Embodiments of the present invention pertain to an ink jet ink cartridge with porous capillary media to provide pressure regulation and a wick to supply ink from the capillary media into a printhead. According to embodiments of the present invention, an opening is provided in the wick in order to form a vent path.
Fluid-ejection printing devices, such as ink jet printers, commonly have at least one ink cartridge and a printhead chassis that supports the ink cartridge. The ink cartridge may contain one or more reservoirs that provide ink or some other fluid to a printhead. If the ink cartridge has more than one reservoir, each such reservoir often retains fluid of a different color for multi-color printing. On the other hand, if the ink cartridge has only a single reservoir, typically such reservoir is used to retain black ink for black-and-white printing.
The printhead is formed of a printhead die, which typically is connected directly or indirectly to the chassis. In order to form an image, the printhead die, along with the chassis and the ink cartridge, generally are moved in a lateral direction across a width of a substrate, such as paper, as fluid is ejected from the printhead. After the printhead forms a row-portion of the image along the width of the substrate, the substrate is advanced in a direction perpendicular to the lateral direction along a length of the substrate, so that the printhead can form a subsequent row-portion of the image. This process of advancing the substrate for each row-portion is repeated until a next substrate is needed or the image is completed.
For proper operation of the printhead and ink cartridge assembly, it is necessary to regulate the pressure within the ink cartridge. Pressure changes may occur during shipping or storage due to air pressure changes or temperature changes, for example. Pressure changes may occur during printing due to depletion of ink within the ink cartridge as ink is gradually used up, or due to surges that occur during acceleration and deceleration at the end of a row of printing. If the fluid pressure is too great, ink may be caused to dribble out of fluid-ejecting nozzles of the printhead die, or too much ink may be ejected. If the fluid pressure is too small, the printhead may experience ink starvation, resulting in too little ink being ejected so that white streaks are apparent in the printed image.
One method of providing pressure regulation is to have a porous capillary media within the ink reservoir of the ink cartridge. The capillary media is typically a rectangular shaped piece of foam or felt. Capillary forces tend to keep the ink at a slightly negative pressure, so that ink does not run out of the printhead nozzles, which are typically positioned at a lower height (i.e., closer to the substrate) than the ink reservoir. The ink cartridge contains a fluid discharge port for ink to travel from the ink reservoir to the printhead chassis through a pipe which serves as the fluid reception port on the chassis. In order to facilitate a steady flow of ink as needed during printing, a common configuration is to provide a wick (also known as a scavenger member, or an ink delivery member) at the fluid discharge port. The wick is in contact with the capillary media and has different capillary properties than the capillary media. When the ink cartridge is loaded into the printhead chassis, typically the wick is forced into contact with a filter member at the mouth of the fluid reception port. Once the printhead is primed so that fluid fills the various ink passageways between the capillary media and the nozzles on the printhead die, capillary forces take care of supplying ink as needed for printing.
When an ink reservoir in the ink cartridge runs out of ink, a user is charged with the responsibility of removing the empty ink cartridge from the chassis and replacing it with a full ink cartridge. The task of replacing an ink cartridge must be simple and clean so that ink is not incidentally discharged during such a replacement process. If ink is discharged during such a replacement process, ink could stain the user's hands or clothes, and it also could drip into areas of the printer where it might cause damage.
For example, conventional ink cartridges include a shipping cap that seals the fluid discharge port(s). The shipping cap helps to prevent ink evaporation during long-term storage, as well as ink spillage due to air pressure changes. The ink cartridge is generally also provided with a vent path to help relieve pressure differences during shipping, storage, and printing. However, when these shipping caps are removed by a user when installing the ink cartridge into a printer, a transient reduction in pressure at the fluid discharge port opening is caused. This transient reduction in pressure can force ink out of the fluid discharge port during removal of the cap and can cause staining or damage.
Accordingly, a need in the art exists for a cap removal solution that allows a user to simply and cleanly remove the shipping cap from a new ink cartridge prior to insertion of the ink cartridge into the printhead chassis.
The above-described problems are addressed and a technical solution is achieved in the art by a printing device ink cartridge, according to various embodiments of the present invention. According to an embodiment, an ink cartridge includes a reservoir configured to retain ink, a body retaining the reservoir, a port in the body, and a wick located in the port. The port is configured to release the ink from the reservoir. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the body includes a first opening, and the wick includes a second opening, such that the first opening and the second opening are communicatively connected to form a vent path or a portion of a vent path. Such a vent path mitigates the transient reduction in pressure caused by a removal of a shipping cap, thereby reducing the likelihood that ink spillage will occur during such removal.
According to various embodiments of the present invention, the first opening may be on a surface of the body configured to face up when the ink cartridge is in an orientation in which it is configured to operate. The surface may include a grooved path from the first opening to an edge of the surface, the grooved path forming a portion of the vent path. Also, the second opening may be a notch. Such a notch may have a rounded or substantially rounded interior surface. The second opening may be in a region of the wick that is not configured to contact a fluid reception port of a chassis configured to retain the ink cartridge. The wick may further include a third opening on an opposite side from the second opening. The wick may be symmetrical or substantially symmetrical.
According to various embodiments of the present invention, the ink cartridge may include a capillary media within the reservoir, the capillary media contacting the wick. A space may exist between a surface of the capillary media and an interior surface of the body, the space forming a portion of the vent path.
The present invention will be more readily understood from the detailed description of exemplary embodiments presented below considered in conjunction with the attached drawings, of which:
It is to be understood that the attached drawings are for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the invention and may not be to scale.
Embodiments of the present invention provide one or more openings or notches in a wick for an ink cartridge, such that at least one opening in the wick is communicatively connected to an opening in the body of the ink cartridge in order to provide a vent path to the opening of the fluid discharge port of the ink cartridge.
Ink cartridge 20 is shown as having a lid 30 in the example shown in
When the ink or other fluids have been injected into the respective capillary media 42 in each reservoir, the ink penetrates through the capillary media and also saturates the corresponding wick 44 in the corresponding port 24. Before the ink cartridge 20 is ready to be shipped to the customer, the ports are sealed in order to prevent leakage or excessive evaporation of volatile ink components. Many different styles of seals are possible to be used. For example, a film may be affixed to the outer rim of each port. For this type of seal, the customer may pull a tab at an end of the film and thereby pull the seal away from each port. A second alternative is a twist-off seal, although this type of seal is more compatible with a cartridge having only a single port. With a row of ports 24 as in multi-reservoir ink cartridge 20, the amount of torque to twist off seals from five adjacent reservoirs would be excessively difficult for the user to apply. A third alternative is a seal of the type provided by shipping cap seal assembly 50 shown in
It is advantageous to unseal a sealing member by moving it away from one end of the outer rim 26 first. However, as the sealing member 52 is pulled away in an angular direction, because of the downward component of sealing member's motion, a momentary air pressure drop is produced in the air space between the bottom surface 45 of wick 44 and the sealing member. This is because the air volume of the air space, which has been at a first equilibrium volume, is increased as the sealing member is pulled away. Since pressure is inversely proportional to volume, as the air volume of the air space increases, its pressure decreases. Since the wick is saturated with ink, unless there is an opening 46 in wick 44, such that opening 46 is part of a vent path to atmosphere, the reduced pressure in the air space (between the bottom 45 of wick 44 and the sealing member 52) will result in ink being forced out of ink cartridge 20 through fluid discharge port 24. If the seal is pulled away suddenly, droplets of ink may splatter out and stain the hands of the user or get onto the printer or other objects. This is true whether the seal is a compliant seal such as sealing member 52, or whether the seal is an adhesively affixed film. Somewhat less susceptible to such volume and pressure changes are the types of seals which may be removed in a twisting motion, since the volume change is very small as the seal is broken. However, as mentioned above, twist-off type seals are not very compatible with multi-reservoir ink cartridges having a row of adjacent ports 24.
Although the examples above discuss embodiments in a multi-reservoir cartridge 20, it is to be understood that the same advantages apply to a single reservoir cartridge.
It is to be understood that the exemplary embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention and that many variations of the above-described embodiments can be devised by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that all such variations be included within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.