Ink jet recording apparatus using recording unit with ink cartridge having ink inducing element

• US 20030052951A1
• Filed: 08/20/2002
• Published: 03/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/1993
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ujita, Toshihiko, Tsukuda, Keiichiro, Takenouchi, Masanori
• Granted Patent: US 6,783,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/86
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17513 Inner structure
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1752 Mounting within the printer
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17523 Ink connection
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17553 Outer structure

Abstract

An ink cartridge (3) including an ink reservoir portion having a porous member (37) for storing ink and an ink supply portion (39) has an ink inducing element (47) disposed between the ink reservoir portion and the ink supply portion (39). The ink inducing element (47) is made of bundle of fibers in which each fiber is disposed in parallel to the direction of ink supplying from the ink reservoir to the ink supply portion (39), and one end of the ink inducing element (47) is press-touched to the porous member (37).

Claims

1. An ink cartridge having an ink-reserving portion with a porous member for storing ink and an ink-supply portion for supplying ink from said ink-reserving portion to an outside of said ink cartridge, comprising:

an ink-inducing element which is arranged between said ink-reserving portion and said ink-supply portion, said inducing element being formed as a bundle of fibers in which each fiber is parallel to a direction of supplying said ink.

2. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink-inducing element is slidably held by a holding member and a slide distance of the said ink-inducing element from said ink-reserving portion side to said ink-supply portion side is limited by a restriction member.

3. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bundle of fibers of said ink-inducing element has a hardened region around a peripheral surface thereof to hold said fibers together.

4. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bundle of fibers is formed by permeating a binder into a peripheral surface of said ink-inducing element.

22. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein a capillary force of said ink inducing element is higher than that of said porous member, and also a pressure loss of said ink inducing element is 20 mmAq or under.

23. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein a capillary force of said ink inducing element is in a range of 85 mmAq to 400 mmAq.

24. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein an average size of space between said fibers in said ink-inducing element is in a range of 0.01 mm to 0.05 mm.

25. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein a length of said ink inducing element along the direction of supplying ink is in a range of 2 mm to 6 mm.

26. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink inducing element has a region with a fiber density in said range of 100 to 200 fibers/mm².

27. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein an effective diameter of said ink-inducing element is in a range of 1 mm to 18 mm.

28. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink-inducing element is disposed in a center region of a cross section of said porous member in a direction of supplying ink.

29. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink-inducing element is disposed in a center region of a cross section of said ink cartridge in a direction of supplying said ink.

33. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink-inducing portion has an air path for letting air to be introduced into said ink cartridge from said ink-supply portion escape to an outside of said ink cartridge when said ink-inlet portion of said recording head is inserted into said ink-supply portion.

34. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 33, wherein said air path is formed as a groove on an inner wall of said ink-supply portion.

35. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 33, wherein said air path is communicated with an air communicating port through an inner space of said ink cartridge to communicate with an outside of said ink cartridge.

36. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 33, wherein a capillary force of said ink inducing element is higher than that of said porous member, and also a pressure loss of said ink guide member is 20 mmAq or under.

37. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 33, wherein said capillary force of said ink inducing element is in a range of 85 mmAq to 400 mmAq.

38. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 33, wherein said ink-inducing element is formed as a bundle of fibers in which each fiber is parallel to a direction of supplying said ink, an average size of space between said fibers in said ink-inducing element is in a range of 0.01 mm to 0.05 mm.

5. An ink cartridge having a porous member for storing ink to be supplied to a recording head through an ink-inlet portion of said recording head, comprising:

an ink-inducing element having a first end portion to be press-touched with said ink-inlet portion and a second end portion to be press-touched with said porous member, said ink-inducing element being formed as a bundle of fibers each of which is directed from said second end portion to said first end portion.

6. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said first end of said ink inducing element has an area to be press-touched with an area of a filter in said ink-inlet portion of said recording head, and said former area being larger than said latter area.

7. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said ink-inducing element of said ink cartridge is disposed so that a press-touched portion of said ink-inducing element with said ink inlet portion is positioned inside of a peripheral surface of said ink-inducing element.

8. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 7, wherein said press-touched portion is over 0.5 mm away from said peripheral surface of said ink-inducing element along a radial direction thereof.

9. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said ink-inducing element is able to slide along a direction of connecting said recording head with said ink cartridge.

10. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein a slide distance of said ink-inducing element is in a range of 0.1 mm to 3 mm.

11. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said bundle of said fibers is made of polyester fibers with average diameters in a range of 0.01 mm to 0.05 mm.

12. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said bundle of fibers of said ink-inducing element is formed by permeating a binder into a peripheral surface of said ink-inducing element.

13. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 12, wherein said binder is polyetherpolyol urethane.

14. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said ink-supply portion of said cartridge which is in an envelope is sealed with a sealing member which can be easily removed when said ink cartridge is put into use.

15. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 14, wherein space formed between said sealing member and said ink-inducing element is communicated with space formed in said ink cartridge.

16. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 14, wherein said sealing member is an aluminum-laminated film.

17. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 14, wherein said sealing member comprises a plurality of layers in which at least one layer is made of polyolefin as a contact layer to be contacted with said ink cartridge by means of thermal welding.

18. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 14, wherein an ink absorber is placed between said sealing member and said ink-inducing element.

19. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 18, wherein said ink-absorber is made of a browning material of polyvinyl alcohol.

20. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 18, wherein said ink-absorber is fixed on said sealing member by means of thermal welding.

21. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 18, wherein said ink absorber is made of same material as that of said contact layer of said sealing member.

30. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said ink-inducing element is disposed in a center region of a cross section of said porous member in a direction of supplying said ink.

31. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said ink-inducing element is disposed in a center region of a cross section of said ink cartridge in a direction of supplying said ink.

32. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 5, wherein said ink-inducing element is slidably held by a holding member and a slide distance of said ink-inducing element from said ink-reserving portion side to said ink-supply portion side is limited by a restriction member.

39. An ink cartridge comprising:

a porous member for storing ink; and

an ink-supply portion which has an outlet used for supplying ink to an ink jet head and into which an ink inlet portion of said ink jet head;

said ink-supply portion having an air path for letting air to be introduced into said ink cartridge from said ink-supply portion escape to said outside of said ink cartridge when said ink-inlet portion is inserted into said ink-supply portion.

40. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 39, wherein said air path is formed as a groove on an inner wall of said ink-supply portion.

41. An ink cartridge as claimed in claim 40, wherein said air path is communicated with an air communicating port through an inner space of said ink cartridge to communicate with an outside of said ink cartridge.

42. An ink-jet recording apparatus mounting a recording unit which has a recording head with a plurality of ejection ports;

and

an ink cartridge having a porous member for storing ink, wherein said recording unit having an ink inlet portion for leading ink form said ink cartridge, and said ink cartridge having an ink inducing element one end of which is press-touched with said ink inlet portion and the other end of which is press-touched said ink absorber, and which is made of a bundle of fibers, a carriage being provided for detachable mounting said recording unit.

43. an ink-jet recording apparatus as claimed in claim 42, wherein a capillary force of said ink inducing element is higher than that of said porous member, and also a pressure loss of said ink inducing element is 20 mmAq or under.

44. An ink-jet recording apparatus as claimed in claim 42, wherein said ink-supply portion has an air path for letting air to be introduced into said ink cartridge from said ink-supply portion escape to said outside of said ink cartridge when said ink-inlet potion of said recording heat is inserted into said ink-supply portion.

45. An ink-jet recording apparatus as claimed in claim 42, wherein capillary force of said ink inducing element is higher than that of said porous member and a pressure loss of said ink inducing element is 20 mmAq or under, and said ink-supply element has an air path for letting air to be introduced into said ink cartridge from said ink-supply element escape to said outside of said ink cartridge when said ink-inlet potion of said recording head is inserted into said ink-supply element.

46. An ink-jet recording apparatus including an ink-jet recording unit which has a recording head for ejecting ink and an ink cartridge for storing, and performing recording by ejecting ink onto a recording medium, wherein said ink cartridge has an ink absorber for holding ink, and an ink inducing element disposed between said ink absorber and an outlet for supplying ink to outside, a capillary force of said ink inducing element is higher than that of said ink absorber, and also a pressure loss of said ink inducing element is 20 mmAq or under.

47. An ink-jet recording apparatus as claimed in claim 46, wherein said ink-supply portion has an air path for letting air to be introduced into said ink cartridge from said ink-supply portion escape to an outside of said ink cartridge when said ink-inlet portion of said recording head is inserted into said ink-supply portion.

48. An ink jet recording apparatus using a recording unit which has a recording head for recording by ejecting ink and an ink cartridge for supplying ink to said recording head, said recording head and said ink cartridge are removably connected with each other, wherein said recording head has an ink inducing element which is press-touched to said ink cartridge and provided for receiving said ink supply, and wherein said ink cartridge has an ink absorber for storing ink to be supplied to said recording head, an ink supply portion into which an ink inlet of said recording head is inserted and which has outlet formed at front end of said ink cartridge, so as to constitute ink path communicating said ink inlet with said ink absorber, an ink inducing element one end of which is press-touched to said ink inlet inserted into said ink supply portion and another end of which is press-touched to said ink absorber, and an air communicating path disposed between said ink inducing element and a wall of said ink supply portion and provided for letting air to be introduced into said ink cartridge from said ink supply portion escape to an outside of said ink cartridge when said ink inlet portion is inserted into said ink supply portion.

49. An ink-jet recording unit including a recording head with a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting ink and an ink cartridge having a porous member for holding ink to be supplied to said recording head, wherein

said recording head has an ink inlet for lead ink from said ink cartridge,

and wherein said ink cartridge has an ink inducing element one end of which is press-touched to said ink inlet, another end of which is press-touched to said ink absorber, and which is made of a bundle of fibers in which each fiber is directed from said porous member to said ink inlet portion.

50. An ink-jet recording unit as claimed in claim 49, wherein a capillary force of said ink inducing element is higher than that of said porous member, and also a pressure loss of said ink inducing element is 20 mmAq or under.

51. An ink-jet recording unit as claimed in claim 49, wherein an air path for letting air escape to an outside is formed in said ink-supply portion which is formed when said recording head and said ink cartridge are connected with each other and is disposed in a space between said ink inducing element and a wall of said ink supply portion.

52. An ink-jet recording unit as claimed in claim 49, wherein a capillary force of said ink inducing member is higher than that of said porous member and a pressure loss of said ink inducing element 20 mmAq or under, when said recording head and said ink cartridge are connected with each other and is disposed in a space between said ink inducing element and a wall of said ink supply portion.

53. An ink-jet recording unit in which an ink jet head for ejecting ink and an ink cartridge for storing ink to be supplied to said ink jet head are removably connected with each other,

wherein said ink cartridge has an ink absorber for holding stored ink, and an ink inducing element disposed between said ink absorber and an outlet for supplying ink to an outside, a capillary force of said ink inducing element is higher than that of said ink absorber and a pressure loss of said ink inducing element is 20 mmAq or under, and an ink inlet of said ink jet head is touched to said ink inducing element.

54. An ink-jet recording unit as claimed in claim 53, wherein an air path for letting, air escape to an outside is formed in an ink-supply portion and is disposed between said ink inducing element and a wall of said ink supply portion.

55. A recording unit in which a recording head for recording by ejecting ink and an ink cartridge for supplying ink to said recording head which are removably connected with each other;

wherein said recording head an ink inducing portion which is touched to said ink cartridge and is provided for receiving said ink supply one end of said ink inducing element being touched to said ink inlet inserted into said ink supply portion, and another end of said ink inducing element being press-touched to said ink absorber, and said ink cartridge has an ink absorber for storing ink to be supplied to said recording head, an ink supply portion into which an ink inlet of said recording head and which has an outlet formed on a front end of said ink cartridge, so as to form an ink supply route communicating said ink inducing element with said ink absorber, and air path for letting air escape to an outside, said air path being disposed between said ink inducing element and a wall of said ink supply portion when said receding head is connected with said ink cartridge.