JPH05254143A - Ink container and thermal welding device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] For example, writing instruments, inkjet recording devices,
High volumetric efficiency for storing ink in an ink container as a recording material used in recording devices such as copiers and facsimiles, and eliminating the space between a flexible bag as an ink container and an outer box as much as possible In addition, the present invention provides an ink container of this type and a welding device for the same, which prevents the possibility of ink leakage. [Structure] Therefore, a lid having the welding flange 1;
In an ink container comprising a flexible bag 3 whose open end is welded to the flange 1 by heat welding and an outer box 14 for housing the bag 3, the flange 1 is composed of at least three straight sides. The welding apparatus is formed into a rectangular shape, and the circumference of the opening of the bag 3 is longer than the circumference of the flange 1, and when the bag 3 is welded to the flange 1, an uneven portion 9 is formed in the welding portion. The tip of the heater 15 was constructed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink container used in a recording device such as a writing instrument, an ink jet recording device, a copying machine or a facsimile, and a heat welding device for the ink container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional ink jet recording apparatus (printer) of this type, a replaceable ink container is, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, a boat-shaped flange 11 and a rubber plug 12 inserted in this flange 11 and two sheets. In order to prevent damage to the bag due to external obstacles and a problem of operability, a bag containing ink formed by so-called two-sided bag 14 formed by pasting the periphery of the film is compared with PP (polypropylene) or the like. It was stored in a rectangular parallelepiped box made of a material with high hardness.

[0003]

However, in the conventional example as described above, a substantial space is actually formed between the bag containing the ink as the recording agent and the rectangular parallelepiped box. In addition, the volumetric efficiency of the ink storage capacity with respect to the ink container volume was poor, and since the boat-shaped flange 11 was used, the degree of freedom in shape was relatively small.

This has been a major obstacle as printers and ink containers have become smaller. In order to solve these problems, the bag may be heat-welded to the square flange, but it is difficult to implement it due to the problem of reliability of the heat-welded portion against ink leakage.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and in order to eliminate these leaks, an ink container in which the space between the bag for containing the ink and the outer box is minimized and the heat-sealing thereof. The purpose is to provide the device.

[0006]

Therefore, in the present invention, an ink container of this type is provided with a lid having a welding flange and a flexible structure in which the opening end is welded to the welding flange by heat welding. An ink container comprising a bag and an outer box for accommodating the flexible bag, wherein the welding flange has a rectangular shape with at least three straight sides and has the flexibility. The peripheral length of the opening of the flexible bag is longer than the peripheral length of the welding flange, and when the flexible bag is welded to the flange, the excess of the peripheral length of the opening of the flexible bag with respect to the flange. The portion is configured to be heat-welded to the corners of the flange, and further, the surface shape of the welding flange after the heat-welding is configured to have groove-shaped or convex-shaped irregularities running in the circumferential direction, or In the heat welding device for performing the heat welding The heat welding blade of this heat welding device is arranged in the same number as the number of faces of the welding portion, and the heat welding blade of the heat welding device is configured to contact the welding portion at substantially the same time, and The heat-welding blade of the heat-welding device has a length shorter than the length of the welding portion, and the tip of the heat-welding blade of the heat-welding device has irregularities to achieve the above object. Is what you are trying to do.

[0007]

With the structure of the present invention as described above, it is possible to weld the flexible bag to the rectangular flange regardless of whether or not the flexible bag has a heat-welded portion, and the volume efficiency of the ink storage amount with respect to the ink container volume is improved. In addition, the possibility of ink leakage at the bag heat seal portion and the flange heat seal portion is prevented.

[0008]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of an ink container of this type used in a recording device (printer section) of an information processing device such as a computer, and FIG. A cross-sectional schematic diagram is shown. As shown in both figures, the ink container of this embodiment has a seam 7 welded in a bag shape to each other on both side surfaces facing each other in the longitudinal direction with a soft and flexible film material, and has a top opening. A quadrangular prism-shaped flexible bag 3 heat-welded to the quadrangular flange 1 (8 indicates the heat-welded portion) is housed in a rectangular parallelepiped outer box 2. Ball stopper 4 as a closing means
A discharge port 6 for taking out the ink, which is closed by, is formed, and the ink 5 is stored inside the discharge port 6. 2a is
The air holes are formed in the outer box 2. With such a configuration, it is possible to provide an ink container having an efficient ink storage amount with respect to the ink container volume.

Now, the heat welding method of the present invention for enabling the above-mentioned structure will be described. Figure 3 (a),
FIGS. 4B and 4A and 4B show longitudinal sectional views and transverse sectional views of the shapes of the first embodiment before and after heat welding, respectively. As an example, the relationship between the peripheral length 2 (a + b) of the square flange 1 before heat welding and the peripheral length 2 (c + d) of the bag shown in FIG. 3 is 2 (a + b): 2 (c + d) = 54:
62. By heat-welding the flange 1 and the bag 3 having such a relationship as shown in FIG. 4, a leak-free heat-welding between the bag 3 and the flange 1 was achieved. That is, the features of the thermal welding shown in FIG. 4 are as follows.
First, the first point is that the shape after heat welding of the flange 1 and the bag 3 is made uneven (indicated by 9), and the second point is that the peripheral length of the bag 3 relative to the peripheral length of the flange 1 is excessive. That is, the above-mentioned portion is collected in each corner portion 10 having a square shape. By implementing the above two points, the reliability of thermal welding could be improved.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a container before and after heat welding showing a second embodiment in which the flange portion 1a has a triangular shape. As shown in the drawing, the remaining portion of the circumference of the bag 3a is collected in each of the triangular corner portions 10a.
Flange 1 by making uneven shape after heat welding with
The leak between a and the bag 3a was eliminated.

As in the above-described two embodiments, since the excess of the peripheral length of the bag is collected at the corners of the flange for heat welding, the shape of the flange is not particularly limited to the above-mentioned examples.

(Third Embodiment) FIGS. 6 and 7 are views showing the relationship between the tip shape of the heater 15 as the heat welding blade of the heat welding apparatus capable of heat welding and the flange 1 in the first embodiment. Show. As shown in FIG. 6, the heaters 15 shorter than the length of the flange 1 are brought into contact with each other and heat-welded at the same time, so that the excess bags 3 are heat-welded together and the melted flange 1 is melted.
By extruding the meat in each corner portion, it is possible to prevent ink leakage at each corner portion. Also,
FIG. 7 shows the relationship between the side surface of the flange 1 and each heater 15. The heater 15 is configured so that the shape of the tip of the heater 15 is uneven so that the meat of the melted flange can be contained during heat welding. ..

(Outline of Recording Apparatus Main Body) Next, an outline of an example of a printer section in which the ink container according to the present invention is used will be described. FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of an example of the inkjet recording apparatus (printer unit) IJP. The driving force transmission gears 51, 49 are interlocked with the forward and reverse rotations of the drive motor 53.
The carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 44 of the lead screw 45 that rotates via the pin has a pin (not shown) and is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b shown on the recording head cartridge C. A paper pressing plate 42 presses the recording medium (paper) P against the platen 40 in the carriage movement direction. Reference numerals 47 and 48 are home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the lever 46 of the carriage HC in this area by a photo coupler and switching the rotation direction of the motor 53. Reference numeral 56 is a member that supports a cap member 62 that caps the front surface of the recording head, and 55 is a suction means that sucks the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the recording head through the opening 63 in the cap. 57 is a cleaning blade, 5
Reference numeral 9 denotes a member that allows the blade 57 to move in the front-rear direction, and these members are supported by the main body support plate 58. Needless to say, a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to the present example, instead of the blade 57. Also,
Reference numeral 61 is a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves in accordance with movement of the cam 60 engaging with the carriage HC,
Movement of the driving force from the driving motor 53 is controlled by known transmission means such as clutch switching.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are constructed so that when the carriage HC comes to the home position side area, desired action can be performed at the corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 45. As long as the desired operation is performed at the timing, any of the present examples can be applied. Each of the above-described configurations is an excellent invention, both individually and in combination, and shows a preferred configuration example for the present invention.

(Description of Overall Information Processing Apparatus) Next, an information processing apparatus (computer) incorporating the recording apparatus of the above-described embodiment.
An example of the configuration and an outline of an electric circuit will be described. FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view showing an external appearance of an information processing device 74 incorporating the recording device (printer unit IJP). In the figure, IJP is the printer section in the figure, 72
Is a keyboard unit having keys for inputting characters, numbers and other characters, keys for giving various commands, and 73 is a display unit having a display.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the electric circuit configuration of the information processing device 74. In the figure, reference numeral 81 is a controller for main control, and 82 is a microcomputer type C for executing a certain procedure.
PU, 83 is a RAM provided with an area for developing text data and image data, an area for work, etc., 84 is a ROM storing fixed data such as a program corresponding to the above procedure and other font data, and 85 is a CPU 82. Is a timer for creating an execution cycle of the above and a timing required for a printing operation by the printer unit IJP, and 86 is an interface unit for connecting a signal from the CPU 82 and peripheral devices.

Reference numeral 87 is a controller of the printer section IJP, 88 is a head driver for sending a recording signal and electric power to the head cartridge C of the recording head H, and 89a and 89b are carriage motors 102, respectively.
a, a motor driver that sends out signals and electric power necessary for driving the carry motor 102b, and 80 is a carriage HC
Position is detected and, for example, Carriage H is set to the home position.
Carriage sensor for determining whether there is C, 91
Is a paper sensor for detecting the presence / absence of the recording medium P so that recording is not performed on a place other than the recording medium P when the recording medium (paper) P is not inserted or the recording is completed up to the end of the page. Is.

Further, 75 is, for example, FDD, HDD, R
An external recording device 92 such as an AM card is an external interface for communicating with another information processing device or directly connecting to an internal bus to control peripheral devices. Although not included in the block diagram of FIG. 10, there is another power supply unit for supplying power to the above electric circuit, which includes, for example, a rechargeable battery, a disposable dry battery, or an information processing unit. There is a converter for an AC power supply when the apparatus main body is fixed and used.

The recording device section IJ has the above-mentioned electric circuit configuration.
Recording is performed on the recording medium P with P. The outline of the recording operation control sequence will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The following series of procedures is started by a recording start instruction from the recording command key 22 from the display operation unit of the printer main body IJP or an external recording start instruction from the external interface 92. First, in step S1, it is determined whether the display operation unit is in the online state. This is a measure for not starting the recording operation when the printer IJP side is not ready when the recording operation start instruction is sent mainly from the outside by communication or the like. If it is determined that the above, the process proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, it is determined whether or not the recording medium P is set in the printer section based on a signal from the paper sensor 81 or the like. This is because, particularly in a recording apparatus such as an inkjet printer IJP, when printing is started without the recording medium P, ink is scattered in the printer unit and the apparatus itself is contaminated, or ink as a recording agent is wasted. This is to prevent accidents.

Further, in this step S2, not only the presence / absence of the recording medium P but also the judgment as to whether or not the pinch roller and the conveying roller are released may be judged. This is to prevent the normal conveyance of the recording medium P when the recording medium P is set but the pinch roller is released, even if the recording medium P is set. The release of the pinch roller can be determined by means such as providing a mechanical switch on the release lever. If it is determined that the recording medium P is not set normally, then the process proceeds to step S3.

In step S3, a message is issued to call the operator's attention and set the recording medium P. As a method of generating the message, for example, a message may be displayed by turning on a light on the display operation unit, or a method of sounding a buzzer may be displayed. If it is determined in step S3 that the recording medium P is set, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the recording operation is started. C
The head driver 78 drives the head cartridge C in accordance with an instruction from the PU 82, and in synchronization with this, the motor drivers 89a and 89b respectively drive the carriage motor 102.
a, the carriage motor 102b is driven to perform recording while moving the carriage HC in the main scanning direction, moving the recording medium P in the sub-scanning direction, and cleaning the recording head.

Finally, in step S5, for example, the CPU 8
A signal from 2 instructs the end of the recording operation, or when it is determined that the predetermined number of recording lines in one sub-scanning direction within one page has been reached and further recording cannot be performed on the recording medium P, or the paper sensor 91 performs recording. When the end of the recording area of the medium P is detected, it is determined that the recording operation is completed and the recording operation procedure is completed.

As a procedure for ending the recording operation in step S6, first, the carriage HC is returned to the home position. This is to cover the ink ejection surface of the recording head with a cap in case the power is turned off after the recording operation is completed. Next, the recording medium P is ejected by, for example, driving the conveyance motor 102b by a predetermined amount, or by driving the conveyance motor 102b until it is confirmed by the paper sensor 91 that the recording medium P is ejected. Then, the CPU 82 displays the end of recording on the display / operation unit or notifies the peripheral device through the external interface 92 to complete the recording operation.

As described above, the recording head and the ink tank can be separated as in the present embodiment, and the separation or integration work can be performed with the carriage HC mounted on the carriage HC or detached from the carriage HC. The following effects can be obtained by configuring the ink jet recording apparatus IJP in the following: That is, since the ink tank is mounted on the carriage HC, a tube for supplying ink is unnecessary and the apparatus can be downsized. Further, when the ink is used up, only the ink tank, not the cartridge integrated with the head, needs to be replaced, so the running cost can be reduced.

Further, when either the print head or the ink tank needs to be replaced, only the one that needs to be replaced need be replaced, so that the economical efficiency is improved. Also,
When the recording head and the ink tank are separated from each other by a lever or the like on the carriage HC, the drawing speed can be adjusted, and the ink can be prevented from scattering from the ink supply hole or the ink supply hole. Further, when the recording head and the ink tank are separated on the carriage HC, it is not necessary to directly hold the recording head by hand, so that the vicinity of the ink ejection nozzle of the recording head is not touched by hand, which adversely affects printing. Useless pollution can be prevented.

Further, when the recording head and the ink tank are separated on the carriage HC, since the portion of the ink tank to which the force is applied is specified, it is sufficient to make the structure capable of withstanding only that portion. The part can be made thin, and the weight can be reduced and the internal volume can be increased. Further, when the ink color needs to be exchanged, the recording head and the ink tank can be exchanged as they are, so that the ink colors can be easily exchanged without being mixed with each other.

In the present invention, particularly in an ink jet recording apparatus, a means for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink is provided, and the thermal energy causes a state change of the ink. The above-mentioned recording head and recording apparatus bring excellent effects. This is because such a system can achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, see, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and US Pat. No. 4,740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
It can be applied to any of the continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to an electric heat exchanger arranged corresponding to a sheet or a flow path holding a liquid (ink). By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter, and film boiling is caused on the heat acting surface of the recording head. As a result, bubbles can be formed in the liquid (ink) in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal, which is effective. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape, because the bubble growth and contraction are immediately and appropriately performed, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. This pulse-shaped drive signal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,359 and No. 4345.
Those as described in the '262 patent are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,244 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the ejection port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. The configuration using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,559,600, which disclose the configuration in which the heat acting portion is arranged in the bending region, is also effective in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal conversion pair for a plurality of electric heat exchangers, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to the ejection portion.

Further, although the serial type ink jet recording apparatus is shown in the embodiment, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recordable width. As a full-line type recording head, by a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification, either a configuration that satisfies the length or a configuration as one recording head integrally formed is used. Although good, the present invention can more effectively exhibit the above-mentioned effects.

Further, it is preferable to add a recovery means for the recording head and a preliminary auxiliary means provided as a constitution of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention because the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressure or suction means, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, a preheating means for the recording head, and recording for the recording head. It is also effective to perform a preliminary ejection mode in which another ejection is performed for stable recording.

Regarding the type and the number of recording heads and inks to be mounted, for example, single color ink and 1
In addition to one provided with a plurality of recording heads, a plurality of heads may be provided corresponding to a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities, and any combination is effective. The present invention is effective not only in the recording mode such as black as the recording mode of the recording apparatus, but also in each of the full-color recording modes of different colors or mixed colors.

In the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the ink is described as a liquid, but it is an ink that coagulates at room temperature or below and that softens or melts at room temperature, or the above-mentioned ink. In an inkjet system, it is common to control the temperature of the ink itself in the range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. Anything can be used. In addition, in order to prevent temperature rise due to heat energy, ink that is positively used as energy for phase change from solid state to liquid state, or ink that solidifies when left standing for the purpose of preventing ink evaporation is used. In any case, the thermal energy such as the one that the ink is liquefied by the application of the thermal energy according to the recording signal and ejected as an ink liquid, or the one that has already started to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The use of an ink having the property of being liquefied for the first time is also applicable to the present invention. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Further, the present invention is an ink jet system such as a piezo jet system in which electricity is converted into force to eject ink, and a recording system in which a recording head is arranged in non-contact with a recording medium and ink is ejected for recording. Is effective in.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus of the present invention, a copying apparatus which is integrally or separately provided as an output terminal of the information processing apparatus such as the word processor and the computer as described above, or a copying apparatus which is combined with a scanner or the like, Further, it may be in the form of a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a flexible bag larger than this square flange is heat-welded to the square flange of this kind of ink container, the excess of the circumferential length of the bag with respect to the flange is collected at the corner portion, so that the The reliability of preventing ink leakage between the square flange and the bag could be improved. Further, in the case where the bag has a heat-welded portion, by providing an uneven portion on the shape of the bag and the flange after heat-welding, the possibility of leakage between the bag heat-welded portion and the flange heat-welded portion was eliminated. By implementing the above-mentioned two points, it becomes possible to use the rectangular flange and the bag, and the volume efficiency of the ink storage amount with respect to the ink container volume is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention before heat welding.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention after heat welding.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention before and after heat welding.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a heat welding machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of a heat welding machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an example of a printer unit.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of an example of a computer

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the electric circuit configuration of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a recording operation control sequence flowchart.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional ink container.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,1a Flange 2 Outer box 3,3a Flexible bag 5 Ink 7,7a Bag welding part 8 Flange and bag welding part 9 Concavo-convex part 10,10a Bag corner welding part 15 Heater (heat welding blade)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An ink container comprising a lid having a welding flange, a flexible bag having an open end welded to the welding flange by heat welding, and an outer box for housing the flexible bag. And the welding flange has a rectangular shape composed of at least three or more straight sides, and the perimeter of the opening of the flexible bag is longer than the perimeter of the welding flange. An ink container characterized by. 2. When welding the flexible bag to the flange,
The ink container according to claim 1, wherein an excess portion of the perimeter of the opening of the flexible bag with respect to the flange is collected at a corner of the flange and heat-welded. 3. The ink container according to claim 1, wherein the surface shape of the welding flange after the heat welding has groove-shaped or convex-shaped irregularities that run in the circumferential direction. 4. A heat welding apparatus for performing the heat welding, wherein the heat welding blades of the heat welding apparatus are arranged in the same number as the number of faces of the welding portion. 5. The heat welding blade of the heat welding apparatus is configured to contact the welding portion substantially at the same time.
The heat welding apparatus described. 6. The thermal welding device according to claim 4, wherein the length of the thermal welding blade of the thermal welding device is shorter than the length of the welding portion. 7. The heat welding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a tip of a heat welding blade of the heat welding apparatus has irregularities.