 30 appropriately moves and scans along the main scanning direction in accordance with a print instruction from a console panel (not shown), and ejects ink droplets from a predetermined inkjet cartridge 20 mounted in accordance with image information. It has become.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the ink tank 40 houses an ink absorber 41, which is impregnated with ink, and has an atmosphere communication port at a part of its upper wall. 42 is opened, a tank opening 43 is opened in a part of the bottom wall thereof, and a locking projection 44 is formed in a part of the side peripheral wall.

Further, the ink jet head 50 is shown in FIG.
~ As shown in FIG. 5, the nozzles 5 arranged for each pixel density
11, a head main body 51 from which ink supplied to each nozzle 511 is ejected in accordance with image information, and a heat sink 52 which radiates heat generated from the head main body 51.
A tank holding case 53 that is attached to the heat sink 52 and detachably holds the ink tank 40, a joint member 54 that connects the ink tank 40 held by the tank holding case 53 and the head main body 51, and the heat sink 52. An electric board 55 is provided on the upper side and supplies the image information taken in from the electric connector 56 to the head main body 51 side.

In this embodiment, the tank holding case 53 is formed by joining case members 61 and 62, which are divided into left and right parts, as shown in FIG. An elastically deformable cut piece 63 is formed, and a lock hole 64 for locking the lock protrusion 44 of the ink tank 40 when the ink tank 40 is inserted and held is formed in the cut piece 63.

Further, in this embodiment, the joint member 54 is provided with the ink tank 4 as shown in FIG.
Ink supply pipe 70 inserted into and connected to the tank opening 43 of No. 0
And a manifold 80 that connects the other end of the ink supply pipe 70 and the head main body 51. As shown in FIG. 5, the ink supply pipe 70 has a cylindrical pipe portion 71 whose tip portion is connected to the tank opening 43 of the ink tank 40, and a radial direction on the base side of the cylindrical pipe portion 71. In addition to forming a flange portion 72 projecting to the inside, the base portion of the cylindrical pipe portion 71 partitioned by the flange portion 72 is previously connected and coupled to a connecting portion 81 of the manifold 80 which will be described later. A dust removing filter 73 made of, for example, SUS mesh is attached to the end of the ink supply pipe 70 on the ink tank 40 side. A seal member (not shown) is provided at the connecting portion of the ink supply pipe 70 with the ink tank 40 and the manifold 80. Further, the manifold 80 has a connecting portion 81 into which the base portion of the ink supply pipe 70 is inserted and connected, and an ink supply pipe passage 82 having a thin diameter dimension is provided from the connecting portion 81, and the ink supply pipe passage 82 has a small diameter. A long liquid chamber 83 extending along the length direction of the head main body 51 is formed at the tip, and a slit opening 84 is opened in a region facing the bottom of the liquid chamber 83.
Ink is supplied to the common ink liquid chamber of the head main body 51.

Further, in this embodiment, an ink remaining amount detecting device 100 for detecting the presence or absence of ink in the ink supply pipe 70 by the optical detecting unit 110 and detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 40 is provided. ing. More specifically, in this embodiment, the ink supply pipe 7 is
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, 0 is integrally formed of a transparent material such as polyetherimide resin, and forms a flat surface portion 101 on a part of the inner peripheral wall of the cylindrical tube portion 71. The flat surface portion 101 is provided on a part of the outer peripheral wall of the cylindrical tube portion 71.
A pair of light guide bars 102 and 103 are symmetrically formed so as to sandwich them with respect to each other. In this embodiment, the end surface of the one light guide bar 102 is the optical detection unit 110.
The light guide bar 1 is arranged so as to face the light emitting element 111 of
In the middle of 02, a reflecting surface 104 is formed in the middle of the plane portion 101 to allow light to enter at an angle of α. Here, when the ink flow path 75 in the ink supply pipe 70 is filled with ink, the above-mentioned α refracts and transmits light incident on the flat surface portion 101, and the ink flow path 75 in the ink supply pipe 70.
When not filled with ink, it is appropriately selected within a range satisfying that the incident light on the flat surface portion 101 is totally reflected, and in this embodiment, it is selected at about 45 °. The end surface of the other light guide bar 103 is arranged so as to face the light receiving element 112 of the optical detection unit 110, and the light guide bar 103 ends the reflected light from the center of the plane portion 101 in the middle thereof. Reflecting surface 105 for reflecting toward the surface direction
Are formed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the optical detection unit 110 according to this embodiment has a light-emitting element 111 and a light-receiving element 112 installed in parallel in a unit case 113 which is a plastic molded product. The light emitting surface and the light receiving surface of the light receiving element 112 are connected to the unit case 113.
It is designed to be exposed on the surface side of. And
The rear side of the unit case 113 is open, and the lead wires 114, 1 of the light emitting element 111 and the light receiving element 112 are provided.
15 projects from the rear opening. Further, a notch 116 is formed substantially in the center on the rear surface side of the unit case 113, and further, engaging projections 117 are formed on both side edges of the rear surface opening of the unit case 113, respectively.
An elastically deformable hook-shaped locking projection (snap hit) 118 is formed on the lower side of the unit case 113 in the vicinity of substantially the center thereof so as to project downward in a hook shape.

The optical detection unit 110 is attached to the control printed circuit board 120 on the scanning carriage 30 side. In this embodiment, the mounting portion of the optical detection unit 110 of the control printed circuit board 120 is flexibly deformed along the plate thickness direction (z direction) and the width direction (x direction) as shown in FIG. It is configured as a flexible plate piece 121. In this flexible plate piece 121, a rectangular attachment plate piece 123 is provided at the tip of a spiral thin arm piece 122. The attachment plate piece 121 includes the light emitting element 111 and the light receiving element 112. Lead wire 114,
The insertion hole 124 into which 115 is inserted and the engaging projection 11
Insertion holes 125 into which 7 are inserted are opened respectively.
In FIG. 7, reference numeral 126 is an electric connector of the control printer board 120.

Further, a unit mounting table 13 for mounting the optical detection unit 110 on the scanning carriage 30.
0 is formed, and a positioning projection 131 for positioning the optical detection unit 110 is projectingly formed on the unit mounting table 130, and the notch 116 of the optical detection unit 110 is engaged with the positioning projection 131. The optical detection unit 110 on the unit mounting table 130 is positioned by. A locking hole 132 is formed on the unit mounting table 130 to lock and fix the hook-shaped locking projection 118 with the positioning projection 131 engaged with the notch 116 of the optical detection unit 110. ing.

Next, the work of mounting the ink remaining amount detecting device according to this embodiment will be described. Before mounting the inkjet cartridge 20 on the scanning carriage 30, the optical detection unit 110 is assembled to the scanning carriage 30. The working process in this case is shown in FIG. First,
As shown in FIG. 7A, the optical detection unit 110 is assembled to the flexible plate piece 121 of the control printed circuit board 120. Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, the notch 116 of the optical detection unit 110 assembled to the control printed circuit board 120 is fitted into the positioning projection 131 of the unit mounting table 130 of the scanning carriage 30, and after that, As shown by the arrow in FIG. 3C, the optical detection unit 110 is mounted on the unit mounting table 13 until the notch 116 of the optical detection unit 110 is completely engaged with the positioning projection 131.
Slide on 0. Then, when the notch 116 of the optical detection unit 110 reaches the position where the notch 116 is completely engaged with the positioning projection 131, the hook-shaped engagement projection 118 is locked in the locking hole 132 of the unit mounting table 130, and the optical detection is performed. The unit 110 is positioned and fixed on the unit mounting table 130. At this stage, the control printed circuit board 120 is
Is also attached to a predetermined portion of the scanning carriage 30.
At this time, even if there is a mounting error of the control printed circuit board 120 with respect to the scanning carriage 30, the mounting error is absorbed by the bending deformation of the flexible plate piece 121. The mounting position of the detection unit 110 does not move.

As described above, after the optical detection unit 110 is positioned and fixed on the scanning carriage 30,
The inkjet carriage 20 is used for the scanning carriage 3
Mount it on 0. At this time, when the inkjet cartridge 20 is mounted on the scanning carriage 30, the light guide bars 102 and 103 formed on the ink supply tube 70 of the joint member 34 are positioned and arranged at predetermined positions with respect to the scanning carriage 30. It Therefore, the scanning carriage 3
If the relative positional relationship between the light guiding bars 102 and 103 and the optical detection unit 110 with respect to 0 is set in advance, the relative positional relationship between the two is always kept constant. In particular,
As shown in FIG. 9, the gap δ (0.5 mm in this embodiment) between the light guide bars 102 and 103 and the optical detection unit 110 is kept constant, and the light guide bar 10 is provided.
2, 103 and the optical detection unit 110 in the x direction (corresponding to the width direction of the optical detection unit 110) and the y direction (corresponding to the vertical direction of the optical detection unit 110) are suppressed to substantially 0, The optical axes m and n between the two always match. Particularly, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the optical detection unit 110 has the light emitting element 111 and the light receiving element 112 integrally incorporated in the unit case 113 which is a plastic molded product, and therefore, the light emitting element 111. There is almost no pitch error between the light receiving element 112 and the light receiving element 112, and the light guiding bars 102 and 103, the light emitting element 111, and the light receiving element 1 are correspondingly compared with the type in which they are individually attached.
The coincidence of the optical axes with 12 is extremely high. In addition, the light guiding bars 102 and 103 and the optical detection unit 1
Since a predetermined gap δ is provided between the
Light emitting element 111 and light receiving element 1 of the optical detection unit 110
The situation where 12 is damaged by contact is effectively avoided.

Next, the operation of the ink remaining amount detecting device according to this embodiment will be described. Assuming that the ink in the ink tank 40 has been consumed in FIG. 6, the light emitted from the light emitting element 111 of the optical detection unit 110 is guided by the light guide bar 102 as shown by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. After reaching the flat surface portion 101 after being guided to and reflected by the reflecting surface 104. At this time, since the ink is not filled in the ink flow path 75 of the ink supply pipe 70, the light incident on the flat surface portion 101 is totally reflected and then passes through the light guide bar 103 to reach the optical detection unit 110. The light reaches the light receiving element 112, and it is understood that the ink has been consumed.

Further, FIG. 10 shows the light guide bars 102 and 103 and the optical detection unit 11 when there is no ink.
Under the condition that the gap δ between 0 and 0.5 is 0.5 mm, x
Direction (corresponding to the width direction of the optical detection unit 110) and y
The relationship between the optical axis shift amount (X, Y) in the direction (corresponding to the vertical direction of the optical detection unit 110) and the output voltage level of the light receiving element 112 is examined. Then, when the output level of the light receiving element 112 of the ink remaining amount detecting device according to the embodiment is checked, the result included in the region shown by the oblique line of the upper right tilt in FIG. 10 is obtained, and the detecting operation is performed with stable sensitivity. That is supported. In addition, the control printed circuit board 120
As a comparative example, a type in which the optical detection unit 110 is fixed to the scanning carriage 30 but not fixed to the scanning carriage 30 is used as a comparative example.
When the output level of No. 12 was examined, the results included in the area shown by the cross-shaped diagonal lines in FIG. 10 were obtained, and the detection operation with low sensitivity was performed, and the reliability of the detection operation was reduced accordingly. To be grasped.

On the other hand, in FIG. 6, assuming that the ink in the ink tank 40 is not consumed, the light emitted from the light emitting element 111 of the optical detection unit 110 is guided as shown by the dotted line in FIG. After reaching the flat portion 101 after being guided to the working bar 102 and reflected by the reflecting surface 104.
At this time, since the ink flow path 75 of the ink supply pipe 70 is filled with ink, the light incident on the flat portion 101 is refracted and transmitted to the ink portion side of the ink flow path 75. Therefore, the light does not reach the light receiving element 112 of the optical detection unit 110, and it is understood that the ink remains.

FIG. 11 shows that in the presence of ink, under the condition that the gap δ between the light guide bars 102 and 103 and the optical detection unit 110 is 0.5 mm, the x direction (the width direction of the optical detection unit 110). The relationship between the output voltage level of the light receiving element 112 and the optical axis deviation amount (X, Y) in the y direction (corresponding to the vertical direction of the optical detection unit 110) is investigated. In this case, the light receiving element 112 has no returning light, and the output voltage of the light receiving element 112 is a minute noise voltage.

[0028]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, at least a part of the joint member for connecting the ink jet head and the ink tank to each other is formed of a light transmitting member, and the light transmitting member is used. The optical detection means for optically detecting the presence or absence of ink in the ink flow path facing the transparent member is directly positioned and fixed to the scanning carriage, and the ink flow path facing the light transmissive member is provided with respect to the scanning carriage. Since the relative positional relationship with the optical detecting means can be set to be constant, the ink remaining amount in the ink tank can be accurately detected while avoiding the deterioration of the detection performance due to the optical axis shift or the like. Besides, the applicable range is not limited by the structure of the ink tank, and further, since it is not necessary to improve the detection performance of the optical detection means itself, the cost of the device can be reduced. In addition, since the presence or absence of ink can be detected without increasing the ink flow path diameter of the joint member, it is possible to satisfy the requirements of downsizing of the device and reduction of wasteful ink consumption at the time of recovery processing of ink ejection performance. can do.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the light detecting element and the light receiving element arranged in parallel can be used as the optical detecting means, the layout of the optical detecting means can be simplified. Furthermore, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the mounting error of the control board with respect to the scanning carriage can be effectively absorbed by the flexible portion, so that the optical detecting means is not damaged and the scanning carriage is not damaged. The optical detection means can be easily positioned and fixed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an ink remaining amount detection device of an inkjet recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a color inkjet recording device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a sectional explanatory view corresponding to a line III-III in FIG. 2 showing an embodiment of the ink remaining amount detecting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an inkjet head according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing details of the joint member according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory plan view of the ink remaining amount detection device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory perspective view of a main part showing the mounting structure of the optical detection unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a mounting operation process of the optical detection unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a mounted state of the optical detection unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing the output voltage level of the light receiving element of the optical detection unit in the absence of ink.

FIG. 11 is a graph showing the output voltage level of the light receiving element of the optical detection unit when there is ink.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Inkjet cartridge, 2 ... Inkjet head, 3 ... Ink tank, 4 ... Scanning carriage, 5
... Joint member, 6 ... Light transmissive member, 7 ... Ink flow path, 8 ... Optical detection means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet cartridge (1) comprising an ink jet head (2) and an ink tank (3) for supplying ink to the ink jet head (2), which is removably positioned and attached to a scanning carriage (4). In an inkjet recording device having
At least a part of the joint member (5) to which the ink jet head (2) and the ink tank (3) are connected in communication is composed of a light transmissive member (6), and the ink flow facing the light transmissive member (6). An ink remaining amount detecting device for an ink jet recording apparatus, wherein an optical detecting means (8) for optically detecting the presence or absence of ink in the path (7) is directly positioned and fixed to the scanning carriage (4). 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the optical detecting means (8) comprises a light emitting element and a light receiving element arranged in parallel, and the light transmitting member (6) has an ink flow path (7).
To the plane part under the condition that ink does not exist in the ink flow path (7), and the plane part where the light from the incidence light guide enters obliquely. An ink remaining amount detecting device of an ink jet recording apparatus, characterized in that a light guide part for emission for guiding the reflected light to a light receiving element is formed. 3. The ink residue of an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optical detecting means (8) is attached to a flexible portion of a scanning carriage (4) side control board. Quantity detection device.