KR19980036416A - Ink refilling device of ink head cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly, an ink replenishment tank 81 for replenishing ink to an ink head cartridge which has run out of ink while a user uses a printer to print, and the ink replenishment tank. An air injection hose 83 for injecting ink into the ink head cartridge 82 at 81 and the air injection hose 83 flows ink from the ink replenishment tank 81 into the ink head cartridge 82. An air inlet hose 84 composed of an air hose rotating shaft 85 for operating the air, a nozzle for introducing ink, a return spring 86 for controlling the operation of the air injection hose 83, and the ink injection An ink refilling device including a solenoid 87 that controls all the necessary operations of the ink is constructed so that when the ink in the ink head cartridge is used up, the Automatically refills the ink level of the ink head cartridge, which makes it possible to maintain a constant level of ink, and also allows one ink head cartridge to be used semi-permanently, while reducing the economic burden on the user and providing convenience for use. Relates to a device.

Description

Ink refilling device of ink head cartridge

The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly, by using an ink replenishment tank that automatically replenishes ink when all of the ink in the ink head cartridge is exhausted, and maintains the ink level by using atmospheric pressure during automatic ink replenishment. The present invention relates to an automatic ink refilling device for an ink head cartridge which makes it possible to use one ink head cartridge semi-permanently, and also to reduce the economic burden on the user and to provide convenience in use.

First, the configuration and operation principle of a general inkjet printer will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a general conventional inkjet printer is supported on a lane frame 1, guided by a belt pulley 2, and moved to a left and right by a belt pulley 2 and a carriage mechanism 3. , The service station 5 to clean or seal the head according to the cleaning signal of a certain period during printing, the carriage motor drive circuit 51 to control the operation of the carriage return drive motor, and the stepping motor are mainly used. And a line feeder motor driving circuit 61 for feeding and discharging.

The operation of the printer configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 2, which receives a signal transmitted from a computer (not shown) through a printer interface, and provides initial setting values required for the printer operation and values necessary for the system. A CPU 10 that reads, interprets, and executes a system program in the stored EPROM 11, and outputs a control signal according to the contents of the program; a ROM 12 incorporating a program necessary for control and various fonts; RAM 13 used to temporarily store data during system operation, and most logic circuits necessary for controlling the CPU 10 are implemented by the ASIC 20, so that most of the CPU 10 is surrounded. To control the driving of the ink cartridge 31 in accordance with the control signal of the ASIC circuit unit 20 and the CPU 10 transmitted from the ASIC circuit 20 to perform data transfer with the CPU 10 to the devices of the < RTI ID = 0.0 > Operation of the head driver 30, the head cartridge 31 for ejecting ink to form an image on the media, the head driver 30 for moving the head cartridge 31 to the left and right, and the main motor 41. The main motor driving circuit 40 for controlling the operation, the carriage motor driving circuit 50 for controlling the operation of the carriage return driving motor 51, and a line feed motor for feeding and discharging paper using mainly the stepping motor ( It comprises a line feed motor drive circuit 60 for controlling the drive of the 61.

In the conventional printer configured as described above, the print signal transmitted from the computer (not shown) through the printer interface is driven by driving the respective motors 40, 50, 60, etc. according to the control signal of the CPU 10. .

At this time, the head cartridge 31 is a method of forming a dot (DOT) by ejecting a fine ink drop (DROP) from a nozzle having a plurality of openings.

Here, the structure of the ink cartridge will be described in detail.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the ink head cartridge, which is composed of an ink 72 sucked into a sponge stored in a case 71 forming an outer surface of a container, and a head 73.

The ink cartridge configured as described above has a method of injecting by injection type using a syringe or mechanically using a separate injector as shown in FIG. 4 when all the ink is consumed during printing.

However, the injection method or the mechanical injection method using a syringe has to adjust the replenishment amount of the ink according to the amount of ink overflow or the remaining ink in the empty cartridge by the injection pressure of the ink, and the ink cartridge is a consumable part. If all the ink is used up, the cartridge must be separated and discarded, and the printed product must be discarded and printed again.

In addition, there is an economic burden on the user and an inconvenience in use.

Therefore, in order to solve the problem of the ink overflow, which may occur due to the pressure abnormality during the conventional ink injection, an ink refill tank is attached to a certain portion of the inkjet printer, and the fluid is used in the head cartridge where the ink is exhausted. By injecting ink using a method of adjusting the ink level using the principle of the present invention, a device for maintaining a constant level of ink at all times and a device for semi-permanent use of an ink cartridge are provided. have.

1 is a front view showing an inkjet printer generally used in the prior art,

Figure 2 shows the configuration according to the operation of the ink cartridge in use in general

It is a schematic diagram,

3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a head cartridge in use in general,

Figure 4 is a conventional injecting ink into the ink head cartridge is exhausted ink

Front view showing the method,

5 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration diagram of a tank for refilling ink according to the present invention;

6 shows the attachment position of the ink replenishment tank constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Front view,

7 is a sectional view showing an operating state of the ink refilling tank according to the present invention.

Symbols for Major Parts of Drawings

81: ink replenishment tank 82: ink head cartridge

83: air injection hose 84: ink inlet hose

85: air lake rotation axis 86: return spring

87: solenoid

5 is a block diagram showing the structure and peripheral device of the ink refilling tank according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, ink for replenishing ink to an ink head cartridge which has run out of ink while a user prints using a printer is shown. A refill tank 81, an air injection hose 83 for injecting ink from the ink replenishment tank 81 to the ink head cartridge 82, and the air injection hose 83 in the ink replenishment tank 81 Controls the operation of the air inlet hose 83 and the ink inlet hose 84 composed of an air hose rotation shaft 85 for operating ink to flow ink into the ink head cartridge 82, a nozzle for introducing ink. It consists of a return spring (86) and a solenoid (87) for controlling all operations necessary for the ink injection.

Referring to the operation of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

When the ink-low warning lamp in the printer is not shown, the user presses a cartridge replacement key to replace the ink cartridge.

When the cartridge replacement key is not shown as described above, the carrier 3 on which the ink head cartridge is mounted comes to a stop for replacing the ink head cartridge along the feed shaft.

At this time, as shown in Fig. 6, the ink replenishment tank is attached to the top of the fixed position where the carrier stops.

7 is a front view showing an operating state according to the present invention.

As described above, when the cartridge replacement key is not shown, the carrier on which the ink head cartridge is mounted comes and stops at the correct position for replacing the ink head cartridge along the feed shaft.

As soon as the empty ink head cartridge, which has run out of ink, is about to stop, the side of the ink cartridge pushes the bottom of the air injection hose 83, and the air injection hose 83 rotates about the rotational shaft 85. An air hole is formed in the inlet of the ink replenishment tank 81.

At this time, the ink inflow hose 84 serving as the nozzle enters the inside of the ink cartridge and gradually flows into the ink cartridge through the ink inflow hose 83 at atmospheric pressure.

When a certain amount of ink flows into the ink cartridge and passes through the sensing unit B (84-2) to the sensing unit A (84-1), that is, A (84-1), B ( 84-2) If all the parts are submerged in ink, ink does not flow, and the full lamp is turned on in the printer (not shown).

When the FULL lamp is lit on the printer, the solenoid 87 operates to pull the air inlet hose 83 by the return spring 86, and the ink-head cartridge replenished with ink returns to the operation position to perform the original function of the ink cartridge. Done.

When the ink of the ink head cartridge is exhausted by the above configuration and operation, the ink is automatically injected by using atmospheric pressure from the ink refilling tank so that the ink level is always kept constant, thereby improving the problem of overflowing ink. Has the effect of being used semi permanently.

Claims (3)

Carriage mechanism that is supported on the main frame and guided by the belt pulley and moved left and right by the belt pulley, and a service station that wipes or seals the head according to a cleaning signal of a certain period during printing, and a carriage return drive. A carriage motor driving circuit that controls the operation of the motor, a line feeder motor driving circuit for feeding and discharging paper mainly using a stepping motor, and an ink replenishment tank to automatically replenish ink when the ink in the head cartridge is exhausted. An ink automatic refilling device for an ink head cartridge, characterized in that an additional ink is added. The method of claim 1, The ink replenishment tank includes an ink replenishment tank for replenishing ink to the ink head cartridge, an air injection hose for injecting ink from the ink replenishment tank to the ink head cartridge, and the air injection hose is ink from the ink replenishment tank to the ink head cartridge. An ink inlet hose composed of an air hose rotating shaft for operating to inject the nozzle and a nozzle for introducing ink, a return spring for controlling the operation of the air injection hose, and a solenoid for controlling all operations required for the ink injection. An automatic ink refilling device for an ink head cartridge, characterized in that the ink head cartridge. The method of claim 1, The ink replenishment method is an automatic ink replenishment device for an ink head cartridge, characterized by an ink method using the principle of atmospheric pressure.