JPH0767806B2 - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus using an ink tank which is detachable for replacement.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case where a recording apparatus has a detachable ink tank and such a tank can be replaced by a user's hand, such a tank can be easily attached and detached. There is a strong demand for what can be done in. It is also desired to prevent erroneous mounting of an object that is not compatible with the recording apparatus, and to prevent the ink communication section of the ink tank compatible with the recording apparatus from coming off.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims to be able to meet such needs.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and accepts mounting of an ink tank for storing ink supplied to a recording head for ejecting ink for recording. In an ink jet recording apparatus including a storage unit for storing ink and a connection unit for supplying ink to the ink tank, the storage unit is provided in the ink tank against insertion toward the rear side in the insertion direction of the ink tank. By inserting the ink tank and the spring member that presses the ink tank into the storage portion, the ink tank comes into contact with an engaging portion provided in the ink tank during insertion and is rotationally displaced to a position that allows the ink tank to be inserted. In addition, when the insertion is completed, the ink is engaged with the engaging portion of the ink tank in a state of being urged by the spring member in a direction to be removed by the completion of the insertion. Characterized in that it comprises a displacement member which rotationally displaced to a position to inhibit the elimination of ink, a.

[0005]

According to the present invention, since the connection portion for ink communication is provided in the apparatus-side ink tank storage portion on the rear side in the mounting direction, the operator simply stores the ink tank having the predetermined engaging portion. By simply pushing the ink tank into the displacement member, the displacement member on the device side is displaced to a position where it receives the insertion of the ink tank and prevents the operation of removing the ink tank. Ink communication is possible.

Further, it is possible to exclude the mounting of an object which is not compatible with the apparatus, that is, an object which cannot cause displacement of the displacement member because it does not have a predetermined engaging portion.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show the second tank 40.
An example of the configuration will be shown. Here, the second tank 40 has guide members 211 and 212 on both side surfaces thereof, and a pressing member side surface 207A is provided with a connecting member 205B for connecting the second tank 40 to the ink passage.

However, one guide member 211 is formed in upper and lower two steps. In this example, the upper member 211A is elongated and provided on the back side with respect to the pushing direction, and the lower member 2 is provided.
11B is shortened and provided on the front side in the pushing direction. Thus, the push-side end 2 of the members 211A and 211B
The lower surfaces of 11C and 211D have a tapered wedge shape, and the other ends 211E and 21 of the member 211A are
A space portion 213 is provided between 1D and 1D.

FIG. 2 shows a storage unit on the side of the main body device in which the second tank 40 is mounted, where 214 is a storage unit 225A and 2 in which the second tank 40 can be pushed in and pulled out freely.
25B is a rail for guiding the second tank 40.
Further, 215 indicates, for example, the side wall 214 of the storage unit 214.
A ratchet member provided at A, and 216 is a rotation shaft of the ratchet member 215. Further, reference numeral 76 is a TC joint detailed in FIG. 9 and the like, and the outline thereof is shown in the same figure.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ratchet member 215 has a locking groove 215C formed by two curved portions 215A and 215B at axially symmetrical positions, and two parallel surfaces 215D. The ratchet member 215 is arranged so as to come into the space portion 213 when is pushed to the vicinity of the mounting position.

The operation of mounting the second tank 40 will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the second tank 40, which is an ink tank suitable for the recording apparatus, is now aligned with the rail 225A (and 225B), and the direction of the arrow in the middle of FIG. (Direction), the end portion 211C of the guide member 211A engages with the ratchet member 215 to rotate the ratchet member 215. By the rotation, the ratchet member 215
When one of the parallel surfaces 215D contacts the member 211A, the same figure (B)
The ratchet member 215 is held by the guide member 211A with the other parallel surface 215D facing up, and eventually the same figure is shown.
As shown in (C), the curved portion 215A is attached to the end portion 211D of the guide member 211B.
Contact first.

Thus, the ratchet member 215 is rotated in the clockwise direction in the drawing by the end portion 211D, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the pushing of the tank 40 is stopped when the end portion 211D is guided to the locking groove 215C. On the other hand, a compression spring 217 is provided on the mother boat 20 at the back of the storage section 114, and when the end portion 211D of the guide member 211B is locked in the locking groove 215C, this compression spring 217 is compressed and the tank 40 is closed. Try to bring back. When the insertion operation is stopped in this state and the operator releases the hand, the second tank 40 is pushed back by the spring 217 in the reverse direction (removal direction). Then, the other end 21 of the guide member 211A
1E engages with the ratchet member 215, and then further clockwise rotation of the ratchet member 215 causes an end portion of the guide member 211A.
As shown in FIG. 4D, the 211E comes into contact with the locking groove 215C. At this time, since the guide member 211A is pressed against the rail 225A and the ratchet member 215 is prevented from further rotating, the second tank 40 does not move further in the removing direction even by the biasing force of the spring 217. The second tank 40 is maintained in the mounted state by obtaining such an engagement relationship.

As described above, in this embodiment, the ratchet member 215 and the spring 217 are provided with means for displaceable according to the insertion of the ink tank and provided in the storage portion so as to eliminate the mounting of the inserted object. The guide members 211A and 211B are configured to engage with the means in response to the insertion of the ink tank to cause a predetermined displacement and prevent the removal operation thereof. Constitutes an engaging portion of the. In particular, the ratchet member 215
Serves as a displacement member of the above-mentioned means, engages with the front end portion 211C of the guide member 211A that is an engaging portion on the side of the second tank 40, and is displaced so as to allow the insertion of the ink tank.
The second tank 40 is locked against the biasing force of the spring 217 by engaging with the other end portion 211E of the second tank.

Therefore, when an object such as a foreign object that does not fit into the storage portion of the recording apparatus and cannot engage with the ratchet member 215 to cause a predetermined displacement is erroneously inserted, the spring 217 eliminates the mounting. Since it fulfills the function, it is possible to prevent damage to the device and the object.

Next, the case where the second tank 40 is removed will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, the front 20 of the tank 40
Slightly press 7B in the insertion direction. As a result, the curved portion 215B of the ratchet member 215 is pushed by the end portion 211D of the guide member 211B, and the ratchet member 215 is further rotated in the clockwise direction as shown in FIG. It If the operator releases his hand in this state, the tank 40 will
It is returned in the direction of the arrow (removal direction) in the figure (B) by the spring force of 7, and as shown in the figure (B), the end portion 211E of the guide member 211A.
Rotates the ratchet member 215 in the clockwise direction, and the parallel surface 215D of the ratchet member 215 is maintained along the lower surface of the guide member 211A as shown in FIG. Therefore, the tank 40 is moved in the removing direction by the biasing force of the spring 217 without being prevented from being removed by the ratchet member 215. Needless to say, the connection member 205B on the side of the tank 40 is pulled out at the TC-joint 76 of the ink supply system along with this drawing operation.

6 and 7 show an example of the construction of the joint portion of the second tank, and this example is an example in which the connecting portion is held by a leaf spring mounted on the mother board 20. Where 20
1 and 202 are leaf spring members having a symmetrical shape, and the leaf spring members 201 and 202 in this example each have two bent portions, and are formed so that the bending angles obtained by the two bending are right angles. There is.

That is, in FIG. 6, the flat plate portion 201A
And 201B, and the flat plate portions 202A and 202B so as to be orthogonal to each other.
Mounting seats 201C and 20 formed by bending at 2A
2C is provided, and these mounting seats 201C and 202C are provided.
Are fixed to the motherboard 20 with screws 203.

Here, the flat plate portions 201B and 202
B is an arm portion 20 on each of the flat plate portions 201A and 202A.
4A and 204B are supported so as to be displaceable, and are held by both of these flat plate portions 201B and 202B to elastically hold the connection portion 205 in the state as shown in FIG. be able to.

Reference numeral 206 denotes a fixing screw for attaching the leaf spring members 201 and 202 to the connecting portion 205 via the flat plate portions 201B and 202B. In this example, the fixing screw is provided on the side of the connecting member 205A attached to the ink supply tube 66. A screw mounting seat 206A is provided in advance, and the fixing screw 206 is screwed onto the mounting seat 206A to form the flat plate portions 201B and 202B.
To fix.

Next, the connecting operation of the so-called gimbal type joint configured as described above will be described. In this example,
The connection member 205A of the ink supply pipe 66 is held by the combination of the leaf spring members 201 and 202 fixed to the mother board 20 as shown in FIG. 8, and therefore, due to the spring force of the leaf spring members 201 and 202, In the connecting member 205A, the XX direction and the YY direction in FIG.
Allows displacement in the plane including the direction.

Therefore, when the connecting member 205B of the second tank 40 is inserted from the right side of the connecting member 205A held in such a state as shown in FIG. 7, the position of the connecting member 205B. However, even if there is a slight deviation in the vertical direction or the front-back direction of the paper surface in this figure, since the connection member 205A on the ink supply pipe 66 side is held by the leaf spring members 201 and 202, such displacement is caused by the spring member. Since it can be absorbed by 201 and 202, it is possible to prevent the connection from being disabled or the connection being inadvertently made.

According to the embodiment as described above, the operator simply pushes the ink tank into the storage section by providing the ink communication connection section in the apparatus-side ink tank storage section on the rear side in the mounting direction. By simply performing such an operation, the ratchet, which is a displacement member, is displaced to a position for receiving and locking the insertion of the ink tank, and it is possible to easily and surely mount the ink tank or communicate the ink. Moreover, after the mounting, the movement of the ink tank in the direction opposite to the mounting direction due to vibration or the like, that is, the drop of the ink tank or the detachment of the ink communicating portion is prevented, and the unexpected ink leakage is prevented. Further, when removing the ink tank, the operator simply moves the ink tank for removal to cause the member to be displaced to the tank detachment allowable position, and the ink tank can be removed. .

FIG. 9 shows an example of the structure of the main part of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. That is, in the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to, for example, a color ink jet printer of four colors, and the ink jet printer has a plurality of print heads in the width direction of the recording paper and prints by the on-demand method. Shall be performed. In FIG. 9, P is a recording paper, and the arrow f is the recording paper P.
Indicates the feeding direction of. Reference numeral 2 denotes a unit plate, and seven head elements 4 are provided on both front and back surfaces of the unit plate 2 over the entire width of the recording area of the recording paper P.
To provide. Each head element 4 faces the recording paper P and has 128 ink ejection ports in the width direction. These head elements 4 are attached to the unit plate 2
The recording area formed by the ejection ports of the head element 4 arranged on the front side of the unit plate 2 and the recording area formed by the ejection ports of the head element 4 arranged on the back side of the recording sheet One line can be printed without overlapping in the width direction of P. That is, at the time of recording, first, the back side head element is driven to perform recording, and when the recorded portion faces the front side head as the recording paper P moves in the f direction, the front side head element is printed. It is possible to record one line by driving.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a distributor, which is a distributor 6A on the outward path for supplying ink to the head element 4 via the supply tube 8A, and a distributor on the return path for recovering ink from the head element 4 via the supply tube 8B. 6B and. A joint 7 connects the distributor 6 and the supply pipe 8 (hereinafter, D-
T joint). Each of these parts is a head unit 10 associated with one predetermined ink color, and in the present embodiment, four head units 10 are provided corresponding to the number of ink colors.

Reference numeral 20 is a mother board, and 22 is a guide member for mounting the head unit 10 on the mother board 20 while guiding the unit plate 2.

A first tank 30 stores ink and serves as an ink supply source for the head element 4, and is provided on the side of the mother board 20 opposite to the head unit 10. Reference numeral 40 denotes a second tank as an ink cartridge tank, which is guided by a guide member 24 provided on the mother board 20 so that it can be mounted on the mother board 20. The first tank 30 has a liquid level sensor, and when the liquid level sensor detects that the amount of ink in the first tank 30 is below a predetermined amount, the second tank 40
Ink is supplied to the first tank 30 from. Three
Reference numerals 2 and 34 are arm portions of the first tank 30, and opening / closing means 50 and 52 such as electromagnetic valves are attached to the arm portion 32, and opening / closing means 54 such as electromagnetic valves and a pump 56 are attached to the arm portion 34. The opening / closing means 50, 52
As 54 and 54, in addition to an electromagnetic valve, an opening / closing throttle, a gate valve or the like can be used.

The electromagnetic valve 50 includes a conduit 60 formed in the arm portion 32 to reach the ink storage portion in the first tank 30,
It has a valve portion 50A for connecting a joint portion (hereinafter, referred to as a DV joint) 70 reaching the distributor 6A through the mother board 20, and is opened according to the bias of the solenoid 50B to form an ink flow path. To do so. The solenoid valve 52 has a valve portion 52A that connects the air chamber in the first tank 30 to the outside air, and is opened according to the bias of the solenoid 52B to open the air chamber in the first tank 30 to the atmosphere. Note that, for example, the dustproof filter 53 is provided on the atmosphere side of the valve portion 52A.
Can be provided.

The solenoid valve 54 is formed in the arm portion 34, and has a joint 72 connecting a pipe 64 leading to the pump 56 and a pipe 66 reaching the second tank 40, and a joint 72 penetrating the motherboard to the distributor 6B. It has a valve portion 54A for connecting to the -V joint 74. This valve 54
A opens in response to the energization of the solenoid 54B, and forms an ink flow path between the pump 56 and the distributor 6B. Reference numeral 76 is a joint that connects the pipe 66 and the second tank 40 (hereinafter, referred to as TC joint).
Is.

The pump 56 is connected to the second tank through a pipe 64 leading to the valve portion 54, a pipe 68 leading to the first tank 30, and a backflow prevention means such as a check valve. In accordance with the operation of, the ink is supplied from the valve portion 54A and the second tank 40 to the first tank 30 and the ink is sent to the valve portion 54A.

Each of these parts 30, 40, 50, 52, 5
Ink supply stages 4, 56 and the like are provided for the head unit 10, and in this embodiment, four stages are provided according to the color type of the ink. In FIG. 9, only one stage is shown.
This ink supply stage connects them to the head unit 10 via DV joints 70 and 74, as described above. This connection will be described later.

Further, in FIG. 9, reference numeral 80 denotes a connector to a control unit (not shown), which is attached to the mother board 20. 82 is an interface board and 84 is a connector 80.
And a flexible wiring board for transmitting a print control signal supplied from the control unit via the interface board 82 to the head element 4 and the like.

As described above, in the ink jet printer according to this embodiment, since the head unit, the ink supply stage and the electric wiring are all formed mainly on the mother board,
It becomes extremely easy to attach and detach each part.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By providing a connection portion for ink communication in the device-side ink tank storage portion on the back side in the mounting direction, the operator simply pushes the ink tank having the predetermined engaging portion into the storage portion. The displacement member on the apparatus side is displaced to a position where the operation of receiving the insertion of the ink tank and preventing the operation of eliminating the mounting of the ink tank is caused, and it becomes possible to easily and surely mount the ink tank or communicate the ink.

Further, it is possible to exclude the attachment of an object which is not compatible with the apparatus, that is, an object which cannot cause displacement of the displacement member because it does not have a predetermined engaging portion.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are a side view and a plan view showing an example of the configuration of a second tank in the inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 9, respectively.

2 is a plan view showing an example of a configuration of a storage portion of a second tank in the inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

3 is a side view showing an example of a ratchet as a displacement member or a locking member for a second tank in the inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

4A to 4D are explanatory views for explaining the operation when the second tank is attached to the storage section.

5A to 5C are explanatory views for explaining an operation when the second tank is detached from the storage section.

6 is a front view showing an example of the configuration of a joint portion of a second tank in the inkjet recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the structure of a joint part.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the joint.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of a configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus to which the present invention has been applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 unit plate 4 head element 6A, 6B distributor 7 DT joint 8A, 8B ink supply tube 10 head unit 20 mother board 30 first tank 37 protrusion 38 sensor 40 second tank 50, 52, 54 solenoid valve 56 pump 58 reverse Stop valve 70,74 D-V joint 72 T-V joint 76 T-C joint 143 Closing member 144 Spring 149 Connection tool 175 Pressing member 176 Sheet packing 193 Poppet 194 Packing 195 Spring 201,202 Leaf spring 205 connection part 211A, 211B Guide member 215 Ratchet 217 Spring

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for receiving mounting of an ink tank for storing ink supplied to a recording head for ejecting ink for recording, and a connection unit for connecting the ink tank and supplying ink. In the inkjet recording apparatus described above, the storage section is a spring member that presses the ink tank against insertion at the back side in the insertion direction of the ink tank, and the ink tank is inserted into the storage section,
During insertion, it abuts on an engaging portion provided on the ink tank and is rotationally displaced to a position that allows the ink tank to be inserted, and when the insertion is completed, it is urged in a direction to be removed by the spring member when the insertion is completed. An inkjet recording apparatus, comprising: a displacement member that engages with the engagement portion of the ink tank in a closed state and is rotationally displaced to a position that prohibits the removal of the ink tank. 2. A position at which the displacement member comes into contact with an engaging portion of the ink tank by pressing the mounted ink tank against the spring member and releases the prohibition of the removal of the ink tank. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet recording apparatus is rotatively displaced.