JPH0732603A - Ink cartridge for inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Objective] In an ink cartridge for an ink jet recording apparatus, the porous material 6 is used to increase the ink capacity of the ink container 1 that holds the ink therein, and at the time of physical distribution or outside environment change of the ink cartridge. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and highly reliable ink cartridge that does not cause ink leakage even at times. Therefore, the ink cartridge has an atmosphere communication port 3 for supplying air, and means for preventing the porous body 6 containing ink from directly entering the atmosphere communication port 3. As described above, the rib 2 forms a buffer chamber, and the atmosphere communication port outer cylinder 3 is provided with a roof.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink cartridge for an ink jet recording apparatus for ejecting droplets to record on a recording material, and more particularly to an ink cartridge using a porous material as an ink holding means in an ink container. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a liquid jet recording apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus which uses liquid ink for recording, there has been a strong demand for downsizing in recent years, and a recording apparatus as shown in a perspective view of FIG. A recording unit 1-3 in which a recording head as a recording unit and an ink cartridge as a liquid storage container are integrated is arranged on a printer carriage 1-2 of a mainframe 1-4 having a recording device 1-1 incorporated therein. Further, as shown in a conceptual diagram of the separation type recording head unit of the printer 2-4 in FIG. 6, the recording unit 2-1 can further separate the recording head 2-2 and the ink cartridge 2-3, A type in which only the cartridge 2-3 is replaced has been proposed.
This is smaller and simpler than the mechanism that is fixed in the printer body like the ink cartridge of the conventional device and sends ink to the recording head on the carriage by a tube or the like. Is possible.

In particular, the method in which only the ink cartridge can be replaced has been adopted by various companies in recent years in order to reduce costs, and has become an important technology. FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of an example of a separation type inkjet recording head unit that the present inventor has embodied for the first time. In the ink jet recording unit 3-1, the ink jet recording head 3-2 and the ink cartridge 3-3 are separably connected to each other by the holding claws 3-4.

At the time of connection, O made of ethylene propylene rubber
-A ring 3-5 completely seals the ink flow path 3-6 from the outside. On the other hand, a sponge 3-7 is provided inside the ink cartridge, the ink is retained by the ink holding capacity of the sponge 3-7, and the density of the sponge is adjusted to adjust the density of the sponge 3-7 to a negative ink to the ink jet recording head 3-2. Supply pressure is obtained. A mesh filter 3-8 is arranged at the end of the ink outlet side flow path of the sponge 3-7, and the sponge 3-7 is pressed down to partially compress the sponge 3-7 to a high density, thereby removing the ink in the sponge. It was made easy to stably lead out to the inkjet recording head 3-2 side.

When the ink cartridge 3-3 and the ink jet recording head 3-2 are separated, a valve mechanism 3 is provided downstream of the filter 3-8 in the ink cartridge 3-3.
9 acts to prevent leakage of ink when the ink cartridge 3-3 is used alone. By configuring the inkjet recording unit 3-1 as described above, an inexpensive and highly reliable inkjet recording unit could be provided. However, in recent years, the market share of inkjet recording apparatuses has been expanding more and more, and there has been a demand for cheaper, high-performance and highly reliable inkjet recording apparatuses.

In the conventional ink cartridge for an ink jet recording apparatus as described above, a porous material has been often used as an ink holding means of an ink container for storing ink for supplying ink to an ink jet recording head. In such an ink container, the ink is held by the meniscus force of the porous body, and an appropriate negative pressure of the ink supplied to the inkjet recording head is generated. This ink container is provided with an air communication port for taking in air for the consumed ink,
In order to prevent ink leakage during distribution and the like, a buffer chamber is provided in the ink container to prevent the ink released from the porous body from leaking out of the ink container.

The larger the buffer chamber, the higher the ink capturing ability, but if the volume of the buffer chamber in the ink container is too large, the volumetric efficiency in the ink container will decrease. However, if the buffer chamber is made smaller as shown in FIG. 3 in order to improve the volumetric efficiency, the porous material for holding the ink comes into contact with the atmosphere communication port, which may cause ink leakage. . Further, in recent years, there has been a strong tendency toward miniaturization of ink jet recording apparatuses, and along with this, the size of ink cartridges has also been miniaturized.

[0008]

However, as the miniaturization of the ink cartridge progresses, the ink capacity in the ink cartridge inevitably decreases, and the number of times of exchanging the ink cartridge increases. The increase in the tank replacement frequency not only makes the user troublesome, but also increases the operating cost. Therefore, particularly in miniaturized ink cartridges, increasing the amount of ink filled in the ink container and the efficiency of ink use have become major problems.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the problems of the conventional example as described above, and increases the ink volume in an ink container of this kind which holds ink by using a porous body,
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink cartridge that does not cause ink leakage even during physical distribution or when the environment outside the ink cartridge changes and has a low operating cost and high reliability.

[0010]

Therefore, in the present invention, the ink jet recording apparatus is detachably mounted on the carriage of the ink jet recording apparatus so as to eject the ink droplets by applying the print signal and the driving energy to record on the recording material. An ink cartridge having an ink container provided with a porous body for holding ink to be supplied to the inkjet recording head, the atmosphere being for supplying air into the ink cartridge. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, it has a communication opening portion, and the atmosphere communication opening portion is configured to have an ink leakage prevention member that forms an atmosphere communication hole on a surface that does not contact the porous body. is there.

[0011]

According to the present invention as described above, a means for preventing the porous body containing the ink in the ink container from entering the atmosphere communication port is provided at the air communication port provided in the ink container. The volume of the porous body in the inside can be increased, the amount of ink contained in the porous body is also increased accordingly, and the ink container of the ink cartridge having no ink leakage and high reliability can be obtained.

[0012]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below in detail based on examples: (Example 1) FIG. 1 is a view of a convertible ink cartridge used in a recording apparatus for recording using the ink according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the ink container, and FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the ink container seen from the upper surface of the ink container in FIG.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an ink container, and 3 is an outer cylinder of an air communication port made of the same member as the ink container 1, so that the ink in the ink container 1 does not easily leak to the inside of the air communication port 3. The atmosphere communication port member having the structure for inserting is inserted. Reference numeral 2 denotes a rib, which is provided in the ink container 1 for introducing the air taken in from the atmosphere communication port 3 after the porous body 6 not shown in FIG. 1 and impregnated with the ink shown in FIG. A buffer chamber is formed to prevent the ink that has spread to the entire end surface from leaking outside the ink container 1 from the porous body 6 inside the ink container 1 when some impact is applied to the ink container 1. Has a role to do.
In addition, 4 is an ink supply port to the recording head, 5 is a hole of the atmosphere communication port 3, and R is a rear end face of the ink container. In the ink container 1 as shown, the ribs 2 lift the porous body 6 from the bottom surface of the ink container 1 to form a buffer chamber.

The ink that has been impregnated in the porous body 6 is dropped due to a drop of the ink container 1 during physical distribution, a shock such as vibration, a rapid temperature change outside the ink container 1, a change in atmospheric pressure, or the like. You may get out. In such a case, the ink is stored in the buffer chamber formed by the rib 2, and the air taken in from the air communication port 3 provided in the buffer chamber is supplied to the ink container 1 to the air communication port hole. The position of 5 is the center of the surface on which the buffer chamber is provided, and the intermediate position from the surface of the buffer chamber on which the atmosphere communication port 3 is provided to the porous body 6, that is, in FIG. It is desirable to be the midpoint of the distance from the inner wall of the rear end surface R of the container 1 to the porous body 6 impregnated with ink. The reason is that the floating ink in the buffer chamber does not enter the atmosphere communication port 3 regardless of the posture of the ink container 1.

However, in order to increase the amount of ink stored in the ink container 1, it is necessary to increase the volume of the porous body 6 impregnated with ink and reduce the volume of the buffer chamber. When the volume of the buffer chamber is reduced, as described above, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, since the height of the rib 2 is low, the atmosphere of the atmosphere communication port 7 is supplied to the ink container 1 at a position (atmosphere communication). Since the porous body 6 impregnated with the ink enters the mouth hole 8) and the porous body 6 directly contacts the atmosphere communication hole 8, the ink easily leaks to the outside of the ink container 1. .

Therefore, even if the porous body 6 is provided so as to be in contact with the atmosphere communicating portion, as shown in FIG. 1, the atmosphere communicating port outer cylinder 3 is provided with the roof portion 12 as an ink leakage preventing member so that the ink Since the porous body 6 impregnated with the ink in the container 1 does not come into direct contact with the atmosphere communication port 8, the ink container 1 which does not leak ink even in a buffer chamber having a small capacity (having a low rib height) can be provided. Can be provided. At this time, the roof portion 1 provided on the outer cylinder 3 for the air communication port
The position of 2 may be higher or lower than the other ribs 2 (close to or far from the porous body 6). Further, even in the case of the ink container 1 having a sufficiently large buffer chamber, by providing a roof on the atmosphere communication port outer cylinder 3, it becomes difficult for ink to directly enter the atmosphere communication port hole 8, and therefore, it is provided on the atmosphere communication port outer cylinder 3. The roof further enhances the reliability of the ink container 1 against ink leakage.

As another method, for example, the position of the rib 2 shown in FIG. 2 is brought closer to the atmosphere communication port 7, or the distance between the upper rib 2 and the lower rib 2 in the drawing is narrowed. It is possible to prevent the porous body 6 from entering the atmosphere communication hole 8, but the upper rib 2 and the lower rib 2,
Alternatively, the porous body 6 is provided in the gap between the rib 2 and the atmosphere communication port member.
The ejected ink may accumulate due to the capillary phenomenon.
In such a case, the ink that has accumulated due to some impact may come out of the ink container 1 through the atmosphere communication port 7, so the atmosphere communication port structure shown in this embodiment is more reliable. Become.

(Embodiment 2) As shown in FIG. 4, the rib 9 surrounding the atmosphere communication port 11 is covered with a roof to form an ink leakage prevention member, and the atmosphere communication port 11 is connected from the porous body 6 impregnated with ink. Even if the structure is such that they are separated from each other, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained. In this case, the structure is such that the air taken in through the atmosphere communication port 11 passes through the hole 10 provided in the rib 9 and reaches the inside of the ink container 1.
0 may be at any position or in any size as long as it does not come into contact with the porous body 6.

(Embodiment 3) As shown in Embodiment 1, the roof provided on the outer cylinder 3 for the atmosphere communication port is provided to a separate ink leakage prevention member configured to be inserted into the atmosphere communication port. Also in the case of carrying out, it is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the first embodiment.

The present invention is particularly applicable to a recording head of the type which utilizes thermal energy among ink jet recording systems,
In a recording device, it has an excellent effect.

With regard to its typical structure and principle, see, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
Although it can be applied to any of the continuous type, in particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to the sheet holding the liquid (ink) or the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the liquid path. By applying at least one drive signal that corresponds to the recorded information and causes a rapid temperature rise beyond nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter to cause film boiling 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. As the pulse-shaped drive signal, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345 are used.
Those as described in the '262 patent are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on 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 discharge 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 present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose a configuration in which the heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region. In addition, for multiple electrothermal converters,
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 123670/1984, which discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as the discharge portion of the electrothermal converter, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho-62-62, which discloses a configuration in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is associated with the discharge portion The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on 1983 No. 138461.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the ink container holding the ink by the porous body, by providing a means for preventing the porous body from directly contacting the atmosphere communication port, the porous body impregnated with the ink is connected to the atmosphere communication hole. It is possible to provide an ink cartridge having an ink container that does not come into contact with each other and is free from the risk of ink leakage during physical distribution or changes in the external environment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an ink container.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the ink container shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an ink container having a small buffer chamber.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional recording device (main frame).

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a separation type recording head unit.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of an example of a conventional separation type inkjet recording head unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ink container 2 Rib 3 Atmosphere communication port (outer cylinder) 4 Ink supply port to recording head 5 Hole 6 Porous body 7 Atmosphere communication port 8 Atmosphere communication port 9 Rib 10 Rib hole 11 Atmosphere communication port 12 Ink leakage Prevention member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet recording apparatus, which is detachably mounted on a carriage of an inkjet recording apparatus and which can be combined with an inkjet recording head for recording ink on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets by applying a print signal and driving energy. An ink cartridge having an ink container provided with a porous body that holds ink to be supplied to an inkjet recording head, the atmosphere cartridge having an atmosphere communication port for supplying air into the ink cartridge. Is an ink cartridge for an ink jet recording apparatus, which has an ink leakage prevention member that forms an air communication hole on a surface that does not come into contact with the porous body. 2. The ink cartridge for an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the atmosphere communication port portion of the ink container comprises the ink leakage prevention member fitted in the atmosphere communication port hole of the ink container. 3. The recording head is provided for each of a plurality of ejecting sections for ejecting ink, and the corresponding ejecting section, and causes the ink to undergo a state change due to heat, and the ink is ejected from the ejecting section based on the state change. 5. An ink cartridge for an inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a thermal energy generating unit that discharges and forms flying droplets.