Inkjet printer with cartridge for ink pellets

Abstract

An inkjet printer including a cartridge for holding ink pellets and means for separating and releasing a single ink pellet and feeding it to the ink-supply unit of a printing head, the cartridge having at least one exit for releasing an ink pellet, wherein the separating and releasing means includes a rotatable shaft extending in a first transport direction provided with a spiralling member at the circumference of said shaft and a tangential movement confining member extending in a parallel direction with respect to said rotatable shaft, positioned at a distance from said spiralling member for confining the tangential movement of an ink pellet, engaging with said spiralling member to form a stable position for transporting said ink pellet in said first transport direction.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be explained with reference to the following drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an inkjet printer and a dispensing device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of a cross-section of a cartridge according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic section of the separation and transportation means;

FIGS. 4 a, 4b and 4c are diagrammatic front views of the separating means with an ink pellet; and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic top view of the separating and transporting means with ink pellets.

Claims

1. An inkjet printer comprising a cartridge for holding ink pellets and means for separating and releasing a single ink pellet at a time and feeding it to an ink-supply unit of a printing head, the cartridge having at least one exit for releasing an ink pellet, a separating and releasing mechanism comprising: a rotatable shaft extending in a first transport direction and containing a spiralling member provided at the circumference of said shaft; anda tangential movement confining member extending in a parallel direction with respect to said rotatable shaft and positioned at a distance from said spiralling member for confining the tangential movement of an ink pellet, engaging with said spiralling member to form a stable position for transporting said ink pellet in said first transport direction.

2. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge is suitable for manual installment on the inkjet printer.

3. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the rotatable shaft is positioned at an angle with respect to the direction of the gravitation force, such that on each winding two areas can be distinguished; a first, stable area on which an ink pellet tends to roll towards the tangential movement confining member; anda second, unstable area on which an ink pellet tends to roll away from the tangential movement confining member and off the spiralling member.

4. The inkjet printer according to claim 3, wherein the tangential movement confining member is positioned with respect to the spiralling member, such that only one single position for the transportation of an ink pellet is formed in said first stable area on each winding of the spiralling member.

5. The inkjet printer according to claim 3, wherein the angle of the rotatable shaft with respect to the direction of the gravitation force in operatively connected state, is larger than or equal to the pitch angle of the spiralling member with respect to the plane extending perpendicular to the direction of the rotatable shaft.

6. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the means for separating a single ink pellet is an integrated part of the inkjet printer.

7. The inkjet printer according to claim 6, wherein the rotatable shaft is an integrated part of the inkjet printer.

8. The inkjet printer according to claim 6, wherein the tangential movement confining member is an integrated part of the inkjet printer.

9. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, which further comprises driving means to drive the rotatable shaft.

10. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge is releasably connectable to the inkjet printer.

11. The inkjet printer according to claim 10, wherein the means for separating and releasing a single ink pellet is an integrated part of the cartridge.

12. The inkjet printer according to claim 11, wherein the rotatable shaft is an integrated part of the cartridge and the cartridge is operatively connected to the inkjet printer, including means for positioning the cartridge on the inkjet printer such that the angle of the rotatable shaft with respect to the direction of the gravitation force in an operatively connected state, is larger than or equal to the pitch angle of the spiralling member with respect to the plane extending perpendicular to the direction of the rotatable shaft.

13. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet printer comprises driving means and the rotatable shaft comprises receiving means which are operatively engageable to said driving means.

14. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein the tangential movement confining member is a rotatable roll.

15. The inkjet printer according to claim 14, wherein the rotatable roll is driven such that the angular velocity of the roll is larger than or equal to the angular velocity of the rotatable shaft.

16. Cartridge for holding ink pellets with means for separating and releasing individual ink pellets, which cartridge is suitable for manual installment on an inkjet printer, which comprises a housing having at least one exit for releasing an ink pellet,a rotatable shaft extending in a first transport direction with a spiralling member provided at the circumference of said shaft, anda tangential movement confining member extending in a parallel direction with respect to said rotatable shaft, and positioned at a distance from said spiralling member for confining the tangential movement of an ink pellet, and engaging with said spiralling member to form a stable position for transporting said ink pellet in said first transport direction.

17. The cartridge according to claim 16 wherein the tangential movement confining member comprises a curved wall facing at least a part of the curved wall towards the rotatable shaft.

18. The cartridge according to claim 16, wherein the tangential movement confining member comprises a rotatable roll.

19. The cartridge according to claim 18, wherein the rotatable roll is rotatable in the same rotational direction as the rotatable shaft.

20. The cartridge according to claim 16, wherein the pitch of the spiralling member is larger than the height of an ink pellet and smaller than two times the height of an ink pellet.

21. The cartridge according to claim 16, which further comprises means for detecting the release of an ink pellet at the at least one exit.

22. The cartridge according to claim 21, wherein the means for detecting the release of an ink pellet comprise a moveable detection member positioned near the at least one exit, which moveable detection member in operation is moveable from a first to a second position under the influence of a passing ink pellet.

23. The cartridge according to claim 22, further comprising a sensor, which operably detects a positional change of the moveable detection member.

24. The cartridge according to claim 23, wherein the sensor detects a positional change of the moveable detection member by detecting a change of the magnetic field.

25. The cartridge according to claim 16, further comprising static guiding means for guiding a single ink pellet to a stable position formed by said tangential movement confining member and said spiralling member.

26. The cartridge according to claim 25, wherein said guiding means comprise a funnel with a first wide end and a second smaller end, which is positioned and formed such that a single ink pellet is guided from the wide end through the smaller end into said stable position, while obviating the bridging between ink pellets.

27. The cartridge according to claim 16, wherein said rotatable shaft comprises receiving means which are operatively engageable with external driving means.