TW200409703A - Ink container equipped with a pressure stabilizer module - Google Patents

Abstract

The specification discloses an ink container equipped with a pressure stabilizer module. The module contains an airtight membrane, a passive plate, and an elastic device. The airtight membrane separates a box into an ink chamber and an air chamber. The passive plate is connected to one side of the airtight membrane and to the elastic device. The elastic device is normally depressed or stretched to move the airtight membrane. The ink chamber is thus slightly extended outward and maintains a negative pressure. As the ink stored inside the ink chamber gets less, the elastic device provides a restoring force to push or drag the passive plate. The negative pressure is thus maintained within a specific range. The invention further uses a conic spiral spring to avoid ink waste.

Description

200409703 V. Description of the invention (1) [Technical field to which the invention belongs] The present invention is an ink container, which is applied to an inkjet printer, especially an ink container that maintains the negative pressure state of the ink chamber. [Previous technology] Today's social and technological advancement is advancing rapidly, bringing people a convenient life, such as inkjet printers commonly used in homes or the general industry. Among them, known inkjet printers include ink H (inkcartridge) and inkjet The print head (inkjetprinthead) and other two parts; and the commonly used inkjet print head can be divided into the thermal bubble system (therma 1 bubb 1 e system) and piezoelectric system (piezoelectric system) two categories.

Although both of the above systems can be regarded as high-performance and efficient inkjet printhead designs, there is still a need for a leak-proof mechanism that prevents ink from leaking out of the orifices (pe r m e a t i ng). If the ink leaks out of the nozzle hole, the drop point of the discharged ink droplet will be inaccurate, which will affect the printing quality. To solve this problem, it is necessary to maintain a slight negative pressure inside the ink tank so that the ink in the ink chamber does not leak out of the nozzle holes when the ink jet print head is paused or stopped. The so-called negative pressure means that the pressure in the ink chamber is smaller than the pressure difference of ambient air. However, if the negative pressure is too large, it will offset the printing power of the ink droplets ejected from the inkjet print head. Therefore, the possible impacts include: the size of the ejected ink droplets cannot be maintained stably or gradually becomes smaller, and the quality of printing is changed. Poor, in severe cases, the ink droplets may not be completely ejected. In order to maintain normal operation, the negative pressure value must be maintained at an operable level.

Page 6 200409703 V. Operating range of invention description (2). That is, the negative pressure must be greater than the pressure that prevents ink from leaking from the inkjet print head, and must be less than the pressure that may prevent printing. In order to meet the above restrictions, there are many different technologies for different product demands. For example, the "Regulator For Ink-jet Pens" proposed by James E. Pollacek and others, US Patent No. 5, 0 4 0, 0 0 2 . The patent directly opens a vent hole on the ink cartridge, and sets a metal valve seat. The valve is continuously closed by magnetic force until the negative pressure in the cartridge is so large that the external air pressure is sufficient to open the valve. Subsequently, the magnetic force tightly closed the valve and continued to maintain air tightness while maintaining the negative pressure in the box. Through the above-mentioned mechanism, the negative pressure of the ink cartridge can be sensitively maintained within a predetermined range for operation. Although this type of ink cartridge structure that uses magnetic valve to control the air supply channel is quite effective, the magnetic force of the metal valve seat and valve is changed when this product accidentally approaches the strong magnetic field during transportation or use. The setting range of the negative pressure cannot be accurately controlled, and it also affects the print quality of the product. [Summary of the Invention] In view of the problems of the above-mentioned conventional technologies, the present invention provides an ink container with a voltage stabilizing module that has a simple structure, and that the ink stored in the ink chamber can be fully utilized without being affected by magnetic force. An ink container having a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention mainly includes a box body and more than one voltage stabilization module. Of which the regulator module assembly

200409703 V. Description of the invention (3) It is located in the box body and protected by the tough shell of the box body. The voltage stabilizing module includes an air-tight film of elastic deformable material installed in the box body, and the box body is divided into an ink chamber and an air chamber. The ink chamber is used for storing printing. Ink. A driven plate is a curved or flat metal elastic material, which is connected to one side of the airtight film and is set in the ink chamber. An elastic element, one end of which is riveted to the driven plate and installed inside the ink chamber in a normally compressed manner. More specifically, a conical coil spring is used to make the overall thickness close to the spring wire when the spring is compressed by force. Diameter thickness. Therefore, when the ink is gradually reduced due to use, and the space of the ink chamber is reduced accordingly, the elastic element is compressed and provides a compressed elastic force to push the driven plate 'and measures to limit the range of the ink chamber's shrinkage' so that the ink chamber is subject to the elastic element. It has a negative pressure under the influence of the operation and maintains a specific range; and only the thickness of the wire diameter is left after being compressed by the conical coil spring, so as to prevent the ink in the ink chamber from remaining. In addition, one end of the box body is provided with a perforation to communicate with the outside. External air can be injected into the air chamber through the perforation, so that the ink chamber is adjusted accordingly when it is affected by the external environment such as temperature or pressure, and the box is balanced. Stress in the body. An ink flow path is provided at the bottom of the ink chamber, and is connected to a nozzle device at one end of the box body, so that the ink stored in the ink chamber can be ejected to the outside to achieve the printing effect. It is also necessary to add that the ink chamber and the air chamber are blocked by an airtight film, so that the ink chamber has good airtightness; however, the composition of the air chamber can leave a little gap in the design to allow outside air to enter the air chamber. The cavity is sufficient, and a special perforation is not necessarily required. According to the ink container with a voltage stabilizing module according to the present invention, it is also disclosed that

200409703 V. Description of the invention (4) A preferred embodiment, different from the above embodiment, the driven plate is joined to the outer side of the ink chamber, that is, the air chamber on the other side of the airtight film, and riveted with one end of the elastic element ; At this time, the elastic element is installed in the gas chamber in a normally stretched manner. Similarly, when the ink is gradually reduced due to use, and the space of the ink chamber is reduced accordingly, the elastic element provides a resilient elastic linkage to the driven plate. In order to limit the narrowing range of the ink chamber, the ink chamber has a negative pressure, and the negative pressure is controlled to be maintained within a specific range, so that the nozzle device can operate smoothly, and the ink stored in the ink chamber is ejected to the outside. Achieve printing effect. The invention discloses an ink container with a voltage stabilization module, which uses an air-tight film to join a driven plate, and a linkage relationship between elastic elements, so that the ink chamber can maintain a specific range of negative pressure, and the use of a conical coil spring will store The ink is completely used to prevent unnecessary waste caused by the residual ink. The embodiment disclosed by the present invention is not only simple to assemble, but also easy to obtain various components. Therefore, the production cost is greatly reduced, which can be used by industry. In order to make the foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, they are described in detail below, and illustrated with accompanying drawings. 【method of execution】

An ink container with a voltage stabilizing module disclosed in the present invention is applied to an inkjet printer, and can use an operating relationship between a driven plate and an elastic element to stably maintain the negative pressure of the ink chamber and guide the ink ejection To Xi Bu Department. Here is an ink container having a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention.

Page 9 200309703 V. Description of the invention (5) Please refer to "Figure 1" Three-dimensional appearance: Think of this picture as the ink with voltage regulator module. (Please note that this picture is for illustrative purposes only. Drawn according to actual scale) This figure reveals the basic structure of the ink cartridge. Generally speaking, the ink cartridge includes: a box body 10 and a nozzle device 20. The nozzle device 20 has a plurality of micro holes 2 1 /, and uses a flexible circuit board 2 2 to receive control signals, and according to a series of input signals, different micro ^ 2 can be used to eject ink droplets according to instructions to print On the target. It should also be added that the nozzle device 20 uses either a thermal bubble system Φ or a piezoelectric system (Piezoelectric system). ^ Here is a specific embodiment of the present invention, please refer to "°" This is an exploded view of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module of the present invention. The box body 10 is a firmer box body, A is two 2 = 60, and is protected by the cover 11 Yuan :: 牛 'two perforations 12 communicate with the outside, so that the outside air can: enter into the box body 10. Need special accents, so when the tooth hole 12 is injected into the box body 10, leave a little second-order Putian can fix the cover 11 to it, not-you must provide it through the U The outside air enters the mold assembly and is set in the accommodating space, and the outside air is sucked into the outside. Deformable material with stable pressure. Advised to attach ^ includes: an airtight film 30 is elastic: capacity K 6. Separated into two :: two boxes =?, And the gold body :;…, Ev. 3 "). Sliding Mu knife · ink to 6 1 and air chamber 6 2 (夂 material, and adhered to the air 0 is flat or arc-shaped metal, ::; 3, this kind of elastic Jing :: film, elastic element 5. Usually pressed to near line 2: Conical coil spring

Same thickness, do n’t recognize A +

200409703 V. Description of the invention (6) The thickness under compression is determined by multiplying the wire diameter by the number of winding layers. The present invention will utilize the characteristics of such springs to avoid the residue of ink and greatly improve the performance of the product. Here are the advantages of the conical coil spring used in the present invention and the conventional method. Please refer to "Figure 2B" and "Figure 2C", which are schematic diagrams of the elastic elements of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention. Schematic diagram of compression of an elastic element of an ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention. Among them, as shown in FIG. 2B, the commonly used spring is a cylindrical spring 51, which is a metal strip that is bent into a straight cylindrical shape in a linear spiral manner, and the conical coil spring 5 used in the present invention 2.Although they are also made of metal strips, they are bent into a cone by way of an outward-inward skewed spiral. When these two different springs are deformed by compression, as shown in "Figure 2C", the conventional cylindrical spring 51 is retracted at most to the height of the metal wire diameter multiplied by the number of windings; however, the cone Due to its skewed spiral manner, the coil spring can be retracted to the height of a single-turn metal wire diameter when pressed by an external force. For example, if the size of the metal wire diameter is 1 mm and the number of winding turns is 12, the height of the cylindrical spring under compression is at least 12 mm. However, under the same conditions, as shown in the figure, we can clearly find that the height of the conical spiral impeachment under pressure is only the diameter of the metal wire multiplied by the number of windings per turn, which is 1 mm. Therefore, when the spring is installed in the ink chamber, the height of the ink cartridge with a conventional barrel-shaped ink remaining at least 12 mm multiplied by the area of the ink chamber is quite considerable. However, the conical coil spring 5 2 is only 1 mm degrees multiplied by the area of the ink chamber. Therefore, the use of the conical coil spring 5 2 can effectively solve the problem of ink residue.

200409703 V. Description of Invention (7)

In order to explain in more detail the operation principle of each component in the box body 10 and the relationship with each component, here are illustrated with illustrations, please refer to "Figure 3", this invention has a voltage regulator The operation of the first embodiment of the ink container of the set. From this figure, we can more clearly observe the position where each component is installed in the rigid container 10. First, the airtight film 30 separates the accommodation space 60 in the rigid container 10 into two different ones. The areas are the ink chamber 61 and the air chamber 62, respectively. The ink chamber 61 is used to store the ink required for printing, and the ink flow path 13 is connected to the nozzle device to perform the printing operation. The air chamber 62 is communicated with the outside through a perforation 12 or a gap between the cover plate 11 and the rigid container 10, which is opened at the side of the rigid container 10, so that external air can be injected into the air chamber 62. When the volume of the ink chamber 61 is reduced due to use, the air chamber 6 2 is filled with external air, so that the pressure inside the rigid container 10 can be balanced, and the occurrence of the rigid container 10 caused by the pressure is prevented. Deformation. The driven plate 40 is adhesively attached to one side of the airtight film 30 and is installed in the ink chamber 61. The elastic element 50 can use a wide variety of choices. The most important thing is to provide Moving plate 40—compressed elastic force. In this embodiment, the aforementioned conical coil spring will be used, one end of which is riveted to the driven plate 40 and the other end of the plate is in conflict with the box body 10. The elastic element 50 is in contact with the ink chamber 61 to make it have a slightly larger space. If the ink chamber 61 does not have the linkage of the elastic element 50, the internal pressure will reach a balance with the outside and the ink will overflow. However, with the resistance of the elastic element 50, the pressure in the ink chamber 61 is slightly smaller than the external air pressure, which is the so-called negative pressure. Therefore, when the nozzle device is suspended or stopped, ink can be prevented from overflowing to the outside. . Then, with

Page 12 200409703 V. Description of the invention (8) The cover plate 1 1 covers the box body 10 ′ and the edge protection is assembled on each item in the box body 10, the spear,

element. I From the above, we know that the components are related to each other in the box body 10 and the basic design concept of the inventor. Here we will explain the state of using the ink container ^. Please refer to "Figure 4", which is a schematic diagram of the operation of the first embodiment of the ink container with a pressure module of the present invention. At this time, the ink is gradually reduced due to use, and the volume of the ink chamber 6 1 storing the ink also varies with ^ ^ 'The external air is injected into the air chamber 62 by the perforation 12, and ^ i reaches the equilibrium state of the internal storage space 60 of the box 10. Meanwhile, the ink chamber 6 i

The compression of the driven plate 40 and the connected elastic element 50, the elastic element 50 provides a compressed elastic force to push against the driven plate 40, and thereby limits the ink chamber 6 丄 | Therefore, a negative pressure smaller than the external air pressure in the ink chamber 6 is maintained within a specific range under the condition that the nozzle device 20 can be smoothly operated. Then, by using the conical coil spring, the elastic element 50 can be retracted to a thickness I degree close to the wire diameter of the elastic element 50. Therefore, compared with the conventional use of a general spring, according to the present invention In the first embodiment, the ink stored in the ink chamber 61 can be fully utilized. In addition, the installation positions of the elastic element 50 and the driven plate 40 are not limited to one side of the ink chamber 61, and may also be within the air chamber 62. As shown in the "fifth," "is a schematic diagram of the second example of the ink container having a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention. According to the present invention, by the voltage stabilization group installed in the box body 10", wherein the airtight film 30 The accommodating space 60 is divided into an ink chamber 61 and an air chamber 62, and the driven plate 40 is adhered to one of the airtight films 30.

Page 13 200409703 V. Description of the invention (9). Unlike the previous embodiment, this embodiment is installed in the air chamber 62.

The elastic element 50-end rivetes the driven plate 40 and is installed in the air chamber 62 in a manner of being stretched in a normal state. While the volume of the ink chamber 61 is gradually reduced due to use, the elastic element 50 provides a tensile and restoring force to link the driven plate 40 and the connected airtight film 30 to limit the reduction of the ink chamber 61; therefore, the ink The negative pressure of the chamber 61 is maintained within a specific range. Of course, the elastic element 50 is not limited to the type of repulsion, as long as it can provide compression or stretching elastic force. As shown in "Figure 6", it is a schematic diagram of the third embodiment of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention. The elastic plate 70 can also be used to replace the spring in the previous embodiment and installed in the air chamber. In addition, the use of the recovery elasticity of the elastic plate 70 can also achieve the effect of controlling the ink chamber 61 to narrow the range. Its composition structure is the same as the previous embodiment, which is simpler than the conventional structure process, and significantly reduces production. the cost of.

Furthermore, it is also possible to install multiple sets of voltage stabilizing molds in the box body 10, such as airtight film 30, and divide the box body 10 into several areas by using a partition plate. Please refer to "Figure 7", which is a schematic diagram of the fourth embodiment of the ink container with a voltage stabilizing module according to the present invention, in which a partition plate 80 divides the rigid container 10 into a plurality of accommodation spaces 60, and then borrows Each accommodating space 60 is divided into an ink chamber 61 and an adjacent air chamber 62 by an airtight film 30, and is installed in the ink chamber 61 or the air chamber 62 according to various embodiments described above. Let the driven plate 40 and the elastic element 50 be set. The conventional ink container needs an independent box body and is supplemented with a required negative pressure control mechanism, so the production cost is extremely high. However, according to the above-mentioned design disclosed by the present invention, a small number of components and a simple process can be used. For multi-color printing inkjet printers

Page 14 200409703 V. Description of the invention (ίο) The cost of production also increases the performance of the product. The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of implementation of the present invention; that is, all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of the patent application for the invention are covered by the scope of the patent for the invention .

Page 15 200409703 Brief description of the drawings. Figure 1 is not intended to show the three-dimensional appearance of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention. Figure 2A is an exploded view of the first embodiment of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention Figure 2B is a schematic diagram of an elastic element of an ink container having a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention; Figure 2C is a schematic diagram of an elastic element compression of an ink container having a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the first embodiment of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the first embodiment of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention; Schematic diagram of the second embodiment of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module; FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the third embodiment of the ink container with a voltage stabilization module according to the present invention; and FIG. A schematic illustration of a fourth embodiment of a container. [Illustration of Symbols]

10 Box body 11 Cover plate 12 Perforation 13 Water flow channel 20 Nozzle device

Page 16 200409703 Schematic description

21 Micro-hole 22 Flexible circuit board 30 Airtight film 40 Driven plate 50 Elastic element 51 Cylindrical spring 52 Conical coil spring 60 Receiving space 61 Ink chamber 62 Air chamber 70 Elastic plate 80 Sub-partition

Page 17

Claims (1)

200409703 VI. Scope of patent application 1. An ink container with a voltage stabilization module, which is applied to an inkjet printer, includes: a box body having a containing space, and one end of which includes more than one nozzle device It is used to spray ink to the outside; more than one voltage stabilization module is installed in the box to control the pressure of the ink. Each voltage stabilization module includes: an airtight film, installed An ink chamber is formed in the box body for storing ink; A driven plate is engaged with the airtight film and is disposed inside the ink chamber; and a conical coil spring, one end of which is connected to one side of the driven plate, and is installed in a normally compressed manner. The inner side of the ink chamber provides a negative pressure. When the ink chamber is gradually reduced due to use, the elastic element will provide a compression elastic force to push the driven plate, and can be compressed to the line of the conical coil spring. The same thickness is used to reduce the residual amount of the ink stored in the ink chamber, and to limit the narrowed range of the ink chamber, while controlling the negative pressure to be maintained within a specific range. 2. The ink container with a voltage stabilizing module as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the driven plate has an arc shape. 3. The ink container with a voltage stabilizing module as described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the driven plate is flat. 4. The ink container with a voltage stabilizing module as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the airtight film is made of a flexible and flexible material. 5. Ink capacity with voltage regulator module as described in item 1 of the scope of patent application Page 18 200409703 6. The scope of the patent application also includes a cover plate covering one side of the box body to form an air chamber with the airtight film. 6. The ink container with a voltage stabilizing module according to item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the ink chamber has an ink flow path, and the ink stored in the ink chamber is ejected to the outside by communicating with the nozzle device. 7. — An ink container with a voltage stabilization module, which is used in inkjet printers, contains a box with a nozzle device at one end to spray ink to the outside; More than one voltage regulator module is installed in the box to control the pressure of the ink. Each of the voltage regulator modules includes: An airtight film, which is an elastically deformable material, is installed in the An ink chamber is formed inside the box body for storing ink; a driven plate is engaged with the airtight film and is arranged outside the ink chamber; and an elastic element is riveted to the driven side at one end One side of the plate, and is installed on one side of the box body in a normally stretched manner, and provides a negative pressure. When the ink chamber is gradually reduced due to use, the elastic element will provide a restoring elastic force to link the The driven plate is used to limit the narrowing range of the ink chamber and control the negative pressure to be maintained within a specific range. 8. The ink container with a voltage stabilizing module as described in item 7 of the scope of patent application, wherein the elastic element is an elastic plate. 9. The ink container with a voltage stabilizing module as described in item 7 of the scope of patent application, wherein the driven plate has an arc shape. Page 19, 200409703 VI. The scope of patent application is 10. If the patent application is applied, it shall be from 1. If the patent application is applied, where the gas is 1 2. If the patent application is applied, where the box side is connected with the gas 1 3. If a patent application device is used, the air in the box can pass through 1 4. If a patent application device is used, the ink device is installed, and the ink moving plate with a voltage regulator module described in item 7 It is flat. The ink-tight film with a voltage regulator module described in item 7 is an elastically deformable material. The ink container with a voltage stabilizing module described in item 7 further includes a cover plate covering a dense film of the box body to form an air chamber. The ink container with the voltage stabilizing module described in item 7 has a perforation to communicate with the outside, so that the outside perforation is injected into the air chamber. The ink chamber with a voltage stabilizing module described in item 7 has an ink flow path, and the ink stored in the ink chamber is communicated with the nozzle to be ejected to the outside. Page 20