Patent ID: 8696095
Filing Date: 2014-04-15
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A fluid supply device comprising: a main tank that stores fluid in a plurality of storage units; a sub-tank having a fluid chamber to which fluid is supplied from the main tank; a head that discharges fluid supplied from the sub-tank; a movable carriage on which the head and the sub-tank are mounted; an expansion mechanism that expands the fluid chamber to draw fluid from the main tank by movement of a moving member as a result of carriage movement, the expansion mechanism including an elastic member having a first connection point and a second connection point, the elastic member being elastically deformable between the first and second connection points, the first connection point being configured to move in response to a movement of the carriage and the second connection point being drivingly coupled with the moving member; a calculating unit that calculates a remaining fluid volume in the storage units of the main tank from a fluid discharge volume from the head; and a decision unit configured to determine that the main tank replacement time has arrived when the remaining fluid volume in a specified plural number of storage units is at or below a specified remaining fluid volume based on the calculated result from the calculating unit, the specified plural number being greater than one storage unit of the plurality and less than all the storage units of the plurality.