JPS61249761A - Apparatus for detecting residual amount of liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect the amount of ink in a rotor in a non-contact state, by forming an inclined surface to the other end of an optical rod so that the light incident on a light emitter from one end of the optical rod from said light emitter is reflected and received by a light receiver when one end of the optical rod reaches the position opposed to the light emitting/receiving body. CONSTITUTION:A light emitting/receiving body 7 consisting of LED 7a being a light emitter and a phototransistor 7b being a light receiver for receiving the light from LED 7a is fixed and arranged to a machine frame 3 so as to be positioned on the rotary locus of an optical rod 5. When ink I is reduced during printing to generate such a state that the ink I is separated from the inclined surface 5b of the optical rod 5, the light incident on the light emitter 7a from one end of the optical rod 5 and coming from said light emitter 7a is reflected from the inclined surface 5b of the optical rod 5 and repulsed upwardly to be received by the light receiver 7b. At this time, the ink I is supplied in a rotary tank 1 from an ink supply tank 9 by the signal emitted from the light receiver 7b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a device for detecting the remaining amount of liquid stored in a rotating body that flows out as the liquid rotates.

[Prior art and problems]

Conventionally, in inkjet printers, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-56881,
The ink head, which ejects ink droplets in response to electrical signals, rotates and scans in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the recording paper is transferred, and the centrifugal force of the rotation causes the ink head to move outward from the ink chamber located at the center of rotation. However, the problem is that the amount of ink remaining in the ink chamber cannot be determined, and the ink is low (only when it becomes clear that there is no ink, and no printing is performed during this period). there were.

[Means for solving problems]

In the rotating ink head, an optical rod made of a transparent member is placed at a position away from the center of rotation, with one end exposed from the ink chamber and the other end extended inside the ink chamber.
A light emitting and receiving body is fixedly placed on the rotation trajectory of the optical rod caused by the rotation of the ink head, and when one end of the optical rod comes to a position opposite to the light emitting and receiving body, the light from the light emitter that enters from that end is reflected. By forming an inclined surface on the other end of the optical rod so that the light is received by the photoreceptor, the amount of ink inside the rotating body can be detected without contact, thereby solving the problem.

〔Example〕

Describing the configuration of the embodiment, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a rotating tank that is a cylindrical liquid tank having a bottom, and a shaft 2 that hangs downward from the center point of the bottom surface is connected to the machine frame
At the same time, the lower end of the shaft is fitted with a motor 4.
is installed, and the rotating tank 1 is rotated by the driving pressure of the motor 4. Inside 1a of the rotating tank 1, there are
A liquid barrel of ink ■ is stored.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a bar-shaped optical rod made of a transparent member, which is supported vertically on the upper lid 6 of the rotary tank 1 at a location away from the center of rotation of the rotary tank 10, and whose upper end 5a is attached to the upper lid 6.
An inclined surface 51) is exposed on the upper surface and is provided at the lower end so that light from above is reflected upward.

7 is a light-emitting light-receiving body consisting of a light-emitting body LED 7a and a phototransistor 7b which is a light-receiving body that receives the light. It is fixedly located at 3.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an ejection nozzle that sucks up ink (3) through a pipe 8a and ejects it outward from the rotating tank 1.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a liquid supply tank, in which a supply pipe 9a inserted into the center hole 6a of the upper lid 6 of the rotary tank 1 supplies the photoreceptor 7.
Ink is supplied into the rotating tank 1 upon receiving a signal from b.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to FIG. FIG. 3(a) shows a state in which the inclined surface 5b of the optical rod 5 is in contact with the ink (2). In this state, when the rotating tank 1 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow as shown in FIG. As shown in (b), the light emitted from the light emitter 7a enters from -@5a of the optical rod 5 and is not reflected by the inclined surface 5b (, enters into the ink (2), and the light receptor 7b does not receive the light. .

When printing is performed and the amount of ink T decreases and the ink T leaves the inclined surface 5b of the optical rod 5, as shown in FIG. The empty light is reflected by the inclined surface 5b of the optical rod 5, bounces upward, and is received by the photoreceptor 7b.

At this time, ink (2) is supplied from the liquid supply tank 9 into the rotating tank 1 in response to a signal emitted from the photoreceptor 7b.

[Other Examples]

As an embodiment of the present invention, an optical rod 5 is extended from the upper lid 6 of the rotary tank 1 into the rotary tank 1 at ε.7,5.
) However, the same effect can be obtained even if the optical rod 5 is extended into the rotating tank 1 from the wall or bottom of the rotating tank 1.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the inside of the rotating tank 1 is divided into a plurality of rows, and a plurality of optical rods 5 and light emitting/receiving bodies 7 are provided corresponding to each row to detect the remaining amount of ink in each row. You can do it like that (″.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the present invention, the light emitting and receiving body 7 is fixedly disposed on the rotatable locus of the transparent body 5 disposed at a position away from the center point of the rotating liquid tank 1, and one end of the transparent body 5 is By providing an inclined surface 5b at the other end of the transparent body 5, the liquid in the liquid tank 1 is Since the remaining amount of ink (2) is detected, it is possible to reliably supply the insufficient liquid (3), and it is highly effective in eliminating printing errors caused by running out of ink (3).

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the main parts, and Figures 3 (a) and (b) are explanatory diagrams of the operation. . In the figure, 1 is a rotating tank, 5 is an optical rod, 7
8 is a light emitting and receiving body, 8 is an ejection nozzle, and ■ is ink.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A liquid ejecting device comprising: a liquid tank 1 for storing liquid; rotation mechanisms 2 and 4 for rotating the liquid tank; and a jetting body 8 for spouting liquid out of the liquid tank. A transparent body 5 is placed in a tank at a position away from the center of rotation, one end is exposed outside the tank, the other end is extended inside the tank, and the other end is provided with an inclined surface, and the transparent body 5 rotates. A liquid consisting of a light-emitting body 7 fixedly arranged on a trajectory, and having the characteristic that when the transparent body comes to a position facing the light-emitting body, light from the light-emitting body entering from one end of the transparent body is reflected to the light-receiving body. Remaining amount detection device.