JPH0930001A - Recording head cartridge and recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color ink jet cartridge not permitting a user to refill erroneous color ink. SOLUTION: Three atmosphere communication ports 4 are provided to an ink tank unit 3 corresponding to three color ink chambers of cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y). Colors different from each other are applied to the respective atmosphere communication ports 4 and the colors of the atmosphere communication ports 4 are same to the ink colors of the ink chambers provided with the respective atmosphere communication ports 4. The lids 5 applied to the atmosphere communication ports 4 have the same colors as the colors of the atmosphere communication ports 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording head cartridge and a recording apparatus using the recording head cartridge, and more particularly to an inkjet cartridge having a recording head for performing recording by an inkjet method and a recording apparatus including the inkjet cartridge. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, ink jet printing is capable of reducing noise generated at the time of printing to a negligible level, high-speed printing is also possible, and it is fixed on so-called plain paper without requiring special processing. It has attracted attention because it has the advantage that it can be printed.

Among them, for example, JP-A-54-5183.
No. 7, German Patent Publication (DOLS) No. 284306
The inkjet printing method described in Japanese Patent No. 4 has a feature different from printing methods according to other inkjet methods in that thermal energy is applied to a liquid to obtain a driving force for ink ejection. .

That is, according to the printing method disclosed in the above publication, the liquid subjected to the action of thermal energy undergoes a state change accompanied by a sharp increase in volume, and the action force generated by the state change causes Liquid is ejected from an orifice at the tip of the recording head of the printer to form flying droplets, and the droplets adhere to a recording medium such as recording paper to perform recording.

In particular, according to the ink jet printing method disclosed in DOLS 2843064,
Not only is it very effectively applied to the so-called drop-on-demand printing method, but the recording head can be easily embodied as a line printer type head with high density and multi-orifice, so that high resolution and high quality can be achieved. It has the feature that images can be obtained at high speed.

The recording head of the printer apparatus applied to the above printing method communicates with an orifice provided for ejecting a droplet, and thermal energy for ejecting the droplet acts on the liquid. A recording head substrate provided with an ink discharge section having a liquid flow having a heat acting section which is a part of the structure and an electrothermal converter (heat generating material) as means for generating heat energy. It includes.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing a conventional ink jet cartridge.

In FIG. 3, an ink jet cartridge as a recording head cartridge has been commercialized with the structure shown in the figure and is widely used. Then, the discharge unit 102
a head portion 102 having a and an ink tank 103 for supplying ink to the head portion 102 are integrated,
When the ink in the ink tank 103 is used up, the entire cartridge is replaced by the printer.

In recent years, when ecology is called for, discarding the cartridge just because the ink is exhausted is no longer a recommended method because of environmental problems and waste of resources.

To solve this problem, in general, the cartridges are collected and reproduced by the manufacturers themselves, but due to the inadequate distribution system and the resulting increase in cost, it is an ecologically effective method. is not.

The simplest method is to allow a printer user to refill the cartridge with ink and reuse it, which is called "ink refill". The simplest increfill method is, for example, in the case of the recording head cartridge shown in FIG. 3, pressure injection of ink from the atmosphere communication port 104 with a syringe. Since there is usually a lid here, this is taken, ink is injected, and the lid is reused for reuse. Here, the recording head cartridge shown in FIG. 3 is a mono black or mono color recording head cartridge having only one ink chamber.

In recent years, there is a great need for color printing,
Various color inkjet cartridges have been devised.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a conventional color ink jet cartridge.

The color cartridge shown in FIG. 4 is basically an example in which electrical and mechanical compatibility is taken into consideration, and the outer shape is the same as that shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, this color cartridge includes an inkjet head 111 capable of recording three colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y), and three separated ink heads corresponding to these three colors. The ink tank unit 112 includes an ink chamber. Ink tank unit 1
Each of the 12 ink chambers accommodates an absorbing member 113 that holds ink of a different color.
The ink tank unit 112 is sealed by.
Further, the ink tank unit 112 is provided with three atmosphere communication ports 115 corresponding to the respective ink chambers.

When the mono black cartridge and the color cartridge are compatible with each other, the amount of ink per color is 1/3, so that the number of printable sheets of the color cartridge is small and the printing cost is high.

In the case of a color cartridge, the amount of consumption of each color varies depending on the user's usage and taste, and in an extreme case, only one color is present even though the other two colors remain. It is also possible that the case disappears.

From the above, it can be seen that the color cartridge may be more uneconomical than the mono black cartridge, and that the color cartridge has a greater potential demand for ink refill than the mono black cartridge.

[0018]

However, in the case of the color cartridge, the ink tank is opaque because there are a plurality of colors even though the need for ink refilling is high, or the absorbing member as shown in FIG. In the case of the method of holding ink, the general user cannot recognize the color of each ink tank and cannot determine where and what color of ink should be refilled. In the worst case, try to force refill,
It is possible that the wrong color of ink will be injected. The ink tank system having the absorbing member cannot be reproduced once the colors are mixed.

An object of the present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and is to prevent ink refilling of an incorrect color in a color ink jet cartridge.

[0020]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording head cartridge comprising an ink tank in which a plurality of ink chambers are integrated, and a recording head for recording on a recording medium. A lid is provided at an atmosphere communication port that communicates with the atmosphere of each ink chamber of the ink tank, and each atmosphere communication port has a different color.

In this recording head cartridge, the color of each of the atmosphere communication ports or the lid of each of the atmosphere communication ports is
The ink having the same color as the ink in the ink chamber provided with each atmosphere communication port, or the ink provided with each atmosphere communication port in the vicinity of each atmosphere communication port or on the lid of each atmosphere communication port It is preferable that the color of the ink in the room is specified.

Further, the recording head according to any one of the above is provided, and the recording head is reciprocally moved in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium, and the recording head opposes the recording medium. A recording device characterized by ejecting ink also belongs to the present invention.

In the recording apparatus in this case, the recording head is provided with an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy for ejecting ink, and the thermal energy applied by the electrothermal converter causes ink to be ejected. It is preferable that the ink is ejected from the ejection port by utilizing the film boiling that occurs in 1.

(Operation) In the present invention configured as described above, in the recording head cartridge that holds inks of different colors in a plurality of ink chambers, one of the inks runs out and the user holds the inks. When attempting to inject liquid into the ink chamber, the color of the atmosphere communication port that is the injection point or its lid is the same as the color of the ink in the ink chamber where the air communication port is provided, so the user should Can be recognized without error. Also, by specifying the color of the ink in the ink chamber in which the atmosphere communication port is provided, in the vicinity of the atmosphere communication port or on the lid of the atmosphere communication port,
It is possible to let the user know where to fill the lost color ink.

[0025]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a color ink jet cartridge which is an embodiment of the recording head cartridge of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a color ink jet cartridge includes an ink jet head 2 capable of recording three colors of cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y),
An ink tank unit 3 including three ink chambers separated so as to correspond to the three colors is assembled and configured. The ink tank unit 3 is provided with three atmosphere communication ports 4 corresponding to the respective ink chambers.

These atmosphere communication ports 4 supply air for ink used for printing, and at the same time serve as ink refill ports. Each atmosphere communication port 4 has a lid 5 made of plastic, and the lid 5 has a hole,
The ink chamber communicates with the atmosphere.

The respective atmosphere communicating ports 4 are colored differently from each other, and the color of each atmosphere communicating port 4 is the same as the color of the ink in the ink chamber in which the respective atmosphere communicating ports 4 are provided.
Further, the lids 5 for the respective atmosphere communication ports 4 have the same color corresponding to the color of the respective atmosphere communication ports 4.

According to such a configuration, the printer user can recognize which color is injected in which ink tank, even though the ink tank is opaque, so that there is no possibility of erroneous injection. It goes without saying that the closer the color of the lid made of plastic is to the injected color, the better, because the tint of the plastic is slightly different depending on the mixed dye.

Further, since it is only necessary for the user to recognize the color of the ink that has been injected into the ink tank, the color of the ink tank (for example, the atmosphere communication port or the lid thereof) can be colored.
The same effect can be obtained even if it is specified in.

Further, the same effect can be obtained by sticking the seal 7 of the injected color in the vicinity of the injection port in the ink tank.

Next, an ink jet printer (IJRA) which is a recording apparatus equipped with the above color ink jet cartridge will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of an ink jet printer (IJRA) equipped with a color ink jet cartridge which is an embodiment of the recording head cartridge of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, the spiral groove 500 of the lead screw 5005 that rotates via the driving force transmission gears 5009 to 5011 in association with the forward and reverse rotations of the drive motor 5013.
The carriage HC that engages with 4 is a pin (not shown)
And supported by the guide rail 5003 and arrows a and b
Reciprocate in the direction. The carriage HC is equipped with an integrated inkjet cartridge IJC (see FIG. 1) having a recording head IJH and an ink tank IT built therein.

A pressing plate 5002 is provided on the platen 5000 of the recording paper P along the moving direction of the carriage HC.
Press against Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which are home position detectors for confirming the presence of the lever 5006 of the carriage HC in a predetermined area and for switching the forward / reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013. 50
Reference numeral 16 is a member that supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the recording head IJH. Reference numeral 5015 denotes a suction device that suctions the inside of the cap member 5022, and suctions the recording head IJH through the opening 5023 in the cap. A head recovery device is constituted by these members, and the head is recovered by the following suction recovery operation. In association with capping the inkjet cartridge IJC by the cap member 5022 of the head recovery device, ink is sucked by the suction device 5015 and ink is pressure-fed by an appropriate pressurizing means provided in the ink supply path to the inkjet cartridge IJC. , The ink is forcibly discharged from the ejection port to remove the thickened ink in the nozzle. Note that the inkjet cartridge IJC is also protected by capping at the end of recording or the like.

Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves with the movement of the cam 5020 engaging with the carriage HC, and the driving force from the driving motor moves by a known transmission mechanism such as clutch switching. Controlled.

5017 is a cleaning blade, 501
Reference numeral 9 denotes a member that supports the cleaning blade 5017 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction.
18 supported. When cleaning is performed, the cleaning blade 5017 is projected in the moving path of the inkjet cartridge IJC mounted on the carriage HC, and as the carriage HC moves, dew condensation, wetting, or dust on the ejection surface of the cartridge is wiped off. The cleaning blade 5017 is not limited to the illustrated form, and it goes without saying that a known cleaning blade can be applied to this example.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery described above are configured so that desired processing can be performed at respective corresponding positions when the carriage HC reaches a predetermined area on the home position side, and desired processing can be performed at known timing. It is ready to operate.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, the color of the atmosphere communication port or the lid, which is the ink injection point of the recording head cartridge having the ink tank in which a plurality of ink chambers are integrated, is changed to the atmosphere communication. By changing according to the color of the ink in the ink chamber with the mouth, the user can recognize where and what ink is in the opaque color ink tank where the ink is invisible, and inject the wrong color ink You can get rid of things. Therefore, it is not necessary to discard the recording head cartridge even when the ink is used up, and it is possible to provide a color inkjet print that is effective in terms of ecology and economy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an inkjet cartridge that is an embodiment of a recording head cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of an inkjet printer (IJRA) including a color inkjet cartridge which is an embodiment of the recording head cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing a conventional inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a conventional color inkjet cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 color inkjet cartridge 2 inkjet head 3 ink tank unit 4 atmosphere communication port 5 lid 6 character 7 seal

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording head cartridge comprising an ink tank in which a plurality of ink chambers are integrated and a recording head for recording on a recording medium, and an atmosphere communication port communicating with the atmosphere of each ink chamber of the ink tank. A recording head cartridge, in which a lid is provided on each of the air communication ports and the atmosphere communication port has a different color. 2. The recording head cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the color of each atmosphere communication port or the lid of each atmosphere communication port is the same as the color of the ink in the ink chamber in which each atmosphere communication port is provided. A recording head cartridge characterized by: 3. The recording head cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the color of the ink in the ink chamber provided with each of the atmosphere communication ports is near the atmosphere communication ports or on the lid of each of the atmosphere communication ports. A printhead cartridge characterized by being specified. 4. A recording head cartridge according to claim 1, comprising: the recording head cartridge, the recording head cartridge being reciprocated in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of a recording medium; A recording apparatus which ejects ink facing a recording medium. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the recording head includes an electrothermal converter for generating thermal energy for ink ejection. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the recording head ejects ink from an ejection port by utilizing film boiling generated in ink by thermal energy applied by the electrothermal converter. A recording device characterized by.