TWI741288B - Refillable cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

A refillable cartridge is provided and includes a main body, a cover and a pressure adjusting element. The main body includes an opening, a liquid storage chamber and a nozzle. The liquid storage chamber is in communication with and disposed between the opening and the nozzle. The cover seals and is fixed on the opening of the main body and includes an ink inlet and a gas inlet. The pressure adjusting element is disposed on the cover and includes a pressure adjusting valve and a porous material. The pressure adjusting valve is disposed on the cover, seals and covers the gas inlet and includes an accommodating recess, a gas channel and a gas regulating orifice. The porous material is accommodated in the accommodating recess. The pressure adjusting element is located in the liquid storage chamber and is used for balancing the pressure of the liquid storage chamber and the pressure outside the main body.

Description

Refillable ink cartridge

This case is about an ink cartridge suitable for inkjet printers, especially an ink cartridge that can be filled with ink repeatedly.

Inkjet printers are widely loved by consumers because of their simple operation and convenient printing. After the current inkjet printers have been used for a period of time, they need to be replaced when the ink in their internal ink cartridges is exhausted. Ink cartridges, and the replaced ink cartridges are often discarded directly, but the replaced ink cartridges usually only have no ink inside to supply printing. Others such as the ink cartridge body, print heads, chips, etc. may not be worn out at the same time. Therefore, this action Not only is it not environmentally friendly, but it also wastes a lot of ink cartridges that are not damaged and can be used continuously.

In addition, the current ink cartridges are equipped with a sponge as a liquid storage material, and use the sponge to coordinate the pressure inside and outside the ink cartridge. However, the sponge itself has a certain volume, so it will occupy the space in the ink cartridge, plus the remaining in the sponge The ink that cannot be completely released in the ink cartridge only accounts for about 60% of the ink that can actually be used in the liquid storage chamber of the ink cartridge.

In view of this, how to develop an ink cartridge that can improve the above-mentioned known technical deficiency is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a refillable ink cartridge to avoid the environmental protection problem caused by the use of the ink cartridge, and to balance the pressure in the ink cartridge through the pressure regulating valve and the porous material, so that the ink cartridge does not need Filling the sponge can effectively increase the ink capacity in the ink holder, and at the same time avoid the problem that the sponge will reduce its ink absorption effect due to repeated use.

In order to achieve the above objective, a broader implementation aspect of this case is to provide a refillable ink cartridge, comprising: an ink cartridge body with an opening, a liquid storage chamber and a nozzle head, the liquid storage chamber communicating with the ink cartridge Between the opening and the nozzle head; an ink cartridge cover, which seals the opening of the ink cartridge body, and has an ink inlet and an air inlet; and a pressure regulating component disposed on the ink cartridge cover, including There are: a pressure regulating valve, which is arranged on the ink cartridge cover plate and covers the air inlet, and has a accommodating groove, an air flow channel and at least one air hole; and a porous material accommodated in the accommodating groove Wherein, the pressure regulating component is located in the liquid storage chamber to balance the pressure of the liquid storage chamber and the ink cartridge body.

The embodiments embodying the features and advantages of this case will be described in detail in the later description. It should be understood that this case can have various changes in different aspects, all of which do not depart from the scope of the case, and the descriptions and diagrams therein are essentially for illustrative purposes, rather than limiting the case.

Please refer to Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the refillable ink cartridge, and Figure 2 is an exploded schematic diagram of the refillable ink cartridge. The refillable ink cartridge 100 of the present application includes an ink cartridge body 1, an ink cartridge cover 2 and a pressure regulating component 3. The ink cartridge body 1 has an opening 11, a liquid storage chamber 12 and a spray head 13, and the liquid storage chamber 12 is connected between the opening 11 and the spray head 13. The ink cartridge cover 2 closes and fixes the opening 11 of the ink cartridge body 1. The ink cartridge cover 2 has an ink inlet 21 and an air inlet 22. The ink inlet 21 and the air inlet 22 are respectively connected to the ink cartridge body 1的Liquid chamber12. The pressure regulating assembly 3 is disposed on the ink cartridge cover 2. In addition, an ink plug (not shown) is detachably provided on the ink inlet 21 of the ink cartridge cover 2 to close the ink inlet 21.

Please refer to Figures 3 and 4. Figure 3 is an exploded schematic view of the refillable ink cartridge viewed from another angle, and Figure 4 is the refillable ink cartridge shown in Figure 1. Schematic cross-section. The pressure regulating assembly 3 includes a pressure regulating valve 31 and a porous material 32. The pressure regulating valve 31 is disposed on the ink cartridge cover 2 and covers the air inlet 22 of the ink cartridge cover 2. The pressure regulating valve 31 has a top end 311, a bottom end 312, a containing groove 313, an air flow channel 314 and at least one air hole 315. The accommodating groove 313 is adjacent to the bottom end 312 and is located on the same axis as the air flow channel 314 and communicates with each other. The throttle hole 315 is adjacent to the top end 311 of the pressure regulating valve 31 and communicates with the air flow channel 314. The bottom end 312 of the pressure regulating valve 31 is enclosed in the air inlet 22 of the ink cartridge cover 2. The porous material 32 is accommodated in the accommodating groove 313. The pressure regulating component 3 is arranged on the ink cartridge cover 2 and is located in the liquid storage chamber 12 of the ink cartridge body 1 to balance the pressure of the liquid storage chamber 12 and the outside of the ink cartridge body 1.

Please continue to refer to Figures 3 and 4. The ink cartridge cover 2 has a positioning ring 23 and two fixing hooks 24. The positioning ring 23 is located on the periphery of the air inlet 22 and surrounds the air inlet 22. Two fixing hooks The parts 24 are respectively disposed on two sides of the positioning ring 23, so that the positioning ring 23 is located between the two fixing hook parts 24. The pressure regulating valve 31 has a positioning groove 316 and two fixing structures 317. The positioning groove 316 is located in the pressure regulating valve 31 and is adjacent to the bottom end 312 and is arranged around the accommodating groove 313. The two fixing structures 317 are respectively arranged from adjacent to the pressure regulating valve 31 The outer side surface (not labeled) of the bottom end 312 extends outward and is located opposite to the two sides of the pressure regulating valve 31. Wherein, when the pressure regulating assembly 3 is arranged on the ink cartridge cover 2, the positioning groove 316 of the pressure regulating assembly 3 is aligned with the positioning ring 23 of the ink cartridge cover 2 and sleeved on it, and then the ink cartridge cover is passed through The two fixing hooks 24 of 2 respectively buckle the two fixing structures 317 of the pressure regulating assembly 3 so that the pressure regulating assembly 3 is fixed on the ink cartridge cover 2.

The pressure regulating valve 31 in the above-mentioned pressure regulating assembly 3 is an elastic material. In this embodiment, the elastic material is a silicone rubber, and the porous material 32 is a low-density polyethylene (PE). In another embodiment, porous The pores and positions of the pores of the material 32 are irregularly arranged, and a plurality of low-density polyethylene (PE) particles can be aggregated by adhesion, sintering, etc. to form a porous material 32 with a plurality of irregular pores.

When the refillable ink cartridge 100 in this case is filled in an inkjet printer (not shown), the inkjet chip (not shown) ejects the ink in the liquid chamber 12 in the ink cartridge body 1 from the nozzle head 13 To complete the printing operation on the paper in the inkjet printer, as the ink in the liquid storage chamber 12 starts to decrease, the pressure inside the ink cartridge body 1 will be lower than the external pressure. At this time, the pressure regulating assembly 3 will be reduced by The air inlet 22 of the ink cartridge cover 2 starts to take in air, allowing the air to pass through the porous material 32, the air flow channel 314, and finally into the liquid storage chamber 12 through the throttle hole 315, so that the internal and external pressures of the ink cartridge body 1 can be balanced to avoid ink Overflow and ink leakage. In addition, when the ink in the liquid storage chamber 12 is exhausted, the ink plug (not shown) can also be opened, and the ink is injected into the liquid storage chamber 12 from the ink inlet 21. After the ink is filled, the ink plug is closed. The ink inlet 21 can complete the repeated filling action.

In summary, this case provides a refillable ink cartridge, which can avoid insufficient ink usage caused by filling the sponge, and the problem of reduced water absorption due to repeated use of the sponge, and can be quickly and conveniently injected using the ink inlet Ink, use the ink plug to close the ink inlet to avoid ink overflow, and the pressure balance between the inside and outside of the ink cartridge can be achieved through the pressure regulating valve and porous material of the pressure regulating component. The pressure regulating component has a simple structure, reduces costs, and is quick and convenient to assemble And other advantages, it has great industrial use value, and Yan submits an application in accordance with the law.

This case can be modified in many ways by those who are familiar with this technology, but it is not deviated from the protection of the scope of the patent application.

100: Refillable ink cartridge 1: Ink cartridge body 11: opening 12: Reservoir 13: Spray head 2: Ink cartridge cover 21: Ink inlet 22: Air intake 23: positioning ring 24: fixed hook 3: Pressure regulating components 31: Pressure regulating valve 311: top 312: Bottom 313: Containment Slot 314: Air Flow Channel 315: solar term 316: positioning slot 317: fixed structure 32: Porous material

Figure 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the refillable ink cartridge in this case. Figure 2 is an exploded schematic diagram of the refillable ink cartridge in this case. Figure 3 is an exploded schematic view of the refillable ink cartridge viewed from another angle. Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the refillable ink cartridge shown in Figure 1.

100: Refillable ink cartridge

1: Ink cartridge body

11: opening

12: Reservoir

13: Spray head

2: Ink cartridge cover

21: Ink inlet

22: Air intake

24: fixed hook

3: Pressure regulating components

31: Pressure regulating valve

311: top

312: Bottom

313: Containment Slot

315: solar term

316: positioning slot

317: fixed structure

32: Porous material

Claims (9)

A refillable ink cartridge, comprising: an ink cartridge body with an opening, a liquid storage chamber and a spray head, the liquid storage chamber is connected between the opening and the spray head; an ink cartridge cover, The opening for sealing the ink cartridge body is provided with an ink inlet and an air inlet; and a pressure regulating component, which is arranged on the ink cartridge cover, including: a pressure regulating valve, which is arranged on the ink cartridge cover And to seal the air inlet hole, there is a accommodating groove, an air flow channel and at least one air hole; and a porous material accommodated in the accommodating groove; wherein, the pressure regulating component is located in the liquid storage chamber, And the pressure regulating valve is an elastic material for balancing the pressure of the liquid storage chamber and the ink cartridge body. The refillable ink cartridge described in the first item of the scope of patent application, wherein the ink cartridge cover has a positioning ring. According to the refillable ink cartridge described in item 2 of the scope of patent application, the pressure regulating valve has a positioning groove, and the positioning groove is sleeved on the positioning ring of the ink cartridge cover. According to the refillable ink cartridge described in item 3 of the scope of patent application, the ink cartridge cover has two fixed hooks arranged opposite to each other. According to the refillable ink cartridge described in item 4 of the scope of patent application, the pressure regulating valve has two fixing structures arranged oppositely, and the two fixing structures are respectively fixed in the two fixing hooks. The refillable ink cartridge described in item 4 of the scope of patent application, wherein the positioning ring of the ink cartridge cover is located between the two fixing hooks. The refillable ink cartridge described in the first item of the scope of the patent application, wherein the elastic material is a silicone. The refillable ink cartridge described in the first item of the scope of patent application, wherein the porous material is a low density polyethylene (PE). The refillable ink cartridge described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the porous material is formed by polymerizing a plurality of low-density polyethylene (PE) particles.

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