JP2005297447A - Inkjet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a compact ink jet printer with a simple configuration without providing a dedicated pump unit for supplying ink to a sub tank.
An ink jet printer 31 is mounted at a predetermined position of a printer main body 32 and stores ink, a carriage 35 that is reciprocally driven, an ink jet recording head 37, and a carriage 35 that is mounted on the carriage 35 during printing. A sub tank 39 that supplies ink to the ink jet recording head 37 and an ink supply tube 41 that communicates the ink cartridge 33 and the sub tank 39 are provided. The connecting portion 40 of the sub tank 39 includes a control valve 43 and a pressure sensor 45 that can open and close the flow path of the ink supply tube 41, and the control valve 43 detects the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 detected by the pressure sensor 45. Based on the detection value, the flow path is controlled to open when the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 is higher than atmospheric pressure.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more particularly to an inkjet printer in which ink in an ink cartridge installed at a predetermined position of a printer main body is supplied to a sub tank mounted on a carriage.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional example of an ink jet printer.
An ink jet printer 10 shown in FIG. 6 includes an ink cartridge 6 mounted at a predetermined position of the printer body, a carriage 2 supported by a guide member 1 and reciprocally driven in a paper width direction by a driving unit (not shown), and the carriage. 2, an ink jet recording head 3 provided on the carriage 2, a sub tank 4 mounted on the carriage 2 for supplying ink in the ink storage chamber 11 to the recording head 3 during printing, and ink in the ink cartridge 6 to the ink storage chamber 11. In order to supply the ink cartridge 6 and the ink storage chamber 11, the ink supply tube 5 is provided.

Ink supply from the ink cartridge 6 to the ink storage chamber 11 via the ink supply tube 5 is generally performed by a dedicated pump unit 7 (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
For example, the pump unit 7 supplies air into the space 18 between the hard case 16 and the ink bag 17 that can seal the inside of the ink cartridge 6 and pressurizes the ink bag 17, whereby the ink in the ink bag 17 is supplied to the ink supply tube. 5 to send out.

JP 2001-270133 A

  However, the conventional configuration using the dedicated pump unit 7 for supplying ink from the ink cartridge 6 to the ink storage chamber 11 of the sub tank 4 requires the pump control means 20 for controlling the operation of the pump unit 7 with high accuracy. The problem is that the construction of the pump unit 7 and the pump control means 20 is complicated, and the inkjet printer 10 is difficult to downsize to secure the installation space for the pump unit 7 and the pump control means 20. there were.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a compact ink jet printer with a simple configuration without the need for providing a dedicated pump unit for supplying ink from an ink cartridge to a sub tank.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge which is installed at a predetermined position of a printer main body and stores ink, a carriage which is driven to reciprocate with respect to the ink cartridge, an ink jet recording head provided on the carriage, and the carriage And an ink supply tube that communicates the ink cartridge with the subtank, wherein the ink supply tube in the subtank is mounted on the subtank. And a valve capable of opening and closing the flow path of the ink supply tube is provided at the connection portion, and the valve is configured such that the pressure in the ink supply tube generated by the movement of the carriage is released to the atmosphere. When the pressure is higher than inside It is achieved by an ink jet printer characterized in that it is configured to open the flow path.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to perform a pumping operation for sending ink in the ink cartridge to the sub tank by using pressure fluctuation in the ink supply tube generated by the reciprocating movement of the carriage.
Therefore, there is no need to provide a dedicated pump unit for supplying ink from the ink cartridge to the sub tank, and the configuration of the ink supply unit is simplified by omitting the pump unit and pump control means, and at the same time for the pump unit and pump control means. An installation space is not required, and a compact inkjet printer can be realized.

  Preferably, the valve is a check valve that allows ink to flow only in one direction from the ink cartridge toward the sub tank, and the check valve is a valve seat provided in an ink supply path. A valve body that shuts off the ink supply path by being seated on the valve seat, and a spring member that biases the valve body toward the valve seat, and the biasing force of the spring member is The valve body is set so as to be separated from the valve seat when acceleration larger than the acceleration during printing of the carriage is applied to the valve body.

  In this case, the ink in the ink cartridge can be sent to the sub tank by opening the check valve only when supplying ink for driving the carriage at an acceleration larger than the acceleration at the time of printing. Ink supply can be controlled without providing complicated control means.

  Preferably, a pressure sensor capable of detecting the pressure in the ink supply tube is provided, and a valve for opening and closing the flow path of the ink supply tube is provided as a flow path of the ink supply tube based on a detection value of the pressure sensor. A control valve capable of controlling opening and closing is used.

In this case, it is only necessary to provide a control valve that controls the opening and closing of the flow path of the ink supply tube based on the detection value of the pressure sensor, and using the pressure fluctuation in the ink supply tube generated by the movement of the carriage, It is possible to perform a pump operation for reliably sending ink to the sub tank.
Accordingly, the configuration of the ink supply unit is simplified by omitting the pump unit and the pump control means, and at the same time, the installation space for the pump unit and the pump control means is not required, and a compact ink jet printer can be realized.

  According to the ink jet printer of the present invention, it is possible to perform a pump operation of sending ink in the ink cartridge to the sub tank by utilizing pressure fluctuation in the ink supply tube generated by the reciprocating movement of the carriage. There is no need to provide a dedicated pump unit for supplying ink to the printer, and a compact inkjet printer can be provided with a simple configuration.

Hereinafter, an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1 and 2 are schematic configuration diagrams of the ink jet printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram when the inside of the ink supply tube becomes positive pressure due to the movement of the carriage. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram when the pressure in the ink supply tube becomes negative due to the movement of the carriage.

  The ink jet printer 31 according to the first embodiment includes an ink cartridge 33 which is installed at a predetermined position of the printer main body 32 and stores ink, and is supported by a guide member 34 and driven by a driving unit (not shown) with respect to the ink cartridge 33. A carriage 35 reciprocally driven in the width direction (left-right direction in the figure), an ink jet recording head 37 provided on the carriage 35, and mounted on the carriage 35 to supply ink to the ink jet recording head 37 during printing. A sub tank 39; and an ink supply tube 41 in which the ink cartridge 33 and the sub tank 39 communicate with each other. The sub tank 39 is open to the atmosphere through an open air hole 39a.

Further, the connecting portion 40 of the sub tank 39 with the ink supply tube 41 can detect the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 and a control valve 43 that can open and close the flow path of the ink supply tube 41. Pressure sensor 45.
The control valve 43 and the pressure sensor 45 are connected to a control means 47 for controlling the carriage 35 and the ink jet recording head 37 via a flexible circuit (FPC) 46, and the control means 47 detects the pressure of the pressure sensor 45. Based on the value, the control valve 43, which is an electromagnetic on-off valve, can be opened and closed.

  That is, the control valve 43 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 is higher than the atmospheric pressure (positive pressure) based on the detected pressure value in the ink supply tube 41 detected by the pressure sensor 45. In some cases, the control means 47 controls to open the flow path, and only when the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 becomes higher than the pressure in the sub-tank 39 opened to the atmosphere by the movement of the carriage 35. It is configured to open the road.

Therefore, when the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 is positive and the control valve 43 opens the flow path of the ink supply tube 41, the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 causes the ink to flow from the ink cartridge 33 side to the sub tank 39 side. Flow occurs and ink is supplied into the sub tank 39.
On the other hand, when the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 becomes lower than the atmospheric pressure (negative pressure) due to the movement of the carriage 35, the flow path of the ink supply tube 41 is closed by the control valve 43. Ink does not flow back to the cartridge 33.

That is, according to the ink jet printer 31 of the first embodiment, the pump operation of sending the ink in the ink cartridge 33 to the sub tank 39 using the pressure fluctuation in the ink supply tube 41 generated by the reciprocating movement of the carriage 35 is performed. Can be made.
Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated pump unit for supplying ink from the ink cartridge 33 to the sub tank 39. The configuration of the ink supply unit is simplified by omitting the pump unit and pump control means, and at the same time, the pump unit and pump control means Therefore, the installation space is not required, and the compactness can be realized.

  FIG. 3 is a correlation diagram showing the correlation between the speed change during the reciprocating movement of the carriage 35 with the control valve 43 closed and the pressure change in the ink supply tube 41. The horizontal axis represents the time axis, and the left vertical axis. The axis indicates the moving speed of the carriage 35, and the vertical axis on the right side indicates the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 detected by the pressure sensor 45. Here, the moving speed of the carriage 35 is, for example, a positive speed during the backward movement indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 1, and a negative speed during the forward movement indicated by the arrow C in FIG.

That is, as shown in the correlation diagram of FIG. 3, the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 fluctuates according to the speed change (that is, acceleration) of the carriage 35.
Accordingly, since the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 has a certain correlation with the acceleration when the carriage 35 moves, the control valve 43 is based on the pressure change in the ink supply tube 41 according to the acceleration of the carriage 35 that has been tested in advance. It is also possible to control the opening and closing of the flow path.
Therefore, the opening / closing timing of the control valve 43 can be controlled in accordance with the reciprocating drive timing of the carriage 35 set in advance by experiment, and the pressure sensor 45 can be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an inkjet printer according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the check valve shown in FIG.
The inkjet printer 51 of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4 is equipped with a check valve 53 instead of the control valve 43 and the pressure sensor 45 in the connection part 40 of the inkjet printer 31 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Since it is the same structure except the point which carried out, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the check valve 53 includes a valve seat 56 provided in the ink supply path of the valve main body 55, and a spherical valve body that blocks the ink supply path by being seated on the valve seat 56. 58 and a spring member 60 that urges the valve body 58 toward the valve seat 56, thereby providing a check valve that allows ink to flow only in one direction from the ink cartridge 33 toward the sub tank 39. is there.
The biasing force of the spring member 60 is set so that the valve body 58 is separated from the valve seat 56 when an acceleration larger than the acceleration during printing of the carriage 35 is applied to the valve body 58. ing.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5A, the check valve 53 of the present embodiment is in a state where the valve body 58 is seated on the valve seat 56 by the biasing force of the spring member 60 during printing by the inkjet printer 51. Therefore, the flow path of the ink supply tube 41 does not open regardless of the driving direction of the carriage 35.
On the other hand, when ink is supplied to drive the carriage 35 at an acceleration larger than the acceleration at the time of printing, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the carriage 35 moves in the direction indicated by the arrow B in the drawing, the valve body 58 is spring-loaded. At the same time when the member 60 moves away from the valve seat 56 against the urging force of the member 60, the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 becomes positive, so that the ink flows from the ink cartridge 33 side to the sub tank 39 side and into the sub tank 39. Ink is supplied.

  Further, when the carriage 35 moves in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 5A during ink supply, the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 becomes negative, but the flow path of the ink supply tube 41 is a check valve. Therefore, the back flow of ink from the sub tank 39 to the ink cartridge 33 does not occur.

That is, according to the ink jet printer 51 of the second embodiment, the ink cartridge is utilized by utilizing the pressure fluctuation in the ink supply tube 41 generated by reciprocating the carriage 35 at an acceleration larger than the acceleration at the time of printing. The pump operation of sending the ink in 33 to the sub tank 39 can be performed.
Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated pump unit for supplying ink from the ink cartridge 33 to the sub tank 39. The configuration of the ink supply unit is simplified by omitting the pump unit and pump control means, and at the same time, the pump unit and pump control means Therefore, the installation space is not required, and the compactness can be realized.

  Furthermore, the check valve 53 can be opened and ink in the ink cartridge 33 can be sent to the sub tank 39 only when ink is supplied to drive the carriage 35 at an acceleration larger than the acceleration at the time of printing. The ink supply can be controlled without providing a complicated control means simply by switching the.

The configurations of the printer main body, ink cartridge, carriage, inkjet recording head, sub tank, ink supply tube, and valve in the inkjet printer of the present invention are not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments, but are based on the spirit of the present invention. It goes without saying that various forms can be adopted.
For example, in the inkjet printer 31 of the first embodiment, the opening / closing operation of the flow path by the control valve 43 is controlled based on the detection value of the pressure sensor 45, but the pressure in the ink supply tube 41 is controlled by the carriage. Since there is a certain correlation with the acceleration during movement of 35, an acceleration sensor can be attached to the carriage 35 instead of the pressure sensor 45, and the opening and closing of the flow path by the control valve 43 can be controlled according to the detected acceleration. .

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the ink jet printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and is an explanatory diagram when the inside of the ink supply tube becomes positive pressure due to movement of a carriage. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the ink jet printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and is an explanatory diagram when a negative pressure is generated in the ink supply tube due to the movement of the carriage. FIG. 6 is a correlation diagram showing a correlation between a change in speed when a carriage is reciprocated and a change in pressure in an ink supply tube. It is a schematic block diagram of the inkjet printer which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the non-return valve shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the ink supply part periphery of the conventional inkjet printer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 31 ... Inkjet printer, 32 ... Printer main body, 33 ... Ink cartridge, 35 ... Carriage, 37 ... Inkjet recording head, 39 ... Sub tank, 40 ... Connection part, 41 ... Ink supply tube, 43 ... Control valve (valve), 45 ... Pressure sensor

Claims (3)

An ink cartridge installed at a predetermined position of the printer main body for storing ink, a carriage reciprocally driven with respect to the ink cartridge, an ink jet recording head provided on the carriage, and an ink cartridge mounted on the carriage during printing A subtank that supplies the ink jet recording head to the ink jet recording head, and an ink supply tube that communicates the ink cartridge and the subtank.
A valve capable of opening and closing the flow path of the ink supply tube is provided at a connection portion of the sub tank with the ink supply tube.
The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the valve is configured to open the flow path only when the pressure in the ink supply tube generated by the movement of the carriage is higher than that in the sub tank opened to the atmosphere. The valve uses a check valve that allows ink to flow only in one direction from the ink cartridge toward the sub-tank. The check valve includes a valve seat provided in an ink supply path, the valve A valve body that shuts off the ink supply path by being seated on the seat, and a spring member that biases the valve body toward the valve seat,
The biasing force of the spring member is set so that the valve body is separated from the valve seat when an acceleration larger than an acceleration during printing of the carriage is applied to the valve body. Item 10. The inkjet printer according to Item 1. A pressure sensor capable of detecting the pressure in the ink supply tube;
The control valve capable of opening and closing the flow path of the ink supply tube based on a detection value of the pressure sensor is used as the valve that opens and closes the flow path of the ink supply tube. The inkjet printer as described.

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