Ink cartridge, ink-jet printing apparatus, and refilling device

Ink cartridge, inkjet printing device and refilling device

This creation is about an inkjet printing device, which supplies ink from a replaceable ink cartridge and ejects ink droplets from a nozzle hole to a recording medium for the purpose of printing. This creation is also about an ink cartridge and ink refilling device suitable for printing devices.

The conventional inkjet printing device includes, for example, a printing head and an ink cartridge that supplies ink to the printing head. In the printing head, a driving signal is applied to a piezoelectric vibrator or a piezoelectric vibrator according to the printing data. The heating device, and the ink in a pressure generating chamber is actuated by the energy generated by the piezoelectric vibrator or the heating device, thereby ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle hole.

The print quality is determined by the resolution of the print head. In addition, it is greatly affected by the ink viscosity and the degree of ink diffusion (flow) on the recording medium. Therefore, in order to improve the print quality, the ink characteristics and the amount of ink to be applied to the print head The driving signal has been improved, and in order to prevent the nozzle holes from condensing, the maintenance status such as the blank ejection cycle and the covered ink ejection status has also been improved.

Therefore, when both the ink characteristics and the print head driving method are appropriately determined, the printing quality of the printing device is improved. The development of this technology is achieved by designing a new type of inkjet printing device to be manufactured. However, the application of this achievement to the printing device is beyond the manufacturer, because the printing device needs to be brought to the manufacturer, and the memory device for storing the control data needs to be improved. However, this is extremely impractical in implementation. Costs and complicated processes are required during manufacturing.

Therefore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-193127 has disclosed a method in which an ink cartridge is equipped with a memory device, and the ink characteristics, ink volume, and driving status are all stored in the memory device. Therefore, a printing device In, the driving state is adjusted based on various data.

Surprisingly, in view of environmental issues, manufacturers now need to recycle ink cartridges and cartridge bodies with print heads as much as possible, that is, those discarded as consumable products in the past. Therefore, it is necessary to study the problem of refilling refillable ink cartridges to facilitate Its recycling.

However, the ink cartridges used by users are used in a variety of ways. Therefore, the quality of recycled ink cartridges varies greatly. The recycling process cannot be performed uniformly on this recycled product, contrary to the situation of manufacturing original products.

This creation is made in response to the problems and difficulties of learning skills, and the purpose of this creation is to provide an ink cartridge that can be reused when it is recycled while still maintaining high quality.

Another purpose of this creation is to provide a printing device suitable for this ink cartridge.

Another purpose of this creation is to provide a cartridge regenerating device suitable for the above-mentioned ink cartridge.

The above and other objects can be achieved by providing an ink cartridge, which according to this creation includes a container with an ink chamber for holding ink, and an ink supply hole for ejecting ink from the ink chamber to a printing table Head; memory device, used to store data related to ink; and contact device, so that data can be transmitted between the memory device and an external device. The memory device has an area for storing data related to the ink cartridge usage history in a rewritable manner.

The state of the ink cartridge used by the user is stored in the memory device. Therefore, when the ink cartridge is regenerated, the regeneration process applicable to the ink cartridge can be performed based on the data in the memory device.

This creation will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a preferred example of the ink cartridges 10, 20 suitable for the creative inkjet printing device. A container 11, 21 contains ink and its top side is closed by a cap 12, 22, and a porous member system Fill the containers 11, 21 and immerse them in ink.

An ink supply hole 13, 23 is provided at the bottom surface of the container 11, 21, and when the container is installed on a box 42, the ink supply hole 13, 23 is hermetically connected to the ink supply needle 44, 45, one The circuit board 30 is fixedly mounted on one side surface of the containers 11 and 21.

The contact 31 for connecting electricity to the printing device is provided on the side of the circuit board 30, as shown in Figures 2(a) and 2(b). When the circuit board 30 is installed on the ink cartridge, this side can be As an outer surface. The semiconductor memory device 32 is mounted on this part of the outer surface of the circuit board 30 in an accessible manner without hindering the formation of the contact 31.

Fixed data such as manufacturing date, life span and number of refills are stored in the semiconductor memory device 32. In addition, subsequent data and character rows directly related to the data can be stored in a predetermined area of the memory device 32 in a rewrite manner:( 1) The number of times the ink cartridge is refilled.

(2) Maintenance status, such as ink cartridge cleaning status and component replacement status when the ink cartridge is refilled.

(3) Usage status, such as the final usage time of the ink cartridge, the final ink end time, and the usage environment of the ink cartridge.

In the case where different types of data are stored as character string data, the printing device is designed to store the data for interpreting the character string data. According to this, the memory capacity of the memory device 32 can be reduced considerably.

Figure 3 shows an example of a part of the printing mechanism of the printing device. The carrier 42 is connected to a driving motor 41 via a timing belt 40, and a holder 43 is used to hold the ink cartridge 10 and the container containing black ink. For the ink cartridge 20 containing color ink, the holder is arranged on the upper side of the carrier 42, and a printing head 46 is used to supply ink from the ink cartridges 10 and 20 through the ink needles 44 and 45. The printing head is arranged On the lower surface of the carrier 42.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional structure to illustrate the situation where the ink cartridge is attached to the carrier, and the black ink cartridge 10 is used as an example. When the ink cartridge 10 is correctly connected to the ink supply needle 44, the contact 31 of the circuit board 30 is connected to the contact 47 of the carrier 42, so the ink cartridge 10 can be connected to a control device 49 via a flexible wire 48 , And the ink cartridge 10 can be accessed from the control device 49.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a control device 49. According to a signal from a host, the head driving device 50 causes ink droplets from the printing head 46 according to the instruction signal from the printing control device 51 and the removal control device 52 (for eliminating condensation). Squirting.

When the driving state and the like are all stored in the memory device 32, the printing control device 51 reads the ideal driving state for the ink cartridges 10 and 20 via the access device 53, and performs printing control. As a result, even if it is used for recycling products, the default drive status can still be judged, and the drive signal to be fed to the print head 46 can be adjusted, so the ink droplets can be ejected in an ideal amount, which will be described in detail later. .

The read-write control device 54 writes the data stored in the data storage memory 55 to the memory devices 32 of the ink cartridges 10 and 20. The data storage memory 55 stores information related to the use environment of the printing device and is stored by the environment detection device 56 The detected data, the cleaning operation status of the cleaning control device 52, and the cleaning operation status of the cleaning control device 57.

Next, the use of the ink cartridges 10 and 20 with the above structure will be described in conjunction with the flowchart in FIG. 6.

When the ink cartridges 10, 20 are installed on the carrier 42, the printing control device 52 reads the cartridge data stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 of the ink cartridges 10, 20 (step B), and attaches the time data indication It is stored on the semiconductor memory device 32 of the ink cartridges 10 and 20 (step C), and then it is judged from the number of regeneration times whether the cartridge needs to be regenerated (step D).

If the cartridge is newly installed, the ink in the ink cartridges 10 and 20 is supplied to the print head 46 in the default state (step F), and the printing process is performed (step G). On the other hand, if the cartridge wants to Regeneration, the data in the data storage memory 55 is adjusted and updated based on the cartridge data, and the ink is filled (step F). Thereby, the ink in the regenerated cartridge whose stability is lower than that of the original cartridge is filled into the print head 46, for example, by increasing the amount of ink drawn without deteriorating the print quality (step F).

The ink in the ink cartridges 10 and 20 is consumed due to the printing operation and the anti-condensation operation, and when the ink is detected to be out (step H), the ink out time data indication is controlled by the printing control device 51 The cartridge data type is stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 of the ink cartridges 10 and 20. When the ink cartridge is attached, it is judged by the number of regenerations whether the next regeneration is possible (step K), whether the cartridge container has reached the end of its life (step L), and whether the ink cartridge has been detected for a predetermined period of time. After the expiration, it expires (step M), and whether the usage environment monitored by the usage environment detecting device 56 has a negative influence on the ink cartridge (step N).

If all judgments are satisfactory, it is indicated on the printing device or can be regenerated to the computer display device (step O), and the data in the data storage memory 55 is written to the semiconductors of the ink cartridges 10 and 20 On the storage device 32 (step P). On the other hand, if any of the judgments is not satisfactory, the cartridge can no longer be filled, so the printing device or the display device to the computer indicates that the cartridge should be discarded (step Q).

According to the above example, the semiconductor memory device 32 stores therein fixed data such as production date, life span, possible number of regeneration, and other data such as the actual number of regeneration applied to the main ink cartridge, the cleaning status during the regeneration of the ink cartridge, and the maintenance status such as components. Replacement, the most recent use time of the ink cartridge, the time when the ink is used up, the usage status or environment of the ink cartridge. In addition, the memory device also stores a preset minimum amount of ink to be kept in the ink cartridge, that is, the minimum amount of ink stored when the ink cartridge is exported from the factory, and the record when the ink cartridge is installed on the printing device. The remaining ink volume, the data can be read to help prevent damage to the print head.

The flowcharts of Figures 7 and 8 reveal the operation of the above ink cartridges, and refer to a printing device with two different ink cartridges installed on it, namely one for black and the other for color printing.

When the two ink cartridges 10, 20 are installed on a carrier 42 (step A), a read-write control device 54 reads a current remaining ink data and a semiconductor memory device 32 of each of the ink cartridges 10, 20. The minimum ink volume is preset (step B), and then the control device 54 makes the data compare with each other (step C).

As a result of the comparison, when the remaining ink is less than the predetermined minimum amount of ink, an ink-out indication is displayed on the printing device or the display device of the host computer without processing subsequent operations (step D).

On the other hand, when the remaining ink volume is more than the preset minimum ink volume, a printing control device 51 executes a printing operation when a printing command signal is input (step E). The amount of ink droplets ejected according to the printing command signal of the print head 46 is counted to facilitate the calculation of the amount of ink consumed by the printing operation. A purge control device 52 performs a commonly known purge operation to prevent the nozzle holes from condensing, and during the purge operation, ink drops are ejected every time a predetermined amount of printing has been performed or the predetermined time has expired. The ink ejected during the cleaning operation is not used for printing, but the ink droplets ejected during the cleaning operation are also counted, and the ink consumption in the ink cartridges 10 and 20 is calculated (step F). Thereafter, each time the printing operation is paused, for example, when one page is printed, the remaining ink amount is calculated and the data is stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 of each ink cartridge 10, 20 (step G).

When the printing operation lasts for a long time and a printing failure occurs, the operator can instruct a cleaning operation or the control device can automatically generate a cleaning instruction signal (step H). If a cleaning operation is instructed, read the remaining ink amount stored in one of the ink cartridge semiconductor memory devices 32, such as the first ink cartridge 10 (step 1). Subsequently, the read remaining ink volume is compared with the sum of the preset minimum ink volume stored in the first ink cartridge semiconductor memory device 32 and the ink volume consumed by the cleaning operation (step J).

When the remaining ink in the first ink cartridge is still sufficient, then the remaining ink amount data stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 of the second ink cartridge 20 is read (step K). The read remaining ink volume is then compared with the sum of the preset minimum ink volume stored in the second ink cartridge semiconductor memory device 32 and the ink volume consumed by the cleaning operation (step L).

Under the above operation, when the two ink cartridges are filled with enough ink, the cleaning control device 57 will perform the normal cleaning operation, which requires a larger amount of ink (step M), and after the normal cleaning operation, the program will return to Step A.

On the other hand, when the amount of remaining ink in any ink cartridge is less than the sum of the preset minimum ink amount stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 of the corresponding ink cartridge 10, 20 and the amount of ink consumed by the normal cleaning operation, the cleaning control device 57 Perform a short cleaning operation, which requires less ink than normal cleaning operations (steps O, R). In this operation, an ink out state is displayed in relation to the ink cartridge, that is, the cartridge body with insufficient ink, so the device can be used by the user to replace a new ink cartridge (steps S, P). When the ink cartridge is replaced with a new cartridge body after the ink low display (steps Q, T), the procedure returns to step I to perform the cleaning operation again.

In addition, in step T, when a new ink cartridge is installed on the print head, the new ink is supplied to the print head from the new ink cartridge. Since a short cleaning operation has been performed before replacing the old ink cartridge, the nozzle hole The condensation problem should be fixed at a certain level. According to this, the supply of ink from the new ink cartridge to the print head can be surely achieved, and it is smoothly compared to a situation where the old ink cartridge is replaced without a brief cleaning operation.

In this case, since the partial cleaning has already been performed before the ink cartridge is replaced, it is best to perform the normal cleaning operation again after the previous cleaning operation has been used for the old ink cartridge to reduce the amount of ink.

According to the above example, the possibility of cleaning operation is based on the preset minimum ink volume stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 of the ink cartridges 10 and 20 when the ink cartridge is exported from the factory. According to this, the ideal minimum ink volume can correspond to the ink The drying speed and the volatilization speed of the ink solvent or the like are changed and preset. As a result, the device can avoid the problem of the print head being damaged by white spots, that is, no ink is ejected, and the problem of an incorrect ink out indication display while there is still a large amount of ink still in the ink cartridge.

In addition, in the above example, if the remaining ink is low, a short cleaning operation is performed. If the ink is effectively used up, the short cleaning operation may not be implemented, that is, steps O and R are cancelled, and the following procedures stop and display the ink usage Give instructions and wait for the ink cartridge to be replaced.

Figure 9 shows a preferred example of a cartridge regeneration device. The regeneration control device 60 reads data from the semiconductor memory device 32 of the recovery ink cartridge 10', 20' through the access device 61, and is based on the data stored in the data storage device 62 The ink discharge device 63, the component replacement device 64, the cleaning device 65 and the ink filling device 66 are controlled by the evaluation data, and based on the evaluation data, the refill control device 60 causes the operating state of the printing device to be stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 .

The operation situation of the regeneration device of this structure will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 10.

When the ink cartridge 10' is placed on a working color palette 67 (step A), the regeneration control device 60 reads data from the semiconductor memory device 32 through the access device 61 (step B), and it judges the ink cartridge Whether the number of regeneration is less than a predetermined number (e.g. 10) (step C), whether the time period after manufacturing is less than a predetermined period (e.g. 10 years) (step D), whether the time period after the most recent ink runs out is less than a predetermined period ( For example, 200 days) (step E), and whether the ink cartridge has been used in a predetermined environment (step F). If all these judgments are satisfied, it indicates that the cartridge can be reused (step G), and the regeneration process is performed (step H). On the other hand, if any requirement is not met, it indicates that the cartridge can no longer be used, and instructs to discard the ink cartridge.

The cartridge that meets the regeneration requirement is transferred to the ink discharge device 63 using the color palette 67, and the ink remaining in the cartridge is discharged by suction or the like (step A in FIG. 11). The regeneration control device 60 judges from the data whether the components read from the ink cartridge (such as the package installed in the ink supply hole) have reached the end of life (step B in Figure 11), and the required components are replaced by the component replacement device 64 (Step C in Figure 11).

If the time has expired after the last ink is used up, it is judged whether cleaning is required (step D in Figure 11), and based on this time period, the cleaning time of the cleaning device 65, that is, the degree of cleanliness can be determined (step E in Figure 11). To G).

When the pre-processing required for regeneration is completed, the regeneration control device 60 determines whether the ink cartridge should be cleaned with the ink to be discharged (this is necessary because changes in the ink composition of the color ink cartridge will substantially affect the print quality) (Figure 11) In step H), if it is necessary, a large amount of ink is discharged from the ink cartridge, so that the ink cartridge is cleaned with the ink to be filled, and a predetermined amount of ink is filled into the ink cartridge (step I in FIG. 11). If cleaning with ink is not required, a predetermined amount of ink is supplied and filled into the ink cartridge (step J in FIG. 11).

After the ink filling is completed, the cartridge body data such as necessary data ((1) Regeneration date (2) Regeneration quantity (3) Replacement of components and their names (4) Filling ink in the print head according to the regeneration volume and ink extraction volume The method) is stored in the semiconductor memory device 32 that refills the ink cartridge under the control of the regeneration control device 60 (step I in FIG. 10).

The history of the refilled cartridge body refilled with ink is thus cleared, and the operation of the printing device is determined by the data related to the required operation method, because it is different from the original ink cartridge.

As mentioned above, according to this creation, it provides a memory device with several areas, in which the data related to the ink cartridge use history can be stored in a rewrite method, so the refilling process can be refilled according to the user's ink cartridge status. The process is carried out, and the recovery can be carried out in a very stable manner.

<p>10Ink Cartridge</p><p>11Container</p><p>12Cap</p><p>13Ink supply hole</p><p>20Ink Cartridge</p><p>21Container</p><p>22Cap</p><p>23Ink supply hole</p><p>30Circuit board</p><p>31Contact</p>

Figures 1A and 1B respectively show preferred examples of the ink cartridge of this creation; Figures 2A and 2B show the front and back sides of a circuit board mounted on the ink cartridge shown in Figures 1A and 1B; Figure 3 shows the use of The printing mechanism of a printing device of the ink cartridge; Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the state of the ink cartridge installed on a cartridge body; Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a control device used to control the operation of the above-mentioned device : Figure 6 is a flow chart showing the operation of the above device; Figure 7 is a flow chart showing the main operation situation and a process of an ink cartridge in the cleaning process of the creative printing device; Figure 8 is a flow chart The table shows another ink cartridge cleaning process used in the creative printing device; Figure 9 shows an example of an ink refill device; Figure 10 is a flow chart showing the overall operation of the ink refill device; and 11 is a flow chart that reveals the filling process of the ink refilling device.