JPH09248919A - Refilling ink filled in ink cartridge of printer, etc., and refill ink cartridge filled with refilling ink - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the remaining part of an initially filled ink smoothly compatible and homogeneous by constituting in such a way that at least the compositional ratio of coloring ingredients is smaller than that of the initially filled ink and the compositional ratios of water and a volatile agent are larger than those of the initially filled ink. SOLUTION: In a refill ink cartridge 1, a refilling ink R1 is filled in an ink storing part 102 of an injection tool 100 and it is filled into an ink room 13 and an ink feeding room 14 from an injection needle 101. For refilling the ink into the refill ink cartridge 1, an ink R1 being exclusive for refilling wherein the water content is made larger than that of the initially filled ink and the content of a volatile agent is also made larger and on the contrary, the compositional ratio of coloring ingredients such as dye is made smaller is deeply injected into a sponge 17 from the injection needle 101 by means of the injection tool 100. Therefore, the remaining ink whose concn. becomes large and dye content becomes high and viscosity becomes high caused by evaporation is diluted with the refilling ink R1 to change the compsn. to good quality being equal to the initially filled ink.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the technical field of refill ink filled in an ink cartridge for supplying ink to an ink jet printer or the like, and refill ink cartridge filled with the refill ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this kind of ink cartridge, a refill ink cartridge which is used by refilling (refilling) the ink cartridge which has been exhausted with fresh ink is widely used. In general, without preparing an ink with a special composition as the refill ink, the unused ink of the same quality as the ink to be filled into the unused ink cartridge is refilled as the refill ink to regenerate the ink cartridge. It was

[0003]

As described above, when the unused ink of the same quality as the ink filled in the unused ink cartridge in the used ink cartridge as described above is used as the refill ink, There were unresolved issues.

The first point is that in the used ink cartridge, there are many cases where residual ink is retained, especially in the sponge portion, and the residual ink is usually retained in the ink cartridge for a long period of time. As a result, the solvent etc. evaporates and remains in the sponge with a high concentration.

Therefore, as a result of refilling the unused ink as a refill ink, the residual ink having a relatively high density in the ink cartridge and the unused ink come into contact with each other and are not always mixed together. The two types of ink were not mixed smoothly, and the concentration of all the ink in the ink cartridge was rather large, which could cause unstable printing quality during printing.

[0006] The cause is that the unused ink used in the refilling process is mixed with the residual ink having a relatively high density and is used for the printing process without special consideration. Therefore, the unused ink and the residual ink are not always promptly matched to each other in a homogeneous state, and there remains a problem that it is difficult to guarantee the print quality using the refill cartridge.

A first problem to be solved by the present invention is that the composition of the refill ink cartridge is different from that of the initial filling ink (the ink which is not filled into the unused ink cartridge for the first time), and the residual ink is smooth. The present invention is to provide a refill ink (ink that is filled in a used and recovered ink cartridge) that can provide a uniform ink in conformity with the above.

A second problem to be solved by the present invention is to refill ink which can be filled with good quality ink in the refill ink cartridge by the refill ink in which the amount of solvent is reduced and the amount of solvent is increased as compared with the initial filling ink. Is to provide.

A third problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a refill ink capable of filling a good quality ink into a refill ink cartridge by using a refill ink having a composition ratio of a solvent different from that of the initial fill ink. Is.

A fourth problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a good quality ink in the refill ink cartridge by using a refill ink which is different from the initial fill ink in the content ratio of ethanol or dye in the composition ratio of the solvent. It is to provide a refillable ink that can be filled.

A fifth problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a refill ink cartridge having a composition different from that of the initial filling ink and filled with the refill ink homogeneously mixed with the residual ink. .

A sixth problem to be solved by the present invention is to fill a refill ink having a higher water content than the initially filled ink and different ethanol or dye contents even in the composition ratio of the solvent. It is to provide a refill ink cartridge.

[0013]

The specific means for solving the above-mentioned problems of the present invention are as follows.

(1) Ink to be filled in an ink cartridge of a printer or the like, wherein the composition ratio of at least a coloring component is smaller than that of the initial filling ink, and the composition ratio of water and a volatile agent is larger than that of the initial filling ink. Refilling ink in an ink cartridge configured to be.

(2) Ink filled in an ink cartridge of a printer or the like, wherein the refilled ink containing at least a coloring component and a solvent is different from the initial filled ink in its composition ratio. .

(3) The refill ink in the ink cartridge according to the above (2), wherein the content of ethanol is higher than that of the initially filled ink in the composition ratio of the solvent.

(4) A refill ink cartridge obtained by filling a used ink cartridge with a refill ink, wherein the used ink cartridge is filled with the initially filled ink and has a different composition ratio from the initially filled ink. A refill ink cartridge for a printer or the like that is filled with refill ink.

(5) The refilled ink having a higher water content in the composition ratio than that of the initially filled ink is filled.
Refill ink cartridge in the printer etc. described.

(6) A refill ink cartridge for a printer or the like according to the above (4) or (5), which is obtained by filling a refill ink having an ethanol content ratio higher than that of the initially filled ink.

(7) A refill ink cartridge for a printer or the like according to the above (4), (5) or (6), which is prepared by filling a refill ink having a coloring component content rate smaller than that of the initial fill ink. .

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(Embodiment 1) (1) Structure FIG. 1 shows a refill ink cartridge 1 and a refilling ink RI injector 100 according to this embodiment. There is no particular difference from the conventional ink cartridge and ink injection device.

That is, the partition 12 having the communication port 11 opened
A sponge 17 in a state of being stressed by a downward pressing body 16 of a lid 15 is loaded in an ink supply chamber 14 which is separated from the ink chamber 13 by the ink supplied to a filter 19 of an ink supply unit 18. The ink is supplied from the ink supply hole 20 through the rubber seal 21 to the printer unit (not shown).

Further, the injection tool 100 for supplying the ink to the ink supply chamber 14 using one of the ink injection holes 22 of the lid 15 has a sponge 17 through the ink injection hole 22.
The pressurizing element 103 is slidably inserted into the ink storing section 102 having the injection needle 101 that is deeply tipped.

The difference between the refill ink cartridge 1 shown in FIG. 1 and the conventional ink cartridge is that the refill ink RI is provided inside the ink reservoir 102 of the injector 100 and the injection needle is used. From 101, the refill ink RI is refilled in the ink chamber 13 and the ink supply chamber 14.

(2) Usage method As shown in FIG. 1, the refill ink cartridge 1 before use is loaded into the printer with the ink filled up to the liquid level LL, and the ink is supplied to the printer head to perform the printing process. It is well known that the ink chamber 13 and the ink supply chamber 1 can be used depending on the use.
Since the printing process becomes impossible when the ink in 4 is exhausted, immediately before that, the refill ink cartridge 1 must be taken out from the printer and refilled with ink.

At this time, the sponge 1 in the ink supply chamber 14
A slight amount of residual ink is found in the fine holes of No. 7, and especially in the vicinity of the bottom of the refill ink cartridge 1 surrounded by circles (a) and (b), the ink residual rate is high. It is widely known that this is a tendency.

Moreover, the residual ink in the circled areas (a) and (b) has been loaded in the refill ink cartridge 1 for a long period of time, so that the water or solvent portion thereof evaporates, and as a result, The density is higher than that of the initially filled ink, which makes extraction from the ink supply hole 20 more difficult.

By the way, in the first embodiment, when refilling the refill ink cartridge 1 with ink, the water content is made larger than that of the initially filled ink.
In addition, the refill ink RI for exclusive use in refilling in which the content ratio of the volatile composition is large and the composition ratio of the coloring component such as dye is small is deeply injected into the sponge 17 from the injection needle 101 by the injection tool 100. Is.

Therefore, the residual ink whose concentration is increased by evaporation, the content of the dye is increased, and the consistency is increased is diluted by the refilling ink RI, and the initial filling ink is also made in terms of the density and the consistency. The composition will be changed to a high quality product that is comparable to that of the high quality printing process, and the high quality printing process can be safely guaranteed.

Since there is a relative density difference between the refill ink RI and the residual ink as described above,
Since it is effective and can be rapidly homogenized, as a result, a high quality refill ink cartridge 1 can be obtained promptly.

(Embodiment 2) Regarding the ink to be filled in the above-mentioned refill ink cartridge 1, first, as shown in Table 1, the initial filled ink SI filled in the unused ink cartridge first is at least the coloring component. The solvent consisting of (A), high-boiling organic solvent (B), volatile agent (low-boiling organic solvent) (C), additive (preservative) (D) is 13.3% by weight, and solvent such as water Is 86.7% by weight.

On the other hand, the refill ink RI has the same composition components as the initial fill ink SI, but the composition ratio of the solvent is different and the water content is large. It is also different in that.

As the coloring component (A), the high boiling point organic solvent (B), and the volatilizing agent (C), the following can be used, and the additive (D) can be further added.

(1) Coloring component (A) The coloring component may be either a dye or a pigment, and the dye may be a direct dye, an acid dye, an edible dye, a basic dye, a reactive dye, a disperse dye, Various conventional dyes such as vat dyes, soluble vat dyes, and reactive disperse dyes can be used, and inorganic pigments and organic pigments can be used as the pigment without particular limitation. As the inorganic pigment, in addition to titanium oxide and iron oxide, a contact method,
Carbon black manufactured by a known method such as a furnace method or a thermal method can be used. Examples of organic pigments include azo dyes (including azo lakes, insoluble azo pigments, condensed azo pigments, chelate azo pigments, etc.), polycyclic pigments (for example, phthalocyanine pigments, perylene pigments, perinone pigments, anthraquinone pigments, quinacridone pigments, dioxazines). Pigments, thioindigo pigments, isoindolinone pigments, quinofuraron pigments, etc.), dye chelates (eg basic dye type chelates, acid dye type chelates, etc.), nitro pigments, nitrone pigments, aniline black, etc. can be used.

(2) High-boiling organic solvent (B) Preferred examples of the high-boiling organic solvent include ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, butylene glycol, 1,2,6-hexanetriol, Polyhydric alcohols such as thioglycol, hexylene glycol, glycerin, triethylene glycol, trimethylolethane, trimethylolpropane; ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, diethylene glycol Monobutyl ether,
Alkyl ethers of polyhydric alcohols such as triethylene glycol monomethyl ether, triethylene glycol monoethyl ether, triethylene glycol monobutyl ether, urea, 2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-
2-pyrrolidone, 1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone, triethanolamine and the like can be mentioned.

The high-boiling point organic solvent is added for the moisturizing action at the nozzle opening of the ink jet recording head and / or the dissolution of the dye and the like.

(3) Volatile agent (C) Preferred examples of the low boiling point organic solvent include methanol, ethanol, n-propyl alcohol, iso-propyl alcohol, n-butanol, sec-butanol, and t.
Examples include ert-butanol, iso-butanol, and n-pentanol. A monohydric alcohol is particularly preferable. The low boiling point organic solvent has the effect of shortening the drying time of the ink.

(4) Additive (D) The ink composition may further contain various additives as a third component in order to improve various properties. For example,
Anionic surfactants such as fatty acid salt, alkyl sulfate ester salt, alkylbenzene sulfonic acid, alkylnaphthalene sulfonate, etc. for the purpose of adjusting various physical properties such as viscosity, surface tension, pH, and specific resistance, and preserving and antifungal. Nonionic surfactants such as acetylene glycols, polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, polyoxyethylene alkylphenyl ethers, polyoxyethylene fatty acid esters, sorbitan fatty acid esters; water-soluble resins such as celluloses, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, water-soluble resins Natural or synthetic high molecular weight compounds; diethanolamine, triethanolamines; lithium chloride, ammonium chloride, inorganic salts of sodium chloride and the like can be added.

The details are as shown in the following embodiments.

[0040]

[Table 1]

(Embodiment 1) Next, as shown in Table 1, the refilled ink RI (1) refilled in the refill ink cartridge 1 in which the initial filled ink SI has been consumed by use has a composition ratio of ethanol as shown in Table 1. Same as the initial filling ink SI, but the amount of dye (1.5% by weight), glycerin (2% by weight), and 2-pyrrolidone (1.5% by weight) were all reduced, and the water content was 89.8% by weight. Then, the refilled ink RI (1) was made to have a slightly lowered density.

As a result, it has been verified that the affinity with the residual ink is improved, the refill ink RI (1) is quickly mixed with the residual ink, and high quality ink is filled in the refill ink cartridge 1. There is.

(Example 2) Refilling ink RI of Example 2
(2) is different from the refilled ink RI (1) of Example 1 in that the volatile agent (C) ethanol was increased to 6% by weight and the water content was reduced to 88.8% by weight. Only points.

As a result, it is possible to effectively replenish the portion of the ethanol having the function of improving the quick-drying property that has volatilized and disappeared, so that the refill ink cartridge 1 is filled with high-quality ink that safely compensates for the problem of residual ink. It will be.

(Example 3) Refilling ink RI of Example 3
(3) is different from the refill ink RI (2) of Example 2 in that the amount of the dye is reduced to 1% by weight and the water content is further increased.

As a result, the refill ink RI (3) can effectively reduce the concentration of the residual ink and fill the refill ink cartridge 1 with ink close to the initial fill ink.

[0047]

The remarkable effects achieved by the present invention are mainly as follows.

Since the used refill ink cartridge is filled with the refill ink having a composition ratio different from that of the initial fill ink, the residual amount of the initial fill ink and the refill ink are rapidly and uniformly mixed, and a high quality ink is obtained. A refill ink cartridge filled with ink is obtained.

Since the initial filling ink and the refilling ink have the same composition, the refilling ink can be easily manufactured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a refill ink cartridge and an ink injector according to a first embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Refill ink Cartridge 100 Injector RI, RI (1), RI (2), RI (3) Refill ink SI Initial fill ink

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An ink to be filled in an ink cartridge of a printer or the like, wherein the composition ratio of at least a coloring component is smaller than that of the initial filling ink, and the composition ratio of water and a volatile agent is larger than that of the initial filling ink. Refill ink in an ink cartridge configured as described above. 2. A refilling ink for an ink cartridge of a printer or the like, wherein the refilling ink containing at least a coloring component and a solvent is different in composition ratio from the initial filling ink. 3. The refilling ink in an ink cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the content ratio of the solvent is higher than that of the initial filling ink in ethanol content. 4. A refill ink cartridge obtained by filling a used ink cartridge with a refill ink, wherein the used ink cartridge is filled with the refill ink and the used ink cartridge has a different composition ratio from the initially filled ink. A refill ink cartridge for a printer or the like filled with filled ink. 5. A refill ink cartridge for a printer or the like according to claim 4, which is filled with refill ink having a water content higher than that of the initial fill ink. 6. A refill ink cartridge for a printer or the like according to claim 4 or 5, which is filled with refill ink having a higher ethanol content in a solvent composition ratio than that of the initial fill ink. 7. A refill ink cartridge in a printer or the like according to claim 4, 5 or 6, which is formed by filling a refill ink having a coloring component content rate smaller than that of the initial fill ink.