CN1174860C - Ink filling method for ink jet head - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ink filling method for an inkjet head. When filling the ink, tools are connected to the ventilation pipe hole, the plug hole and the ink outlet hole at the bottom of the cartridge shell, etc. to first evacuate the ink cartridge into a vacuum state and maintain the vacuum state, so that the filling of ink and the packaging are both carried out in a vacuum state, so as to achieve the best filling quality, keep the ink output of the inkjet head stable during printing, and obtain the best printing effect.

Description

Ink filling method of inkjet head

technical field

The present invention relates to an ink filling method for an inkjet head, in particular to a filling method in which the ink box of the inkjet head is evacuated first and then filled with ink to form a stable negative pressure.

Background technique

Thermal-bubble type inkjet printers are currently the mainstream models in the printer market. The inkjet head is undoubtedly the most important component in the printing control mechanism. The overall components of the inkjet head include chips, Parts such as flexible circuit board and ink cartridge, among them, the ink cartridge is used to store ink and supply ink to the ink supply flow channel in the chip, and the shell of the ink cartridge is divided into different types according to the different models of the ink cartridge. Components such as airbags, shrapnel and/or ventilation tubes for maintaining negative pressure. In order to make the inkjet head print smoothly, in addition to preventing the nozzle holes of the chip from being blocked, the back pressure (Back pressure) in the ink cartridge must also maintain a stable state, so that the ink can maintain a certain output during use, and the ink can be used in No leakage from the inkjet head when the inkjet head is not in use. The "back pressure" mentioned refers to the formation of a partial vacuum state in the ink cartridge or the pressure in the cartridge slightly smaller than the atmospheric pressure, so as to prevent the ink from flowing out freely when the inkjet head is not printing; the maximum back pressure The function is to maintain the ink in the ink box in a balanced state, which can prevent the ink from leaking out at any time, and also enable the ink to be ejected smoothly when printing is performed. In US Patent No. 5,409,134, there is a full discussion on the problem of back pressure; this patent discloses that in order to obtain a stable negative pressure in the cartridge, attention must be paid to the control of the pressure in the cartridge when the empty cartridge is filled with ink. In addition, the ink replenishment method of the inkjet cartridge disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,537,134 (please refer to FIG. 1 ) is to seal the chip nozzles (nozzles) part 30 at the bottom of the inkjet head when filling the ink, And after the air channel 50 of loam cake is also sealed with syringe 148, ink is poured into from the injection port 41 of loam cake with ink duct 150, after filling ink, again with a suction cover 164 (please refer to shown in Fig. 2 ) to cover the injection port 41, take out a small amount of volume with the air pump 168 to form the minimum negative pressure, and then plug the plug 43 to the injection port 41 with the top column 170, so that the inside of the ink cartridge can generate negative pressure again and can continue to use. This kind of filling method is mainly disclosed when it is only suitable for replenishing ink after the inkjet cartridge is used. Because there is a certain negative pressure in the ink cartridge, it is not disclosed for a new empty ink cartridge that has not been filled with ink.

The existing ink filling method described above can only be used for ink cartridges with existing negative pressure; and new empty ink cartridges without negative pressure cannot be filled with ink in this way. How to make a new empty ink cartridge produce a stable negative pressure after perfusion and be in a good printing state is a problem that cannot be ignored.

Contents of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide an ink filling method for an inkjet head that is suitable for both existing ink cartridges with negative pressure and new empty ink cartridges without negative pressure.

In order to achieve the above object, the inkjet head ink filling method of the present invention comprises the following steps: placing an empty inkjet box on the ink box seat, and using air extraction tools to respectively push against the number of holes in the inkjet box that can communicate with the outside air. a vent hole; start the air pump to evacuate the empty inkjet cartridge into a vacuum state from the several vent holes; clean the inside of the cartridge body; start the air pump again to extract the cleaning medium from the several vent holes to make the empty inkjet cartridge Form a vacuum state again; block the vent tube holes in several vent holes, move the ink filling head to the ink filling hole to fill the ink, start the air pump to extract air slightly from the nozzle hole of the chip; after completing the ink filling, block the several At the air pipe holes in the air holes and the nozzle holes of the wafer, blockages are punched into the ink filling holes to close the ink filling holes; Pull away the residual ink action; stop the pumping action, the ink filling head reverses the displacement, so that the inkjet cartridge and the ink filling head are separated to form a vacuum-breaking state; start the suction pump to remove the residual ink on the surface of the inkjet cartridge, and complete the filling ink action.

In the present invention, when the empty ink cartridge is filled with ink, the nozzle hole of the chip, the ventilation pipe mouth and the ink injection hole are held against by an air pumping tool, and the air in the cartridge is first pumped out to form a vacuum state, and then high-pressure carbon dioxide is poured into it. (CO ₂ ) gas cleans the inside of the cartridge to remove impurities and oxygen, and prevent the ink from oxidizing and moldy. Ink is pumped at the two places of the air pipe mouth, and finally the utensils and the ink filling head leave the ink box to complete the entire ink filling action.

Specifically, in order to achieve the above object, the inkjet head ink filling method of the present invention comprises the following steps:

1. Put the empty ink cartridge on the ink cartridge seat, and the air extraction tool is respectively against the ink filling hole, the vent pipe hole and the nozzle hole of the chip;

2. Start the air pump to pump the empty ink cartridge into a vacuum state from the above three places;

3. Cover the vent pipe hole and the nozzle hole of the chip, and pour high-pressure carbon dioxide gas (CO ₂ ) into the ink injection hole to clean the inside of the cartridge;

4. Start the pump again to extract the carbon dioxide gas from the three channels, so that the empty ink cartridge will form a vacuum state again;

5. Block the orifice of the vent pipe, move the ink filling head to the ink filling orifice to fill the ink, start the air pump to extract air slightly from the nozzle hole of the chip;

6. After the ink filling is completed, block the vent pipe orifice and the nozzle hole of the chip, and drive the blockage into the ink filling hole to close the ink filling hole;

7. Start the suction pump to instantly extract the residual ink from the vent pipe orifice and the nozzle hole of the chip;

8. Stop the pumping action and break the vacuum, and the ink filling head reverses and returns a little displacement to separate the inkjet cartridge from the ink filling head;

9. Start the suction pump to remove the residual ink on the surface of the inkjet cartridge, and complete the ink filling action.

In the operation steps, use the air pump to evacuate to a vacuum state of -680mmHg, so as to form a stable negative pressure when the ink is poured.

In the operation step, after the ink is filled, the stopper for closing the ink filling hole can be a steel ball, a plastic ball, a silica gel ball or a rubber ball.

In the operation steps, the time to instantly remove the residual ink can be adjusted according to the external environment and the model of the ink cartridge, and it is generally set to 0.2 seconds.

In the present invention, the holes communicating with the outside world on the ink cartridge are all resisted by the air pumping tool, and the air pumping action is performed at the same time, and the ink is poured, the ink injection hole is sealed, and the actions such as removing residual ink are all under the airtight vacuum state. In this way, a stable negative pressure can be maintained, so that the inkjet head can be kept smooth when printing, and a certain quality can be maintained.

For a clearer understanding of the purpose, features and advantages of the present invention, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Examples are described in detail.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the ink filling action of US Patent No. 5,537,134;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of closed injection of US Patent No. 5,537,134;

Figure 3 is a front sectional view of an ink cartridge to be filled in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is the upper view of the upper cover of the ink cartridge to be filled in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is A-A sectional schematic diagram among Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram 1 of ink filling action in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram 2 of ink filling action in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram 3 of ink filling action in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of the inflation action of the air bag in the ink cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

Please refer to shown in Figure 3, the inkjet box 10 to be filled is made of an ink storage box 12 and an upper cover 14, wherein, the ink storage box 12 is a groove shell, and the inner space is for storing ink and accommodating and fixing The air bag 16 , the shrapnel 18 and the ventilation tube 20 inside the upper cover 14 . There is a protrusion 48 at the bottom of the ink storage box 12, and a side 481 of the protrusion 48 is connected with a side 121 of the ink storage box 12 to form a plane, that is, the side 481 is an extension of the side 121 (121 and 481, please refer to Fig. 5), on this plane, a flexible circuit board (not shown) can be fixed. There is an ink channel 24 (Ink pipe) formed by the annular wall 22 in the middle of the interior of this protruding portion 48, and there is an ink supply channel 26 at the bottom of this ink channel 24 to supply ink to the ink supply channel and the ink cabin on the chip 28. (not shown). The chip 28 is connected to the flexible circuit board and fixed in the middle of the bottom outside of the protruding portion 48 , that is, below the ink supply channel 26 of the ink channel 24 .

On the upper cover 14 there are three holes (see FIG. 4 ) for communicating with the outside. Among them, the ink filling hole 30 is for filling ink, the air bag hole 32 is for air to enter the air bag 16, and the vent pipe hole 34 is for air to pass through the vent pipe. 20 enters the inkjet box 10 to adjust the back pressure in the inkjet box 10; in the inside of the loam cake 14 at the air bag hole 32, a circular sleeve 38 formed by an annular wall 36 can provide a fixing device 40, which There is a through tube 42 in the middle of the fixing device 40 so that air enters and exits the air bag 16. The wall of the through tube 42 extends to the bottom of the fixing device 40, and protrudes a certain length of the protrusion 44 for the fixing of the air bag 16; the fixing device 40 also provides a shrapnel 18 is fixed, and the shrapnel 18 is placed on both sides of the airbag 16 in the form of left and right pieces. The function of the shrapnel 18 is to apply a specific pressure to the airbag 16 to help the airbag 16 adjust and shrink. For the expansion state of the airbag 16, please refer to Figure 9 shown. Inside the loam cake 14 is a sleeve pipe 46 at the air pipe hole 34. This sleeve pipe 46 can be sleeved and connected to the air pipe 20, and the air pipe 20 then extends to the bottom of the ink storage box 12, so that air can flow from the air pipe 20 The outlet enters into the ink storage box 12 to further adjust the back pressure of the ink jet box 10 .

Shown in Fig. 5 is the side view section of the present invention, clearly shows that the loam cake 14 of inkjet box 10 has three through holes, is respectively ink filling hole 30, air bag hole 32, ventilation tube hole 34, and the ink storage of inkjet box 10 Cartridge 12 has outlets for ink (ie, orifices for chip 28). When the ink will be poured, the air pump must hold the nozzle hole of the chip 28, the air pipe hole 34 and the ink filling hole 30, and keep the air bag hole 32 connected to the outside world, so that the air bag 16 can follow the ink when filling the ink. In the ink filling step, there are changes in expansion and contraction to maintain the back pressure in the inkjet cartridge 10 in a stable state.

Please refer to Figures 6 to 8, the operation steps of the ink jet head ink filling method of the present invention are: place the empty ink jet cartridge 10 on the ink cartridge seat, and the air extraction tool 50 is against the ink filling hole 30 and the vent pipe respectively. The nozzle holes of hole 34 and chip 28 are provided with a soft pad 52 to keep airtightness at the position where the air suction tool 50 contacts each hole. This soft pad 52 can be a silica gel pad or a rubber pad, and Air bag hole 32 then remains open state, so that air enters and exits air bag 16 at any time; Start suction pump (not shown) to draw into vacuum state (-680mmHg) in the inkjet box 10 from described three positions, now inkjet box 10 The outside air enters the airbag 16 through the air pressure difference to inflate the airbag 16; cover the vent pipe hole 34 and the nozzle hole of the chip 28, and pour high-pressure carbon dioxide gas (CO ₂ ) from the ink filling hole 30 to clean the inside of the cartridge At this time, the air pressure in the inkjet cartridge 10 is greater than the external air pressure, and the air bag 16 is forced to shrink to push the air out of the inkjet cartridge 10; start the air pump again to extract the carbon dioxide gas from the three passages, so that the empty inkjet cartridge 10 is again A vacuum state is formed. At this time, the air outside the inkjet cartridge 10 enters the air bag 16 again by the air pressure difference to expand the air bag 16; then the air pipe hole 34 is blocked, and the ink filling head 54 is displaced to the ink filling hole 30 to fill the setting. amount of ink (FIG. 7), start the air pump to pump air slightly from the nozzle hole of the chip 28, so that the ink flows in smoothly. At this time, the air bag 16 is forced to shrink and push the air out of the inkjet cartridge 10; At the nozzle holes of the air pipe hole 34 and the chip 28, the steel ball 60 is squeezed into the ink filling hole 30 to close (Fig. 8). The diameter wall of 60 is slightly larger than the diameter of the ink filling hole 30, and the two are closely matched; start the suction pump to extract the residual ink from the vent pipe hole 34 and the nozzle hole of the chip 28 in an instant; stop the suction action, and the three holes simultaneously Slightly separated from the air extraction tool, the inkjet cartridge 10 is separated from the air extraction state, and the ink filling head is reversely displaced after the vacuum is broken at the same time, and the ink filling action is completed; the air suction pump is started to extract the residual ink on the surface of the inkjet cartridge 10. So far, the actual action of filling ink has been completed, but the whole operation process, including high-pressure cleaning of the inkjet head, test of ink discharge and other follow-up actions, are all understood by those familiar with this technology, so they will not be described in detail here.

From the description above, it can be seen that the ink filling method of the inkjet head of the present invention aims to maintain a stable negative pressure, so that the inkjet head can be kept smooth during printing and can maintain a certain quality.

The ink filling method of the inkjet head of the present invention has been fully disclosed as above, but the embodiments given are not intended to limit the present invention, and any person familiar with the art can make various etc. without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Effective changes and equivalent replacements should be included in the scope of patent protection of the patent for the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. an inkjet head ink filling method, it may further comprise the steps: Place the empty inkjet cartridge on the ink cartridge seat, and use the air extraction tool to hold against several vent holes inside the inkjet cartridge that can communicate with the outside air; Start the air pump to pump the empty inkjet cartridge into a vacuum state from the several ventilation holes; Clean the inside of the box; Start the air pump again to extract the cleaning medium from several vent holes, so that the empty inkjet cartridge can form a vacuum state again; Block the vent tube holes in several vent holes, move the ink filling head to the ink filling hole to fill the ink, and start the air pump to extract air slightly from the nozzle hole of the wafer; After the ink filling is completed, block the vent pipe holes in several vent holes and the nozzle holes of the chip, and drive the blockage into the ink filling hole to close the ink filling hole; Start the suction pump to instantly extract the residual ink from the vent pipe hole in several vent holes and the nozzle hole of the wafer; Stop the pumping action, and the ink filling head moves back and forth in reverse, so that the inkjet cartridge and the ink filling head are separated to form a vacuum-breaking state; Start the suction pump to extract the residual ink on the surface of the inkjet cartridge to complete the ink filling action. 2 . The method for filling ink into an inkjet head according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of vent holes are ink filling holes, vent tube holes and nozzle holes of the wafer. 3 . 3. The ink filling method for an inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum state is -680mmHg. 4. The ink filling method of the inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning medium is filled with high-pressure gas from the ink filling hole. 5. The method for filling ink into an inkjet head according to claim 4, wherein the high-pressure gas is carbon dioxide. 6. The method for filling ink into an inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the stopper for closing the ink filling hole is a steel ball. 7. The ink filling method of an inkjet head as claimed in claim 1, wherein the blocking object closing the ink filling hole is a plastic bead. 8. The ink filling method of an inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the stopper for closing the ink filling hole is a silica gel bead. 9. The ink filling method of an inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the stopper for closing the ink filling hole is a rubber bead. 10. The ink filling method for an inkjet head according to claim 1, wherein the time for instantaneously removing residual ink can vary depending on the type of the ink cartridge, and is generally set at 0.2 seconds.

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