JPS6412233B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an inkjet device, particularly a conduit for supplying ink from a tank for storing ink to an inkjet head, which is formed using a heat-shrinkable material. This invention relates to an inkjet device.

[Prior Art] Among the various recording methods currently known, this is a non-impact recording method that generates almost no noise during recording, is capable of high-speed recording, and requires special fixing treatment on plain paper. The so-called inkjet method, which allows recording without printing, is an extremely useful method for realizing printing devices such as various printers and word processors. Regarding this inkjet method, various methods have been proposed so far, some have been improved and commercialized, and others are still being worked on to be put into practical use.

Such an inkjet recording method uses various principles of action to fly small droplets of recording liquid (referred to as ink in the following explanation).
Recording is performed by attaching it to a recording material such as paper. An inkjet device used in such an inkjet method generally includes an inkjet head for forming ink droplets and a supply system for supplying ink to the inkjet head.

This ink supply system mainly includes an ink tank and an ink conduit that forms an ink supply path for transferring the ink inside the tank to the head.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when a hard pipe is used as the ink conduit, adhesive is required when connecting it to the tank or the head, which is very difficult. The problem was that it took a lot of time.

There is also the problem that ink may leak if the connection of the ink conduit becomes disconnected or damaged, and as a result, it is not possible to consistently supply ink to the ink jet head. Problems such as ink leakage, wasteful ink consumption, and contamination of the ink jet device may occur.

[Objective of the Invention and Means for Solving the Problems] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art described above.

In other words, an object of the present invention is to solve the conventional problems caused by the configuration of the ink supply path, and to maintain a stable state in which the supply of ink to the ink jet head and the formation of ink droplets in the ink jet head are stable. An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet device that is almost perfect.

Another object of the present invention is to simplify assembly, and to reliably prevent ink leakage due to disconnection or damage to connections, thereby constantly and stably supplying ink to the ink jet head. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet device which can solve the conventional problems such as wasteful consumption of ink and contamination of the inkjet device.

The ink jet device of the present invention that achieves the above object includes: an ink jet head having an ink introduction terminal provided with a protrusion or a wide opening; an ink conduit for supplying the ink, a portion of the ink conduit joined to the ink introduction terminal is formed using a heat-shrinkable material,
Further, it is characterized in that it is heat-shrinked and comes into close contact with the ink introduction terminal.

[Function] According to the present invention, the heat-shrinked ink conduit is securely locked by the protrusion or wide opening provided on the ink introduction terminal, so that ink leakage due to falling or damage to the ink conduit is prevented. Therefore, it is possible to constantly and stably supply ink to the ink jet head, and it is possible to solve problems such as wasted ink consumption or contamination of the ink jet device. can.

Further, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, since the inner diameter of the ink conduit can be made sufficiently larger than the ink introduction terminal of the ink jet head, the flow path resistance in the ink conduit section can be reduced.
Ink can also be supplied smoothly.

[Reference example] Reference examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic external perspective view of an inkjet device showing a reference example.

In FIG. 1, 1 indicates a line array type multi-orifice ink jet head;
A plurality of ink ejection ports (orifices) 2 are arranged in parallel on one side of the substrate 4. Various types of inkjet systems can be used to construct the head 1. Incidentally, this inkjet method is roughly divided into several methods based on the method of generating ink droplets and the control method for controlling the flight direction of the generated ink droplets.

One of the typical methods is, for example,
USP 3596275 (Sweet method), USP 3298030
(Lewis and Brown method), etc., in which a flow of ink droplets with a controlled amount of charge is generated by a continuous vibration generation method, and the flow of ink droplets with a controlled amount of charge is This method controls the flight trajectory of ink droplets by causing them to fly between deflection electrodes to which a similar electric field is applied.

This method is generally abbreviated as a continuous method.

Other typical methods that can be compared with this are, for example,
This is the method (Stemme method) disclosed in USP 3747120. This method applies an electrical recording signal to a piezo vibrating element attached to an ink ejection head that has an orifice for ejecting ink, converts this electrical recording signal into mechanical vibration of the piezo vibrating element, and This is a method in which ink droplets are ejected from the orifice whenever necessary according to mechanical vibrations.

This is one of the so-called on-demand methods.

Separately, an inkjet method which is different in principle and concept from the above-mentioned method has also been proposed by the present applicant (ie, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 59936/1983).

In short, one of these methods is to apply a thermal pulse as a signal to the ink introduced into the liquid chamber, and to cause the ink to change its state according to the acting force generated. In this method, the ink is made into small droplets and ejected from an orifice communicating with the ink. As described above, an inkjet device using this method uses thermal energy to form ink droplets and uses the droplets to create an image.

Incidentally, the driving device, ink tank, etc. related to the head 1 are not shown for convenience of explanation. Also, 3 in the figure is the ink relay liquid chamber in the head 1,
Inside (not shown) are ink introduction terminals 5, 5'.
It communicates with an ink tank (not shown) via ink conduits 6, 6'. Ink in an ink tank (not shown) can be supplied to the head 1 through the ink conduits 6, 6' by any means such as capillary force, static pressure, and pressurization.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view taken along lines A and A' of the reference example shown in FIG. 1. The ink conduit 6 is a pipe formed using a heat-shrinkable material. The ink conduit 6 has an inner diameter larger than the outer diameter of the ink introduction terminal 5 of the head 1 before shrinking.
Select one whose inner diameter after shrinking is smaller than the outer diameter of the ink introduction terminal 5, insert the ink introduction terminal 5 into one end of the ink introduction terminal 5 before shrinking, and then heat the overlapping part of both with a heater or hot air. It is heated and contracted by a heating means.

The ink conduit 6 that has been heat-shrinked in this way contracts tightly along the outer circumferential surface of the ink introduction terminal 5 and is thus joined to the ink introduction terminal 5 without adhesion.

Incidentally, the connection between the ink conduit 6' and the ink introduction terminal 5', which are not shown in FIG. 2, can be performed in exactly the same manner as described above.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described using FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 and 4 are schematic cross-sectional views of the same parts as in FIG. 2, respectively, showing an embodiment of the present invention in which the ink conduit and the ink introduction terminal are securely connected. It is.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the ink conduit 6 is a pipe formed using a heat-shrinkable material. The ink conduit 6 is selected so that its inner diameter before contraction is larger than the outer diameter of the ink introduction terminals 9 and 11 of the head 1, and whose inner diameter after contraction is smaller than the outer diameter of the ink introduction terminals 9 and 11. After inserting the ink introduction terminals 9 and 11 into one end of the ink introduction terminals in the previous state, the overlapping portions of the two are heated and contracted by any heating means such as a heater or hot air.

The ink conduit 6 that has been heat-shrinked in this way contracts tightly along the outer circumferential surfaces of the ink introduction terminals 9, 11, and is therefore reliably joined to the ink introduction terminals 9, 11 without adhesion.

In addition, when heat-shrinking the ink conduit 6, it is desirable to uniformly heat the circumferential surface of the ink conduit 6 so as not to cause uneven shrinkage. In addition, ink introduction terminals 9, 1
Indirect heating of the ink conduit 6 can also be effected by heating the ink conduit 1 . Incidentally, in these embodiments, there is no need to press the heated portion of the ink conduit 6 against the ink introduction terminals 9, 11.
During assembly, the joint between the ink conduit 6 and the ink introduction terminals 9 and 11 will not be damaged by external pressure.

Here, in FIG. 3, a protrusion 10 is provided on the outer wall of the ink introduction terminal 9, and the heat-shrinked ink conduit 6 is locked at this portion, so that the ink conduit 6 can be used for ink introduction. It is reliably prevented from coming off from the terminal 9. Note that the number of protrusions 10 is not limited to the illustrated example, and a plurality of protrusions 10 may be arranged in parallel.

Also, in FIG. 4, a wide opening 11a is provided at the outer end of the ink introduction terminal 11 to ensure that the ink conduit 6 does not fall off from the ink introduction terminal 11, as in the case of FIG. It is prevented.

Specifically, a heat-shrinkable plastic pipe as described below can be used as the ink conduit 6 in the above embodiments. That is, for example, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, silicone rubber, polytetrafluoroethylene, tetrafluoropropylene-hexafluoropropylene copolymer, tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkoxyethylene copolymer, tetrafluoroethylene-ethylene It is a pipe that can be obtained by special processing of copolymers, etc. All of these are available as commercial products. However, the degree of heat shrinkage varies depending on the material.

As described above, according to the present invention, the ink conduit can be simply and reliably connected to the ink introduction terminal of the ink jet head without using an adhesive.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, the heat-shrinked ink conduit is securely locked by the protrusion or wide opening provided on the ink introduction terminal, so that the ink conduit is It is possible to prevent ink leakage due to falling or damage, and therefore it is possible to always stably supply ink to the ink jet head.
Furthermore, problems such as ink being wasted or the inkjet device being contaminated can be solved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic external perspective view showing a reference example, Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional view taken along lines A and A' in Fig. 1, and Figs. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining an example. In the figure, 1 is an ink jet head, 2 is an ink discharge port, 3 is an ink relay liquid chamber, 4 is a substrate,
5, 5', 9, 11 are ink introduction terminals, 6,
6' is an ink conduit, 10 is a protrusion, and 11a is a wide opening.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An ink jet head having an ink introduction terminal provided with a projection or a wide opening, and an ink conduit connected to the ink introduction terminal for supplying ink to the ink jet head. , a portion of the ink conduit that is joined to the ink introduction terminal is formed using a heat-shrinkable material,
An ink jet device characterized in that the ink jet device is heat-shrinked and is in close contact with the ink introduction terminal. 2. The inkjet device according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet device is a device that uses thermal energy to form ink droplets and uses the droplets to create an image.