JPS5857966A - inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ink droplet generation device, and more particularly, to an ink supply device for a multi-type ink droplet generation device equipped with a large number of ink ejection orifices. , Noise is generated during recording due to the non-ink recording method.
In addition, the so-called inkjet recording method, which is capable of high-speed recording9 and can record on plain paper without requiring any special fixing process, is suitable for printing devices such as shelf printers, copying machines, and word processors. This is an extremely useful method for realizing this. Regarding this inkjet recording method,
Various methods have been proposed so far, some have been improved and commercialized, and efforts are still being made to put some into practical use.

The inkjet recording method uses a small f@(dropl) of recording liquid (referred to as ink in the present invention).
etc.) is flown using various principles of operation, and recording is performed by attaching it to a recording material such as paper. An ink droplet generating device used in such an inkjet recording method, that is, an inkjet device, generally includes an inkjet head for forming ink droplets and an ink supply system to supply the ink to the inkjet head.

By the way, as a first form of the above-mentioned inkjet head, it generally has an ink ejection opening of 1 to 10 holes.
The ink supply system for these types of heads, which are called single type or semi-multi-type, is a replaceable cartridge type (because there are few ink ejection ports and ink consumption is low). It can be configured relatively easily using an ink tank or a single ink supply pipe.

However, the ink supply system for another type of head, generally called a full-line multi-type head, which is used for the purpose of simultaneously printing one line of paper at a time, has an extremely large number of ink ejection ports, and The amount of ink consumed is also incomparably greater than when printing on ridges, so
) Compared to the former ink supply system, the structure is more complicated and larger, and the ink needs to be supplied separately.
It is a highly technically difficult project.

Therefore, it is currently difficult to find a highly practical ink supply system for such an inkjet device called a full-line multi-type inkjet device.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems in the prior art on ridges and provide a practical ink supply device for multi-type inkjet devices. An object of the agl of the present invention is to provide a device that can stably supply ink for a long time to multi-type inkjet devices.

A second object of the invention is to provide a reservoir device that can stably supply ink evenly to the entire area of a multi-type inkjet device.

Furthermore, a third object of the present invention is to provide an ink supply device that facilitates maintenance and management.

The ink supply device of the present invention that achieves the above-mentioned purpose includes a device attached to each inkjet head to supply the ink under pressure to the inkjet head after sucking ink from the ink reservoir. The following is a detailed explanation of the present invention based on the drawings.
The figure is a schematic diagram to explain the main points of the present invention. @113 where a plurality of discharge ports 103 for flight and an inlet relay chamber 102 communicating with the discharge ports 103 are provided.
-1, 113-2, "', 113-n and 1
14-1 , 114-2 , , 114-n Fi
The ink 105 in the ink tank 104 is transferred to each head 1.
01-1, 101-2. ..., a supply pipe for supplying to 101-II, and supply pipes 113-1, 113
-2, =, 113-n has a check valve 115-
1, 115-2, ・-, 115-n and 116-
1.

116-2, -, 116-n are attached. The ink tank 104 has an ink refill port 112 and a vent hole 10.
6 is provided, and this ventilation hole 106 is connected to the filter 1.
It communicates with the atmosphere via 07 @ and tank 10
4 includes the side where the ink replenishment port 112 is located and the supply pipe 113-
1, 113-2, -, 113-n and 114-1,
114-2, . . . , 114-fl are present. A filter 108 is provided. 11g is a cylinder block, inside which is the head 101-
1, 101-2, -, 101-n are provided with cylinders 119-1, 119-2, . . . , 119-n. Each cylinder has a passage 117-
1° 117-2, -, 117-n, and supply lines 113-1, 113-n between the check valves 115 and 116.
2, -..., 113-nK connected. Also, inside each cylinder are Bistone 120-1, 120-2,
-, 120-n is the insertion ・109 is the tank 10
This is an ink replenishing tank that can be attached and detached from the tank 4, and a liquid level control valve 111 is attached to this tank.

From the ink tank 104 to the inkjet head 101-
1, 101-2, -, l0J-n is supplied as follows. First, the inkjet heads 101-1, 101-2, . . . are drawn from the ink tank 104.
.

101-n is initially filled with ink. When a predetermined head is initially filled with ink, the replenishment tank 109t filled with ink is connected to the ink replenishment port 112 of the ink tank 104 in advance. At this time, the liquid level control valve li
t is opened, and the ink in the replenishment tank 109 naturally falls into the ink tank 104 while being replaced with air.
Ink level dual level control valve 111 in ink tank 104
When it reaches the position, the opening of the liquid level control valve 111 is filled with ink, so the ink in the replenishment tank 109 is not replaced with air, and the transfer of ink from the replenishment tank 109 to the ink tank 104 is stopped. When the ink flows naturally from the replenishment tank 109 to the ink tank 104, the filter 1 in the ink tank 104
08 gets wet with ink, so air does not move from the B area of the ink tank 104 to the human area. ・Connect the ink tank 104 and the replenishment tank 109 with the 0 ring 1.
10, or the ink tank 104.
If the connection between the ink tank 104 and the refill tank 109 is blocked with ink and is OK, the ink will not transfer from the A area to the B area of the ink tank 104 unless air is refilled in the ink tank 1040m area, and the ink in the A area and B area will levels are not the same. For this reason, the ventilation hole 106Fi of the ink tank 104,
It is located on the same side of the filter 108 as the ink refill port 112. Further, the ink level in the ink tank 104 needs to be set so that the ink pressure in the head becomes negative pressure so that the ink does not spontaneously discharge from the ejection port 103 of the ink jet leakage head.

In this way, with the ink tank 104 filled with ink, push the predetermined piston 120-1 in the direction of the arrow, remove the air in the cylinder 119-1 through the passage 117-1, and then pull the piston 120-1. (in the opposite direction of the arrow)
and the ink in the ink tank 104 is removed from the back R prevention valve 116-.
1, passage 117-1 t-through cylinder 119-
It is inhaled within 1. Next, when the piston 120-1 is pushed in the direction of the arrow, the ink in the cylinder 119-1 flows into the passage 1.
17-1 s Backflow prevention valve 115-1° Supply pipe 113-1
This operation of the piston 120-1 fills the inkjet head 101-1 with ink, and the supply pipe 1
The supply pipe 11 reaches the ink tank 104 via 14-1.
3-1, 114-1 and ink shed head 10
Repeat until the air (bubbles) in 1-1 is completely eliminated. After a predetermined inkjet head 101-1 is filled with ink, when the inkjet head 101-1 operates to eject ink droplets, the ink is supplied to the supply pipes 113-1 and 114-1. Therefore, the non-return valves 115-1 and 116-
1 must be opened with a very small contact pressure, and it is not preferable for the ink level in the ink tank 104 to be extremely low compared to the position of the inkjet head 101-1. It is desirable that the difference between the ink level of -1 and the ink tank 104 be within the range of approximately 0 to 100 cm.

Note that if stable ejection cannot be obtained due to air bubbles or dust getting into the inkjet head 101-1, fill the ink tank 104 with ink using the same operation method as when filling the inkjet head 101-1 at the initial ink session. It is possible to easily return the head 101-1 by moving the head 101-1 between the head 101-1 and the inkjet head 101-1.For convenience, the above explanation has been given for the head 101-1, but the other heads It)l-2, ..., 101-
Of course, the same operation method as described above can be used to perform the initial filling of ink, the ink supply during operation, and the recovery of ink ejection.Next, referring to FIG. An example will be explained. Figure 2 shows an ink supply device as an application example of the example shown in Figure 1.

In Figure 2, which is an exploded view of the machine, 201 is an ink tank with an ink capacity of 2
02, pay'r 7g 203, and top 1k204f
The configuration is out of order. Inside the ink container 202, a filter 205 and a plurality of check pulps 206 are installed, each of which is provided with ink supply pipes 207 and 208, and a pipe guide 2 is installed on the front side of the ink container 202.
09 is also provided with a cylinder block 210 on the rear side.

The upper part 4204 has an ink refill port 211 and a vent block 2.
12. Tank holders 213 and 214 for ink replenishment are attached, and a filter block 215 is attached to the vent block 212 but is broken.

The ink container 202, the backing 203, and the upper Ti 204 are pressed together by screwing or the like.

Note that the ink container 202 and the upper @ 204 can also be integrated by joining (1), in which case the backing 20
3 is not necessarily required 0216 is a multi-nozzle inkjet head and the ink supply stage 217 and 2
1g and communicates with the inside of the ink tank 201 via ink supply pipes 207 and 208, respectively. 219 is an ink replenishment tank, and a part of 7 is connected to the ink refill port 211 of the top lid 204 of the ink tank. The ink tank 201 is provided with an ink injection device 220 for refilling the ink tank 201 with ink at a constant ink level. This ink replenishment tank 219 is detachable from the ink tank 201, and can be replaced as needed.Ink is supplied from the ink tank 201 to the multi-nozzle inkjet seat 216 as follows. to be done. First of all,
To inject ink into the ink tank 201, multi-nozzle ink cartridge, and sheet head 216, use the injector A220 of the ink replenishment tank 219.
4, the tank 219 is fixed with tank holders 213 and 214. At this time, the ink injection device 220 attached to the ink replenishment tank 219 operates and ink is injected to the ink tank 201 up to the fixed ink level. Furthermore, the ink replenishment port 211 & the vent block 212 are arranged on the same side with respect to the filter 205K.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines x and x' in FIG. 2, illustrating the detailed structure of the check pulp 206 and cylinder block 210 shown in the example shown in FIG. 30 in Figure 3
1 is an ink tank. A check pulp 305 is installed in the ink tank 301, which is composed of an ink volume 5302, a backing 303, and fE3υ4 on the ink tank. valve support parts 307 and 308, respectively.
, valve 309 , 310 , valve receiver @ 311 , 312
Two non-return valves 313 and 314 are arranged at right angles to form a nine-structure structure.

315 is a cylinder block, and cylinder 316
Inside are a spring 317, a spring receiver 318, and a piston 31.
9, insert its open end into the cylinder 11320
IfiO ring 32 on piston 319 is blocked.
1 and rl removable rods 322 are attached.

Cylinder 316 communicates with ink flow path 324 between check valves 313 and 314 in check pulp 305 through ll-323K.

Incidentally, 328 and 329 are pads and kings for preventing ink leakage.

The bar 330 is connected to the check help 305 and the ink supply tube (
(not shown) is an ink supply pipe for T-connection;
It is fixed to the check pulp 305 and the ink container 302 by support members 331 and 332, respectively.

In addition, ink supply.

- Sleeves 333 and 334 are provided to prevent movement of the ink supply pipes 33i, 1 due to attachment and detachment of the ink supply pipes 33i, 1. The 335 Fi pipe guide prevents the support member 332 from detaching and secures the ink supply pipe 330. By injecting a sealing material into the pipe penetration hole 336, the ink supply pipe 330 is secured. Ink leakage from the surrounding area can be completely prevented. 33
7 is an ink supply pipe for connecting other ink supply pipes.

With the ink tank 301 filled with ink, open and close the door 32.
2 pushes the piston 319 toward the left in the drawing, the air inside the cylinder 316 flows through the passages 325° 324 and 326.
': After opening the A multi-valve 310, the ink is discharged from the passage 327 through the ink supply pipe 330. piston 3
When the suppression of 19 is released, the piston 319 and the U spring 317
The valve 310 is closed by the suction pressure of the cylinder 316, and the valve 309 is opened, so that the ink in the ink container 302 flows into the ink channels 323 and 324.
, 325 into the cylinder 316◎
After sucking ink into the cylinder 316 in this way, when the piston 319 is pushed again toward the left in the drawing, the valve 316
09tl rlJ 1m satL, p 31O is opened, so the ink sucked into the cylinder 316 is
Ink paths 325, 324, 326, 327t
- In this way, the initial light of ink from the ink container 302 to the inkjet head is supplied to the inkjet head (not shown in FIG. 3) through the ink supply tube 330. Make sure that the head, ink supply chain, and ink supply pipe are completely filled and that there are no air bubbles in the ink supply path. At this time, make valves 309 and 3100! Valves 309 and 310 in valve receivers 311 and 312 to ensure ll and prevent leakage due to back pressure.
The area in contact with the valves 309 and 310 is made to form the same surface as the valves 309 and 310, and the area is made smaller than that of the valves 309 and 310. Also, due to the movement of the piston 319, the air remaining in the cylinder 316 flows into the passage 325. The passage 325 is provided at the center and lower part of the cylinder 316 to prevent inflow.

When an inkjet head (not shown) operates and discharges ink, ink is supplied through an ink supply pipe 33.
0 and 337, the ink in the ink tank 301 is removed by capillary force. Therefore, valves 309 and 3
The ink level in the ink tank 301 is set so that the ink pressure in the head becomes negative pressure. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, check pulps having the same structure and operating in the same manner as the check pulp 206 described above are arranged in parallel in the ink container 202 in the same number as the number of ink jet heads (not shown).

In this example device, the ink supply path (pulp 206 path, pipe 2
Since the lengths (the sum of 07, 208, and 217° and 218) are all the same, there is almost no difference in the supply pressure of ink supplied to each inkjet head by capillary force. That's good to think about. Although not shown in FIG. 2, there is a third cylinder inside the cylinder block 210.
As shown in the figure, the same number of cylinders 316 and pistons 319 are provided corresponding to each check pulp 206.

In this way, by integrating the cases of each cylinder, the mechanical strength of each cylinder is increased, and the connection between each cylinder and its corresponding check pulp can be easily fixed. It can completely prevent it from falling off.

As explained in detail above, in the present invention, an ink supply system of almost the same standard is provided for each of a plurality of inkjet devices, so that ink can be uniformly and stably supplied to the entire area of multi-type inkjet devices. be able to.

Furthermore, in the present invention, since the ink supply source for the plurality of inkjet devices is unified, the work of replacing ink containers is simple, and moreover, it is not necessary! Furthermore, since the present invention employs a distribution replenishment method for multiple inkjet devices, the appropriate amount of ink is almost automatically replenished according to the amount of ink consumed in the main tank. The effort required to replenish ink is extremely low.

We can list the following initial effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the ink supply device of the present invention;
Figure 2 is an exploded view explaining an application example of the embodiment in Figure 1;
The figure is a sectional view of the application example shown in FIG. In the figure, 101-1, 101-2, -, 101
-n. 216 is an inkjet head, 102 is an ink relay chamber, 103 is an ejection port, 104, 201, 301 is an ink tank, 105 is an ink, 106 is a ventilation hole, 107
, 108, 205 is 74 Ru p-1109, 219
are ink replenishment tanks, 110, 121-1, 121
-2,... 121-n, 321 is 0 ring, 111 is -IeL
surface control valves, 112 and 211 are ink replenishment ports;
113-1. 113-2, -, 113-n, 114-1,
114-2, ・=. 114-nu ink supply pipe, 115-1, 115-
2.. 115-1. 116-1. 116-2, -. 11
6-n, 313. 314 is a check valve, 117-1, 117-2, --
・, 117-n, 323, 324, 325,
326, 327 Fi ink passage, 118, 210
, 315 is a cylinder block, 119-1, 11
9-2, -, 119-n, 3t6 is a cylinder, l -120-1, 120-2, =, 120-
n, 319 is a piston, 202, 302 is an ink tank body, 2L)3. 303, 328, 329 are backings, 204,
304 is the ink tank lid, 206, 3L) 5 is the check pulp, 207, 208, 330, 337 F
i Ink supply pipe, 209 and 335 are pipe guides, 212 is a vent block, 213 and 214 are ink replenishment tank holders, 215 is Filter Pro, -□2
17, 218 is an ink supply chip, 220 is an ink injection device, 306 is Choi, Ferbo, 307, 3
08 is the valve support part, 309° 310 is the valve, 311, 31
2 is the valve holder, 317 is the spring, 318 is the spring holder, 32
0 is cylinder★, 322Fi rod, 323 is joint,
331, 332 are supporting members, 333, 334 B
Insert the sleeve into the 336 tic pipe jt common hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ink supply device that includes a device attached to each inkjet head for sucking ink from an ink reservoir and then supplying the ink to the inkjet head under pressure.