JPH07314717A - Ink tank of ink-jet recorder and ink-jet recorder placed with said ink tank - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ink tank of an ink-jet recorder in which the residue of ink is indicated with high reliability at a low cost by a simple constitution by constituting the ink tank, so that an elastic part is provided in a part of the tank and such part is provided as the side wall of a part is brought into contact with other part by consumption of ink and the contact part is bonded. CONSTITUTION:The surfaces of bellows in the side wall of a part brought into contact with other part by consumption of ink are coated with a self-adhesive 6 through dipping. The bellows are connected to a bubble-jet recording head 1 as the absorption part 3 of ink and ink is filled therein. An ink-jet cartridge is formed by putting the outer wall 4 of a transparent ink tank made of acrylic resin on the absorption part 3 of ink so as to cover it. The ink-jet cartridge is set to a recorder and printing is good whenever continuous printing is performed. When ink is consumed and not discharged, it is confirmed by visual observation that the shape of the absorption part 3 of ink is shrunk and absence of residue of usable ink is visually recognized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an ink jet recording apparatus has been widely used, which has excellent features such as easy colorization, high resolution, easy recording on plain paper, low noise and power saving. Due to demands for downsizing and maintenance-free, the mainstream is a structure in which a printhead and an ink tank are mounted on a carriage and are replaceable. The ink tank is usually provided above the recording head,
It is composed of an ink storage unit, an ink tank outer wall, an ink supply port, an atmosphere communication port, and the like.

The required characteristics of the ink tank are as follows. 1. 1. Ink necessary for printing can be supplied to the recording head. 2. There is no eluate against the ink, and it is not attacked by the ink. 3. It is possible to check the ink level. Ink tank internal pressure is negative From such requirements, an ink tank used in an inkjet recording apparatus is disclosed in JP-A-63-87242, in which a sponge impregnated with ink is compressed and stored. Alternatively, JP-A-59-207263
As shown in FIG. 4, the one using the ink occlusion part 3 partially having an elastic part as shown in FIG. 4 is used.

In FIG. 4, 1 is a recording head, 2 is an ink tank, and 4 is an ink tank outer wall.

[0005]

However, the above ink tank has the following problems.

The type using a sponge has a large amount of ink remaining at the end of use. Since the amount of remaining ink cannot be visually confirmed from the outside, a configuration was proposed in which an electric remaining amount detection sensor was installed in the ink tank to confirm this, but for this purpose, a complicated electric circuit was used as a component. It has to be configured, and there is a problem that the manufacturing cost is high.

The type that uses an ink storage part having a part of an elastic part has a high ink use efficiency, and if the outer wall is transparent, the remaining amount of ink can be known by a shape change such as shrinkage of the ink storage part due to ink consumption. It is possible and this method is known. However, even though I completely consumed the ink,
The shape of the ink occlusion part may not correspond to that shape, and in this case, the remaining ink amount may be erroneously determined. As a result, printing was continued in that state, the head was broken, and paper was discharged more than necessary.

Therefore, although a structure in which an electric remaining amount detecting sensor is provided in the ink tank has been proposed, a complicated electric circuit must be formed as a component, and the cost for that is also increased.

The present invention relates to an ink tank of a type that uses an ink storage part having a part of an elastic part, and has been made in view of the above problems. It is a low cost and highly reliable ink with a simple structure. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink tank that can display the remaining amount, and an inkjet recording device equipped with the ink tank.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an ink tank having an elastic portion in a part of the ink tank and a part of a side wall of the ink tank is in contact with another part due to ink consumption. In order to provide an ink tank of an ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the contact portion is adhered, the ink jet recording characterized in that the side wall of the ink tank is a part of the ink occlusion part and the other part. An ink tank of an apparatus, an ink tank of an inkjet recording apparatus characterized in that a side wall of the ink tank is a part of an ink storage portion and a part of an outer wall of the ink tank, An ink tank of an ink jet recording apparatus, characterized in that an adhesive member is formed on a portion thereof, and the adhesive member That constitutes the adhesive material, that constitutes the surface fastener to the adhesive member, comprising configuring the magnetic material to the adhesive member. The present invention is also an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with the above ink tank.

[0011]

With the ink in the ink storage part having a part of the elastic part being consumed and the ink containing part contracting, the parts come into contact with each other, but the present invention forms an adhesive member in the contact part. As a result, the contracted state can be reliably maintained even by an external impact such as a drop. Further, the same effect can be obtained in the case where a part of the side wall of the ink storage device comes into contact with a part of the outer side wall of the ink tank due to ink consumption.

The present invention will be described in detail below.

In the present invention, an elastic portion is provided in a part,
In an ink tank having a part where a part of the side wall comes into contact with another rough part due to ink consumption, an adhesive member is provided at the contact part. The side wall in contact may be a part of the ink storage part and another part, or a part of the ink storage part and a part of the outer wall of the ink tank.Other than this, for example, the ink storage part may cover the outer wall of the ink tank. The present invention can be applied to an ink tank of an ink jet recording apparatus that has an elastic portion in a part that absorbs ink and has a part that comes into contact with the ink when it is consumed. In addition to the bellows shown in this embodiment, a rubber bag or a combination of a bag and a spring member is used as the elastic portion.

As the adhesive member used for the above-mentioned adhesive portion,
Examples of the adhesive material include natural rubber-based, styrene-butadiene-based, polyisobutylene-based, isoprene-based, acrylic-based, and silicone-based adhesives. A nylon fastener is usually used as the surface fastener. Alnico magnets, ferrite magnets, rare earth magnets and the like are used as the magnetic material.

[0015]

Embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows the structure of an ink tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the ink tank 2 is connected to the recording head. A bellows was formed by blow molding using a polyethylene resin (manufactured by Mitsubishi Yuka). And
Adhesive 6 on the bellows surface of the side wall that contacts due to ink consumption
(Acrylic adhesive manufactured by Soken Chemical Co., Ltd.) was applied by dip. The bellows forming the pressure sensitive adhesive 6 was connected to the bubble jet recording head 1 as the ink occlusion section 3 and filled with ink. Then, an outer wall 4 of a transparent ink tank made of acrylic resin was covered so as to cover the ink occlusion part 3 to prepare an ink jet cartridge. The ink jet cartridge was installed in the recording device and continuous printing was performed. The printing was good. When the ink was consumed and the ink was discharged, it was visually confirmed that the shape of the ink occlusion part 3 contracted and there was no usable ink remaining amount. After that, as a reliability test of the remaining amount display unit, the recording device was dropped from a height of 1 m, but the contracted shape of the ink storage unit 3 did not change, and it was visually confirmed again that there is no remaining amount of ink used. done.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 2 shows the construction of an ink tank according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The ink tank 2 in the figure is connected to the recording head. A bellows was formed by blow molding using a polyethylene resin (manufactured by Mitsubishi Yuka). And
A hook-and-loop fastener 7 (Magic Tape, manufactured by Kureha Chemical Co., Ltd.) was heat-fused to the bellows surface of the side wall that comes into contact with the ink when consumed. The bellows constituting the surface fastener 7 was connected to the bubble jet recording head 1 as the ink occlusion section 3 and filled with ink. Then, an outer wall 4 of a transparent ink tank made of acrylic resin was covered so as to cover the ink occlusion part 3 to prepare an ink jet cartridge. The ink jet cartridge was installed in the recording device and continuous printing was performed. The printing was good. When the ink was consumed and the ink was discharged, it was visually confirmed that the shape of the ink occlusion part 3 contracted and there was no usable ink remaining amount. After that, as a reliability test of the remaining amount display unit, the recording device was dropped from the height of 1 m, but the contracted shape of the ink storage unit 3 did not change, and it was possible to visually confirm again that there is no remaining amount of ink used. It was

Third Embodiment FIG. 3 shows the structure of an ink tank according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The ink tank 2 in the figure is connected to the recording head 1. A bellows was formed by blow molding using a polyethylene resin (manufactured by Mitsubishi Yuka). And
The magnetic material 8 (thin-layer ferrite magnet) was adhered to the surface of the side wall that comes into contact with the ink consumption through an adhesive. Magnetic material 8
The bellows configured as above was connected to the bubble jet recording head 1 as the ink occlusion part 3 and filled with ink. Then, an outer wall 4 of a transparent ink tank made of acrylic resin was covered so as to cover the ink occlusion part 3 to prepare an ink jet cartridge. The ink jet cartridge was installed in the recording device and continuous printing was performed. The printing was good. When the ink was consumed and the ink was discharged, it was visually confirmed that the shape of the ink occlusion part 3 contracted and there was no usable ink remaining amount. After that, as a reliability test of the remaining amount display section, the recording apparatus was dropped from a height of 1 m.
The contracted shape of No. did not change, and it could be confirmed again visually that there was no ink remaining.

[0019]

As described above, the ink tank of the ink jet recording apparatus has an elastic portion in a part thereof, and a side wall of a part of the ink storage part comes into contact with another part of the side wall or the ink storage part due to ink consumption. In an ink tank using an ink occlusion body in which a part of the side wall of the ink container contacts a part of the outer wall of the ink tank, the reliability of the ink level indicator is improved by forming an adhesive member at the contact part.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an ink tank of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the ink tank of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing still another embodiment of the ink tank of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional ink tank.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording Head 2 Ink Tank 3 Ink Storage Section 4 Ink Tank Outer Wall 5 Atmosphere Communication Port 6 Adhesive 7 Surface Fastener 8 Magnetic Material

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet recording method, wherein in an ink tank having a part of an ink tank having an elastic portion and a part of a side wall of the ink tank is in contact with another part due to ink consumption, the contact part is adhered. Ink tank of the device. 2. An ink tank of an ink jet recording apparatus, wherein a side wall of the ink tank according to claim 1 is a part of an ink storage part and another part. 3. An ink tank of an ink jet recording apparatus, wherein a side wall of the ink tank according to claim 1 is a part of an ink storage part and a part of an ink tank outer wall. 4. The ink tank according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an adhesive member is formed at an adhesive portion. 5. The ink tank of the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the adhesive member is made of an adhesive material. 6. The ink tank of the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the adhesive member comprises a surface fastener. 7. The ink tank of the ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the adhesive member is made of a magnetic material. 8. An ink jet recording apparatus equipped with the ink tank according to claim 1.