JP6003148B2 - Ink cartridge and ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ink cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus equipped with the ink cartridge.

  Conventionally, a method using an optical technique is known as a method for detecting the remaining amount of ink in an ink tank that contains ink or the presence or absence of ink.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, an ink including a light-transmitting prism provided on the bottom surface of an ink tank, a light source that irradiates light to the prism from the outside of the ink tank, and a light receiving element that receives reflected light from the prism. A remaining amount detection mechanism is disclosed.

  The light emitted from the light source installed outside the ink tank passes through the bottom surface of the ink tank and reaches the reflecting surface of the light transmitting prism provided inside the ink tank. At this time, when the ink is filled in the ink tank, since the refractive indexes of the ink and the prism are close, the incident light is not reflected by the reflecting surface of the prism and is not guided to the light receiving element. On the other hand, when the ink is not filled in the ink tank, the incident light is reflected by the reflecting surface of the prism and guided to the light receiving element installed outside the ink tank. In this manner, the presence or absence of ink is detected based on whether or not the light emitted from the light source returns to the light receiving element.

  Patent Document 1 is characterized in that low surface energy processing is performed on the reflecting surface of a prism for guiding light from outside the ink tank.

  As a specific treatment method, an appropriate amount of a low surface energy treatment agent containing alkylpolysiloxane is applied dropwise to the bottom surface of the ink tank and the reflecting surface of the prism formed integrally with the mold using a needle (injection needle). The method of natural drying is used. By using this method to perform low surface energy treatment of the reflecting surface of the prism, it becomes possible to suppress the adhesion of ink components and colorants to the reflecting surface of the prism, and as a result, more accurate ink remaining amount Can be detected.

JP 2000-198222 A

  However, in the ink cartridge described in Patent Document 1, although the coating amount of the low surface energy treatment agent can be controlled, the film thickness and coating area after coating cannot be controlled and become non-uniform. Adhesion cannot be secured sufficiently. For this reason, depending on the type of ink and the usage environment, the low surface energy treatment agent / functional film peels off from the reflecting surface of the prism over a long period of use, and the peeled functional film blocks the ink ejection holes. It was confirmed that it would cause defects.

  In addition, it is technically difficult to drop and apply the water repellent agent to the prism located at a specific portion in the ink container after the ink cartridge is formed, which causes an increase in manufacturing cost of the ink cartridge. .

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve at least a part of the above-described problems, and can be realized as the following forms or application examples.

[Application Example 1] An ink cartridge according to this application example includes an ink storage portion having a partition for holding a volume for storing ink, a flat portion, and a convex shape from the partition toward the inside of the ink storage portion. A prism unit having two inclined surfaces provided on one surface of the planar portion, and a portion of the one surface of the planar portion is welded or bonded to the partition wall. cage, portion except for the portion of the one surface of the flat portion, and the two inclined surfaces are coated with a functional film having liquid repellency, a portion of the one surface of the flat portion, the functional characterized in that which is not covered by the film.

According to this application example, since the functional film that inhibits adhesiveness or the like is not formed in a portion of the planar portion of the prism unit that is fixed to the partition wall of the ink storage unit by adhesion or the like, the ink storage unit and the prism The unit can be fixed with high reliability.
On the other hand, since the functional film is formed on the two inclined surfaces and the portion of the flat portion that is not fixed to the partition wall by adhesion or the like, it becomes possible to prevent the ink component from adhering to these portions . The presence / absence can be detected with high accuracy.

Application Example 2 In the ink cartridge according to the application example, it is preferable that the two inclined surfaces and the flat portion are integrally formed.

According to this application example, it is not necessary to fix the two inclined surfaces and the flat portion, and the prism unit having high dimensional accuracy can be formed.

Application Example 3 In the ink cartridge according to the application example, it is preferable that the functional film is a vapor deposition film.

According to this application example, the adhesion between the functional film and the substrate is good.

Application Example 4 In the ink cartridge according to the application example, it is preferable that the functional film is a fluororesin or a fluorine-based compound.

According to this application example, the surface energy on the surface of the functional film is lowered by the action of the perfluoro group contained in the functional film. As a result, it is possible to suppress adhesion of ink components and colorants to the prism unit , and it is possible to detect the remaining amount of ink with high accuracy.

Application Example 5 An ink jet recording apparatus according to this application example performs printing by discharging the ink cartridge according to any one of the application examples described above and ink supplied from the ink storage unit connected to the ink cartridge. An optical unit having an inkjet head, a light source that irradiates light to the two inclined surfaces of the ink cartridge, and a light receiving element that receives light from the light source reflected by the two inclined surfaces . It is characterized by that.

According to this application example, since the functional film that hinders adhesiveness or the like is not formed in a portion of the planar portion of the prism unit that is fixed to the partition wall of the ink storage unit by adhesion or the like, the ink storage unit and the prism unit Can be fixed in a highly reliable state.
On the other hand, since the functional film is formed on the two inclined surfaces and on the flat portion that is not fixed to the partition wall by adhesion or the like, it is possible to prevent adhesion of the ink component to these portions, and high accuracy. Thus, an ink jet recording apparatus capable of detecting the presence or absence of ink can be obtained.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the internal structure of the ink cartridge. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of a prism unit, (a) is a side view, (b) is a top view. The schematic diagram which shows the positional relationship of the prism unit for detecting the ink residual amount in an ink accommodating part, the light source for irradiating light to the prism unit provided outside the ink accommodating part, and the light receiving element which receives the light .

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the scale of each layer and each member is made different from the actual scale so that each layer and each member can be recognized.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a schematic configuration of a printer as an ink jet recording apparatus according to a typical embodiment of the present invention.
The printer 1 has a recording head 2 for ejecting ink and a carriage 4 to which an ink cartridge 3 is detachably attached, a platen 5 disposed below the recording head 2, the recording head 2 and the carriage. 4 is moved in the paper width direction of the recording paper 6 (a kind of application object), and a paper feeding mechanism 8 that transports the recording paper 6 in a paper feeding direction that is a direction perpendicular to the head moving direction. Is generally configured. Here, the paper width direction is the main scanning direction, and the paper feeding direction is the sub-scanning direction.

  The carriage 4 is attached while being supported by a guide rod 9 installed in the main scanning direction, and is configured to move in the main scanning direction along the guide rod 9 by the operation of the carriage moving mechanism 7. ing. The carriage 4 is provided with an optical unit 14 (light source, light receiving element) (see FIG. 2) used for detecting the remaining amount of ink in each ink cartridge 3.

Next, the ink cartridge will be described.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of the ink cartridge. 3A and 3B are explanatory views showing the configuration of the prism unit used in the present embodiment, wherein FIG. 3A is a side view and FIG. 3B is a plan view.
The ink cartridge 3 in the present embodiment has an ink containing portion 12 having a partition for mainly containing ink therein, and an ink outlet portion 11 for communicating the ink containing portion 12 and the outside of the ink cartridge 3. And a prism unit 13 for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink container 12.

In the ink cartridge 3 according to the present embodiment, the ink storage portion 12 and the ink lead-out portion 11 are formed of a synthetic resin material such as polypropylene by heat processing such as injection molding except for the prism unit 13. Is.
Among these, the ink outlet 11 is formed at the bottom of the ink cartridge 3 and is connected to an ink supply needle (not shown) on the recording head 2 side of the printer 1 provided outside the ink cartridge 3. The ink in the ink storage unit 12 is supplied into a reservoir (not shown) provided in the recording head 2.
In addition, a packing (not shown) made of an elastic material such as an elastomer is installed in the ink outlet 11. The packing (not shown) has a function of securing a liquid-tight state by contacting an inserted ink supply needle (not shown) by the elastic body.

On the inner surface of the ink container 12 of the ink cartridge 3, a prism unit 13 including a triangular prism 15 and a flat surface portion 17a formed of a light transmitting member such as acrylic, polypropylene, or glass is installed.
This prism unit 13 is bonded to a triangular prism 15 having reflecting surfaces 16 a and 16 b on two inclined surfaces and one of the walls constituting the ink containing portion 12, and later becomes a part of the wall constituting the ink cartridge 3. The flat portion 17a is formed by integral molding. In this embodiment, as a method of bonding the prism unit 13 and a part of the partition walls constituting the ink storage unit 12, a thermal bonding method, particularly a thermal fusion method using a laser is used. Of course, an adhesive technique such as an adhesive or a molding agent may be used as another technique.

The triangular prism 15 has two reflecting surfaces 16 a and 16 b so as to come into contact with the ink stored in the ink storage portion 12. That is, the triangular prism 15 is arranged so that the reflecting surfaces 16a and 16b are convex from the partition wall toward the inside. In addition, a plane portion 17a is disposed in parallel with the surface of the triangular prism 15 that does not contact the ink. The flat portion 17a has a larger area than the triangular prism, and is preferably designed in consideration of the adhesion region with the ink cartridge 3, handling properties in the assembly process, processing accuracy in vapor deposition processing described later, and the like. .
The reflective surfaces 16a and 16b are provided with functional films that repel liquid such as ink.

  As the material of the functional film used in the present embodiment, a fluorine resin or a fluorine compound is used. Specifically, fluororesins such as FEP and ETFE, “KY-130” manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., “OPTOOL DSX” manufactured by Daikin Industries, Ltd., “Fluorosurf” manufactured by Fluoro Technology Co., Ltd., etc. The fluorine group-containing silane compound is suitable.

  The fluorinated organic group-introduced silane compound is represented by the following general chemical formulas (Chemical Formula 1) and (Chemical Formula 2).

Further, when a fluorine-based resin such as FEP or ETFE is used as the material of the functional film, an intermediate for improving the adhesion between the functional film and the base material in accordance with the material of the prism unit 13 serving as the base material. A layer may be provided. As a specific example, it is preferable to use vinylidene fluoride as an intermediate layer for the prism unit 13 made of polypropylene.
In addition, as a method for forming this intermediate layer, the intermediate layer material and the functional film material are vapor-deposited stepwise to form a laminated structure of the intermediate layer and the functional film, and the intermediate material and the functional film material are simultaneously vapor-deposited. (Co-evaporation) to form a composite film structure.

Next, a processing method for imparting water repellency for preventing the ink component from adhering to the triangular prism 15 for detecting the presence or absence of the remaining amount of ink in the printer 1 having the above configuration will be described. The purpose of this process is to form a fluorine-based functional film on the reflecting surfaces 16 a and 16 b of the triangular prism 15 and to reduce the surface energy relative to other regions in the ink containing portion 12.
In the present embodiment, a fluorine functional film having water repellency is formed on the reflection surfaces 16a and 16b of the triangular prism 15 by using a vapor deposition technique for these treatment agents.
By using the vapor deposition method, it is possible to obtain a functional film with high adhesion as compared with the case where the functional film is formed by a wet process. In addition, it can be said that this is a low-cost and rational method because a large amount of water repellent treatment can be performed on the prism unit 13 at one time.

In performing the vapor deposition process, it is possible to form a functional film only in a necessary portion by shielding the region excluding the reflecting surfaces 16a and 16b of the triangular prism 15 of the prism unit 13 using a metal mask. Become.
Further, in addition to the reflecting surfaces 16a and 16b of the triangular prism 15 of the prism unit 13, the flat portion bonding region 17b (FIG. 3B) that is welded to a part of the wall forming the ink containing portion 12 in the flat portion 17a. The functional film may be formed in the region except for the reference)) and in the region facing the ink containing portion 12 and in contact with the ink similarly to the triangular prism 15. By doing so, the ink component remaining on the reflecting surfaces 16a and 16b of the triangular prism 15 to be described later becomes smaller, so that the detection accuracy of the ink remaining amount can be improved.

Next, a mechanism for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink container will be described.
FIG. 4 shows a relative positional relationship between the prism unit 13 disposed on the bottom surface of the ink cartridge 3 and the optical unit 14 that is installed on the carriage 4 and that irradiates light to the prism unit 13 and includes the light receiving element 19. It is a schematic diagram.

As shown in FIG. 4, the light emitted from the light source 18 of the optical unit 14 located below the ink containing portion 12 is transmitted through the flat portion 17 a of the prism unit 13 that is a light-transmitting material and passes through the triangular prism 15. It reaches the reflecting surface 16a. At this time, if the ink container 12 is filled with ink, the incident light 20 is absorbed by the ink without being reflected by the reflecting surface 16 a, and the outside of the ink container 12 is the same as the light source 18. It does not return to the light receiving element 19 located below. On the other hand, when there is no ink in the ink container 12, the light emitted from the light source 18 is reflected by the two reflecting surfaces 16 a and 16 b of the triangular prism 15 and returns to the light receiving element 19. . In this manner, the presence or absence of ink is detected based on whether or not the irradiation light from the light source 18 of the optical unit 14 returns to the light receiving element 19.
In addition, since the functional film that repels ink is formed on the reflective surfaces 16a and 16b as in the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the ink component from adhering to the reflective surfaces 16a and 16b. The presence or absence of ink can be detected with high accuracy.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the functional film for reducing the surface energy is formed on the reflection surfaces 16a and 16b of the triangular prism 15 for detecting the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage unit 12 as described above. By doing so, it is possible to make the surface energy relatively low with respect to other regions in the ink containing portion 12. This makes it possible to prevent the ink component from adhering to the surface of the triangular prism 15 even when used for a long time in various inks and usage environments, and the reflecting surfaces 16a and 16b of the triangular prism 15 are always provided. The incident light 20 can be kept in a reflecting state. Thereby, the effect that the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage unit 12 can be detected with high accuracy is obtained.

Moreover, according to this embodiment, it is based on forming the functional film with water repellency by a vapor deposition method. In the vapor deposition process, by patterning the functional film using a metal mask, the ink containing portion 12 of the reflecting surfaces 16a and 16b of the triangular prism 15 and the flat portion 17a of the prism unit 13 that need to be provided with water repellency. It is possible to form a functional film only in a region excluding a portion to be welded with a part of the wall forming the film.
On the other hand, a functional film that hinders adhesion or the like is not formed on a portion of the flat surface portion 17a of the prism unit 13 that is welded to a part of the wall that forms the ink containing portion 12, so that the ink is not formed. It becomes possible to fix the accommodating part 12 and the prism unit 13 in a highly reliable state.
Thereby, after the functional film is formed on the prism unit 13 in advance, it can be welded to a part of the wall that forms the ink containing portion 12, so that it is possible to perform rational processing at a lower cost. is there.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the functional film formed by the vapor deposition method is in a state in which the adhesiveness with the prism unit 13 which is a base material is better than that in the wet process. This eliminates the problem of print defects caused by the peeling of the functional film from the prism unit 13 and the peeled functional film blocking the ink discharge holes, which occurs in the wet process, and the ink cartridge 3 having long-term reliability. It has the effect of creating the printer 1.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer as an inkjet recording device, 2 ... Recording head, 3 ... Ink cartridge, 4 ... Carriage, 5 ... Platen, 6 ... Recording paper, 7 ... Carriage moving mechanism, 8 ... Paper feed mechanism, 9 ... Guide rod, 11 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS Ink lead-out part, 12 ... Ink storage part, 13 ... Prism unit, 14 ... Optical unit, 15 ... Triangular prism, 16a, 16b ... Reflecting surface, 17a ... Plane part, 17b ... Plane part adhesion area, 18 ... Light source, 19 ... light receiving element, 20 ... incident light.

Claims (5)

An ink containing portion having a partition for holding a volume for containing ink;
A prism unit having a flat surface portion and two inclined surfaces provided on one surface of the flat surface portion so as to be convex from the partition toward the inside of the ink storage portion ,
A portion of the one surface of the flat portion is welded or bonded to the partition wall ,
Portion excluding a portion of the one surface of the flat portion, and the two inclined surfaces are coated with a functional film having liquid repellency,
A portion of the one surface of the flat portion, the ink cartridge, characterized in that not covered by the functional film. The ink cartridge according to claim 1 , wherein the two inclined surfaces and the flat portion are integrally formed. The ink cartridge according to claim 1 , wherein the functional film is a vapor deposition film. The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the functional film is made of a fluororesin or a fluorine-based compound. An ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
An inkjet head that is connected to the ink cartridge and that performs printing by discharging ink supplied from the ink container;
An optical unit comprising: a light source that irradiates light to the two inclined surfaces of the ink cartridge; and a light receiving element that receives light from the light source reflected by the two inclined surfaces. Inkjet recording apparatus.

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