Patent Application
20230278341
The present disclosure relates to a storage device and a liquid ejection apparatus.
In a liquid ejection apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus that ejects ink from a liquid ejection head to perform recording, normally, liquid is supplied from a storage device that stores the liquid to the liquid ejection head. As a storage device, there is a configuration in which one surface of a resin container (tank) is open and a flexible film is bonded to the container so as to cover an opening portion, mainly for the purpose of making the volume of an accommodation chamber variable and forming a flow path with a complicated shape. In the storage device having such a configuration, the film may be torn due to an external force applied to the film, for example, a sharp member may be in contact with the film during manufacturing. Further, for example, when the liquid ejection head reciprocates with the liquid ejection, due to the accompanied vibration, the bonded film and surrounding parts may be in contact with each other and rub against each other, and then the film may be deformed, creating gaps in a bonded portion and allowing liquid to leak. Therefore, Japanese Patent No. 6035867 discloses a technique for preventing the film from being torn due to friction between parts.
For example, when fixing the storage device to a main body of the liquid ejection apparatus, the storage device and the main body of the liquid ejection apparatus may be screwed together by using a fixing screw. Similar to the configuration described in Japanese Patent No. 6035867, when fixing a container whose opening portion is covered with a film to the main body of the liquid ejection apparatus, the fixing screw may penetrate the film and be screwed into the main body of the liquid ejection apparatus. In this way, a large force is applied to the film when the fixing screw penetrates the film, and the film may be damaged, or a part of the film may peel off from the end surface of the opening portion of the container, creating a gap and causing leakage of liquid. Note that there is a similar problem in a storage device for storing fluid such as gas other than liquid or powder.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a storage device and a liquid ejection apparatus capable of suppressing film damage in a configuration in which a container whose opening portion is covered with a film is fixed by a screw.
A storage device of the present disclosure includes: a container that includes an accommodation chamber accommodating fluid or powder; a flexible film that is bonded to the container and covers an opening portion of the accommodation chamber; and a tank holder to which the container having the film bonded thereto is fixed by a screw, in which the screw penetrates the film and fixes the container to the tank holder, and a part of a bonded portion between the film and the container surrounds a portion of the film through which the screw penetrates.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
An embodiment for performing the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, or relative dispositions of the components of each configuration of the embodiments described below may be appropriately changed depending on the configuration or various conditions of a storage device and a liquid ejection apparatus to which the present disclosure is applied. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described below.
As illustrated in
The paper feed roller 25, the discharge roller 26, and the positioning roller 27 configure a transporting mechanism of the recording medium. A rubber having a wavy pattern shape is wound around a contact surface of the paper feed roller 25 with the recording medium. The paper feed roller 25 rotates at an adjusted speed so as to pick up the recording media held in the cassette 24 one by one. The surface of the positioning roller 27 is covered with, for example, a coating material that contains ceramic particles. The positioning roller 27 utilizes the friction between the surface of the positioning roller 27 and the recording medium to transport the recording medium with high accuracy while keeping a distance between the liquid ejection head 23 and the recording medium within a certain range. The discharge roller 26 is a roller for discharging the recorded material after recording from the recorded material discharging portion 12.
The liquid ejection head 23 configures a recording portion, receives document data or image data from a computer (not illustrated) or the like, ejects droplets with high accuracy to adhere to the recording medium while moving in the width direction orthogonal to the feeding direction D (see
The recording apparatus 10 of the present embodiment can perform color recording by ejecting a plurality of liquid inks having different colors. The storage device 13 has a plurality of accommodation chambers 34 partitioned so that liquid inks of each color can be separately accommodated, and each accommodation chamber 34 is individually replenished with liquids of each color from each of ink bottles (not illustrated) or the like. The configuration of the storage device 13 will be described below with reference to
Next, a method of assembling the storage device 13 will be described. First, the tank 31 which is a hollow resin molded product having a plurality of accommodation chambers 34 partitioned from each other is molded. At this time, the tank 31 is formed in a shape in which a part thereof is opened so that each accommodation chamber 34 has an opening portion and each opening portion is substantially positioned on one plane. The flexible film 40 punched out from one sheet wound in a roll shape with a cutter is heat welded to the end surface of each opening portion so as to collectively cover the opening portion of each accommodation chamber 34. In this way, the tank 31 and the film 40 are bonded at the bonded portion 50 illustrated by the thick line in
The screwed portion of the film 40 and the tank 31, and the tank holder 32 is illustrated enlarged in
By providing the bonded portion 50a so as to surround the hole through which the screw 33 penetrates in this way, it is possible to suppress the film 40 from peeling off due to an external force such as twisting when the screw 33 penetrates the film 40. Even when a part of the film 40 is peeled off, the peeled off portion can be kept inside the bonded portion 50a on the end surface of the recessed portion 36. Further, since the bonded portion 50a that surrounds the portion through which the screw 33 penetrates has a planar shape that does not include an acute-angled portion, a portion that tends to be a starting point of tearing of the film 40 is not present, and damage to the film 40 can be suppressed. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to suppress leakage of liquid due to the peeling or the damage of the film 40. The planar shape of the bonded portion 50a, which is formed so as to surround the portion through which the screw 33 penetrates, may be a circular form as in the modification example illustrated in
Further, the bonded portion 50a is present not only at a position corresponding to the contour of the accommodation chamber 34 and the flow path 35 but also at a position corresponding to the end surface of the recessed portion 36 provided with the hole through which the screw 33 penetrates, so that the bonded area between the film 40 and the tank 31 increases. As a result, there is also an effect that the film 40 is firmly fixed to the tank 31 and is not easily peeled off. The end surface of the recessed portion 36 is positioned at the same height as the end surface of the opening portion of the tank 31, and the film 40 can be smoothly attached without a step. Further, as the area of the end surface of the recessed portion 36 is larger, the bonded area between the film 40 and the tank 31 can be further increased, and the bonding strength of the film 40 can be increased. Since the recessed portion 36 is supported by the cylindrical portion 37 of the tank holder 32, there is an advantage that the bonded portion 50a on the end surface of the recessed portion 36 is less likely to be peeled off.
The technical significance of the configuration of the present embodiment will be described in more detail. In the liquid ejection apparatus, in order to achieve both miniaturization and an increase in the fluid storage amount, the storage device 13 having a large capacity is fixed to the main body of the liquid ejection apparatus and connected to the liquid ejection head 23 by the flexible tube 22. As a result, the limited space inside the main body of the liquid ejection apparatus is effectively utilized. Further, the recording apparatus 10 capable of color recording handles a plurality of liquids having different colors. It is preferable to form a plurality of accommodation chambers 34 in one large tank 31 in terms of space efficiency and manufacturing cost, rather than providing separate tanks for accommodating liquids of each color. When one surface of the accommodation chamber 34 is formed of the flexible film 40, it is efficient to collectively cover the opening portions of the plurality of accommodation chambers 34 with one film 40. The film 40 having a large area is used to secure a sufficient bonded area in order to collectively cover each accommodation chamber 34 and seal each accommodation chamber 34. In the storage device having such a configuration, when the tank 31 is screwed with the fixing screw 33 in order to firmly fix the tank 31 to the tank holder 32, the screw 33 penetrates the film 40 and is fixed. When the screw 33 is to be disposed so as to avoid the position where the screw 33 overlaps with the film 40, there is a possibility that a large space is required inside the main body of the liquid ejection apparatus by the amount of the screwed position, or the bonding strength is lowered to make the film 40 a small area. In order to implement good space efficiency while securing sufficient bonding strength, it is conceivable that the screw 33 for fixing the tank 31 to the tank holder 32 penetrates the film 40.
As described above, when the screw 33 penetrates the film 40, there is a possibility that a large external force is applied to the film 40 to damage the film 40. Depending on the way of tearing of the film 40, as illustrated in the reference example schematically illustrated in
In contrast to this, in the present embodiment illustrated in
Next, a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
For example, when the film 40 is cut out from a sheet wound in a roll shape, the through hole 60 may be formed in the film 40 at the same time. Further, for example, the through hole 60 which is a circular hole or an elliptical hole may be formed in the film 40 by the heat of a plastic welding machine. In that case, on the cut surface of the through hole 60, the edge of the cut end becomes thicker due to the resin in which a part of the film 40 is melted, so that the strength against tearing of the film 40 can be further increased. Further, when the film 40 is heat welded to the tank 31, the through hole 60, which is a circular hole, can be formed in the film 40 by heat at the same time.
Next, a third embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
As in the modification example illustrated in
The storage device 13 according to the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described each of the embodiments and modification examples thereof, and various modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is widely applicable to the storage device 13 for accommodating not only liquid such as ink but also fluid such as gas or powder. Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the storage device 13 includes a plurality of accommodation chambers 34 for accommodating different liquids, but the storage device 13 is not limited to such a configuration, and the present disclosure is also applicable to configurations in which the storage device 13 has only a single accommodation chamber 34. The bonded portion 50 between the film 40 and the tank 31 is not limited to heat welding and may be a portion bonded by, for example, adhesion using an adhesive.
According to the present disclosure, there is no acute-angled portion that may be the starting point of tearing of the film 40 around the portion of the film 40 through which the screw 33 penetrates. In the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the bonded portion 50a is provided so as to surround the portion through which the screw 33 penetrates. The planar shape of the bonded portion 50a does not include an acute-angled portion, for example, includes one or both of a linear portion and a curved portion, and the linear portion or the curved portion is connected at a right angle or an obtuse angle. Further, the planar shape of the bonded portion 50a is preferably a continuous and closed shape. According to this configuration, when the fixing screw 33 or a tool is inserted to tear the film 40 in order to fix the tank 31 to the tank holder 32, the peeling of the bonded film 40 can be suppressed.
According to the second embodiment of the present disclosure, the through hole 60, which is a circular hole or an elliptical hole, is formed in advance in the film 40 at a portion of the film 40 through which the screw 33 penetrates. The through hole 60 does not have an acute-angled portion or a corner. Since the screw 33 passes through the through hole 60 without contacting the film 40 and fixes the tank 31 to the tank holder 32, the screw 33 does not damage the film 40 by applying an external force. Even when the screw 33 penetrates the film 40 while contacting the film 40, since the inner peripheral portion of the through hole 60 of the film 40 does not have an acute-angled portion, the film 40 is not easily deformed or damaged even when the film 40 receives a pulling force from the screw 33. Further, the film 40 and the tank 31 can be easily bonded with high accuracy.
According to the third embodiment of the present disclosure, the way of tearing of the film 40 can be controlled by forming the perforations 70 in the portion of the film 40 through which the screw 33 penetrates. As a result, the way of tearing of the film 40 when the screw 33 penetrates the film 40 is defined, and it is possible to suppress the film 40 from being unintentionally damaged and impairing the sealing property of the accommodation chamber 34.
As described above, in each embodiment of the present disclosure, when the tank 31 is fixed to the tank holder 32, damage to the film 40 by the fixing screw 33 can be prevented or suppressed. As a result, leakage of fluid or powder from the accommodation chamber 34 can be suppressed, the space inside the main body of the liquid ejection apparatus or the like can be effectively utilized, and the manufacturing cost and the complexity of manufacturing can be suppressed.
According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a storage device and a liquid ejection apparatus capable of suppressing film damage in a configuration in which a container whose opening portion is covered with a film is fixed by a screw.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-116901, filed Jul. 7, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-116901 | Jul 2020 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 18181490 | Mar 2023 | US |
| Child | 18317023 | US | |
| Parent | 17352153 | Jun 2021 | US |
| Child | 18181490 | US |
