1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ink jet printers and the like, and more particularly relates to the ink cartridges and the supply of ink for such printers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ink jet printers, such as those which use the Seiko-Epson Writing Engine, rely primarily on one or more replaceable ink cartridges, one cartridge for each color. The cartridges contain a limited quantity of ink and must be replaced frequently. Cartridge replacement results in printer down time and disrupts the printing operation. This disruption occurs each time just one color cartridge must be changed.
External bulk ink delivery systems are well known in the art for supplying a larger quantity of ink to the printers. However, such delivery systems are most commonly passive systems, using gravity feed, capillary feed, siphons or other mechanisms, instead of active electrical/mechanical devices, to transfer ink to the printing head.
Also, such conventional ink delivery systems have inherent limitations, as their use often results in ink starvation or flooding at the printing head. These phenomena occur because the level of the ink immediately adjacent to the printing head is insufficiently maintained either due to limitations of the feed system or the need to manually adjust and replenish the ink reserves.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bulk ink delivery system for ink jet printers and the like which maintains a constant ink level and thereby minimizes the chance of ink starvation or flooding at the printing head.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a bulk ink delivery system for ink jet printers and the like which indicates to the printer operator the status of the delivery system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bulk ink delivery system for ink jet printers and the like which overcomes the inherent disadvantages of known ink delivery systems.
In accordance with one form of the present invention, a bulk ink delivery system includes one or more cartridge housings which conform to the shape of the manufacturer's standard, ink-filled cartridges so that the cartridge housing of the present invention may be substituted for the ink-filled cartridge normally associated with the printer. Inside the housing is situated an ink pump, a reservoir, and a control circuit for operating the ink pump. The ink pump replenishes the ink reservoir in the cartridge housing, and receives ink from one of several external ink bottles, one bottle for each color and one bottle for each cartridge housing. The printing head draws ink from the reservoir, as needed.
The control circuit for operating the pump includes a high volume primary level sensing switch, which monitors the quantity of ink in the internal reservoir within the cartridge housing. The control circuit is responsive to the primary level sensing switch, which is situated within the internal reservoir, and energizes or deenergizes the pump to add more ink as required to the reservoir in order to maintain a predetermined level of ink within the reservoir. The ink is withdrawn by capillary action or the like from the reservoir by the printing head, as the printing head would normally do with a standard replaceable ink filled cartridge. Thus, a steady supply of ink is provided to the printing head, as required, and the chances of ink starvation or flooding at the printing head is minimized. As a safety precaution, a fail safe or secondary level sensing switch, set to trip at a higher ink volume level than the primary level sensing switch, is provided in the reservoir of each cartridge housing, and is used as a back up switch to stop the pump from operating should the primary level sensing switch fail to deenergize the pump when it reaches its predetermined maximum level.
An external status indicator unit, which includes a plurality of indicator lights, is viewable to the operator of the printer. The lights indicate the status of the ink delivery system of the present invention, such as when the pump is energized to replenish ink to the internal reservoir for each ink color provided to the printing head.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
Turning initially to
Each ink bottle 6 is provided to hold a particular color for the printer. Furthermore, each ink bottle 6 includes a tube 8 extending into the interior of the bottle and outwardly therefrom to a particular cartridge housing 10, such as that shown in
The cartridge housing 10 of the present invention includes a pump 12, an ink reservoir 14, and a pair of level sensing switches 16, 18, such as float switches, which are contained within the ink reservoir 14 of the cartridge housing 10. Also enclosed is a printed circuit board 20 which contains the electronic circuit (shown in
The conduit 8 from a particular ink bottle 6 is provided to a connector 24 on the outside of the cartridge housing 10 and is connected thereto. The input connector 24 is connected to an internal conduit 26 which provides ink from the external ink bottle 6 to the pump 12 and, in particular, the diaphragm portion (i.e., impeller unit) thereof. The pump 12, with its pump motor driving the diaphragm, when energized, forces the ink out of an exit port in the impeller unit through another conduit 28 and into the internal reservoir 14, where the delivered ink fills the interior of the reservoir to a particular level.
First and second level sensing switches 16, 18 are provided to ensure that the level of the ink within the internal reservoir 14 is maintained at a predetermined level. The pump 12 will be energized only if the level falls below a threshold lower limit. An ink output conduit 30 is connected to the reservoir 14 at or near its lowest point and communicates with the interior thereof, and is connected to an output connector 32 on another side of the cartridge housing 10. This output connector 32 mates with another connector of the printer so that the printer may draw by capillary action or the like ink from the bottom of the reservoir 14 of the cartridge housing 10, as it would do with a conventional ink-filled cartridge which the cartridge housing of the present invention replaces.
A third conduit 34 is connected interiorly of the cartridge housing 10 between a third connector 35 on a side of the cartridge housing and the reservoir 14. The third conduit 34 is used as a vent conduit which is connected to the top wall of the reservoir 14 and which communicates with the interior thereof to vent any air and equalize the pressure within the reservoir to the ambient environment.
The two-level sensing switch system provides a safety backup feature to prevent ink starvation and flooding at the printing head. One level sensing switch 16 is used as the primary control for the operation of the pump 12, turning it on and off to refill the reservoir 14 as needed, and the other level sensing switch 18 is a back up or safety switch if the first level sensing switch 16 fails.
Although shown in
As further can be seen from
The preferred circuit for operating the pump 12 is shown schematically in
As shown in
The base of the PNP transistor Q1 is connected to the opposite end of resistor R4, and the collector of the PNP transistor Q1 is connected through one wire of the multiconductor telephone wire 36 to the anode of the red LED 38, which when illuminated indicates an overflow condition, which red LED 38 is situated on the status indicator unit 22.
The other contact of the primary operational level sensing switch 16 is connected to one contact of the ink pump 12, which is used to replenish the ink in the reservoir 14, and is connected through another wire of the multiconductor telephone wire 36 to the anode of a green LED 42 also situated on the status indicator unit 22 of the delivery system. System ground is provided on another wire of the multiconductor telephone wire 36 to the other leg of resistor R3 and the other contact of the pump 12. System ground also is connected to one end of a current limiting resistor R2 and one end of another current limiting resistor R1. The other ends of resistors R2 and R1 are respectively connected to the cathodes of the yellow LED 40 and the red and green LEDs 38, 42, as shown in
The operation of the circuit shown in
As can be seen from the circuit diagram of
When the level of the ink in the reservoir 14 reaches a particular threshold level, the operational level sensing switch 16 will open. This breaks the connection to the 5.75 volt power supply, and the pump 12 stops running. Since the operational level sensing switch 16 now opens, no voltage is provided to the green LED 42, and the LED will de-illuminate, thus indicating that pumping has stopped for this particular cartridge housing 10.
For the conditions when 1) both level sensing switches 16, 18 are on, and 2) when the operational level sensing switch 16 is off but the overflow level sensing switch 18 is on, the PNP transistor Q1 will be back biased and, therefore, the red LED 38, which indicates an overflow condition, will remain off.
As the printer draws ink from the cartridge housing 10 and the level in the respective reservoir 14 falls below the threshold level, the primary operational level sensing switch 16 will again turn on to allow current to pass therethrough to the pump 12, energizing the pump so that the pump may refill the reservoir 14 with ink, and energizing the green LED 42 in the status indicator unit 22 to indicate that pumping for that particular cartridge housing 10 is occurring.
As mentioned previously, the safety overflow level sensing switch 18 is provided for safety purposes in the event that the operational level sensing switch 16 becomes jammed or does not open properly when the ink level within the reservoir 14 reaches the threshold level. The contact for the safety overflow level sensing switch 18 is at a higher level than the contact of the operational level sensing switch 16 and, therefore, sets an overflow threshold level in the reservoir 14. The level of the ink in the reservoir should cause the operational level sensing switch 16 to open at the normal ink threshold level. However, if for some reason this does not occur and the pump 12 remains energized, the safety overflow level sensing switch 18 will open when the ink level in the reservoir reaches the overflow threshold level. When the safety overflow level sensing switch 18 opens, it breaks the circuit providing power to the pump 12 and deenergizes the pump. It also breaks the circuit to the green LED 42, which now unlit indicates that pumping has stopped for this particular cartridge housing 10. It further breaks the circuit connection to the yellow LED 40, which no longer illuminates to indicate that the system is functioning properly.
With the safety overflow level sensing switch 18 now open, the PNP transistor Q1 is forward biased through the 5.75 volts provided to its emitter and through the resistor divider network on its base, and turns on to switch on the red LED 38 located at the status indicator unit 22 to indicate that there is an overflow condition for this particular cartridge housing 10. Preferably, resistor R4 is 3.3K ohms, and resistor R3 is 1K ohms. Resistors R3 and R4 act as a voltage divider, but also provide proper biasing for the transistor Q1 to turn it on. The voltage at the junction of resistors R3 and R4 is lower than that required to turn on the yellow LED 40 and the green LED 42 or to drive the pump 12. Thus, the green pumping LED 42 and the yellow system function LED 40 remain off, and no further ink is supplied to the reservoir 14 of the particular cartridge housing 10 when in the overflow mode. However, the red LED 38 illuminates to indicate an overflow condition to the operator. When the overflow condition is corrected, the safety overflow level sensing switch 18 will again close (i.e., its normal conductive condition), and normal operation of the pump circuit will resume.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in
It is also envisioned that the timing circuit 44 can interrupt the power circuit to the pump 12 if more than a predetermined period of time, such as two minutes, has elapsed during a single continuous pumping cycle. The timing circuit 44, activated upon closure of the operational level sensing switch 16, would cause a latching circuit 47, such as a bistable multivibrator or flip flop, connected thereto and controlling the electronic switch 46 to latch the switch in an open condition, thus breaking the circuit to the pump 12, if the operational level sensing switch 16 remains on for more than two minutes. The latching circuit 47 could also drive and be connected to the anode of another LED, such as a blue LED 48, to indicate that an error has occurred in that the pump 12 was running continuously for more than a predetermined amount of time. The pump 12 will, of course, stop functioning when the electronic switch 46 opens. The blue LED 48 will indicate to the operator that a malfunction has occurred, or there is something wrong with the pump 12 of that particular cartridge housing 10. A switch (not shown) may be provided to the reset input of the latching circuit and may be activated by the operator after he has inspected the cartridge housing 10 and the operation of the pump 12 and the control circuit for the pump.
The timing circuit 44 provides another safety feature to the ink delivery system of the present invention. It ensures that the pump 12 will not run continuously for more than a predetermined period of time, thus further preventing an overflow condition.
The status indicator unit 22 is illustrated by
The operator may easily view the rows and columns of LEDs 38, 40, 42, 48 to determine the operational status of each cartridge housing 10 and whether such is functioning properly. Also, because the ink bottles 6 are viewable to the user, and are at least partially translucent or transparent, the operator may easily determine whether a particular ink bottle must be replaced.
The bulk ink delivery system of the present invention minimizes any interruption in the operation of the ink jet printer or the like. The status of each cartridge housing 10 is indicated by its associated LEDs 38, 40, 42, 48, which are viewable remotely by the operator on the status indicator unit 22. Ink starvation and overflow conditions are virtually eliminated. The redundancy in the level sensing switches 16, 18 addresses situations where the primary operational level sensing switch 16 fails. The level of ink in the separate ink bottles 6 is viewable by the operator so that he may easily replace or refill bottles, as required, with little or no interruption to the printing operation.
Because the cartridge housings 10 have the same dimensions, and configurations, and placement of the connectors 24, 32, 36 as the original equipment, ink-filled cartridges they replace, the operator can easily substitute the cartridge housing 10 of the present invention with the original equipment ink-filled cartridges.
It should be noted that
Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.
This application is based on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/585,165, which was filed on Jul. 2, 2004, and which is entitled “Bulk Ink Delivery System For Ink Jet Printers and The Like”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Applicants hereby claim priority to the aforementioned application under 35 U.S.C. 120.
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