Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US8408687B2/en
Timestamp: 2018-11-19 18:33:47
Document Index: 283918618

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 63', 'art 63', 'art 32', 'art 32', 'art 37', 'art 38', 'art 39', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 41', 'art 42', 'art 43', 'art 42', 'art 39', 'art 71', 'art 63', 'art 310', 'art 63', 'art 63']

US8408687B2 - Ink tank and ink jet printer - Google Patents
Ink tank and ink jet printer Download PDF
US8408687B2
US8408687B2 US12765050 US76505010A US8408687B2 US 8408687 B2 US8408687 B2 US 8408687B2 US 12765050 US12765050 US 12765050 US 76505010 A US76505010 A US 76505010A US 8408687 B2 US8408687 B2 US 8408687B2
US12765050
US20100201763A1 (en )
Yukihiro Hanaoka
An ink tank of the foam type which is provided with a detected portion capable of exactly and surely detecting the amount of ink used by the printer or remaining in the ink tank. The ink tank includes a sub ink chamber that is disposed or formed between a main ink chamber and an ink outlet of an ink tank of a foam type. When an amount of air flowing into the sub ink chamber increases, one or more reflecting surfaces of a right-angled prism, which function as ink interfaces, resume their original function of reflecting surfaces, thereby enabling the detection of an ink end. Air bubbles having entered the sub ink chamber are surely led onto the one or more reflecting surfaces by a bubble storage part. At an ink passage having a narrow width, which is defined by the one or more reflecting surfaces, air bubbles are pressed against the one or more reflecting surfaces to be put to a crushed state and in surface contact with the latter. Air bubbles are surely led onto the one or more reflecting surfaces, and are crushed and pressed against the reflecting surfaces. This configuration prevents the one or more reflecting surfaces from being covered with ink retained in spaces among the air bubbles. Therefore, the ink end can be detected surely and exactly.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/390,182, filed Feb. 20, 2009 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,722,176; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/832,795, filed Aug. 2, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,513,614; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/400,386, filed Apr. 10, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,252,377; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/045,059, filed Jan. 31, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,029,106; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/366,702, filed Feb. 14, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,776; which claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. P2002-037431, filed Feb. 14, 2002, and Japanese Patent Application No. P2002-139840, filed May 15, 2002, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in this application.
FIG. 4( a) is a cross sectional view showing the ink tank 1 when taken on line IV-IV in FIGS. 1, and 4(b) is an enlarged view showing a part of the ink tank when the tank is attached.
An ink outlet 7 is formed in the bottom surface of the container body 2. A disc-like rubber packing 8 is fit to the ink outlet 7, and a through hole 8 a is formed at and through the central part of the rubber packing and serves as an ink drawing-out port. A valve 9 capable of sealing the through hole 8 a is located at a position deeper than the rubber packing 8 of the ink outlet 7. The valve 9 is constantly pressed against the rubber packing 8 by a coiled spring 10 to seal the through hole 8 a.
The main ink chamber 5 communicates with the ink outlet 7 via a sub ink chamber 30, which is defined by first and second filters 11 and 12, and is opened to the air through an air communicating hole 13 formed in the container lid 4. Accordingly, when the ink absorptively retained in the foam 6 set in the main ink chamber 5 is sucked out through the ink outlet 7, an amount of air corresponding to an amount of ink sucked enters the main ink chamber 5 through the air communicating hole 13.
As shown in FIG. 6, optical sensors 57 and 58 of the reflection type are mounted on the ink jet printer 91 to which the ink tank 1 is attached. The optical sensor 57 includes a light emitting element 57 a and a light receiving element 57 b, and the optical sensor 58 includes a light emitting element 58 a and a light receiving element 58 b. The optical sensor 57 is arranged such that light emitted from the light emitting element 57 a is incident on the reflecting surface 51 a at a 45° angle, and light reflected by the reflecting surfaces 51 a and 51 b is received by the light receiving element 57 b. The optical sensor 58 is arranged such that light emitted from the light emitting element 58 a is incident on the reflecting surface 52 a at a 45° angle, and light reflected by the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b is received by the light receiving element 58 b.
Detecting Operation
When the residual ink is further supplied, an ink liquid level in the ink passage 64 gradually decreases and the couple of reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b of the right-angled prism 52 gradually appear on the ink liquid surface. As a result, the couple of reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b begin to function as the reflecting surfaces. When the ink liquid level of the sub ink chamber 30 lowers to below a predetermined liquid level (e.g., a position L in FIG. 5), an amount of light received by the light receiving element 58 b of the optical sensor 58 exceeds a predetermined amount of receiving light. The fact that the ink is used up (ink end) in the ink tank 1 is detected based on the increase of the receiving light amount of the light receiving element 58 b.
If the volume of the sub ink chamber 30 is selected to be sufficiently small, the ink end is detected at a time point that the ink amount becomes extremely small. The ink end is detected in a state that the amount of residual ink is extremely small. As such, useless consumption of ink is restricted. Useless consumption of ink is further reduced if the ink end detected by the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b is deemed as a near end, and the following process is carried out. After an ink near end is detected by the optical sensor 58, an amount of ink to be subsequently used is counted, and when the counted ink amount reaches an ink amount equal to the amount of ink stored in the sub ink chamber 30, a real end of ink is established. By so doing, ink can be used until the residual ink amount becomes substantially zero. The ink in the sub ink chamber 30 will further be described in detail.
As described above, in the ink tank 1 of the instant embodiment, the bubble storage part 63 and the ink passage 64 are formed within the sub ink chamber 30. The ink and air bubbles having flowed from the main ink chamber 5 into the sub ink chamber 30 are led onto the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b of the right-angled prism 52 by the bubble storage part 63, and are made to flow via the ink passage 64 defined by the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b.
Accordingly, the air bubbles having entered the sub ink chamber 30 are surely led onto the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b. Further, at the ink passage of the reflecting surfaces, the ink liquid level surely lowers with decrease of the amount of residual ink. Accordingly, a sure ink end detection can be determined.
The cup-like cap 31 includes a cylindrical part 32 and a top plate 33 which sealingly covers the upper end of the cylindrical part. A plurality of protrusions are vertically protruded from a circular end face 35 of its lower end opening 34, while being equiangularly arranged. In the instant embodiment, four protrusions 36 having equal heights are angularly arranged at an angular interval of 90°. The inner circumferential wall of the cylindrical part 32 includes a lower surface all part 37, a tapered surface part 38 which is continuous to the upper side and radially protruded slightly inward, and an upper surface part 39 having a small diameter and extending upwardly from the upper end of the tapered inner wall part.
The cup-like cap 31 is applied, from above, to the cylindrical protruded part 26A formed within the sub ink chamber 30A, whereby the cylindrical protruded part is capped with the cup-like cap. The outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical protruded part 26A includes a large-diameter surface part 41 whose lower part is slightly large, a small-diameter surface part 42 extending upward from the large-diameter surface part, and a ring-like stepped part 43 located between them. As shown in FIG. 8, the small-diameter surface part 42 includes ribs 44 which are protruded outwardly thereof and angularly arranged at a predetermined angular interval. In the embodiment, four ribs 44 are angularly arranged at an angular interval of 90°. Those ribs 44 have equal protrusion quantities, and each of the ribs has a predetermined vertical length. The protrusion quantity of each rib 44 is selected so that those ribs are just fit into the upper surface part 39 of the cup-like cap 31.
The thus constructed ink tank 1A of the instant embodiment produces advantages comparable with those of the ink tank 1. Specifically, in the instant embodiment, the partitioning part 71 is disposed within the sub ink chamber 30A, and guides ink and air bubbles having flowed from the main ink chamber 5 to the sub ink chamber 30A to the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b of the right-angled prism 52, and the air and air bubbles flow through the ink passage 75 defined by the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b.
Accordingly, the air bubbles, having flowed into the sub ink chamber 30A, are surely led to the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b of the prisms. Hence, at the ink passage of the prism reflecting surfaces, the ink liquid level surely lowers with decrease of the amount of residual ink, and sure detection of the ink end is secured.
In the ink tank 1B of the instant embodiment, the bubble storage part 63 a is formed in the partitioning plate part 310 of the partitioning member 300. The bubble storage part 63 a separates ink liquid from air bubbles, and only the ink liquid lowers through the ink introducing hole 330. Even if the air bubbles pass through the ink introducing hole 330, the air bubbles, together with the ink liquid, are surely moved downward and an ink end state is exactly and surely detected since the ink introducing hole 330 is provided only in the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b side, and those are made to pass through the ink passage defined by the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b.
Further detailed description will be given with reference to FIG. 14. When an amount of residual ink is small and the ink liquid level lowers to below the height position of the first filter 1, air derived from the main ink chamber 5 flows into the bubble storage part 63 a of the sub ink chamber 20 to form air bubbles B. The formed air bubbles B are progressively accumulated in the sub ink chamber 20. This state is shown in FIG. 14( b).
Thus, in the ink tank 1 of the embodiment, reflecting states of the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b surely vary without any interference by the air bubbles, with lowering of the ink liquid surface. Accordingly, in the ink jet printer 91 using the ink tank 1 of the embodiment as an ink supplying source, an ink end state in the ink tank is certainly detected based on the reflecting states of the reflecting surfaces 52 a and 52 b.
Further, if the partitioning member is formed integrally with the top plate of the cup-like cap 31A, the container body 2B is simple in shape, and its molding is easy.
1. An ink tank which is mountable on an ink jet printer, the ink tank comprising:
an ink outlet adapted to supply ink stored in the ink tank to the ink jet printer therethrough;
an air communicating hole configured to introduce air into the ink tank therethrough in accordance with an amount of the ink supplied to the ink jet printer from the ink tank;
a passage communicating with the ink outlet;
a prism formed in the ink tank and adapted to detect whether a remaining amount of the ink in the ink tank is below a predetermined level or not; and
a porous member disposed between the prism and the passage,
wherein the prism and the porous member are disposed in an ink chamber connected to an upstream opening of the passage.
2. An ink tank which is mountable on an ink jet printer, the ink tank comprising:
an air communicating hole configured to introduce air into the ink tank therethrough in accordance with an amount of the ink supplied to the ink jet primer from the ink tank;
wherein the prism and the porous member are disposed in an ink chamber connected to an upstream opening of the passage, and
wherein the passage is provided with a valve mechanism configured to open the passage when the ink tank is mounted on the ink jet printer.
3. An ink tank which is mountable on an ink jet printer, the ink tank comprising:
a porous member disposed between the prism and the passage;
wherein the porous member is disposed adjacent to the upstream opening of the passage.
4. The ink tank as set forth in claim 1, wherein the porous member is provided so as to separate the ink chamber from the passage.
5. An ink tank comprising:
an ink chamber storing liquid therein;
an ink outlet adapted to supply the ink stored in the ink chamber;
an air communicating hole configured to introduce air into the ink chamber;
a passage communicating the ink chamber with the ink outlet;
a valve mechanism provided in the passage and configured to selectively open and close the passage;
a prism provided in the ink chamber and adapted to detect a level of the ink; and
a porous member provided in the ink chamber and disposed between the prism and the passage,
wherein the prism and the porous member are disposed in the ink chamber connected to an upstream opening of the passage.
US12765050 2002-02-14 2010-04-22 Ink tank and ink jet printer Active 2024-03-27 US8408687B2 (en)
JPP2002-037431 2002-02-14
JP2002037431A JP4126920B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2002-02-14 An ink tank and an ink jet printer
JPP2002-139840 2002-05-15
JP2002139840A JP4013642B2 (en) 2002-05-15 2002-05-15 An ink tank and an ink jet printer
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US12765050 US8408687B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2010-04-22 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US13785316 US8690300B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2013-03-05 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US12390182 Continuation US7722176B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2009-02-20 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US13785316 Continuation US8690300B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2013-03-05 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US20100201763A1 true US20100201763A1 (en) 2010-08-12
US8408687B2 true US8408687B2 (en) 2013-04-02
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US10366702 Active US6848776B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2003-02-14 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US11045059 Active US7029106B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2005-01-31 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US11400386 Active US7252377B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2006-04-10 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US11832795 Active US7513614B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2007-08-02 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US12390182 Active US7722176B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2009-02-20 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US12765050 Active 2024-03-27 US8408687B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2010-04-22 Ink tank and ink jet printer
US13785316 Active US8690300B2 (en) 2002-02-14 2013-03-05 Ink tank and ink jet printer
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