JPH06286155A - Ink jet cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To reduce the size and thickness of the printer by providing the ink jet cartridge with a mechanism for wiping the ink at the end face of the discharge nozzle of the ink jet printer and a waste ink treatment mechanism. An ink ejection unit configured to eject ink onto a recording paper, an electrical connection unit configured to supply electrical energy required for the ink ejection unit, and an ink accommodation unit configured to accommodate the ink to be supplied to the ink ejection unit. In an ink jet cartridge having an ink wiping means, a guide groove 34 for allowing the blade 31, which is the ink wiping means, to act in only one direction is provided in the housing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet cartridge in which an ink ejecting means, an electrical connecting means, an ink containing means and the like in an ink jet recording system are integrated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as computers have been downsized from desktop types to laptop types and notebook size types, printers have also been required to be portable and compact. Against this background, disposable type ink jet cartridges are attracting attention as a printer system for laptop and notebook size computers because they are easy to use and can be easily downsized.

A conventional ink jet cartridge will be described below. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional inkjet cartridge, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of a conventional waste ink container for an inkjet cartridge. In FIG. 3, 1 is a head having an ink ejecting means and an electrical connecting means 2, 3 is a housing that supports the head 1 and contains an ink containing means 4, 5 is ink, and 6 is an appropriate pitch. The discharged nozzle 7 is a back cover. In FIG. 4, 8 is a carriage for holding an ink cartridge, and 9 is a carriage.
Is an ink wiping unit, 10 is a waste ink storage unit, 11 is a discharge nozzle cap, and these ink wiping unit 9, waste ink storage unit 10, and discharge nozzle cap 11 are provided on the printer body side.

However, in the above configuration, a complicated cleaning mechanism and a space for accommodating the waste ink are required near the home position of the printer, which hinders downsizing and thinning of the printer. Therefore, FIG.
There has been proposed a card type ink jet cartridge in which the ink wiping means and the waste ink chamber as shown in FIG.

The card type ink jet cartridge shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B will be described below. Figure 5
In FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), reference numeral 21 denotes a housing, which is formed of a highly rigid engineering plastic such as modified polyphenylene oxide or polyethylene terephthalate, which has high chemical resistance and is a card size that is convenient for carrying. (Approximately 56 mm x 87 mm, thickness 2 mm to 8 mm).
Reference numeral 22 denotes an ink cover that adheres to the concave surface of the housing 21 and seals the ink 5 with the housing 21. Reference numerals 23 and 24 denote ink conduits in which the ink 5 is stored, and the straight portion 23
The case 21 has a structure in which the curved portion 24 is continuous.
Is formed in a meandering shape on the concave surface. Reference numeral 16 denotes a sealing member that prevents backflow of ink and uses silicone oil or the like. Reference numeral 25 is a head substrate having electrical connection means 2 for delivering and receiving electrical energy, ink ejection means for imparting ejection energy to ink, and ejection nozzles 6 arranged at an appropriate pitch, which is also an engineering plastic excellent in chemical resistance. Etc. A shutter 26 has an opening 27 at a position corresponding to the discharge nozzle 6 of the head substrate 25, and is made of light metal such as stainless steel having excellent chemical resistance, or resin. Reference numeral 28 is a spring biased to close the shutter 26, and 29 is a waste ink conduit for containing waste ink adhering to the end surface of the discharge nozzle 6 or the like. Here, the tip of the waste ink conduit 29 communicates with the ink containing portions 23 and 24 for supply.

6 and 7 are partially enlarged sectional views of the ink jet cartridge, and FIG. 6 shows a state during printing.
Indicates the state when non-printing. Here, 30 is a waste ink absorber, which is formed of a porous material such as urethane foam. 31
Is a blade for wiping off unnecessary ink adhering to the end surface of the discharge nozzle 6, and 32 is a rubber cap for preventing clogging due to ink drying and dust adhesion.

The mechanism of the ink jet cartridge and printer constructed as described above will be described below. The ink 5 filled in the ink containing portions 23, 24 and the ink supply holes connecting the ink containing portions 23, 24 and the discharge nozzle 6 is generated by the capillary force of the head substrate 2.
5 to the end face of the discharge nozzle 6. A filter is arranged between them, and when passing through this filter, bubbles and dust in the ink 5 are removed. According to the ejection signal, electric energy is supplied from the electrical connection unit 2 to the ink ejection unit (not shown) provided in the vicinity of the ejection nozzle 6,
A sudden pressure fluctuation is generated by this discharging means, and the ink 5 is discharged by using this as the discharging energy. After ejection, the ink 5 is constantly subjected to back pressure, so that the end face of the ejection nozzle 6 is sequentially filled by the mechanism described above.
Prepare for the next print.

When the ink cartridge is set in the printer main body and the printing mode is set, the shutter 26 of the ink cartridge is provided for the shutter 26 (not shown) by an opening / closing means (not shown) provided in the printer main body. Hold the hole and open in the C direction. Here, an appropriate protrusion may be provided instead of the shutter holding hole. When printing is completed, the opening / closing means provided in the printer main body releases the holding of the shutter holding hole, and the shutter 26 is closed by the spring 28, but it is attached to the end surface of the nozzle 6 at the time of ink droplet formation during ejection. A small amount of ink is accumulated and unnecessary ink 33 is generated. The unnecessary ink 33 is wiped by the blade 31 by opening and closing the shutter 26. The wiped ink 33 is moved onto the waste ink absorber 30 by the blade 31 and absorbed by the waste ink absorber 30 by the capillary force. Since the waste ink conduit 29 and the supplied ink storage portion 24 are in communication with each other, negative pressure is generated in the waste ink conduit 29 according to the ink supply during printing, and the ink 33 in the waste ink absorber 30 is in the waste ink conduit 29. Be led to. As the supply ink is consumed, the waste ink also enters the ink storage units 23 and 24, but the waste ink 33
Since a sealing member such as silicone oil is interposed between the ink and the supply ink 5, both do not mix.

[0009]

However, since the blade 31 is always in contact with the end surface of the discharge nozzle 6 in the above-mentioned conventional structure, the unnecessary ink cannot be moved in only one direction. That is, when the shutter 26 moves toward the opposite side of the waste ink container, the ejection nozzle 6
The waste ink 33 on the end surface is also moved to the same side. Therefore, there is a problem that unnecessary waste ink 33 is deposited on the opposite side of the waste ink container 30 and the waste ink 33 flows out and becomes dirty in the vicinity of the shutter 26.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and provides a portable ink jet cartridge which can move the blade 31 in one direction in a wiping state and in the opposite direction without wiping. The purpose is to do.

[0011]

In order to achieve this object, in the ink jet cartridge of the present invention, the ink wiping means provided in the shutter can be brought into and out of contact with the nozzle for ejecting ink, and the ink wiping means can wipe the ink. A guide groove of a shutter or the like is provided in the casing of the inkjet cartridge so as to contact the nozzle when moving in the wiping ink accommodating direction for accommodating the ink wiped by.

[0012]

According to the present invention, with the above structure, the blade provided on the shutter is in close contact with the nozzle in one direction,
In the opposite direction, it moves away from the nozzle.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 (a) and 1 (b) are partially enlarged sectional views of a shutter portion of an ink jet cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, 6 is a discharge nozzle, 21 is a housing, 25 is a head substrate, 26 is a shutter, 27 is a shutter opening, 2
Reference numeral 8 is a spring, 29 is a waste ink conduit, 30 is a waste ink absorber, 31 is a blade, and 32 is a rubber cap, which are the same as those in the conventional example, and therefore description thereof is omitted here.

Reference numeral 34 is a guide groove provided on the housing 21, and is a minute projection 35 provided on the shutter 26 (see FIG. 2).
Refer to the above) to serve as a guide when the shutter 26 reciprocates. Here, the guide groove 34 is shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b).
As shown in FIG. 4, the shutter 26 is shaped to follow the outline of a substantially parallelogram, and causes the shutter 26 to reciprocate along the head substrate 25 whose positions in the height direction are different on the forward and backward paths.

The mechanism of the ink jet cartridge constructed as described above will be described below. The printing method, the opening / closing means of the shutter 26, and the like are the same as those in the above-described conventional example, and therefore the description thereof is omitted here.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show states of the shutter 26, the blade 31, the rubber cap 32, and the unnecessary ink 33 during non-printing and printing, respectively. The shutter 26 is moved to the right by the biasing force of the spring 28. At this time, the minute protrusion 3 of the shutter 26
5 moves along the upper groove of the guide groove 34 and is stopped at the lower right end of the guide groove 34. At this time, the blade 31 and the rubber cap 32 move while maintaining a certain distance from the surface of the head substrate 25 while the minute projection 35 of the shutter 26 moves in the section a in the figure. Further, after passing the section a, the head substrate 25 is approached along the guide groove 34, and finally the blade 31 and the rubber cap 32 are pressed against the head substrate 25. That is, the shutter 26 moves as shown by an arrow D in the figure. Here, since the rubber cap 32 is arranged so as to surround the ejection nozzle 6, clogging such as drying and fixing of the ink 5 at the ejection nozzle 6 and adhesion of dust is prevented. Before the start of printing, the shutter 26 is moved to the left in the figure. At this time, the minute projection of the shutter 26 moves along the groove below the guide groove 34 and stops at the upper left end. That is, the shutter 26 moves as shown by the arrow E. In this way shutter 2
Along with the opening and closing of 6, the rubber cap 32 prevents clogging and the blade 31 wipes unnecessary ink.

By adopting the configuration of the present invention,
It is possible to wipe the ink only in one direction of the shutter 26. As a result, the unnecessary ink 33 is surely moved to the waste ink container, and the shutter 2
It is possible to prevent unnecessary outflow of ink in the vicinity of 6. In this embodiment, the housing 21 is provided with the guide groove 34, but it is also conceivable that the upper surface of the head substrate 25 is provided with an inclination or the like to cause the shutter 26 to reciprocally rotate.
In addition, in the present embodiment, the blade 26 is attached to the shutter 26.
1. Although the rubber cap 32 is provided, if the unnecessary ink 33 can be wiped off with the rubber cap 32 alone, the blade 31 may be omitted.

[0019]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, according to the present invention, the ink wiping means provided on the shutter can be brought into and out of contact with the nozzle for ejecting ink, and the ink wiping means contains the ink wiped by the wiping means. The guide groove of the shutter is provided in the housing of the inkjet cartridge so that it comes into contact with the nozzle when moving toward the ink containing part, so that the blade provided on the shutter is in close contact with the nozzle in one direction and the opposite direction. With, it is possible to move away from the nozzle, and unnecessary ink can be moved only toward the wiping ink accommodating portion, so that unnecessary outflow of ink at the shutter portion can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a shutter portion of an inkjet cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention during non-printing. FIG. 1B is a portion of a shutter portion of the inkjet cartridge during printing according to an embodiment of the present invention. Enlarged sectional view

FIG. 2 is a shutter portion of the ink jet cartridge of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of a conventional waste ink container for an inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional card type inkjet cartridge.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a conventional inkjet cartridge during printing.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a conventional inkjet cartridge in a non-printing state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 head 2 electrical connection means 3 housing 4 ink storage section 5 ink 6 ejection nozzle 7 back cover 8 carriage 9 blade (printer) 10 waste ink chamber 11 rubber cap 16 ink sealing member 21 housing 22 ink cover 23, 24 ink Storage part 25 Head substrate 26 Shutter 27 Opening part 28 Spring 29 Waste ink conduit 30 Waste ink absorber 31 Blade 32 Rubber cap 33 Unnecessary ink 34 Guide groove 35 Projection of shutter part

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hideaki Horio 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A nozzle for ejecting ink, an ink ejecting means for ejecting ink from the nozzle, an electrical connecting means for supplying electric power to the ink ejecting means, and an ink for supplying to the nozzle. A shutter having an ink containing means for containing, an ink wiping means for wiping the ink in the vicinity of the nozzle, and a cap for preventing clogging of the nozzle, and a wiping ink containing section for containing the ink wiped by the ink wiping means. An ink jet cartridge comprising: and an ink wiping means that is capable of being brought into contact with and separated from the nozzle, and is brought into contact with the nozzle when being moved toward the wiping ink accommodating portion.