Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20050134661A1/en
Timestamp: 2018-09-22 21:44:49
Document Index: 145127557

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 54', 'art 55', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 55', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 54', 'art 64', 'art 64', 'art 64', 'art 64', 'art 64', 'art 64', 'art 64', 'art 64', 'art 64']

US20050134661A1 - Ink-jet recording device and ink supply unit suitable for it - Google Patents
US20050134661A1
US20050134661A1 US10819756 US81975604A US2005134661A1 US 20050134661 A1 US20050134661 A1 US 20050134661A1 US 10819756 US10819756 US 10819756 US 81975604 A US81975604 A US 81975604A US 2005134661 A1 US2005134661 A1 US 2005134661A1
US10819756
US7350907B2 (en )
This application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 09/525,477, filed on Mar. 15, 2000.
FIGS. 7(a) to 7(e) are sectional views respectively showing other embodiments of the membrane valve forming the differential pressure valve mechanism.
FIGS. 16(a) to 16(e) respectively show other embodiments of the main tank.
By locating the lower end of the.,ink supply passage 38 in the vicinity of the ink inflow port 39 in this manner, highly degassed ink injected from the ink cartridge 5 can flow to the recording head 4 via the ink supply passage 38 located in the lower part while avoiding contact with the air.
FIGS. 5 and 6 show an embodiment of the above-mentioned differential pressure valve mechanism 50. A valve assembly accommodating recess 47 having a hole 46 for accommodating a coil spring 51 therein is formed in the central area of a side wall sealing one side of the valve chamber 37 of the casing 30, and the coil spring 51, a spring holder 52, a membrane valve 53 and a fixing member 57 used also as a support member for a filter 56 are fitted therein in a laminated fashion. The spring holder 52 is provided with a spring support face 52 a around which guide pieces 52 b with removal preventive claws 52d are formed. An ink flow port 52 c is formed through the spring support face 52 a.
The membrane valve 53, designed as a movable valve, includes a membrane part 54 formed of flexible material to be elastically deformed by receiving differential pressure, and a thick fixed part 55 that supports the periphery of the membrane part 54, that is formed of hard material and that is held between the casing 30 and the fixing member 57. It is preferable to manufacture the membrane valve 53 integrally through two-color molding of high polymer materials. At the central part of the membrane part 54, a thick-sealing part 54 b is provided, which has an ink flow port 54 a opposite to the ink flow port 52 c of the spring holder 52.
This permits ink in the ink storage chamber 36 to flow into the valve chamber 37, pass through the ink flow port 54 a of the membrane part 54 after air bubbles and dusts are removed therefrom by the filter 56, and then flow into the ink supply port 23 along a flow line shown by F. When differential pressure is decreased down to a certain degree in this manner, the membrane part 54 of the membrane valve 53 is pushed back to the valve seat 57 c by the spring 51 to close the ink flow port 54 a as shown in FIG. 6(a).
FIGS. 7(a) to 7(e) respectively show other embodiments of the above-described membrane valve 53. The membrane part 54 is made of material which can be displaced by the differential pressure of ink, for example, soft polypropylene so that it is provided with an annular support 54 b in the periphery thereof and the thick sealing part 54 b having the ink flow port 54 a in the central part thereof. The fixed part 55 is formed of hard material, for example hard polypropylene, into an annular member that is fitted onto the periphery of the support 54 c of the membrane part 54 to support the same.
It FIG. 7(a), a thin part 54 d forming the elastically deformable area of the membrane part 54 is tapered to offset the sealing part 54 b relative to a position where the thin part 54 d and the support 54 c are connected together.
In this embodiment, in a state in which ink is filled, the membrane part 64 is pressed by the spring 61 to elastically contact the valve seat 57 c over an extremely large area as shown in FIG. 8(a). Therefore, the communication between the ink storage chamber 36 and the ink supply port 23 is cut off. As printing is started in this state to consume ink by the recording head 9, a gap g is formed between the membrane part 64 and the valve seat 57 c′ as shown in FIG. 8(b). This permits ink in the ink storage chamber 52 to flow into the ink supply port 23 as shown by F such the ink, from which air bubbles and dusts are removed by the filter 56, passes through the ink flow port 64 c of the membrane part 64 and an outflow port 67. In this manner, when differential pressure is decreased to some extent, the membrane part 64 is pushed back to the valve seat 57 c, by the spring 61 and the ink flow port 64 c is closed as shown in FIG. 8(a). As the pressure of the spring 61 is received by the valve seat 57 c′ in this state, the thin part 64 a is not deformed excessively and fluid-tight property can be kept for a long term.
Soft high polymer material is likely to cause contraction, etc. subsequently to injection molding, and the thin part 64 a may faces a difficulty to keep a planar surface. To cope with this difficulty, an annular bent part 64 d, having a approximately S-shape in section is formed in the support area side of the thin part 64 a as shown in FIG. 8(c) to keep the thin part 64 a planar.
Further, when the main tank 80 is depressed further, the valve 94 supported at the limit point, in turn, depresses the protruded portion 87 a backwardly in a direction shown by an arrow B against the spring 88 to separate the sealing valve 87 from the connection port 81′, thereby releasing the passage as shown in FIG. 14(c). This permits ink in the main tank 80 to flow into the ink storage chamber 92 of the ink supply unit 90 as shown in FIG. 15(a).
As shown in FIG. 16(c), if the lower end of the partition is tilted so that the lower end is located away from the connection port 81, dynamic pressure toward the connection port side by the ink flow of ink associated with the change from one ink chamber to another can be decreased. Further, as shown in FIG. 16(d), the upper part of each partition is horizontally extended to form a top plate, and a wall 80 a to which these top plates are extended is made at least translucent. This makes it possible to visually recognize consumption of ink in each ink chamber from the side. Further, as shown in FIG. 16(e), even if communicating windows of the same height are used, approximately the similar effect, is obtained.
When the carriage 1 is moved to a position of the ink supplementing unit 7 and the ink supplementing unit is connected to the ink supply unit 3, the ink inlet 9 of the ink supply unit 3 is communicated with the ink cartridge 5 through a tube 8′ extended from the ink supplementing unit 7 and the tube 8 via a coupling 130, and the air open port 21 is connected to the pump unit 10 through tubes 11l extended from the ink supplementing unit 7 and the tube 11 via a coupling 131.
1. An ink jet printing cartridge comprising:
an ink storage chambers wherein at least one of the n ink storage chambers is located substantially below another one of the n ink storage chamber, wherein n is greater than 1; an ink supply port; and
a negative pressure valve disposed between said n ink storage chambers and the ink supply port and controls ink flow to said ink supply port from said n ink storage chambers;
wherein at least one of said n ink storage chambers has an outlet passage located in a lower portion of said at least one n ink storage chamber;
wherein ink stored in the n ink storage chambers is depleted sequentially beginning with the first ink storage chamber and ending with said nth ink storage chamber.
2. The ink jet printing cartridge of claim 1, wherein said ink flows sequentially from said first ink storage chamber to said nth ink storage chamber; and
wherein in said ink flows from said nth ink storage chamber to said negative pressure valve.
3. The ink jet printing cartridge of claim 1, wherein said ink flows from an ink storage chamber which is lower than said negative pressure valve.
4. The ink jet printing cartridge of claim 1, wherein said negative pressure valve further comprises a movable membrane normally contacted elastically with a valve seat by a coil spring.
5. The ink jet printing cartridge of claim 4, wherein said movable membrane is disposed between said valve seat and said coil spring; and
wherein said coil spring urges said movable membrane against said valve seat.
6. The ink jet printing cartridge of claim 1, wherein a filter is disposed between an upper ink storage chamber and the negative pressure valve.
7. An ink jet recording device comprising an ink jet recording head provided to a carriage, ink supply means, mounted to said carriage, for supplying ink to said recording head, and ink supplementing means for supplementing ink to said ink supply means, wherein:
said ink supply means is partitioned into an ink storage chamber and a valve chamber by a wall provided at its bottom part with an ink inflow port;
an ink injection port and an air open port connectable to an exterior are provided to said ink storage chamber;
a differential pressure valve opened when pressure in a recording head side is decreased is accommodated in said valve chamber;
said supplementing means is formed as negative pressure generating means for supplying negative pressure to said air open port; and
negative pressure in said ink supplementing means acts on said ink storage chamber to cause ink to flow from said ink cartridge to the bottom part of said ink storage chamber when ink is supplied to said ink supply means.
8. An ink jet recording device comprising an ink jet recording head provided to a carriage, ink supply means, mounted on said carriage, for supplying ink to said recording head, ink supplementing means for supplementing ink to said ink supply means, and capping means sealing said recording head and receiving negative pressure from a suction pump, wherein:
said ink supply means is partitioned by a wall provided at its bottom part with an ink inflow port into an ink storage chamber and a valve chamber that accommodates a differential pressure valve opened when pressure in a recording head side is decreased;
said ink supply means is provided with an ink injection port communicating with the bottom part of said ink storage chamber in the vicinity of an upstream side of said differential
pressure valve via a passage isolated from said ink storage chamber; and
negative pressure is applied to said recording head via said capping means in a state in which said ink injection port is connected to an ink cartridge accommodating degassed ink so that ink in said valve chamber is replaced with degassed ink while discharging ink from said recording head.
9. An ink-jet recording device comprising an ink jet recording head provided to a carriage, ink supply means, mounted on said carriage, for supplying ink to said recording head, and an ink tank for supplying ink to said ink supply means, wherein
said ink supply means accommodates an ink storage chamber, an air communicating hole communicating said ink storage chamber with an ambient air, and a differential pressure valve opened where pressure on a recording head side is decreased; and
said ink tank communicates with the ambient air via said air communicating hole provided to said ink supply means.
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