JPH07314731A - Device and method for inserting ink absorber and ink cartridge using the absorber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To widen the application range of an ink absorber and attain sufficient function at a low cost by setting the compression in the same direction of a porous ink absorber before insertion other than the inserting direction of the ink absorber into an ink cartridge by two processes or more. CONSTITUTION:In the first process of compression of a porous body, the dimension D1 is formed by carrying out the compression L for the desired compression amount L-1 or more from one or both sides respectively from the dimension D0 before the compression of the porous body, and in the second process, the minimum dimension D is formed by reducing the compression by the compression amount 1 so that the desired compression amount L-1 is attained as shown by (d) or (e). L = 21' and 1 = 21'. The compressibility in the porous body is more uniformized by applying the above processes, and in an ink cartridge, into which the porous body is inserted by using the processes, the ink supply to a recording head is stabilized, and the ink amount remaining in an ink cartridge inner wall gets less to improve the efficiency of use of ink.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink cartridge having an ink containing portion containing an ink absorbing body for holding ink to be supplied to an ink jet recording head, and more particularly to a negative pressure containing the ink absorbing body. The present invention relates to a device and method for inserting a generating member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet cartridge (ink jet head) in which an energy generating portion for forming a recording droplet and an ink tank for absorbing the ink therein are integrated has been put into practical use. In general, the ink tank of this type of ink jet cartridge has a structure in which ink is impregnated into a porous chamber body that is compressed and accommodated. The ink held in the porous chamber body is led out from the ink supply port to the ejection portion via the common liquid chamber by the capillary action of the nozzle according to the ink consumption amount of the ejection portion.

The ink impregnated body used in this type of ink jet cartridge is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-55 / 55.
-42874 (US Pat. No. 4,306,245)
In, there is a disclosure of a specific range of use including polyurethane foam, but there is no discussion of practical problems and advantages and disadvantages. Further, in JP-A-1-522 (US Pat. No. 4,790,409) and JP-A-1-26453 (US Pat. No. 4,824,887), a commercially available polyurethane foam having a size that can be accommodated in an ink tank is disclosed. Although there is a disclosure regarding cleaning and removal of non-volatile impurities in the foam that causes clogging of the ink ejection port as well as processing, there is no pursuit for more efficient and effective ink supply.

That is, in the above series of major techniques, no search has been conducted for the optimum conditions required for sufficient ink supply from the ink tank to the recording head. Further, regarding the polyurethane foam which is one use example as an ink impregnated body, the study of its microstructure and manufacturing conditions is insufficient, and it is simply mentioned that the shape of the foam and the ink impregnation amount are adjusted. However, the practically appropriate form of the foam was limited to a narrow range. Further, for the use of the foam, reduction of the manufacturing cost of the inkjet cartridge has been hindered due to the following factors.

That is, the polyurethane foam is
Generally, in the reaction process of a polyol and an isocyanate, a foaming agent, a catalyst, an antifoaming agent, a coloring agent, and other additives are added to foam and remove the film. Depending on the selection of raw materials and reaction method in this manufacturing process, polyurethane foam with various characteristics can be obtained. The above-mentioned manufacturing process is usually carried out by mass production, and the cost merit is expressed as a whole. However, when applying these generally manufactured polyurethane foams to the ink impregnated body of the ink jet cartridge, However, not all of these product characteristics can be used, but rather the parts exhibiting specially required characteristics must be strictly selected. Therefore, it takes a long time, there are many parts that cannot be used and is wasted, and a complicated test is required in parallel with this, so that the manufacturing cost of this type of ink jet cartridge is greatly pressed.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-692 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-38816 disclose the compression direction of polyurethane foam in the liquid containing portion and the urethane foam ink holder. No specific disclosure is made on the means / method for compressing the urethane foam and the means / method for inserting the urethane foam into the container. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-463 discloses a method in which urethane foam is compressed along a guide and then moved and filled. However, the urethane foam should be inserted into the container with few wrinkles and curling. Although you can
Practical problems and detailed disclosure regarding supply of ink as an inkjet cartridge have not been made.

In contrast to the above-mentioned prior art, the applicant of the present invention is
First, the fine structure of the ink absorber and the conditions for mounting the ink absorber on the ink tank are adjusted so that the product of the compressibility and the amount of pores of the ink absorber housed in the ink tank of the inkjet cartridge falls within a predetermined range. Therefore, it has been disclosed that various conditions of ink supply in the ink jet cartridge can be satisfied (JP-A-4-357046). As a result, even if there is some variation in the characteristics of the ink absorber itself, it has become possible to obtain an ink jet cartridge having a sufficient function at a low cost with minimal waste. However, even in the above publication,
No detailed disclosure has been made of a device / method for housing the ink absorber in the ink tank of an inkjet cartridge.

[0008]

The characteristics required for this kind of ink absorber are, first, that sufficient ink is supplied to the ink jet recording head and that the amount of ink remaining in the ink absorber is reduced. And to make the usage efficiency as high as possible. Another example is that the ink impregnated in the ink absorber is retained inside without being leaked out of the ink cartridge unnecessarily. In order to achieve these, it is one of the effective means to specify the manufacturing method and physical properties of the ink absorber itself, but as a result of the research conducted by the present inventors, the insertion of the ink absorber into the ink cartridge is confirmed. It was found that the device and insertion method have a great influence on the above performance.

Further, in the ink cartridge integrated with the ink jet recording head, there is a problem that the motive power acceleration generated when the ink jet cartridge moves on the carriage may adversely affect the ejection performance during recording. . Further, there is a problem that the recording quality is disturbed by vibration during distribution and vibration during handling of the inkjet cartridge.

The present invention eliminates the above problems and provides an ink absorber insertion apparatus and method for expanding the range of application of the ink absorber and achieving a sufficient function at low cost. The purpose is.

[0011]

Therefore, in the present invention, when the porous body which is the ink absorber is inserted into the ink cartridge, the porous body is compressed in the same direction before the insertion other than the insertion direction. In addition to adopting an apparatus and a method for performing the above two steps or more, the porous body insertion device is particularly used as a guide jig for inserting a jig for compressing the porous body into the ink cartridge. It is intended to achieve the above-mentioned object by being configured so as to be combined.

[0012]

By the structure / method of the present invention as described above, the ink absorber can be inserted into the ink cartridge without causing wrinkles or curling, and the ink supply from the ink cartridge is stabilized and remains in the ink cartridge. The amount of used ink is reduced, and the ink use efficiency is improved.

[0013]

EXAMPLE Originally, it is preferable that the porous body as an ink absorber in the ink cartridge of this type exists uniformly or in a state in which the density is appropriately controlled. However, conventionally, as shown in the explanatory drawing of the compression process in the X direction in FIG. 5, the dimension D of the porous body before compression in (a) is shown.
_{From 0} to the dimension D after compression in (b), if compressed from both sides, go from (a) to (c), or
In the case where one side is fixed and compressed from one side, from (a) to (d), the size of the porous body before and after the compression in the X direction is controlled only to control the compressibility of the entire porous body.
Therefore, when the amount of compression in a certain direction is smaller than the compression dimension of the porous body, in particular, as shown in (c) and (d) of FIG. It was observed that the compression ratio of the part became high. In each figure, the broken line is an isoline for observing the compressed state.

When the porous body compressed by the conventional method as described above is inserted into the ink cartridge, the density of the porous body at the portion in contact with the inner wall of the ink cartridge is the porous body at the central portion of the ink cartridge. Since the density is higher than the density of the body, the ink impregnated in the porous body in the ink cartridge gathers more on the inner wall side of the ink cartridge and tends to remain there, resulting in poor ink use efficiency. A trend has arisen. Further, this causes variations in the capillary action of the porous body in the ink cartridge, which also causes the ink supply to the recording head to become unstable. These phenomena frequently occurred in a model in which the inner wall of the ink cartridge has a large contact area with the porous body and the inner wall of the ink cartridge has no ribs.

The displacement phenomenon of the compressibility of the porous body may depend on the type or material of the porous body, and is particularly remarkable when the material of the porous body is flexible.

As described above, that is, as shown in FIG. 5C or 5D, the compression from the side surface of the porous body is caused by the compression from the side surface of the porous body, especially when the amount of compression is small. The present inventors have found that the cause is that it does not reach the above, and have reached the present invention for solving these problems.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an example of the X-direction compression step of the porous body inserting method of the first embodiment according to the present invention. (A) is a schematic diagram in which the ink absorber before compression and insertion is observed from above, and the broken line is an isoline for observing a compressed state.

In the first step, the porous body is compressed from the dimension D ₀ of the porous body before compression to the desired compression amount (from either side or both sides) as shown in FIG. 1 (b) or (c). L-
1) The above compression (L) is performed to obtain the dimension D _1, and in the second step, the compression amount l is adjusted so that the desired compression amount (L-1) is obtained as shown in (d) or (e), respectively. However, the final dimension D is relaxed. Where L = 2
L ', l = 2l'.

By carrying out this method, the compressibility inside the porous body becomes more uniform, and the ink cartridge in which the porous body is inserted using this method stabilizes the ink supply to the recording head, and Also, the amount of ink remaining on the inner wall of the ink cartridge is reduced, and the use efficiency of the ink is increased.

The compression amount (L) or (L ') of the porous body in the first step of the first embodiment is the desired compression amount (L-
1) or (L'-l ') or more, an improvement can be obtained, but in order to further improve, the porous body is compressed and a displacement due to the compression is applied to the central portion of the porous body. Although it depends on the kind and material of the porous body, it is particularly preferable that it is 40% or more of the dimension D ₀ of the porous body in the compression direction before compression.

The first and second steps may be continuous or stepwise, and an increase in the number of steps does not depart from the present invention.

Further, although the above has shown an example in which the entire porous body is compressed substantially uniformly after the predetermined compression of the porous body, according to the method for compressing the porous body of the present embodiment, the inside of the porous body is The compression rate can be controlled appropriately and freely.

(Embodiment 2) In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2 corresponding to FIG. 1 of the second embodiment, in addition to the method of Embodiment 1, compression in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction is possible. Is also suitable for the purposes of the present invention. The reason is that the side surface of the porous body, in which the compression in the x direction of Example 1 has been completed in advance, is due to the repulsive force of the porous body.
This is because the compression in the y direction orthogonal to each other tends not to affect the central portion of the porous body.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2A, by the method according to the first embodiment, the porous body compression jigs b and b'in the x direction are driven to perform a predetermined compression operation. finish. Next, from the first step (b) in FIG.
To the process (c) diagram, the porous body compression jigs a, a ′ in the y direction are shown.
Drives from the initial dimension B ₀ to the over-compressed dimension B ₁ to the final dimension B. The predetermined compression operation is ended, and the step of compressing the porous body other than the inserting direction into the ink cartridge (not shown) is completed. The density distribution is more uniform than that in the first embodiment in which the ink cartridge is compressed to a predetermined size (FIG. 2C). After that,
For example, a porous body that has been compressed in the above-described process is pushed out and inserted into the ink cartridge with an insertion jig such as a piston.

The method for compressing a porous material according to the present invention is at least the insertion direction (Z
Direction, other than x, y direction, or
It may be applied in both the x and y directions.

(Embodiment 3) In the method for compressing a porous body of the present invention, a jig for compressing the porous body previously proposed by the present inventor inserts the porous body into the ink cartridge. It can also be suitably used for a porous body insertion device that also serves as a guide jig.

By combining the above with the present invention, it becomes possible to control the density in the z direction in addition to the x and y directions of the porous body in the ink cartridge, and further to stabilize the ink supply of the ink cartridge and It can contribute to improvement of usage efficiency. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an example of the ink cartridge container in which the porous body P is completely inserted in the Z direction.

(Embodiment 4) As described above, the porous body insertion device and the insertion method of each embodiment according to the present invention are applied to the porous body for controlling the flow of the ink impregnated in the porous body. It can be suitably used for a small ink cartridge which requires adjustment of density distribution.

Further, as shown in a schematic cross section of one example in FIG. 4, the porous body P, which is a negative pressure generating member that has been previously proposed by the present inventors and requires adjustment of the density distribution of the porous body P, is shown. An area including an atmosphere communicating portion A for accommodating the ink absorber and communicating with the atmosphere is provided, and a region near the atmosphere communicating portion of the ink absorber P is a first storage chamber C ₁ that is an area that does not hold ink. , The first storage chamber C ₁ communicates with the first storage chamber C ₁ only through the minute communication portion O provided at a position distant from the atmosphere communication unit A, and this first storage chamber C ₁
Is a second container for directly containing the ink liquid I to be supplied.
It is more suitable for the ink cartridge provided with the storage chamber C ₂ .

[0030]

As described above, according to the method and the device for inserting the porous body as the ink absorber of the present invention, the ink absorber can be formed without causing wrinkles or curling in the ink cartridge. It becomes possible to insert the ink, the ink supply from the ink cartridge is stabilized, and the amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge is reduced, so that the ink use efficiency is improved.

Furthermore, it is possible to freely control the compression distribution of the porous body of the ink absorber in the ink cartridge, and it is possible to provide an ink cartridge excellent in ink supply.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a compression process in an x direction according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a compression process in the y direction according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an ink cartridge container that has been inserted in the Z direction according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an example of an ink cartridge suitable for Example 4.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a compression process in the x direction in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

A atmosphere communicating part a, a'x direction porous body compression jig b, b'y direction porous body compression jig C ₁ / C ₂ first / second storage chamber D ₀ / B ₀ ink absorber Dimension in X / Y direction before compression D ₁ / B ₁ Dimension in the first step D / B Dimension in the second step 1 Ink liquid L, l Amount of compression in the first step in the x direction L ′, 1 ′ Relaxation amount in the second step of O O communication part P ink absorber (porous body)

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Jun Kawai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Yoichi Tanetani 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Incorporated (72) Inventor Yohei Sato 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yu Ikeya 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. When inserting a porous body as an ink absorber into an ink cartridge, the porous body is compressed in two or more steps in the same direction before insertion other than the insertion direction. And an ink absorber insertion device. 2. The ink absorber insertion device according to claim 1, wherein the compression amount in the first step in the same direction before insertion of the porous body other than the insertion direction is larger than the final step compression amount. . 3. The ink absorber inserting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of compression of the porous body in the first step is 40% or more of the size of the porous body before compression in the same direction. . 4. The ink absorber insertion apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the porous body is compressed and inserted into an ink cartridge. Method. 5. An ink cartridge, characterized in that the polyhedral substance is compressed and inserted into an ink cartridge by the ink absorber insertion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 6. The apparatus for inserting an ink absorber according to claim 1, wherein a jig for compressing the porous body also serves as a guide jig to be inserted into the ink cartridge. 7. The ink absorber inserting device according to claim 6, wherein the porous body is compressed by a compression jig from at least two directions. 8. An ink absorber according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the porous body is compressed and inserted into the ink cartridge by the ink absorber insertion device according to claim 6. Insertion method. 9. An ink cartridge, wherein the porous body is compressed and inserted into the ink cartridge by the ink absorber insertion device according to claim 6 or 7. 10. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink cartridge accommodates an ink absorber that is a negative pressure generating member, and includes an atmosphere communicating portion for communicating with the atmosphere. The area of the ink absorber in the vicinity of the atmosphere communicating portion includes the first storage chamber, which is an area that does not retain ink, and the first storing chamber only via the minute communicating portion provided at a position distant from the atmosphere communicating portion. It communicates with the room,
An ink cartridge, wherein the first storage chamber is in a substantially sealed state, and the first storage chamber includes a second storage chamber that directly stores ink to be supplied.