JPS6011363A - Waste liquid sump - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To bring a waste liquid sump to a state equivalent to one having a larger volume by evaporating the waste liquid, by constituting at least a part of the waste liquid sump or receiving the waste liquid from a member having moisture permeability or high gas permeability. CONSTITUTION:A hermetically closed receiving bag 3 made of a plastic film for receiving waste ink is received in a molded cartridge case 1 made of plastics having a large number of air passing opening parts 2 to each surface thereof. A rubber stopper 6 is attached to the end part, through which the waste ink is flowed in, of the receiving bag 3 and the waste ink 4 is directly sent into the waste ink receiving bag 3 through a hollow injection needle 9 piercing through the rubber stopper 6 from a flexible plastic tube 8 by the pump in a main body. In this case, the hollow needle 9 is supported by a support plate 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to waste liquid reservoirs, and more particularly to waste liquid reservoirs for containing waste liquid that is no longer in use.

A waste ink reservoir that is no longer used in an inkjet recording apparatus will be explained as an example of a conventional waste ink reservoir.

In an inkjet recording device, during printing, ejection failure may occur due to the inclusion of air bubbles, dust, receding of the meniscus at the tip of the nozzle, etc., and clear printing may not be obtained. In such cases, most of the ink can be recovered by using various mechanisms to push out the ink inside the nozzle, or by suctioning it, or by ejecting it with high voltage.
A waste ink reservoir is required to discard or temporarily store ink that is pushed out, sucked, or ejected for purposes other than printing. In addition to the above, there is also a waste ink reservoir for ejected ink that is not used for printing due to differences in methods.

In this way, the capacity of the waste ink reservoir is determined by the number of defective prints, the number of recovery operations, the amount of ink pushed out or sucked in one recovery operation, and the amount of ink droplets ejected. However, from the perspective of the overall configuration of the device, it is possible to reduce the capacity of the waste ink reservoir to make it more compact, without being subject to restrictions such as installation location, and moreover, to reduce costs. However, if the capacity is made smaller than the required capacity, maintenance such as having to periodically replace the ink reservoir will be complicated, and if you try to install the required capacity, it will be structurally impossible. cases may occur.

In addition, waste liquid reservoirs that generally contain other waste liquids also have the same problems as waste ink reservoirs.

Purpose The present invention focuses on these points, and creates a waste liquid reservoir that has the same effect as a waste liquid reservoir with a larger capacity by reducing the volume of the waste liquid reservoir as much as possible while remaining removable, and evaporating the waste liquid. This is what we are trying to provide.

In order to achieve this purpose, at least a portion of the waste liquid reservoir is made of a material having high moisture permeability or high gas permeability.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sump is placed in a location of high temperature or air flow to facilitate evaporation of the waste fluid. In this manner, the present invention increases the waste liquid absorption capacity over a long period of time, and makes even a small waste liquid reservoir volume equivalent to a larger capacity due to waste liquid evaporation.

Example The present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

Explaining waste ink reservoirs used in recording devices as an example. It is a cartridge case made of plastic mold that is formed in large numbers on each surface, and inside this cartridge case there is a sealed storage bag made of thin plastic film for storing waste ink. 3 is accommodated. A rubber stopper 6 is attached to the end of the storage bag 3 into which the waste ink flows, and the waste ink 4 is passed through a flexible plastic tube 8 from a pump (not shown) in the main body. It is fed directly into the waste ink storage bag 3 via the hollow injection side 9 which passes through the rubber stopper. Note that the hollow needle 9 is supported by a support plate 7 in the figure.

The main component of ink used in inkjet recording devices is usually water, and it also contains glycols such as diethylene glycol.
It accounts for 0 to 80%. In particular, if the ratio of water is large and this water is successfully evaporated, the allowable storage capacity for waste ink will be more than doubled even if the size is the same. Focusing on this point, the present invention uses silicone rubber, etc., which has high moisture permeability, large gas permeability, and stability against ink, in order to facilitate the evaporation of water from the waste ink storage bag. The waste ink storage bag is made of a thin plastic film. Silicone rubber is 80 to 300 times more durable than other plastics such as polyethylene and vinyl chloride.
It has more than double the gas permeability. This property increases many times as the temperature rises, so it will be more effective if it is placed in a well-ventilated place with a fan or the like, or near a high-temperature part (such as a heat sink or transformer).

In such a configuration, the discarded waste ink is stored in the waste ink storage bag 3, and this storage bag gradually expands according to the amount of ink. Since the waste ink storage bag 3 has high gas permeability, water in the ink evaporates from the storage bag, making it possible to store more waste ink.

If only liquid flows into the waste liquid reservoir, there will be no problem if the material is made of silicone or the like with relatively high moisture permeability and gas permeability. However, if a large amount of gas flows in with the liquid, it is desirable to provide a filter material (having extremely small holes) with higher gas permeability in a portion of the waste liquid reservoir.

This embodiment is illustrated in FIG.

In this embodiment, in order to increase the waste ink storage effect, a filter 10 that allows air to pass through but not liquid may be provided, and the waste ink storage bag may be configured entirely or partially with this filter. For example, the medullary diameter is l Op-m
By configuring part or all of the waste ink storage bag with the following membrane filter, the waste ink storage bag has a large number of highly breathable micropores, and water can be evaporated through these holes. A filter made of tetrafluoroethylene resin is suitable as such a filter. in this case,
Liquids with high surface tension, such as water, are highly desirable, and aqueous solutions, such as ink, do not pass through the storage bag, but gases, etc., easily pass through. Therefore, in this embodiment as well, waste ink can be efficiently stored.

The above member for achieving the wooden invention preferably has a gas permeability to nitrogen gas of 15 at a temperature of 30°C.
X 10 CC@cm/cm2s see meeting cm
Hg or more, more preferably 20X 10 cc @cm
/ cm2e sec @cmHg or more is desirable.

Further, the moisture permeability to water vapor is preferably 8. OX1
0”cc * cm/ cm”* see * cmH
g or more, preferably 18X 10” cc e c
It is desirable that it is at least m/cm2a sec -cmHg.

A plastic film, a plastic plate, or a porous filter manufactured to satisfy the above numerical range can be used in the invention. As the material for forming the member that satisfies such numerical range, for example, a material that satisfies the above numerical range is selected from among many materials such as polyenalene, silicone rubber, cellulose dioxide, ethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate butyrate, and natural rubber. can do. However, the present invention is not limited to the above materials at all. Alternatively, paper or the like may be treated or a plastic film may be laminated thereon.

The maximum diameter of the pores of the filter suitably used in the present invention is preferably 10 colors or less, more preferably 5
It has many holes below JLm! I admire you.

As such materials, those used for membrane filters are preferably used. For example, many materials satisfying the above range can be used, such as fluorinated ethylene resin, polyamide, PVC, nylon, epoxy, polypropylene, polycarbonate, gelatin, etc., but in this case, the above are also limited to the examples. (For example, the product using tetrafluoroethylene is Fluoroboma (manufactured by Sumitomo Electric).
There is. ).

The above-mentioned plastic films, plastic plates, and filters can also be used in appropriate combinations.

It is also possible to use a paper or other support with high air permeability and moisture permeability to support a plastic film, plastic plate, or filter.

Furthermore, porous bodies such as ceramics can also be used as the members of the present invention and their supports.

Other embodiments are shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, and in each figure, the same parts as in FIG.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, a gas permeable member 11 is attached to the waste ink reservoir, and in the embodiment shown in Fig. 4, a cap 12 is detachably attached to the waste liquid port 13 to drain unnecessary liquid. It is equipped with an outlet.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, more liquid (waste ink) can be treated by holding the solvent in the sponge 14 to suppress liquid shaking and evaporating the solvent through the waste ink reservoir. It's okay.

Further, in order to improve moisture permeability and gas permeability, the member may be made thinner. However, if this reduces the strength, it will be necessary to partially reinforce it with nylon or the like. For example, as shown in FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B), impact resistance can be improved by adhering netted nylon 15 around the storage bag 3.

As described above, the thinner the member is, the better the moisture permeability and gas permeability will be. It is desirable that these necessary values be appropriately determined in consideration of the amount of liquid flowing into the waste liquid reservoir (at a given time), the time period for replacing the waste liquid reservoir, or the period for discarding the liquid. These members may have fine holes that do not allow liquid to pass through, but allow smaller vapors and gases to pass through. In this case, it is more desirable that the member on the side that comes into contact with the liquid has liquid repellency (water repellency).

Although the present invention has been described using an inkjet as a particularly preferred example, the present invention can be used not only for an inkjet but also for a device that stores waste liquid in a waste liquid reservoir. For example, if the present invention is applied to a waste liquid reservoir that collects water generated by defrosting a refrigerator, the number of times the water is discarded will be reduced, making maintenance easier. The waste reservoir may not have such flexibility.

This is because if the internal vapor pressure increases due to heating, etc., the solvent (liquid) will flow out from the waste liquid reservoir.

The material that exits from the waste liquid reservoir is not limited to water, but any material that does not corrode the waste liquid reservoir or the moisture permeable member (gas permeable member) may be used. In other words, taking ink as an example, it is sufficient if the solvent of the ink is evaporated.

Further, the waste liquid reservoir may be made into a cartridge and made disposable, or it may be of a type in which the liquid is discarded once a certain amount of liquid has accumulated.

Effects As described in detail above, since a part of the waste liquid reservoir is made of a material with high moisture permeability or high gas permeability,
It is possible to increase the absorption capacity of waste liquid that is no longer used.

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of the waste ink reservoir cartridge according to the present invention, Figs. 2 to 5 are sectional views showing different embodiments, and Figs. 6 (A) and (B) are reinforcement of the storage bag. FIG.

1...Cart storage case 2... Ventilation opening 3... Storage bag 4...Waste ink 6...Rubber stopper 9...Syringe needle 10...Filter 11... Gas permeable member 14... Sponge Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 (B)

Claims (1)

[Claims] A waste liquid reservoir for storing waste liquid, at least a part of which is made of a member having high moisture permeability or high gas permeability.