Patent Application
20060038863
The present embodiments relate generally to a two-part refillable cartridge housing having a refillable bag for printers and printing systems.
Ink jet printers that use remotely located ink cartridges have the ability to use an increased volume of the ink without impacting the ability of the printhead carriage to perform print function during the printing process. Typically, the mass of the carriage supporting the printheads needs to be reduced so as to minimize the inertial load on the printhead carriage. The ink cartridge is located in an ink cartridge receiver assembly and can be coupled to a printhead via flexible tubing, a needle, and a septum interface. This ink delivery system must provide a barrier between the ink and the atmosphere due to the sensitivity of the piezoelectric printhead to dissolve or entrain gases in the ink.
The ink cartridges not on the printhead carriage are called off-axis cartridges. The off-axis cartridges are typically configured as a plastic or cardboard housing, including a flexible ink bag. The flexible ink bag allows the ink to be consumed without exposing it to air or creating a vacuum within the ink cartridge.
Known methods involve placing a flexible ink bag, as shown in U.S. Design Pat. No. D341,157, inside an assembled plastic ink cartridge housing and attaching the bag to the inside wall of the housing using double sided tape, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,146. On the opposing side of the bag, a rigid plastic member is attached using double sided tape. This ink cartridge is loaded onto the machine in a horizontal fashion such that as the ink is removed from the cartridge at a pressure level within the bag the pressure does not change significantly. This housing is substantially larger than the volume of the ink bag and does not constrict the shape of the ink bag when the bag is full or at a level less than full. The tape and a rigid plastic member maintain a relative stiffness for the flexible bag suitable to keep the bag in a shape that evacuates properly. The drawback to this design is the housing and bag cannot be reused and, therefore, the entire unit must be thrown away.
A need exists for an environmentally friendly refillable ink cartridge that minimizes leaking of chemical liquids used in printers and photo processors. A need exists for a cartridge that contains a minimum number of pieces in order to be “landfill friendly”.
The present embodiments described herein were designed to meet these needs.
A refillable liquid chemical cartridge includes a flexible, foldable non-metallized bag contained within a two-part refillable cartridge housing. The bag has an attached fitment and a septum that aid in filling and unloading liquid chemicals, and/or inks, from the bag. The bag is expandable to be larger than in the folded position. The bag holds a predetermined percentage volume of liquid chemicals less than the full volume. The cartridge housing is adapted to hold the bag in a folded position in a closed, locking housing. The cartridge housing includes two or more latches, a fitment locator, and one or more hinges to connect the two-part housing together. The hinge connects the top half and bottom half of the cartridge housing. The latches secure the cartridge housing in a closed position.
In the detailed description of the preferred embodiments presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.
Before explaining the present embodiments in detail, it is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the particular descriptions and that it can be practiced or carried out in various ways.
The present embodiments provide an environmentally friendly chemical cartridge device that minimizes leaking of chemical liquids used in printers and photo processors, thereby providing flexibility to change chemicals or inks easily in the print system. The embodied refillable cartridges reduce waste by utilizing a two-part construction that enables a bag containing chemicals to be thrown away without throwing away the cartridge housing. The embodied cartridges are thereby “landfill friendly” since the cartridges reduce waste and can be recycled by the user on a daily or hourly basis.
The cartridge housing and bag combinations of the present embodiments provide a more compact cartridge for small footprint machines. The embodied cartridges provide a lower cost solution for printers in that new cartridges do not have to be purchased and can be reused until the plastic housing wears out.
The present embodiments provide an advantage in that different bag sizes and different cartridge sizes can be made and utilized as described herein. A variety of sizes and combinations can be created ranging from very large sizes of over 5 liters in capacity to the very small sizes of only 10 cubic inches of fluid volume, typically used for highly specialized portable printers.
With reference to the figures,
The bag is designed to hold a volume of a liquid chemical 34, such as bleach, developer, fixer, stabilizer, bleach fixer, and other similar useful photo processing chemicals. The bag has a fitment 30 and a septum 32, as depicted in
The fitment 30 can be removed from the septum 32. Any residual air in the bag can be expelled through the fitment 30 by squeezing the bag to raise the liquid level in the bag at least into the port. The bag can then be partially collapsed to conform substantially to the volume of the liquid chemical 34 in the bag. By conserving the volume in the bag to only the actual volume of the liquid chemical 34, the bag can fit into the cartridge housing.
Preferably, the non-metallized bag is expandable to be larger in the unfolded position than in the folded position. The bag can hold a predetermined percentage of chemical liquid 34 while in the folded position. Typically, the predetermined percentage is from about 70% to about 95% of the full volume.
The typical bag used with the embodied cartridge holds between 0.5 liters and 1.5 liters of chemical fluid or ink, such as solvent-based inks, polymer-based inks, or aqueous-based inks. The bag can be made of a durable chemical resistant woven polymer or of a non-woven polymer with memory to return to a non-creased shape. The bag can be composed of a coated polymer, such as coated polypropylene/polyethylene film without metal.
The use of non-metallized bags has significant environmental benefits in that the non-metallized bags can degrade. In contrast, metallized bags do not degrade and remain in landfills for long periods of time. The embodied bag is folded widthwise along two opposite longitudinal edge portions that are folded from a longitudinal center portion between the longitudinal edge portions. Preferably, the folded bag has a width ranging between about 2% to about 5% of a total bag width. The longitudinal edge portions are typically each folded about 85 degrees to 95 degrees from the longitudinal center portion. Non-metallized bags reduce static charge incidences around chemicals. The reduction in static charge is helpful and is expected to reduce explosions and reduce maintenance problems.
Returning to
The top part 12 and the bottom part 14 are connected, typically by a hinge 15. The hinges allow the top part 12 and the bottom part 14 to be moved together into the closed position, as depicted in
While in the closed position, the cartridge housing is formed and shaped to contain the bag shape in a folded position.
The refillable chemical cartridge can include a finger port or a finger hole 28 for pulling the cartridge in and out of a device, such as a printer. The refillable chemical cartridge can include a handle 31.
The cartridge is prepared by initially providing a foldable bag, preferably non-metallized, with a fitment and a septum. The bag is filled to predetermined percentage volume with the liquid chemical. The predetermined percentage typically ranges from about 60% to about 75% of the full volume, preferably 65% of the full volume.
The bag is next folded and placed in the cartridge housing with the fitment between the fitment locator top and the fitment locator bottom. The housing is latched closed with the filled bag inside of the housing.
The cartridge is placed into a printer device, such as an ink jet printer, where the liquid chemical in the bag is pulled from the bag through the fitment and used by the device during operation. When the bag is depleted of the chemical liquid, the bag in the cartridge housing is replaced with a newly filled bag. Typically, the bag is replaced when the bag is less than 3% of the full volume of chemical.
The embodiments have been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the embodiments, especially to those skilled in the art.
