JPH09193410A - Ink cartridge and ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately detect ink exhaustion by providing the atmosphere communication hole provided to the upper part of a foam housing chamber, the electrode detecting ink exhaustion provided to an ink housing chamber and the passage connecting the foam housing chamber and the ink housing chamber at the lower parts of both chambers. SOLUTION: After the foam housing chamber 33 of a cartridge main body 32 is packed with foam 35, air in the cartridge main body 32 is removed under vacuum. Next, an ink injection pipe such as an injection needle is inserted into the atmosphere communication hole 32d to be allowed to pierce through the foam 35 so that the tip part thereof reaches the communication passage 32b and ink is injected into the ink housing chamber 34 through the ink injection pipe. After only ink is housed in the ink housing chamber 34, ink is injected into the foam housing chamber 33 to be infiltrated into the foam 35 of the foam housing chamber 33. Since only an ink cartridge may be replaced, the maintenance cost to ink exhaustion can be reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink cartridge containing ink and an ink jet recording apparatus for spraying the ink of the ink cartridge onto a sheet for printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a communication device such as a facsimile device or an information processing device such as a personal computer, data such as characters and figures is usually recorded as visual information.
A recording device capable of printing these data on paper is connected. Various recording methods such as an impact method, a heat-sensitive method, and an ink-jet method are adopted for this recording apparatus. In recent years, an ink-jet method which is excellent in quietness and can print on paper of various materials is adopted. Ink-jet recording apparatuses are frequently used.

In the above ink jet recording apparatus, while the main scanning of the print head is carried out, the ink supplied from the ink cartridge to the print head is sprayed onto the paper to perform printing for one band, and then the paper is printed for one band width. By repeating the printing process of sub-scanning, printing is performed on the entire surface of the paper. Therefore, the ink jet recording apparatus that prints by such an operation is configured so that the ink is contained by loading the foam in the ink cartridge so that the ink supply to the print head can be stabilized and good printing quality can be obtained. At the same time, the presence or absence of ink is detected by an ink detection sensor so that it is possible to detect ink shortage in advance and prevent defective printing.

That is, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7, when the ink cartridge 51 is loaded with a foam 52 having open cells, a rib 51a that abuts the side surface of the foam 52 is provided on the side wall surface of the ink cartridge 51. In addition to the above, the air communication port 51b is formed on the upper wall of the ink cartridge 51, and the ink detecting sensor is provided in the space portion (ink containing chamber) 53 formed by the wall surface of the ink cartridge 51 and the foam 52 by the rib 51a. By arranging the electrode 54 to be used, the ink supply by the foam 52 is stabilized and the ink out of the electrode 54 is detected.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional structure, the flow resistance of the ink 55 in the space 53 is smaller than the flow resistance of the ink 55 in the foam 52, so that the ink 55 in the space 53 is preferentially processed. It is supplied to the print head 56. Therefore, the space 53
Since the ink 55 of the ink is consumed before the ink 55 of the foam 52, even if the ink 55 is sufficiently present in the foam 52, the liquid surface of the ink 55 is positioned below the electrode 54 and there is no ink. May be detected, and there is a problem that it is not possible to accurately detect ink shortage.

Therefore, it is conceivable to employ a configuration in which the presence or absence of the ink 55 in the form 52 is directly detected by bringing the electrode 54 into contact with the bottom surface or the lower portion of the side surface of the form 52. In order to prevent the electrode 54 from becoming an obstacle when the foam 52 is loaded in the ink cartridge 51, it is necessary to mount the electrode 54 after the foam 52 is loaded in the ink cartridge 51, and the flexibility of the manufacturing process is limited. There is a problem that is.

Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide an ink cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus capable of accurately detecting ink shortage without limiting the degree of freedom of the manufacturing process.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 provides a foam storage chamber for storing a porous member containing ink, an ink storage chamber for storing only ink, and An ink supply port provided in the foam storage chamber for supplying ink to the inkjet head,
An atmosphere communication hole that is provided above the foam storage chamber and communicates with the atmosphere, an electrode that is provided in the ink storage chamber and that detects ink shortage, and the foam storage chamber and the ink storage chamber are located below. It is characterized by having a communication passage communicating with each other. As a result, the ink containing chamber is communicated with the atmosphere communicating hole through the foam containing chamber, and further, since the ink containing chamber and the foam containing chamber are communicated with each other at the lower side, the foam having the atmosphere communicating hole is formed. Ink is consumed from the storage chamber, and when the liquid surface of the ink reaches the lower part of the foam storage chamber, the ink in the ink storage chamber is consumed. As a result, the ink exhaustion electrode provided in the ink storage chamber can accurately detect the ink exhaustion. Further, since the electrode is provided in the ink storage chamber provided separately from the foam storage chamber, the electrode does not become an obstacle when the foam is loaded into the foam storage chamber, and the electrode allows the flexibility of the manufacturing process. There is no limit.

A second aspect of the present invention is the ink cartridge according to the first aspect, wherein the ink supply port is provided below the foam storage chamber.
Accordingly, since the ink supply port is provided below the foam containing chamber, it is possible to sufficiently consume the ink in the foam containing chamber and the ink containing chamber.

A third aspect of the present invention is the ink cartridge according to the first or second aspect, wherein an ink inlet for supplying ink is formed in each of the foam storage chamber and the ink storage chamber. I am trying. With this, the ink can be easily injected into the foam containing chamber and the ink containing chamber, so that the ink injection can be completed in a short time.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the ink cartridge according to any one of the first to third aspects, which is characterized in that it is attachable to and detachable from the ink jet head. As a result, only the ink cartridge needs to be replaced, so that maintenance costs for running out of ink can be reduced.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a holding means for holding the ink cartridge according to the first aspect, a connecting portion provided on the holding means and electrically connectable to the electrode of the ink cartridge, and the electrode. And a determination unit that detects an ink shortage in the ink cartridge by receiving an electrical signal from the printer through the connection unit. As a result, by processing the electrical signal from the electrode for detecting the ink shortage provided in the ink storage chamber in the judging means, it is possible to obtain the ink jet recording apparatus which accurately detects the ink shortage in the ink cartridge.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet recording apparatus according to this embodiment is connected to an information processing apparatus 1 such as a personal computer.
The information processing device 1 is used for inputting and instructing data, a processing device main body 2 having a built-in auxiliary storage device such as a magnetic disk device and a central processing unit, a CRT (cathode-ray tube) 3 for displaying data and the like on a screen. It has a keyboard 4 and a mouse 5 and is connected to a printer 7 which is an ink jet recording apparatus via a printer cable 6 of Centronics specification, for example.

As shown in FIG. 3, the processing apparatus main body 2 includes, for example, a window system 8 as an operating system (OS). The window system 8 includes an application 9 such as a document creation program, a font driver 10 for managing fonts, a CRT driver 11 for managing the CRT 3, a keyboard driver 12 for managing the keyboard 4, and a mouse driver 13 for managing the mouse 5. One or a plurality of applications 9 can be simultaneously executed in cooperation with various functional groups such as a printer driver 14 that manages the printer 7 which is an inkjet recording device.

The printer driver 14 operates in accordance with a preselected color print mode or monochrome print mode when a "print execution" menu is specified for data displayed on the screen of the CRT 3, for example. Dot image data can be formed. In the color print mode, for example, based on the font data of the text to be printed and the pixel data of graphs, photographs, etc., yellow (Y), magenta (M) ),
Cyan (C) and black (K) four-color dot image data (pixel data arranged in a dot matrix in the horizontal and vertical directions) is formed, and these dot image data are horizontally set for each raster. In the direction (raster direction), 8-bit unit print data is sequentially output from the interface (I / F) unit 15.

The print data output in the raster scan format as described above is input to the I / F (interface) unit 16 of the printer 7. The printer 7 includes a printer controller 17 (determining means) and print buffers 18a to 18d that store print data for yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). A print head drive unit 19, a CR motor drive unit 20, and a sensor signal input unit 43. The CR motor drive unit 20 is connected to the CR motor 22 and is configured to rotate the CR motor 22 forward and backward. On the other hand, the print head drive unit 19 controls the yellow color (Y), the magenta color (M),
The print head mechanisms 21a to 21d for cyan (C) and black (K) are connected. As shown in FIG. 1, each of the print head mechanisms 21a to 21d includes print heads 44a to 44a in which nozzles for ejecting ink by displacement of a piezoelectric element are arranged in, for example, 64 channels in the sub-scanning direction.
44d (inkjet head), and the drive voltage from the print head drive unit 19 of FIG. 3 is applied to the piezoelectric elements of the nozzles of the print heads 44a to 44d so as to displace the piezoelectric elements. It has become.

The print head mechanisms 21a to 21d described above are
As shown in FIG. 4, the sheets 25 are arranged in the main scanning direction X.
On the other hand, it is fixed to the carriage 23 so that the ink ejection direction is at a predetermined angle. The carriage 23 includes a guide shaft 24 and a guide plate 2 that are laterally provided in the main scanning direction X.
7 is movably supported by 7 and is connected to a scanning belt 26 driven by a CR motor 22. The CR motor 22 driving the scanning belt 26 causes the carriage 23 to move along the guide shaft 24 in the main scanning direction. By reciprocating in X, the print head mechanisms 21a-21
The main scanning is performed while keeping d at a constant distance from the paper 25.

The paper 25 facing the print head mechanisms 21a to 21d is supported by a platen roller 28 as shown in FIG. The platen roller 28 is
It is provided parallel to the guide shaft 24, and both ends thereof are rotatably supported. In addition, the platen roller 28
A roller gear 29 is fixed to one end. A motor gear fixed to a paper feed motor (not shown) is meshed with the roller gear 29, and the paper feed motor rotates the platen roller 28 in the direction of the arrow via the roller gear 29 and the like so that the paper 25 is sub-loaded. It is adapted to be moved in the scanning direction Y. And such paper 25
Of the print head mechanisms 21a to 21
This is repeated every time the main scanning of d is performed and printing for one band is performed.

Further, the print head mechanisms 21a-21
As shown in FIG. 6, d is a cover member 36 and a cartridge holding member 31 (holding means), an ink supply member 37 provided on the cartridge holding member 31, and an ink detachably provided on the cartridge holding member 31. It has cartridges 30a to 30d. As shown in FIG. 1, the print heads 44a to 44d are held at the front of the ink supply member 37, and the ink cartridge 3 is detachably attached to the cartridge holding member 31.
0a to 30d are detachable from the print heads 44a to 44d.

The above ink cartridges 30a to 30d
Has a hollow cartridge body 32. Inside the cartridge body 32, the communication passage 32 is formed in the lower part.
A partition wall 32a is provided so as to form b, and the partition wall 32a forms a foam storage chamber 33 and an ink storage chamber 34, which communicate with each other in the lower portion, inside the cartridge main body 32.

A foam 35 (a porous member) having open cells so as to contain ink is loaded in the foam storage chamber 33. An ink supply port 32c is formed in the lower portion of the side wall of the cartridge body 32 forming the foam containing chamber 33, and the ink supply port 32c is
The ink supply member 37 described above is fitted in a liquid-tight state via a seal member 39. Then, the ink supply member 37
The print heads 44a to 44d and the foam storage chamber 33.
An ink guide path 37a for communicating with
The ink guide path 37a supplies the ink of the ink supply member 37 to all channels of the print heads 44a to 44d. Further, the atmosphere communication hole 32d is formed in the upper wall of the cartridge body 32 forming the foam storage chamber 33.
When the ink is consumed, the atmosphere communication hole 32d is configured to send a volume of air corresponding to the consumed amount into the foam storage chamber 33.

On the other hand, only the ink is contained in the ink containing chamber 34, and the pair of electrodes 4 is provided below the side wall of the cartridge body 32 forming the ink containing chamber 34.
0 and 40 are provided on the ink storage chamber 34 side. These electrodes 40, 40 have a pair of harnesses 41, 41.
(Connecting part) is connected, and the harness 41, 41 is
It is arranged on the bottom surface along the side wall of the cartridge main body 32, and comes into contact with the pair of electrode terminals 42, 42 (connecting portion) provided on the cartridge holding member 31. And these electrode terminals 42 and 42 are connected to the sensor signal input part 43, as shown in FIG.
The sensor signal input unit 43 detects the electric resistance between the electrode terminals 42, 42 (electrodes 40, 40) and outputs the detected resistance value to the printer controller 17,
The printer controller 17 is made to detect ink shortage.

The operation of the ink jet recording apparatus having the above structure will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, after the foam 35 is loaded in the foam housing chamber 33 of the cartridge body 32, the air in the cartridge body 32 (foam housing chamber 33 and ink housing chamber 34) is removed by vacuuming. It will be. After that, an ink injection pipe such as an injection needle (not shown) is inserted into the air communication hole 32d, and the ink penetrates through the foam 35 so that the tip reaches the communication passage 32b. It will be injected into the storage chamber 34.

When only the ink is accommodated in the ink accommodating chamber 34 by injecting the ink into the ink accommodating chamber 34, subsequently, the ink is injected into the foam accommodating chamber 33, and the ink is injected into the foam 35 in the foam accommodating chamber 33. Will be included. When the liquid surface of the ink contained in the foam 35 reaches the peripheral portion of the atmosphere communication hole 32d, the injection is stopped in order to prevent the ink from overflowing the atmosphere communication hole 32d due to the change in temperature. Become.

The ink cartridges 30a to 30d filled with the ink as described above have the ink supply member 37.
While being fitted to the ink supply port 32c, the cartridge holding member 31 is mounted. When the ink cartridges 30a to 30d are mounted on the cartridge holding member 31, the harnesses 41, 41 arranged on the bottom surface of the cartridge body 32 come into contact with the electrode terminals 42, 42 provided on the cartridge holding member 31. Therefore, the electrodes 40, 40 are electrically connected to the sensor signal input unit 43 of FIG. 3 via the harnesses 41, 41 and the electrode terminals 42, 42. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the sensor signal input unit 43 detects the electric resistance between the electrodes 40, 40, and the resistance value is determined by the printer controller 1.
By being read by No. 7, it is determined whether the ink is out.

That is, the ink cartridges 30a to 30d
At the place where the cartridge holding member 31 is mounted, the ink is sufficiently present in the ink containing chamber 34, and the electrode 4
Since 0.40 is immersed in the ink, the conductive ink reduces the electrical resistance between the electrodes 40. Therefore, the printer controller 17 determines that the ink is not exhausted by obtaining the comparison result that the electric resistance value is less than the predetermined value.

Next, the print head drive unit 19 drives the print head mechanisms 21a to 21d and, as shown in FIG. 1, ink is ejected from the print heads 44a to 44d to print one band. Is done,
The ink contained in the foam 35 of the foam storage chamber 33 is supplied to the print heads 44a to 44d having a negative pressure through the ink supply member 37, and the ink consumption of the foam storage chamber 33 is equivalent to that of the ink. That is, a volume of air is taken in through the atmosphere communication hole 32d. At this time, the atmosphere communication hole 32d is formed in the cartridge main body 32 forming the foam housing chamber 33, and the air is preferentially supplied to the foam housing chamber 33. Therefore, the ink in the ink storage chamber 34 is preferentially consumed, and when the liquid level of the ink reaches the communication passage 32b which is the lower end of the partition wall 32a by continuing printing, the ink consumption in the ink storage chamber 34 is ended. Will be started.

Thereafter, when the liquid surface of the ink in the ink containing chamber 34 is located below the electrodes 40, 40, the electrodes 40, 40
Since 40 does not come into electrical contact with each other through the ink, the electric resistance between the electrodes 40 and 40 becomes large. As a result, the printer controller 17 determines that the ink has run out by obtaining a comparison result that the electric resistance value is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, and displays on the display device (not shown) that the ink runs out, The screen is displayed on the CRT 2 in FIG.

In this embodiment, the ink is injected from the atmosphere communication hole 32d of the cartridge body 32, but the invention is not limited to this, and the ink injection port for injecting the ink is not limited to this. The foam storage chamber 33
And the ink containing chamber 34 may be formed respectively. In this case, the atmosphere communication hole 32d
Since it is not necessary to perform a complicated injection operation when injecting the ink, the ink injection can be completed in a short time.

[0030]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a foam containing chamber containing a porous member containing ink, an ink containing chamber containing only ink, and the foam containing chamber are provided.
An ink supply port for supplying ink to the inkjet head, an atmosphere communication hole provided above the foam storage chamber and communicating with the atmosphere, and an electrode provided in the ink storage chamber for detecting ink shortage. The foam storage chamber and the ink storage chamber are provided with a communication passage that communicates the lower part. This allows the ink storage chamber to
It is connected to the atmosphere communication hole through the foam storage chamber,
Further, since the ink containing chamber and the foam containing chamber are communicated with each other at the lower side, ink is consumed from the foam containing chamber having the atmosphere communicating hole, and when the liquid surface of the ink reaches the lower part of the foam containing chamber. Ink in the ink storage chamber is consumed. Thus, the ink exhaustion detection electrode provided in the ink storage chamber can accurately detect the ink exhaustion. In addition, since the electrode is provided in the ink storage chamber provided separately from the foam storage chamber, the electrode does not become an obstacle when the foam is loaded into the foam storage chamber, and the electrode provides flexibility in the manufacturing process. It has the effect of not being limited.

The invention according to claim 2 is the ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink supply port is provided below the foam storage chamber. Accordingly, since the ink supply port is provided below the foam containing chamber, it is possible to sufficiently consume the ink in the foam containing chamber and the ink containing chamber.

A third aspect of the present invention is the ink cartridge according to the first or second aspect, in which ink inlets for supplying ink are formed in the foam storage chamber and the ink storage chamber, respectively. . As a result, the ink can be easily injected into the foam containing chamber and the ink containing chamber, so that there is an effect that the ink injection can be completed in a short time.

The invention according to claim 4 is the ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ink cartridge is detachable from the ink jet head. This will replace only the ink cartridge,
This has the effect of reducing the maintenance cost for running out of ink.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a holding means for holding the ink cartridge according to the first aspect, a connecting portion provided on the holding means and electrically connectable to the electrode of the ink cartridge, and the electrode. And a determination unit that detects an ink shortage in the ink cartridge by receiving an electrical signal from the printer through the connection unit. With this, it is possible to obtain the ink jet recording apparatus that accurately detects the ink exhaustion of the ink cartridge by processing the electric signal from the electrode for detecting the ink exhaustion provided in the ink storage chamber in the determination unit. Play.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an ink cartridge.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus to which an information processing apparatus is connected.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an information processing device and an inkjet recording device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the ink cartridge is mounted on the cartridge holding member.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional ink cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 17 Printer Controller 18a-18d Print Buffer 19 Head Drive Unit 20 Motor Drive Unit 21a-21d Print Head Mechanism 22 CR Motor 23 Carriage 24 Guide Shaft 25 Paper 26 Scan Belt 27 Guide Plate 28 Platen Roller 29 Roller Gear 30a-30d Ink Cartridge 31 Cartridge holding member 32 Cartridge body 32a Partition wall 32b Communication passage 32c Ink supply port 32d Atmosphere communication hole 33 Foam storage chamber 34 Ink storage chamber 35 Foam 36 Cover member 37 Ink supply member 39 Seal member 40 Electrode 41 Harness 42 Electrode terminal 43 Sensor signal Input unit 44a to 44d Print head

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A foam containing chamber containing a porous member containing ink, an ink containing chamber containing only ink, and an ink supply port provided in the foam containing chamber for supplying ink to an inkjet head. An atmosphere communication hole provided above the foam containing chamber and communicating with the atmosphere; an electrode provided in the ink containing chamber for detecting ink shortage; the foam containing chamber and the ink containing chamber; An ink cartridge, comprising: a communication passage communicating with a lower portion. 2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink supply port is provided below the foam containing chamber. 3. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein ink supply ports for supplying ink are formed in the foam storage chamber and the ink storage chamber, respectively. 4. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the ink cartridge is removable from the ink jet head. 5. A holding unit that holds the ink cartridge according to claim 1, a connection unit that is provided in the holding unit and that can be electrically connected to the electrode of the ink cartridge, and an electrical signal from the electrode. Is received through the connection portion, and a determination unit that detects ink shortage in the ink cartridge is provided.