JPH08127135A - Ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an ink jet recording apparatus emitting an ink liquid from an ink jet head in a liquid droplet form to stably perform ink jet recording over a long period of time without corroding the metal members between an ink tank and nozzle orifices. CONSTITUTION: All of the metal members arranged between an ink tank 11 and nozzle orifices 13 so as to come into contact with an ink liquid are constituted by using a metal of which the ionization tendency is less than that of the ion contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid or by applying the same to the surfaces of the metal members.

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 for ejecting ink liquid in a droplet form from an ink jet head to perform ink jet recording.

In an ink jet recording apparatus, ink liquid consumed in an ink jet head is stored in an ink tank and the ink liquid is sent to the ink jet head through an ink supply path.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Several metal members are arranged between an ink tank in which ink liquid is stored and a nozzle hole of an ink jet head from which ink droplets are ejected so as to come into contact with the ink liquid.

[0004]

However, if the metal member that comes into contact with the ink liquid has an ionization tendency higher than that of the ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid, the metal becomes ions and becomes in the ink liquid. May melt into metal and corrode the metal member, resulting in holes.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of stably performing ink jet recording for a long period of time without corroding a metal member from an ink tank to a nozzle hole.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention uses an ink liquid stored in an ink tank as an ink as shown in FIG. 1 for explaining an embodiment. In an ink jet recording apparatus, which is sent to an ink jet head through a flow path and ejected as an ink droplet from a nozzle hole formed in the ink jet head to perform ink jet recording, the ink tank and the ink tank are brought into contact with the ink liquid. For all metal members arranged between the nozzle hole, using a metal having a smaller ionization tendency than the ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid, or on the surface of the metal member,
A metal member having a smaller ionization tendency than the ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid is coated.

The coating may be performed by plating, vapor deposition or sputtering.

[0008]

Since the ionization tendency of at least the surface portion of all the metal members arranged between the ink tank and the nozzle hole and contacting the ink liquid is smaller than the ionization tendency of the ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid. , The metal member does not dissolve in the ink liquid and does not corrode.

[0009]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 2
1 illustrates an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a recording paper 100 is wound around a platen roll 1 and is conveyed in a sub-scanning direction when the platen roll 1 is rotationally driven.

The carriage 3 carrying the ink jet cartridge 10 is driven by a space motor (not shown) along a stay shaft 4 arranged parallel to the axis of the platen roll 1, whereby the ink jet cartridge 10 is driven in the main scanning direction. Driven to.

The ink jet cartridge 10 is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the ink tank 1 that stores the ink liquid
1 and an inkjet head 12 that performs inkjet recording by ejecting the ink liquid supplied from the ink tank 11 into ink droplets and ejecting them toward the surface of the recording paper 100.

The ink liquid contains, for example, 2% of a dye having a component represented by the following chemical formula, 10% of diethylene glycol,
The rest is water, and the following dyes have the property of generating hydrogen ions by ionization.

[0013]

Embedded image

A large number (eg, 64) of nozzle holes 13 for ejecting ink droplets are arranged in each ink jet head 12, and the ink droplets ejected from each nozzle hole 13 cause dot recording on the surface of the recording paper 100. Is done.

FIG. 3 schematically shows an example of the structure of the ink jet head 12. By deforming the piezoelectric element 14 arranged along the tip of the ink flow path 15 in front of the nozzle hole 13 by applying a voltage. , Ink flow path 15
The ink liquid therein is ejected from the nozzle hole 13 as an ink droplet.

In the ink jet printer thus constructed, some metal members are used between the ink tank 11 and the nozzle hole 13 in the ink flow path 15 and the ink jet head 12, and the ink liquid is used there. A metal having an ionization tendency smaller than that of the ions contained in the dye in the ink liquid is used for all the metal members such as the connecting pipes that come into contact with

In this embodiment, since the dye contains hydrogen ions, it is preferable to use, for example, copper as the metal material having a smaller ionization tendency than hydrogen. Aluminum, zinc, nickel, and the like have a greater ionization tendency than hydrogen, and thus metal ions are dissolved in the ink liquid and corrode.

In order to prevent corrosion due to contact with the ink liquid, at least the surface portion in contact with the ink liquid has a smaller ionization tendency than hydrogen.
The surface of the metal material between the nozzle hole 13 and the nozzle hole 13 may be coated with a metal having a smaller ionization tendency than hydrogen by plating, vapor deposition, sputtering, or the like. In that case, a high-cost member such as gold or silver can be used.

As described above, at least the surfaces of all the metal members arranged between the ink tank 11 and the nozzle holes 13 so as to come into contact with the ink liquid are more ionized than the ions contained in the dye in the ink liquid. By using a small metal, metal ions do not dissolve in the ink liquid and the metal member does not corrode.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, the ink liquid may contain a pigment instead of a dye, and in that case, the ionization tendency of the ions contained in the pigment. A metal having a smaller ionization tendency may be used.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the ionization tendency of all the metal members arranged between the ink tank and the nozzle hole and in contact with the ink liquid is determined by the ionization of the ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid. Since it is smaller than the tendency, the metal member does not dissolve in the ink liquid and does not corrode. Therefore, the metal member between the ink tank and the nozzle hole does not corrode,
Ink jet recording can be performed stably over a long period of time.

The same effect can be obtained by coating the surface of the metal member arranged between the ink tank and the nozzle hole with a metal having an ionization tendency smaller than that of the ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid. Therefore, a material having good corrosion resistance can be used without a large increase in cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an inkjet cartridge according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the inkjet head of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Ink Tank 12 Inkjet Head 13 Nozzle Hole 15 Ink Flow Path

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Saino Shino 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, inside Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Shigeura Umemiya, 1015, Kamedotaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Within Fujitsu Limited

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Inkjet recording in which ink liquid stored in an ink tank is sent to an inkjet head through an ink flow path and ejected as an ink droplet from a nozzle hole formed in the inkjet head to perform inkjet recording. In the apparatus, a metal having a smaller ionization tendency than the ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid is added to all the metal members arranged between the ink tank and the nozzle hole so as to come into contact with the ink liquid. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the metal member is used, or the surface of the metal member is coated with a metal member having a smaller ionization tendency than ions contained in the dye or pigment in the ink liquid. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coating is performed by plating, vapor deposition or sputtering.