JPH1158766A - Ink residual amount detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately detect the ink residual amount with a simple configuration in an ink residual amount detector for detecting the ink amount in each ink tank of a plurality of ink tanks adjacently arranged. SOLUTION: A member provided with a sensor 3 for sensing whether or not it contacts with an ink at one end part is provided in a plurality of ink tanks 1 movably in the direction the sensor 3 moves away from the ink surface 5. The plurality of the members 4 are moved reversibly such that each sensor 3 moves away from the ink surface in the ink tank integrally with the same drive source 9. The movement transition amount of the drive source 9 at the time of reaction change of each sensor 3 is detected by the same detecting means 8. From the movement transition amount, the level of the ink in the ink tanks provided with the sensors is detected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink remaining amount detecting device (B41J) for detecting the amount of ink in each ink tank in which a plurality of ink tanks are arranged close to each other like an ink tank in a color ink jet recording apparatus. 2
/ 01).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an ink remaining amount detecting device for detecting an amount of ink in an ink tank in an ink jet recording apparatus, as shown in FIG. In some cases, a rotation angle detection device 12 for detecting the rotation angle of the ink is provided to detect the amount of ink. That is, when the ink level 10 changes,
Following the change, the position of the float 11 changes, and the member 4 also rotates with the change of the float 11. The rotation angle of the member 4 is detected by the rotation angle detection device 12,
The ink level 5 is detected.

[0003]

However, in the conventional ink remaining amount detecting device described above, when a plurality of ink tanks are provided, the rotation angle of the member 4 with the float 11 must be provided for each ink tank 1. In addition, a plurality of rotation angle detection devices are required, and there is a problem that the detection circuit is complicated and large in scale.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an ink remaining amount detecting device in which a sensor which reacts to the presence or absence of contact with ink is provided at one end of each of a plurality of ink tanks. The members provided are provided so as to be movable in a direction in which the sensor comes into contact with or separate from the ink surface in the ink tank, and the plurality of members are integrated by the same driving source so that the sensors are integrated with the ink surface in the ink tank. The sensor was moved reversibly in the direction of coming and going further, the displacement of the drive source at the time of the change of the reaction of each sensor was detected by the same detecting means, and the respective sensors were arranged based on the displacement. The liquid level of the ink in the ink tank is detected. According to this configuration, the remaining amount of ink in the plurality of ink tanks can be detected by the same detection unit, so that the configuration is simplified.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the invention described in the claims of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes one of a plurality of ink tanks having the same configuration arranged close to each other on a straight line, 2 denotes ink injected therein, and 3 denotes ink 2 The sensor 3 is fixed to the tip of a member 4 that rotates about a shaft 4a. The shafts 4a of the ink tanks 1 are connected to each other, and the members 4 provided in the plurality of ink tanks 1 are integrally formed by one external drive source 9 such as a stepping motor. The sensor 3 is configured to be reversibly movable in a direction of coming and going from the ink liquid level 5 in the ink tank.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a spring which elastically urges the member 4 in a direction in which the sensor 3 is separated from the ink level 5, and 7 denotes whether or not the sensor 3 is in contact with the ink 2 based on the output of the sensor 3. An ink detection circuit 8 for detecting the rotation angle is a rotation angle detection circuit for detecting the rotation angle of the member 4.

In the above configuration, for example, the respective sensors 3 are integrated into the ink tank from the state shown in FIG. 1 by an external drive source 9 such as a stepping motor in synchronization with the power supply of the ink jet recording apparatus. Member 4 against the elastic force of spring 6 in the direction in contact with
Is rotated, and as shown in FIG.
Is determined by the ink detection circuit 7, and the rotation angle θ of the member 4 at that time is calculated by counting the pulses of the stepping motor by the rotation angle detection device 8, for example, a counter. Then, the liquid level 5 is detected from the rotation angle θ.

After the ink remaining amount is measured, the member 4 automatically returns to the initial state shown in FIG. When each of the remaining ink amounts of the plurality of ink tanks 1 is measured, the ink detection circuit 7 is provided for each sensor 3 of each ink tank, and the rotation angle θ of the member 4 at the time of detection by each ink detection circuit 7 is determined. What is necessary is just to detect each of them by the common rotation angle detecting device 8 and store them, and if it is detected that one of the plurality of ink tanks has become equal to or less than the predetermined remaining amount of ink. In a good case, one ink detection circuit 7 is connected to the sensors 3 of the respective ink tanks, and rotated until all the sensors 3 detect the ink 2 to detect the liquid level 5 of each ink. It is sufficient to detect whether or not there is an ink remaining amount equal to or less than a predetermined ink remaining amount, and if so, issue a predetermined alarm.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even when a plurality of ink tanks are provided, the liquid level of the ink in the plurality of ink tanks is detected by simultaneously rotating the plurality of members using one rotation angle detection device and one external drive source. Therefore, the detection circuit is simplified, and the rotation angle θ is measured, so that the ink level can be represented by an analog value.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an initial state of an ink remaining amount detecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the remaining ink amount detecting device according to the embodiment of the present invention when detecting ink;

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional ink remaining amount detecting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink tank 2 Ink 3 Sensor 4 Member 5 Liquid level 6 Spring 7 Ink detection circuit 8 Rotation angle detection circuit 9 External drive source

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Yasushi Kawabe, 8-1, Koshincho, Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture Inside Matsushita Hisashi Denshi Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Mitsuaki Odo, 8-1, Koshinmachi, Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture Child Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A member in which a sensor responsive to the presence or absence of contact with ink is attached to one end of each of a plurality of ink tanks in a direction in which the sensor comes into contact with or separates from an ink surface in the ink tank. And the plurality of members are integrally moved by the same drive source so that the sensors are reversibly moved in a direction in which the sensors come into contact with and separate from the ink surface in the ink tank. An ink remaining amount detecting device, wherein the amount of displacement of a drive source is detected by the same detecting means, and the level of ink in an ink tank in which each of the sensors is arranged is detected from the amount of displacement. .