JPH08300676A - Ink cartridge and recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To perfectly use the ink in an ink cartridge and to prevent the dripping of ink or the contamination with ink in the periphery of a printer and a connection part. CONSTITUTION: When an ink cartridge 14 is mounted on a head holder 2, an ink introducing part 3 is inserted in an ink supply part 14a to enter an ink cartridge 14 and a filter 5 and the end surface of the ink introducing part 3 compresses the ink porous member 15 between the inner wall on the side of the ink supply port 14a and a projection part 30. When the ink porous member 15 is compressed, the density of the ink porous member 15 of the periphery of the filter 5 is enhanced and, therefore, capillary force acts and the ink contained in the porous member 15 is gathered to the filter by capillary action and further guided to an ink introducing port 3a through the filter 5 to reach a recording head 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink cartridge for supplying ink to a recording head and a recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink ejecting apparatus is provided in, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus, and ejects ink onto a recording medium to perform recording. Therefore, the ink ejecting apparatus generally includes an ejecting head that ejects ink, an ink introducing portion that introduces ink to the ejecting head, an ink supply port, and an ink cartridge that contains a porous member for impregnating the ink. And a head holder that holds the ejection head and the ink cartridge. The ink introducing unit is connected to the ink supply port of the ink cartridge, and supplies the ink to the ejection head by compressing the porous member in the ink cartridge near the ink supply port.

Various ink cartridges have been devised for compressing and storing a porous member. For example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-79545, the ink cartridge is projected at a position facing the ink supply port. There is disclosed an ink cartridge that compresses a porous member by providing such a protrusion. The conventional ink cartridge described in this publication will be outlined below with reference to FIG.

The ink cartridge body 100 and the lid 2
00 and an ink cartridge comprising a porous member 300 containing ink, an ink supply port 100a for supplying ink to the ejection head in the lid 200 in order to hold the porous member 300 in the ink cartridge in a compressed state. At a position facing each other, a protrusion portion 200a protruding from a joint portion with the ink cartridge body 100 is provided. The protrusions 200a compress the porous member 300 to enhance the capillary force and facilitate the supply of ink to the ejection head.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, in an ink ejecting apparatus in which a head holder 2 having a recording head 1 for ejecting ink and an ink cartridge 114 can be separated from each other, the ink cartridge 114 is replaced by the head holder 2.
The ink supply port 11 of the ink cartridge 114.
4a, the porous member 15 in the ink cartridge 114 is compressed in the vicinity of the ink supply port 114a to facilitate the supply of ink to the recording head 1.

[0006]

However, as described above, in the above-mentioned conventional ink cartridge, the protrusion 200a for compressing the porous member 300 is used.
Is provided on the lid 200 located at a position facing the ink supply port 100a and distant from the ink supply port 100a.
When the porous member 300 is compressed in the vicinity of a, a capillary force is generated in that portion, the ink in the compressed portion does not move to the ink supply port 100a of the ink cartridge, and a large amount of ink is stored in the porous member 300. There was a problem that remained in.

Further, in the publicly known conventional ink ejecting apparatus, when the ink cartridge 114 is mounted on the head holder 2, the ink introducing portion 3 causes the ink cartridge 11 to move.
Since the ink impregnated in the porous member 15 is guided to the ink introducing portion 3 by compressing the porous member 15 in the inside 4, the insertion amount of the ink introducing portion 3 into the porous member 3 becomes large. As shown in FIG. 7, before the ink cartridge 114 was completely attached to the head holder 2, the ink 20 of the porous member 15 overflowed to the outside of the ink cartridge 14, and the bottom surface of the head holder 2 was soiled.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems. First, when the ink cartridge is mounted, the ink contained in the porous member of the ink cartridge is reliably supplied to the ink supply port. It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly reliable ink cartridge and a recording apparatus in which a porous member is compressed so that the amount of ink remaining in the ink cartridge is reduced so that the ink cartridge and the recording device can be guided.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge and a recording apparatus capable of preventing stains due to ink dripping when attaching and detaching the ink cartridge by reducing the compression amount of the porous member. .

[0010]

In order to achieve this object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, it is detachably attached to an ink introducing portion formed with an ink introducing port for introducing ink to a recording head. A porous member impregnated with ink to be supplied to the recording head,
An accommodating portion for accommodating the porous member, the ink introducing portion is inserted, an ink supply port for supplying the ink of the porous member to the recording head, a vicinity of the ink supply port in the accommodating portion, and And a protrusion that is provided at a position facing the ink supply port and is inserted into the porous member.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the protrusion is provided on a lid that closes the housing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the distance X from the inner wall on the ink supply port side to the end surface of the ink introduction port is X, and the distance from the inner wall on the ink supply port side to the protrusion is in a state where the ink introduction part is inserted into the ink supply port. Y is the distance Y
It is characterized by satisfying 4X.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the recording head ejects ink to perform recording.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink ejecting apparatus including a recording head for recording on a recording medium and an ink introducing section having an ink introducing port for introducing ink into the recording head. An ink cartridge that is detachably mounted on the recording head has a porous member impregnated with ink to be supplied to the recording head, a storage portion that stores the porous member, and the ink introduction portion, and the ink cartridge is inserted into the recording head. An ink supply port for supplying ink to the porous member, and a protrusion provided in the storage unit near the ink supply port and at a position facing the ink supply port and inserted into the porous member. Is equipped with.

[0015]

In the ink cartridge of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the protrusion is provided in the accommodating portion in the vicinity of the ink supply port and at the position facing the ink supply port, and the protrusion is inside the porous member. Inserting. Therefore, when the ink cartridge is attached to the head holder,
When the ink introduction part is inserted into the ink supply port, the porous member inside the storage part is compressed between the projection part and the ink introduction part only near the ink supply port, and the porous member becomes dense only in that part, and the capillary force is increased. Due to the large action of, the ink impregnated in the porous member moves to the ink introduction port promptly. Further, by providing the protrusions so as to face the vicinity of the ink supply port as described above, it becomes possible to sufficiently compress the porous member even if the amount of the ink introducing portion inserted into the porous member is small. As a result, the ink is prevented from overflowing from the porous member when the ink cartridge is mounted.

Further, in the recording apparatus of the present invention, a protrusion is provided in the accommodating portion near the ink supply port of the ink cartridge and at a position facing the ink supply port, and the protrusion is in the porous member. Inserting. Therefore, when the ink introduction part is inserted into the ink supply port while the ink cartridge is mounted on the head holder, the porous member in the ink cartridge has a protrusion provided in the ink cartridge only near the ink supply port. And compressed in the ink introduction part, the porous member becomes dense only in that part,
Due to the large action of the capillary force, the ink contained in the ink cartridge moves promptly to the ink introduction port. Further, by providing the protrusions so as to face the vicinity of the ink supply port as described above, it becomes possible to sufficiently compress the porous member even if the amount of the ink introducing portion inserted into the porous member is small. As a result, the ink is prevented from overflowing from the porous member when the ink cartridge is mounted.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An ink cartridge as an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
The same members as those of the conventional technology are designated by the same reference numerals,
The description is omitted.

First, the structure of a recording apparatus equipped with the ink cartridge 14 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. A cylindrical platen 10 is rotatably provided in a housing 12 of the printer in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, and a guide shaft 20 is provided along the platen 10. A carriage 16 is slidably attached to the guide shaft 20, and the belt 2 is attached to the carriage 16.
6 is attached. The belt 26 is looped around the idle pulley 24 and the drive pulley 22. The drive pulley 22 is rotated by a drive motor 28, and the rotation of the drive pulley 22 moves the carriage 16 along the guide shaft 20 via the belt 26 in the arrow B direction in FIG.

A head holder 2 is removably mounted on a carriage 16, and an ink cartridge 14 containing ink for printing is placed on the head holder 2 so as to face the platen 10. Ink is supplied to the recording head 1 (see FIG. 2) fixed to the head holder 2. The ink cartridge 14 is fixed to the head holder 2.

The printing paper 32 is shown in FIG.
It is inserted into the housing 12 in the direction of the middle arrow C, conveyed in the direction of the arrow D along the platen 10, and discharged from the housing 12 of the printer. When the printing paper 32 is conveyed to the platen 10, required data is printed by the recording head 1 ejecting ink as the carriage 16 moves.

In the non-printing area provided on one side of the print area in the moving direction of the carriage 16, a recording head cleaning device 44 and a cap device 46 are arranged in series with the platen 10 in the moving direction of the carriage 16, as shown in FIG. Are provided side by side. The recording head cleaning device 44 is a device for wiping off the ink adhering to the ink ejection surface of the recording head 1, and the cap device 46 covers the ink ejection surface at the time of non-recording to dry the nozzle tip portion and dust in the ink flow path. Although it is a device for preventing the intrusion of etc., the description thereof is omitted because it is not directly related to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the head holder 2 includes
An ink introducing portion 3 that can be inserted into the ink cartridge 14 when the ink cartridge 14 is mounted is integrally provided so as to project. The ink introducing section 3 is provided with an ink introducing port 3a for conveying the ink in the ink cartridge 14 to the recording head 1. Further, dust is collected so as to cover the opening end of the ink introducing port 3a. Ink inlet 3
The filter 5 is welded so as not to be mixed in a. The ink introducing portion 3 is made of metal, resin or the like and has sufficient durability against the ink used.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ink cartridge 14 comprises a porous member 15 of urethane foam impregnated with ink, a box-shaped storage part 16 for storing the porous member 15, and a storage part 16. An ink supply port 14a having a circular cross section is formed below the front wall of the storage section 16 and a lid 17 that closes the opening of the section. Further, in the vicinity of the ink supply port 14a in the storage section 16, a protrusion 30 is formed facing the ink supply port 14a and formed from the bottom wall of the ink cartridge 14. The porous member 15 impregnated with ink is housed in the ink cartridge 14 so as to be stuck in the protrusion 30.

When the ink cartridge 14 is attached to the head holder 2, the ink introducing portion 3 is inserted into the ink supply port 14a and enters the ink cartridge 14, and the filter 5 and the end surface of the ink introducing portion 3 are removed. The ink porous member 15 between the inner wall on the ink supply port 14a side and the protrusion 30 is compressed. Filter 5 when compressed
Since the density of the peripheral ink porous member 15 is increased,
The capillary force acts, and the action causes the ink contained in the porous member 15 to be collected in the filter 5.
Further, the ink is guided to the ink introduction port 3a through the filter 5 (see FIG. 2). Therefore, the ink with which the porous member 15 is impregnated quickly moves to the filter 5 by the capillary force due to the compression, and cannot be used up, and the ink cartridge 1 is not used.
The amount of ink remaining in 4 will be reduced. Further, since the protrusion 30 is provided in the vicinity of the ink supply port 14a, a sufficient compression force can be secured even if the amount of compression of the porous member 15 for generating a capillary force is small, so that the ink introduction part 3 is provided. The amount of insertion of the ink into the ink cartridge 14 can be reduced. As a result, ink contamination or ink dripping does not occur in the head holder 2 or the like on the printer device side.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the ink cartridge 14 is mounted and the ink introducing portion 3 is connected to the ink supply port 1.
Ink cartridge 1 in the state of being inserted in 4a
The distance from the inner wall of the ink supply port 14a of No. 4 to the end surface of the ink introducing portion 3 is X, and the distance from the inner wall of the ink supply port 14a of the ink cartridge 14 to the protrusion 30 is Y.

Then, by changing the X and Y values, the ink cartridge 14 is not used up in continuous recording.
The amount of ink remaining inside was measured, and the ratio of the amount of ink actually used for recording to the amount of ink in the ink cartridge 14 before continuous recording was measured. The porous member 15 used was one that was inserted into the ink cartridge 14 without any gap. If the ratio of the ink amount is less than 75%, or if the result is similar to that without the protrusion 30, x, 7
Those with 5% or more and less than 80% were evaluated as Δ, and those exceeding 80% were evaluated as ◯. The summarized results are shown in FIG. Figure 5
From the results, the good results were obtained for those satisfying the relationship of Y ≦ 4X. Further, those satisfying Y ≦ 3X are more preferable. Further, the above ratio did not exceed 85% even when the ink was completely removed from the porous member 15 without drying the porous member 15. Therefore, it is considered that the quality required for the ink cartridge 14 exceeds 80% in continuous recording.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the protrusion 30 may be provided on the lid 17 of the ink cartridge 14. In this case, the manufacture of the ink cartridge becomes easy.

Further, in the present embodiment, the protrusion 30 has a conical shape, but the shape is not limited to this and may have another shape.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the protrusion is provided in the storage portion in the vicinity of the ink supply port and facing the ink supply port.
Since the protrusion is inserted in the porous member,
In the state in which the ink cartridge is mounted on the head holder, only the porous member between the ink introducing portion and the protruding portion is compressed by the ink introducing portion and the protruding portion, and the ink in the ink cartridge promptly enters the ink introducing port. Be moved to. Furthermore, the porous member can be sufficiently compressed even if the amount of the ink introduction section inserted into the ink cartridge is small, and thus the ink does not leak when the porous member is compressed, and It is possible to obtain a remarkable effect that each mechanism provided in the above is not contaminated with ink.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an entire printer that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the ink cartridge according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted on the head holder.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an ink cartridge which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an ink cartridge which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a result of an experiment regarding a position where the protrusion of the ink cartridge according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a conventional head holder and an ink cartridge.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a conventional ink cartridge is mounted on a head holder.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional ink cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording Head 2 Head Holder 3 Ink Inlet 3a Ink Inlet 5 Filter 14 Ink Cartridge 14a Ink Inlet 15 Porous Member 16 Storage Section 17 Lid 30 Projection

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge detachably attached to an ink introduction portion having an ink introduction port for introducing ink to a recording head, comprising a porous member impregnated with ink to be supplied to the recording head. An accommodating part for accommodating the porous member, an ink supply port for inserting the ink introducing part and supplying ink of the porous member to a recording head, a vicinity of the ink supply port in the accommodating part, and An ink cartridge, comprising: a protrusion provided at a position facing the ink supply port and inserted into the porous member. 2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is provided on a lid that closes the storage portion. 3. The distance X from the inner wall on the ink supply port side to the end surface of the ink introduction port and the distance from the inner wall on the ink supply port side to the protrusion are Y when the ink introduction unit is inserted into the ink supply port. 3. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein Y ≦ 4X is satisfied. 4. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the recording head ejects ink to perform recording. 5. A recording head for recording on a recording medium,
In a recording apparatus having an ink introducing section in which an ink introducing port for introducing ink to the recording head is formed, an ink cartridge detachably attached to the ink introducing section is configured to supply ink to the recording head. An impregnated porous member, a storage unit for storing the porous member, an ink supply port for inserting the ink introduction unit and supplying ink of the porous member to a recording head, and the inside of the storage unit A recording apparatus, comprising: a protrusion that is provided in the vicinity of the ink supply port and at a position facing the ink supply port and that is inserted into the porous member.