JPH08310010A - Ink-jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the reliability of a device and the operability of a user by a method wherein a member, which hinders the operations for mounting to and for dismounting from a carriage except a predetermined procedure, is provided in at least either one of a storage means and an ink tank. CONSTITUTION: In a carriage 1, to which an ink-jet recording head 2 and an ink tank 3 are detachably installed, a claw part 103b, which is engaged with a recessed part 7b provided on a head layer 7. Under the state that both the recording head 2 and the ink tank 3 are installed in the carriage 1, the head lever 7 and the tank lever 103 are formed so as to have portions, which overlap to each other within the range L. Thus, when both the recording head 2 and the ink tank 3 are intended to be installed in the carriage 1, firstly, the recording head 2 is installed. Then, after the head lever 7 is positioned, the ink tank 3 is installed and finally contrived to be positioningly fixed by the tank lever 103.

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 used for outputting information such as characters and images on a recording medium in an information processing system such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, a word processor and a personal computer. In particular, the present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus in which an inkjet recording head and an ink tank are detachably mounted on a carriage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ink jet recording technology directly records characters and images by ejecting ink from fine nozzles onto a recording medium (paper, cloth, plastic sheet, etc.). Conventionally, a recording apparatus having such an ink jet type recording head has been used in a copying machine,
It is used in these information processing systems as a printer as an output terminal such as a facsimile, a printer, a word processor, and a workstation, or as a handy or portable printer provided in a personal computer, a host computer, an optical disk device, a video device, or the like. In such a conventional inkjet recording apparatus, one using an inkjet cartridge in which an inkjet recording head and an ink tank are integrated is known. This cartridge is a disposable type which is fixedly supported by a carriage mounted on the main body of the inkjet recording apparatus and is detachable from the carriage.

The ink tank for storing the ink supplied to the ink jet head is composed of an ink absorber, a container for inserting the ink absorber, and a lid member for sealing the container. The ink tank is filled with ink, and the ink is sequentially supplied to the inkjet head side according to the ejection of the ink.

Since the recording apparatus having such a structure does not require an ink supply mechanism, there is an advantage that the entire structure of the recording apparatus can be simplified and the entire apparatus can be made inexpensive and small. is there. Further, there is also an advantage that the ink can be exchanged by exchanging the ink jet cartridge and the operation is very simple.

However, in the recording apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the ink jet cartridge is replaced when exchanging the ink, so that the ink jet recording head is also replaced together when exchanging the ink, which is preferable in terms of resource saving and ecology. I can't say it.

Against this background, in recent years, an ink jet recording head and an ink tank are detachably mounted on a carriage, and when exchanging ink, only the ink tank can be exchanged and the ink jet recording head can be exchanged if necessary. An inkjet recording apparatus having the above structure has been proposed.

Further, due to the colorization of the display of the notebook personal computer accompanying the reduction of the price of the color liquid crystal display, the enhancement of the color environment of the software, the spread of the color copying machine, etc., one of the output devices of the personal computer
There is also a strong demand for colorization in some recording devices.

An ink jet cartridge compatible with colorization has a plurality of recording heads and a plurality of ink tanks which are detachably attached and integrated.

Further, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the ink jet recording head locking means and the ink tank locking means are provided independently of each other. The order of attachment and removal of the tank to and from the carriage cannot be determined, and the attachment and removal operations can be performed in any order.

In the environment as described above, a color ink jet recording apparatus in which an ink jet recording head and an ink tank are detachably mounted is also proposed.

[0011]

However, in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, when the ink tank and the recording head are attached and detached, the user attaches and detaches by an arbitrary method. Unusual force acts on the joint between the print head and the ink tank, causing deformation or destruction of the joint,
Alternatively, there is a high possibility that the carriage may be deformed or destroyed, and in the worst case, the entire recording device may be destroyed. Further, even if the above-mentioned respective parts are not changed or destroyed, a large problem may occur in reliability and operability, such as ink wetting and deterioration of ink supply function caused by abnormal force acting on the joint part. there were.

Therefore, the present invention prevents an abnormal force from acting on the joint portion between the ink jet recording head and the ink tank, deforms or destroys the joint portion or other portions of the recording apparatus, or wets the ink from the joint portion. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet recording device having an inkjet cartridge capable of preventing a decrease in supply function.

[0013]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention is an ink jet recording means for recording image information on a recording medium by ejecting ink, and to the recording means. An ink jet recording apparatus having an ink cartridge in which an ink tank for supplying ink is detachably coupled, and a carriage in which the recording means and the ink tank are individually detachable from the carriage and the ink cartridge is detachably mounted, The recording means and the ink tank are characterized in that at least one of the recording means and the ink tank is provided with a member that obstructs the mounting operation and the detaching operation with respect to the carriage except in a predetermined order. Preferably, such a member is characterized by being a positioning / fixing member or a locking member extending in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which it is removed. More preferably, the recording means is a recording head having an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy that causes film boiling in the ink, as an element that generates energy used for ejecting ink. To do.

[0014]

The recording means and the ink tank are attached and detached only in a predetermined order by a member that interferes with the attaching and detaching operations with respect to the carriage except in a prescribed order. Therefore, no extra force is applied to the joint between the recording unit and the ink tank.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail and specifically with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining a schematic structure of a carriage portion of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II 'in FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a mounting state of the recording head as seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a carriage, and an ink jet recording head 2 and an ink tank 3,
4, 5, 6 are mounted detachably. The inkjet recording head 2 is accurately positioned and fixed in the body of the recording head of four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. The ink tanks 3, 4, 5 and 6 are configured so that they can be individually attached and detached corresponding to the recording heads of the respective colors of the inkjet recording head 2.

Next, the positional relationship between the ink tank 3 and the ink jet recording head 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The ink supply from the ink tank 3 to the corresponding recording head of the inkjet recording head 2 is as follows.
This is performed through the ink supply pipe 2a. Ink supply to the recording heads of the inkjet recording head 2 corresponding to the ink tanks 4, 5, and 6 is similarly performed by the ink supply pipes 2a provided in the recording heads. That is, the ink jet recording head 2 is provided with the independent ink supply pipe 2a corresponding to each ink tank.

Reference numeral 7 is a head lever, which is rotatably supported by shafts 1a, 1a provided on the carriage 1 and has claws 7a, 7a provided on both side plates and a projection 1b provided on the carriage 1. , 1b are engaged with each other to position and fix the inkjet recording head 2 with respect to the carriage 1. At this time, the control circuit (not shown) of the recording apparatus and the inkjet recording head 2 are electrically connected to each other by pressing the connection portion of the flexible cable 8 against the electrical connection portion 2b provided on the inkjet recording head 2. To be combined.

Tank levers 103, 104, 105, 1
06 is rotatable about a rotation axis center 1c provided on the carriage 1, and is connected to the tank levers 103, 104,
The protrusions 103a, 104a provided on 105, 106,
105a and 106a press the ink tanks 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2, the seal member 9 is compressed and the ink tanks 3, 4, 5 and 6 are connected to the ink jet recording head 2. The carriage 1 is positioned and fixed to the carriage 1.

The aforementioned tank levers 103, 104, 10
Reference numerals 5 and 106 denote claw portions 103b and 104 provided on each.
The b, 105b, 106b are locked by engaging with the recess 7b provided in the head lever 7.

When the ink jet recording head 2 and the ink tanks 3, 4, 5, 6 are mounted on the carriage 1, the head lever 7 and the tank levers 103, 10 are provided.
4, 105 and 106 have overlapping portions within the range of arrow L in the figure. Therefore, the ink tank 3,
If any one of 4, 5, 6 is mounted on the carriage 1, the head lever 7 cannot be operated and therefore the inkjet recording head 2 cannot be removed.
Further, even when the ink tanks 3, 4, 5, 6 are mounted on the carriage 1, if the ink jet recording head 2 is mounted on the carriage 1 and the head lever 7 is not locked at a predetermined position, the tank levers 103, 104, 105, 106 cannot be locked, and the ink tanks 3, 4, 5, 6 cannot be mounted on the carriage 1. As described above, the inkjet recording head 2 and the ink tanks 3, 4,
The carriage 1 on which 5 and 6 are mounted has guide shafts 101 and 10.
It is supported by 2 and is reciprocally driven by a transmission means (not shown) such as a timing belt by a drive motor (not shown). A control signal from a control circuit (not shown) of the recording apparatus is transmitted to the inkjet recording head 2 by the flexible cable 8 and the inkjet recording head 2 is driven to form an image on a recording medium 10 such as paper.

As described above, when the ink jet recording head 2 and the ink tanks 3, 4, 5 and 6 are attached to the carriage 1, first the ink jet recording head 2 is attached and the head lever 7 positions and fixes the ink. The tanks 3, 4, 5 and 6 are mounted, and the tank levers 103, 104, 105 and 106 are positioned and fixed.

When removing the ink jet recording head 2, the tank levers 103, 104, 105 and 106 are first released, the ink levers 3, 4, 5 and 6 are removed, and then the head lever 7 is released. This ends the operation.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where each ink tank is provided with a tank lever is described, but the same configuration can be adopted even if there is one tank lever or one tank lever for two ink tanks. The number of tank levers is not limited.

Further, the ink tank of each color may be integrated, or the ink tank of two colors may be used as one ink tank.

Further, the recording head can have the same structure even if the four colors are separate, and the same is true when the recording head has only one color.

That is, the number of recording heads, ink tanks, and tank levers is not limited at all, and the above-described configuration can be adopted.

[Embodiment 2] Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to the cross section taken along the line II-II ′ of FIG. 1. However, the difference from the first embodiment is that the ink tank is fixed not by the tank lever. .

In this figure, the ink tank 3 is urged in the direction of arrow C by a projection 1d provided on a part of the carriage 1. Reference numeral 21 denotes a seal member having elasticity, which is compressed between the ink jet recording head 2 and the ink tank 3 by the urging force in the C direction to exhibit a sealing effect on ink, and further, the ink tank 3 The positioning is fixed.

Further, the carriage 1 is provided with ribs 1e in the width direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface), while the ink jet recording head 2 is provided with notches 2e corresponding to the ribs 1e.

When the inkjet recording head 2 is detached from the carriage 1, the protrusion 1d and the notch 2e overlap each other, and therefore the inkjet recording head 2 cannot be removed upward. After rotating, it will be removed in the direction of arrow E.

Therefore, when the ink tank 3 is attached, the ink jet recording head 2 cannot rotate in the D direction, and when even one ink tank is attached, the ink jet recording head 2 is It cannot be removed. The device order of the ink jet recording head 2 is opposite to that in the case of removal described above, and the positioning and fixing are performed by the head lever 7 as in the above-described embodiment.

Although the ink tank 3 is fixed by compressing the seal member 21 in this embodiment, the ink tank 3 is fixed.
In the case where an ink holding member such as an absorber is provided inside, the same effect can be obtained by the elasticity of this holding member, and the same effect can be obtained by using an elastic material for the protrusion 1d.

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 5 is a sectional view corresponding to a section taken along line II-II 'in FIG.

The method for positioning and fixing the ink jet recording head 2 and the ink tank 3 is the same as in the second embodiment.
By providing the protrusion 3a on the ink tank 3, the point P at which the protrusion 1d of the carriage 1 contacts the ink tank 3
From the above to the projection 3a of the ink tank 3 (l _{T in the} figure) is made larger than the distance between the inkjet recording head 2 and the projection 1d of the carriage 1 (l _{C in the} figure) (l
Ink tank 3 for the ink tank 3 Any attempt to remove upward the ink jet recording head is rotated in the direction F is l _T> l _C when the ink tank 3 is mounted by _T> l _C) is It cannot rotate and therefore the inkjet recording head 2 cannot be removed.

In this embodiment, the ink tank 3 is provided with the protrusion 3a, but it goes without saying that the ink tank 3 need not be provided with the protrusion 3a as long as the relationship l _T > l _C can be satisfied. .

Further, by providing a recess or the like at the point P of the ink tank 3 corresponding to the protrusion 1d of the carriage 1, the effect of the present invention can be further improved.

(Others) The present invention is provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating heat energy as energy used for ejecting ink, particularly in the ink jet recording system. The present invention brings about excellent effects in a recording head and a recording apparatus of the type in which the state of ink is changed by the heat energy. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, see, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and US Pat. No. 4,740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
It can be applied to any of the continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to the sheet holding the liquid (ink) or the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recording information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter, and film boiling is caused on the heat acting surface of the recording head. Liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal in a one-to-one correspondence
It is effective because bubbles can be formed inside. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape because bubbles can be immediately and appropriately grown and contracted, so that liquid (ink) ejection with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the straight liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications, US Pat. No. 4,558,333, US Pat. No. 4,558,333, which discloses a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
The structure using the specification of No. 59600 is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The effect of the present invention is effective even if the configuration corresponding to the ejection portion is disclosed in JP-A-59-138461. That is, according to the present invention, recording can be surely and efficiently performed regardless of the form of the recording head.

Further, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium which can be recorded by the recording apparatus. Such a recording head may have a configuration that satisfies the length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads or a configuration as one recording head integrally formed.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type as in the above example, the recording head fixed to the apparatus main body or the electrical connection to the apparatus main body or the ink from the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body. The present invention is also effective when a replaceable chip-type recording head that can be supplied or a cartridge-type recording head in which an ink tank is integrally provided in the recording head itself is used.

Further, as the constitution of the recording apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable to add the ejection recovery means of the recording head, the auxiliary auxiliary means, etc. because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, heating is performed by using a capping unit, a cleaning unit, a pressure or suction unit for the recording head, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a combination thereof. Examples thereof include a preliminary heating unit for performing the discharge and a preliminary discharge unit for performing discharge different from the recording.

Regarding the type and number of recording heads to be mounted, for example, only one is provided corresponding to a single color ink, or a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities are supported. A plurality of pieces may be provided. That is, for example, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but it may be either the recording head is integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. The present invention is also extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of full-color recording modes by color mixing.

In addition, in the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the ink is described as a liquid, but an ink that solidifies at room temperature or below and that softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used. Or, in the inkjet system, it is common to control the temperature of the ink itself within the range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is within the stable ejection range. Sometimes, a liquid ink may be used. In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as the energy of the state change from the solid state of the ink to the liquid state, or in order to prevent the evaporation of the ink, it is solidified and heated in the standing state. You may use the ink liquefied by. In any case, by applying heat energy such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to the recording signal and liquid ink is ejected or that begins to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention can be applied to the case where an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time is used. In this case, the ink is
JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-7
As described in Japanese Patent No. 1260, it may be configured to face the electrothermal converter in a state of being held as a liquid or a solid in the concave portion or the through hole of the porous sheet. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as the form of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention, other than the one used as an image output terminal of information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and a facsimile apparatus having a transmitting / receiving function can be used. It may be a form or the like.

[0048]

As described above, the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention is configured so that the ink jet recording head and the ink tank can be operated only in a predetermined order when they are attached to and detached from the carriage. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the deformation or destruction of the joint portion or the deformation or destruction of the carriage caused by the abnormal force acting on the joint portion of the ink jet recording head and the ink tank, and as a result, the reliability of the recording apparatus is improved. ,
Also, the operability of the user can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining a schematic configuration around a print head and a carriage of an inkjet printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II ′ of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a mounting state of a recording head.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to a cross section taken along line II-II ′ of FIG. 1 for explaining another embodiment of the schematic configuration around the print head and the carriage of the inkjet printing apparatus according to the present invention. Is.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to a cross section taken along line II-II ′ of FIG. 1 for explaining another embodiment of the schematic configuration around the print head and the carriage of the inkjet printing apparatus according to the present invention. Is.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Carriage 2 Recording Means (Inkjet Recording Head) 3 Ink Tank 4 Ink Tank 5 Ink Tank 6 Ink Tank 7 Head Lever 103 Tank Lever 104 Tank Lever 105 Tank Lever 106 Tank Lever

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Onishi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Shinya Matsui 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Incorporated (72) Inventor Masaru Sato 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Makoto Takemura 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. ( 72) Inventor Tetsuhiro Nitta 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Shinji Kanemitsu 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge in which an ink jet recording means for recording image information on a recording medium by ejecting ink and an ink tank for supplying ink to the recording means are detachably connected to each other, and An ink jet recording apparatus having a recording unit and the ink tank, wherein the recording unit and the ink tank are individually detachable from the carriage and the ink cartridge is detachably mounted, wherein the recording unit and the ink tank are attached to the carriage in a sequence other than a predetermined order. An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein a member that obstructs an operation and a detaching operation is provided in at least one of the recording unit and the ink tank. 2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the member is a positioning / fixing member. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ink tank can be positioned and fixed by positioning and fixing the recording means by the positioning and fixing member during the attaching operation, and at the time of the removing operation. An inkjet recording apparatus, wherein the recording means can be removed by removing the ink tank. 4. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the member is a locking member that extends in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the removal is performed. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the locking member comprises a recording means locking means and an ink tank locking means, and the recording means locking means is locked unless the locking means is used. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the tank locking means cannot be locked, and the recording means locking means cannot be released unless the ink tank locking means is released. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the locking member has an overlapping portion when the recording means locking means and the ink tank locking means are in a locked state. Inkjet recording device. 7. The ink jet recording according to claim 5, wherein the locking member is locked by the locking means for the ink tank with respect to the locking means for the recording means. apparatus. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit causes film boiling in the ink as an element that generates energy used for ejecting the ink. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising a recording head having an electrothermal converter that generates heat energy to be generated.