Liquid dispensing device

Abstract

To provide a liquid discharge device which prevents contamination of a liquid discharge head and inhibits malfunction of the device when a liquid is injected from a liquid injection port to a liquid storage chamber.SOLUTION: A printer 1 includes: a residual amount detection part 80 which detects a residual amount of an ink stored in an ink storage chamber; and a scanner member and a base part of a bottle support part serving as restriction members which may restrict injection of the ink from an ink injection port into the ink storage chamber. A control unit 40 determines whether or not the residual amount of the ink in the ink storage chamber detected by the residual amount detection part 80 is larger than or equal to a predetermined amount, controls a moving mechanism so that an ink tank is prohibited from moving from an injection restriction position to an injectable position when the ink residual amount is larger than or equal to the predetermined amount, and controls the moving mechanism so that the ink tank is allowed to move from the injection restriction position to the injectable position when the ink residual amount is smaller than or equal to the predetermined amount.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquid ejection device that includes a liquid storage section in which liquid is stored. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent document 1 describes a liquid ejection device (liquid ejection device) that includes a liquid ejection head (liquid ejection head), an ink tank (liquid storage section) that contains ink to be supplied to the liquid ejection head, and a carriage that carries the liquid ejection head and the ink tank and is movable along a movement path.

[0003] The device of Patent Document 1 has an ink tank remaining amount confirmation section formed of a transparent material that allows the remaining amount of ink inside to be visually confirmed. The ink level inside the ink tank can be visually confirmed in the remaining amount confirmation section. A user can check the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank from the remaining amount confirmation section, and at any time, attach a refill container (liquid bottle) to the liquid inlet of the ink tank to inject ink into the ink tank. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-69587 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, in the device of Patent Document 1, the user injects ink into the ink tank at any time. Therefore, if ink is injected into the ink tank even though there is a sufficient amount of ink remaining in the ink tank, the ink may overflow from the liquid inlet and contaminate the liquid ejection head. Even if the ink does not overflow from the liquid inlet, the amount of ink stored in the ink tank may increase too much, causing the internal pressure of the ink tank to rise excessively, which may cause the ink to leak from the nozzles of the liquid ejection head or cause the ink to not be properly ejected from the nozzles, resulting in malfunction of the device.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid ejection device that can prevent contamination of the liquid ejection head and suppress malfunctions of the device when liquid is injected into a liquid storage chamber from a liquid inlet. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A liquid ejection device according to the present invention includes a liquid ejection head having a nozzle for ejecting liquid onto a recording medium, a liquid storage section having a liquid storage chamber for storing liquid and a liquid inlet connecting the liquid storage chamber to the outside, a transport mechanism for transporting the recording medium in a transport direction, a carriage for supporting the liquid ejection head and the liquid storage section, a moving mechanism for moving the carriage in a scanning direction intersecting the transport direction, a remaining amount detection section for detecting the remaining amount of liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber, a regulating member capable of regulating the injection of liquid from the liquid inlet into the liquid storage chamber, and a control section, and the control section is configured to detect the remaining amount of liquid detected by the remaining amount detection section. the control unit determines whether the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, and when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is equal to or greater than the predetermined amount, controls at least one of the moving mechanism and the regulating member so as to maintain an injection restricted state in which the injection of liquid from the liquid inlet into the liquid storage chamber is restricted by the regulating member, and when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is below the predetermined amount, controls at least one of the moving mechanism and the regulating member so as to allow the injection of liquid from the injection restricted state to an injection enabled state in which injection of liquid into the liquid storage chamber from the liquid inlet is possible. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, injection of liquid into the liquid storage chamber is restricted until the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber falls below a predetermined amount. This makes it possible to avoid injecting liquid into the liquid storage chamber when there is sufficient liquid remaining in the liquid storage chamber, and prevents liquid from overflowing from the liquid inlet and suppresses excessive pressure rise in the liquid storage section. This makes it possible to prevent contamination of the liquid ejection head and suppress malfunction of the device when injecting liquid into the liquid storage chamber from the liquid inlet. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is an overall perspective view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2]2 is an overall perspective view of the printer in FIG. 1 with its upper cover open. FIG. [Diagram 3] 2 is a vertical sectional view showing a schematic internal structure of the printer shown in FIG. [Figure 4] 4 is a side view of the ink tank and the ink-jet head shown in FIG. 3. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the printer in FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the printer when ink is being replenished using an ink bottle. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is an overall perspective view of a printer according to a modified example with its upper cover open. [Figure 8] 8 is a diagram showing the printer of FIG. 7 when one ink tank is in a fillable position. FIG. [Figure 9] 8 is a diagram showing the printer of FIG. 7 when another ink tank is in the fillable position. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] A printer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention (a liquid ejection device according to the present invention) will be described below with reference to Figures 1 to 6. The up-down, left-right, and front-rear directions shown in Figure 1 are the up-down, left-right, and front-rear directions of the printer 1.

[0011] (Overall configuration of Printer 1) As shown in FIG. 1, the printer 1 has a housing 11 that is generally rectangular. An opening 12 is formed in the approximate center of a front wall 11a of the housing 11. A paper feed tray 15 and a paper discharge tray 16 are provided in the opening 12 in two stages, one above the other. The paper feed tray 15 is configured to be insertable and removable in the front-rear direction from the opening 12, that is, to be detachable from the housing 11. Paper P (recording medium of the present invention) of a desired size (e.g., A4 size) is placed on the paper feed tray 15. The printer 1 can be connected to an external device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC). Then, the printer 1 executes a recording operation based on recording data from the PC or the like.

[0012] 1, an operation unit 13 is provided on the left part of the top surface of the housing 11. The operation unit 13 is composed of buttons operated for various settings, a liquid crystal display on which various information is displayed, and the like. In this embodiment, the operation unit 13 is composed of buttons operated for various settings. The operation unit 13 may be composed of a touch panel having both the functions of buttons and a liquid crystal display.

[0013] The top of the housing 11 is open. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer 1 has a scanner member 99 that partially covers the top opening of the housing 11. The scanner member 99 is capable of reading image information of a sheet of paper P. The information read by the scanner member 99 is temporarily stored in a RAM 133 of the control unit 40, which will be described later. When image data is saved with a name, the information may be saved in an EEPROM 134, which will be described later. In this embodiment, the scanner member 99 is a flatbed scanner.

[0014] As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the housing 11 has an opening / closing cover 14 that constitutes the ceiling portion. The opening / closing cover 14 covers the entire upper portion of the scanner member 99. The opening / closing cover 14 is configured to be rotatable around a rotation shaft (not shown) that is aligned in the left-right direction at the rear end of the housing 11. As shown in Fig. 3, the opening / closing cover 14 is opened by rotating it counterclockwise around the rotation shaft (not shown) at the rear end of the housing 11, thereby exposing the scanner member 99 to the outside. The opening / closing cover 14 is closed when an image is recorded on a paper P by a recording unit 30 (described later) or when ink is replenished to an ink tank 61 (described later). As shown in Fig. 1, the opening / closing cover 14 has a notch formed at the left end portion rearward of the center portion in the front-rear direction.

[0015] In addition, an openable upper cover 73 is formed at a position that does not overlap with the opening / closing cover 14 in a plan view, covering a part of the upper part of the housing 11. The upper cover 73 is configured to be rotatable about a rotation axis 74 that runs along the left-right direction at the rear and left part of the top surface of the housing 11, as shown in Fig. 2. The opening / closing cover 14 and the upper cover 73 cover the entire upper part of the housing 11.

[0016] (Internal structure of Printer 1) Next, a description will be given of the internal structure of the printer 1. As shown in Fig. 3, the printer 1 includes a transport mechanism 20, a recording unit 30, a bottle support unit 19, the above-mentioned scanner member 99, a remaining amount detection unit 80 (see Fig. 5), and a control unit 40.

[0017] The transport mechanism 20 has a feeding section 50, a transport path 52, a transport roller pair 53, and a paper discharge roller pair 54. As shown in FIG. 3, the feeding section 50 feeds the paper P placed on the paper feed tray 15 to the transport path 52. The transport roller pair 53 transports the paper P fed by the feeding section 50 to the recording section 30. The recording section 30 has a configuration of, for example, an inkjet recording system, and records an image on the paper P transported by the transport roller pair 53. The paper discharge roller pair 54 discharges the paper P recorded by the recording section 30 to the paper discharge tray 16.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 3, the feeding unit 50 is provided above the paper feed tray 15. The feeding unit 50 has a paper feed roller 50a and an arm 50b. The paper feed roller 50a is rotatably supported at the tip of the arm 50b. The arm 50b is rotatably supported on a support shaft 50c and is biased by a spring or the like to rotate the paper feed roller 50a downward so that the paper feed tray 15 comes into contact with the paper feed tray 15. The arm 50b is configured to be able to retract upward when the paper feed tray 15 is attached or detached. The paper feed roller 50a is driven to rotate by a paper feed motor 91M (see FIG. 5), and the paper P loaded in the paper feed tray 15 is fed to the conveying path 52.

[0019] 3, the paper feed tray 15 has an inclined wall portion 15a. The inclined wall portion 15a guides the paper P placed on the paper feed tray 15 to the transport path 52 when the paper P is fed by the paper feed roller 50a.

[0020] 3, the transport path 52 is formed inside the housing 11 and bends upward from the rear end of the paper feed tray 15 toward the front side of the printer 1. The paper P fed from the paper feed tray 15 is guided by the transport path 52 to make a U-turn from below to above, and reaches the recording unit 30.

[0021] The conveying roller pair 53 has a conveying roller 53a arranged on the lower side and a pinch roller 53b arranged on the upper side. The conveying roller 53a is driven to rotate by a conveying motor 92M (see FIG. 5). The pinch roller 53b rotates with the rotation of the conveying roller 53a. The conveying roller 53a and the pinch roller 53b cooperate to sandwich the paper P from above and below, and convey the paper P to the recording unit 30.

[0022] The pair of discharge rollers 54 includes a discharge roller 54a disposed on the lower side and a spur roller 54b disposed on the upper side. The discharge roller 54a is driven to rotate by a discharge motor 93M (see FIG. 5). The spur roller 54b rotates with the rotation of the discharge roller 54a. The discharge roller 54a and the spur roller 54b cooperate to hold the paper P from above and below, and transport the paper P to the discharge tray 16.

[0023] In this embodiment, the conveying direction of the paper P is the direction in which the paper P is conveyed from the paper feed tray 15 by the conveying mechanism 20, and is the direction of the solid arrow in Fig. 3. Specifically, the conveying direction of the paper P is the direction in which the paper P is sent from the front to the rear by the paper feed roller 50a, guided to make a U-turn by the conveying path 52, and further sent from the rear to the front by the conveying roller pair 53 and the paper discharge roller pair 54.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 3, the recording unit 30 has an inkjet head 31 (liquid ejection head of the present invention), four ink tanks 61 (liquid storage units of the present invention), a carriage 70, a moving mechanism 71, and a platen 17. The carriage 70 moves back and forth in a scanning direction (a left-right direction intersecting with the conveying direction of the paper P). The inkjet head 31 and the ink tanks 61 are supported by the carriage 70. That is, the printer 1 in this embodiment is a so-called on-carriage type in which the ink tanks 61 and the inkjet head 31 are mounted on the carriage 70. The ink tanks 61 in this embodiment are entirely located above the inkjet head 31. However, this is not limited thereto, and a part of the ink tanks 61 may be located above the upper surface of the inkjet head 31, and the remaining part may be located below the upper surface.

[0025] As shown in Fig. 3, each ink tank 61 has a tank body 62, a valve 63 (an injection lid of the present invention), an air communication passage 64, and an electromagnetic valve 65. The tank body 62 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has an ink storage chamber 62a (a liquid storage chamber of the present invention) for storing ink formed therein. Magenta, cyan, yellow, and black (M, C, Y, B) inks are stored in the ink storage chambers 62a of each of the four ink tanks 61. The tank body 62 is mainly made of a light-transmitting material (for example, a transparent or translucent resin). This allows the user to visually check the amount of ink in the ink storage chambers 62a.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 4, the tank body 62 has a through hole 62c penetrating its upper wall 62b. The through hole 62c is formed in the center of the upper wall 62b in the left-right direction, slightly toward the front. A cylinder 66 is fitted into the through hole 62c. The cylinder 66 has an ink inlet 67 (a liquid inlet of the present invention) at its upper end. The ink inlet 67 is an opening that opens upward (i.e., toward the outside). The inner circumferential surface of the cylinder 66 defines an ink supply path 66a that extends from the ink inlet 67 to the ink storage chamber 62a. The ink inlet 67 thereby communicates between the ink storage chamber 62a and the outside.

[0027] The valve 63 is a valve for opening and closing the ink inlet 67. The valve 63 is, for example, a two-way electromagnetic valve, and has a valve portion 63a and a solenoid portion 63b. The valve portion 63a is disposed in the ink storage chamber 62a, and has an internal flow path (not shown) that communicates with the ink inlet 67 and the ink storage chamber 62a, and a valve (not shown) that opens and closes the internal flow path. When the solenoid portion 63b of the valve 63 is driven under the control of the control unit 40, the valve portion 63a moves in the front-rear direction, opening and closing the ink inlet 67. When the valve 63 is in an open state, it is possible to inject ink into the ink storage chamber 62a through the ink inlet 67. When the valve 63 is in a closed state, the injection of ink into the ink storage chamber 62a through the ink inlet 67 is restricted.

[0028] 4, an atmosphere communication passage 64 is formed in the tank body 62, penetrating the upper wall 62b and connecting the ink storage chamber 62a to the outside. The atmosphere communication passage 64 is formed in the rear position, in the center in the left-right direction of the upper wall 62b.

[0029] The electromagnetic valve 65 is a valve for opening and closing the atmosphere communication passage 64. The electromagnetic valve 65 is disposed above the carriage 70. The electromagnetic valve 65 is a two-way electromagnetic valve, and has a valve portion 65a and a solenoid portion 65b. The valve portion 65a is disposed in the ink storage chamber 62a, and has an internal flow path (not shown) that communicates with the atmosphere communication passage 64 and the ink storage chamber 62a, and a valve (not shown) that opens and closes the internal flow path. When the solenoid portion 65b is driven under the control of the control unit 40, the valve portion 65a of the electromagnetic valve 65 moves in the front-rear direction, opening and closing the atmosphere communication passage 64.

[0030] The tank body 62 also has an outlet 62h formed therein, which penetrates a bottom wall 62g thereof and allows the ink in the ink storage chamber 62a to flow out to the inkjet head 31. The outlet 62h is located in the center of the bottom wall 62g in the left-right direction, near the front end portion.

[0031] The inkjet head 31 has an internal flow path (not shown) to which ink is supplied from an ink tank 61. The inkjet head 31 ejects ink from a plurality of nozzles 32 formed on a nozzle surface 31a, which is the lower surface of the inkjet head 31, as shown in Fig. 4. More specifically, the nozzles 32 form a nozzle row that extends in the front-rear direction and along the transport direction of the paper P. Ink is ejected from the nozzles 32.

[0032] 4, the inkjet head 31 is connected to the ink tank 61 via a connection member 69. The connection member 69 is formed with a communication passage (liquid flow passage) 69a that connects the outlet 62h and an internal flow passage of the inkjet head 31. This allows ink stored in the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61 to be supplied to the inkjet head 31.

[0033] The platen 17 is disposed below the inkjet head 31 and supports from below the paper P transported by the transport roller pair 53. The platen 17 is disposed in a portion of the reciprocating movement range of the carriage 70 through which the paper P passes. Since the width of the platen 17 is sufficiently larger than the maximum width of the paper P that can be transported, the paper P transported along the transport path 52 always passes over the platen 17.

[0034] As shown in FIG. 3, the movement mechanism 71 includes a pair of guide rails 72 and a belt transmission mechanism (not shown). The pair of guide rails 72 are disposed at a distance from each other in the front-rear direction and extend parallel to each other in the left-right direction. The carriage 70 is disposed so as to straddle the pair of guide rails 72. The carriage 70 is connected to a carriage motor 94M (see FIG. 5) via the belt transmission mechanism, and when the carriage motor 94M is driven, the belt transmission mechanism is driven. As a result, the carriage 70 moves in the scanning direction (left-right direction) along the pair of guide rails 72, and moves the inkjet head 31 along the left-right direction.

[0035] The inkjet head 31 ejects ink from the nozzles 32 under the control of the control unit 40 based on the recording data. In other words, the inkjet head 31 scans the paper P as the carriage 70 moves back and forth in the left-right direction, and ejects ink from the nozzles 32 to record an image on the paper P transported on the platen 17. A linear encoder (not shown) having a large number of light-transmitting sections (slits) arranged at intervals in the scanning direction is provided inside the printer 1. Meanwhile, the carriage 70 is provided with a transmission-type position detection sensor (not shown) having a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element. The printer 1 is capable of recognizing the current position of the carriage 70 in the scanning direction from the count value of the light-transmitting sections of the linear encoder detected by the position detection sensor while the carriage 70 is moving, and the rotational drive of the carriage motor 94M is controlled.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, the bottle support part 19 is a member that supports an ink bottle 105 that injects ink into the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61. The bottle support part 19 is disposed above the carriage 70 and below the upper cover 73. The bottle support part 19 has a flat base part 19a that extends along the front-rear and left-right directions, and one support part 19b that is formed on the base part 19a and can support the tip part of the ink bottle 105. The one support part 19b supports the tip part of the ink bottle 105 that contains the same type of ink as that contained in the ink tank 61 to be refilled among the four ink tanks 61. Then, the ink bottle 105 supported by the support part 19b is attached to the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61, whereby ink is injected from the ink bottle 105 into the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61.

[0037] In this embodiment, the ink bottle 105 is a small, disposable bottle. That is, when ink is injected from the ink bottle 105 into the ink tank 61, the entire amount of ink in the ink bottle 105 is injected.

[0038] The scanner member 99 is disposed in the left-right direction below the opening / closing cover 14 and above the carriage 70. The scanner member 99 is disposed at a position that does not overlap with the upper cover 73 in a plan view. When the ink tank 61 is below the scanner member 99 on the movement path of the ink tank 61, which moves left-right together with the carriage 70, the user cannot access the ink inlet 67. In other words, when the ink tank 61 is below the scanner member 99 on the movement path of the ink tank 61, the scanner member 99 restricts the injection of ink from the ink inlet 67 into the ink storage chamber 62a.

[0039] The remaining amount detection unit 80 detects the remaining amount of ink stored in the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61. The remaining amount detection unit 80 detects the remaining amount of ink stored in each of the ink storage chambers 62a of the four ink tanks 61. In this embodiment, the remaining amount detection unit 80 is a sensor arm type including a float member (not shown) supported at the tip of a swingable arm in the ink storage chamber 62a of each ink tank 61 and an optical sensor (not shown) capable of detecting the position of the float member. The float member is a member having a smaller specific gravity than the ink stored in the ink storage chamber 62a, and the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a can be detected by detecting the position of the float member with the optical sensor. A signal including information on the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80 is transmitted to the control unit 40. The remaining amount detection unit 80 may constantly detect the amount of ink remaining in the ink storage chamber 62a, or may detect the amount of ink remaining only when an ink refill command (described later) is received.

[0040] The control unit 40 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 131, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 135, and a memory 140. The CPU 131, the ASIC 135, and the memory 140 are connected by an internal bus 137. The memory 140 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 132, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 133, and an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) 134. The ROM 132 stores programs for controlling various operations of the printer 1. The CPU 131 executes the programs using the RAM 133 and the EEPROM 134.

[0041] The ASIC 135 outputs control signals to the inkjet head 31, the valve 63, the electromagnetic valve 65, the paper feed motor 91M, the transport motor 92M, the paper discharge motor 93M, the carriage motor 94M, etc., and controls their operations. For example, the control unit 40 controls the inkjet head 31, the paper feed motor 91M, the transport motor 92M, the paper discharge motor 93M, the carriage motor 94M, etc., based on recording data transmitted from an external device (e.g., a PC or a smartphone), alternately performs a transport process and a recording process, and records an image or the like on the paper P. The ASIC 135 is also capable of receiving signals transmitted from the operation unit 13, signals transmitted from the remaining amount detection unit 80, etc.

[0042] (Supply of ink to ink tank 61) Next, an example of a user's operation procedure and a process performed by the control unit 40 when filling the ink tank 61 with ink using the ink bottle 105 in the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

[0043] When ink is discharged from the nozzles 32 of the inkjet head 31 and ink is consumed in the ink tank 61, the user needs to refill the ink tank 61 with ink. When the user wishes to refill any of the four ink tanks 61 with ink, the user operates the operation unit 13 to transmit an ink refill instruction signal to the control unit 40. For example, when refilling the ink tank 61 in which yellow ink is stored with ink, a signal of an ink refill instruction for yellow ink is transmitted to the control unit 40. The ink refill instruction may be transmitted from the operation unit 13 to the control unit 40 by a manual operation by the user, or may be transmitted from an external device to the control unit 40.

[0044] When the control unit 40 receives an ink replenishment instruction signal, it temporarily reserves an operation command for the movement mechanism 71 to move the ink tank 61 to which the ink replenishment instruction has been given to the ink replenishment target to a refillable position (described later).The control unit 40 then determines whether the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chambers 62a of each of the four ink tanks 61 detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount.

[0045] Here, the "predetermined amount" refers to the amount of ink remaining in the ink storage chamber 62a such that when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a reaches the predetermined amount, the amount of ink that can be injected into the ink storage chamber 62a matches the amount of ink contained in the disposable ink bottle 105. In other words, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61 to be replenished is equal to or greater than the predetermined amount, injecting ink from the ink bottle 105 into the ink storage chamber 62a will cause the ink to overflow from the ink tank 61.

[0046] The control unit 40 controls the moving mechanism 71 so that, for the ink tank 61 whose remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, the ink tank 61 is prohibited from moving from the injection restriction position to the injection possible position while allowing the ink tank 61 to move at the injection restriction position. That is, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61 to be supplied with ink is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 executes the invalidation process of the operation command of the moving mechanism 71 described above. As a result, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61 to be supplied with ink is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, the ink tank 61 cannot move to the injection possible position, and the injection of ink into the ink storage chamber 62a is restricted. In this embodiment, the prohibition of the ink tank 61 from moving from the injection restriction position to the injection possible position corresponds to the "injection restriction state is maintained" of the present invention. In addition, "while allowing the ink tank 61 to move at the injection restriction position" means that the control unit 40 can move the ink tank 61 to any injection restriction position.

[0047] In this embodiment, the ink inlet 67 moves in the left-right direction together with the ink tank 61, and is located below the scanner member 99, the base 19a, or the support portion 19b. The fillable position is a position where the ink inlet 67 is accessible. The fillable position in this embodiment is a position of the ink tank 61 that is below the upper cover 73 and where the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink is below the support portion 19b of the bottle support portion 19. In other words, the upper cover 73 is disposed at a position above the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 when the ink tank 61 is in the fillable position. In this embodiment, the fillable position is a position where only one ink tank 61 of the multiple ink tanks 61 can be located.

[0048] The injection restricting position is a position where access to the ink inlet 67 is not possible. The injection restricting position in this embodiment is any position of the ink tank 61 that moves with the reciprocating movement of the carriage 70 except for the injection enabling position, and is a position of the ink tank 61 where the top of the ink inlet 67 is covered by either the scanner member 99 or the base 19a of the bottle support part 19. The scanner member 99 and the base 19a of the bottle support part 19 in this embodiment correspond to the restricting member of the present invention.

[0049] For an ink tank 61 in which the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80 falls below a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 controls the movement mechanism 71 to allow the ink tank 61 to move from the injection restricting position to the injection enabling position. In other words, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61 to be replenished falls below a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 executes the above-mentioned process of enabling the operation command of the movement mechanism 71.

[0050] When the enabling process of the operation command of the movement mechanism 71 is executed, the control unit 40 controls the movement mechanism 71 to move the carriage 70, thereby moving the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink to the injection possible position. At this time, the ink tanks 61 other than the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink are in the injection restricted position. In this embodiment, allowing the ink tank 61 to move from the injection restricted position to the injection possible position corresponds to "allowing the ink tank 61 to move from the injection restricted state to the injection possible state" of the present invention.

[0051] Next, after the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink has been moved to the position where ink can be poured, the user opens the upper cover 73 as shown in Fig. 2. The control unit 40 opens the valve 63 of the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink. Then, the ink bottle 105 is supported on the support portion 19b of the bottle support unit 19, and the tip of the ink bottle 105 is attached to the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink. This allows ink to be poured from the ink bottle 105 into the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink.

[0052] As described above, the printer 1 of this embodiment has the remaining amount detection unit 80 that detects the remaining amount of ink stored in the ink storage chamber 62a, the scanner member 99 that is a regulating member that can regulate the injection of ink from the ink inlet 67 into the ink storage chamber 62a, and the base 19a of the bottle support unit 19. The control unit 40 judges whether the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a detected by the remaining amount detection unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, and controls the movement mechanism 71 so as to prohibit the ink tank 61 from moving from the injection regulating position to the injection possible position when the remaining amount of ink is equal to or greater than the predetermined amount, and controls the movement mechanism 71 so as to permit the ink tank 61 to move from the injection regulating position to the injection possible position when the remaining amount of ink is less than the predetermined amount. According to this embodiment, the user cannot access the ink inlet 67 until the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a falls below the predetermined amount, and the injection of ink into the ink storage chamber 62a is regulated. This makes it possible to avoid injection of ink into the ink storage chamber 62a when a sufficient amount of ink remains in the ink storage chamber 62a, thereby preventing ink from overflowing from the ink inlet 67 and suppressing an excessive increase in pressure inside the ink tank 61. This makes it possible to prevent contamination of the inkjet head 31 and suppress malfunctions of the printer 1 when ink liquid is injected into the ink storage chamber 62a from the ink inlet 67.

[0053] In this embodiment, four ink tanks 61 are provided, and the remaining amount detection unit 80 detects the remaining amount of ink stored in each ink storage chamber 62a of the four ink tanks 61. The control unit 40 controls the movement mechanism 71 so that, for an ink tank 61 in which the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 allows movement at the injection restriction position but prohibits movement from the injection restriction position to the injection possible position, and controls the movement mechanism 71 so that, for an ink tank 61 in which the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is below the predetermined amount, the control unit 40 allows movement from the injection restriction position to the injection possible position. According to this embodiment, ink can be injected only into the ink storage chamber 62a in which the remaining amount of ink is below the predetermined amount among the four ink storage chambers 62a. Therefore, in a situation where there may be both an ink storage chamber 62a with a remaining ink amount equal to or greater than a predetermined amount and an ink storage chamber 62a with a remaining ink amount less than the predetermined amount, it is possible to prevent ink from being mistakenly injected into an ink storage chamber 62a with a remaining ink amount equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. Therefore, in a configuration having multiple ink tanks 61, it is possible to prevent contamination of the inkjet head 31 and suppress malfunctions of the printer 1 when ink is injected into the ink storage chamber 62a from the ink inlet 67.

[0054] In the present embodiment, the ink tank 61 is configured such that an ink bottle 105 containing ink is attached to the ink inlet 67, and ink is injected from the ink bottle 105 into the ink storage chamber 62a. When the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a reaches a predetermined amount, the amount of ink that can be injected into the ink storage chamber 62a is equal to or greater than the amount of ink contained in the ink bottle 105. This ensures that, in a configuration in which ink is injected into the ink storage chamber 62a from the ink bottle 105 attached to the ink inlet 67, even if the entire amount of ink contained in the ink bottle 105 is injected into the ink storage chamber 62a, it is possible to reliably prevent ink from overflowing from the ink inlet 67 and contaminating the inkjet head 31.

[0055] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the printer 1 has an upper cover 73 that is disposed in a position covering the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 from above when the ink tank 61 is in the fillable position, and that is movable between a closed state that covers the ink inlet 67 and an open state that exposes the ink inlet 67 to the outside. With this, when the upper cover 73 is in the open state when the ink tank 61 is in the fillable position, ink can be injected from above into the ink inlet 67 that is located below the upper cover 73. This makes it easy to inject ink into the ink inlet 67.

[0056] In addition, in this embodiment, the printer 1 has a valve 63 that can open and close the ink inlet 67 and moves together with the ink tank 61. The valve 63 is disposed in a position that is below the upper cover 73 when the ink tank 61 is in the fillable position. The valve 63 moves together with the ink tank 61. Therefore, even if the upper cover 73 is mistakenly opened even though the ink tank 61 is in the fill restricting position, the ink tank 61 is in the fill restricting position and the valve 63 is inaccessible, so ink cannot be filled into the ink storage chamber 62a through the ink inlet 67 regardless of whether the valve 63 is open or closed. Therefore, in a configuration having the upper cover 73, it is possible to avoid filling the ink into the ink storage chamber 62a even if there is a sufficient amount of ink remaining in the ink storage chamber 62a.

[0057] In this embodiment, the remaining amount detection unit 80 is of the sensor arm type, which makes it possible to reliably detect the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a.

[0058] (Modification) Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the patent invention.

[0059] In the above embodiment, the remaining amount detection unit 80 is a sensor arm type. However, the remaining amount detection unit 80 may be a prism type. In the case of the prism type remaining amount detection unit 80, the ink tank 61 is made of resin. The remaining amount detection unit 80 has an infrared ray irradiating unit that irradiates infrared rays from the outside to the inside of the ink tank 61, and an infrared ray receiving unit that detects the infrared rays reflected by the resin ink tank 61. If there is ink in the portion of the ink storage chamber 62a where the infrared rays are irradiated, the infrared rays irradiated from the infrared ray irradiating unit go straight through the interface between the resin and the ink. At this time, the infrared ray receiving unit does not detect the infrared rays. On the other hand, if there is no ink in the portion of the ink storage chamber 62a where the infrared rays are irradiated, the infrared rays irradiated from the infrared ray irradiating unit are totally reflected at the interface between the resin and the air and are detected by the infrared ray receiving unit. By arranging one or more infrared ray irradiating units and infrared ray receiving units at any position relative to the ink tank 61, the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a can be detected. With this configuration, the amount of ink remaining in the ink storage chamber 62a can be detected reliably.

[0060] The remaining amount detection unit 80 may be of a soft count type. In this case, the remaining amount detection unit 80 has a counting unit that counts a value related to the amount of ink ejected from the nozzle 32 of the inkjet head 31, and a calculation unit that calculates the remaining amount of ink stored in the ink storage chamber 62a based on the value related to the amount of ink counted by the counting unit. For example, the calculation unit calculates the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a by subtracting the amount of ink ejected from the nozzle 32 from the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a immediately after the shipment of the printer 1 or immediately after the ink storage chamber 62a is refilled with ink. The calculated value is always overwritten and saved in the EEPROM 134. The remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a immediately after the ink storage chamber 62a is refilled with ink is calculated by adding the value of the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a before the ink refill to the value of the amount of ink contained in the disposable ink bottle 105, for example. The value related to the ink amount counted by the counting unit may be the ink amount itself, or may be a numerical value obtained by replacing the ejected ink amount with a predetermined value. With this configuration, the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a can be reliably detected.

[0061] In the above embodiment, the remaining amount detection unit 80 detects the remaining amount of ink stored in each of the four ink tanks 61. Then, the control unit 40 judges whether the remaining amount of ink in the four ink tanks 61 detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. However, the remaining amount detection unit 80 may detect the remaining amount of ink stored in the ink tank 61 to be replenished that stores the ink for which an ink replenishment instruction has been issued among the four ink tanks 61. In this case, the control unit 40 judges whether the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 61 to be replenished is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. For example, when the control unit 40 receives a signal of an ink replenishment instruction for yellow ink, it judges whether the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 61 that stores yellow ink is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. Then, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 61 to be replenished is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 controls the movement mechanism 71 so that the ink tank 61 is permitted to move at the injection restriction position but prohibited from moving from the injection permitted position to the injection permitted position. Furthermore, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink falls below a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 controls the movement mechanism 71 to allow the ink tank 61 to move from the injection restricting position to the injection enabling position.

[0062] In the above embodiment, the printer 1 may have a notification unit that notifies the user when the remaining amount of ink detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80 for each of the four ink tanks 61 falls below a predetermined amount. Upon receiving the notification, the user inputs an ink replenishment instruction to the operation unit 13 or the like to replenish the ink tank 61. The notification may be made, for example, by issuing a sound, or by displaying the information on the liquid crystal display of the operation unit 13 or on the screen of a PC connected to the printer 1, or both, or by some other means.

[0063] In the above embodiment, the bottle support 19 has one support part 19b. However, the bottle support 19 may have four support parts 19b corresponding to the ink inlet 67 of each of the four ink tanks 61. In this case, the tip part of the ink bottle 105 is supported by the support part 19b corresponding to the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink among the four ink tanks 61. In this case, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a of the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink falls below a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 controls the moving mechanism 71 to move the four ink tanks 61 including the ink tank 61 from the injection restriction position to the injection possible position. At this time, the injection possible position is a position of the ink tank 61 such that the ink inlet 67 of each of the four ink tanks 61 including the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink is below the four support parts 19b of the bottle support 19. Then, the user supports the ink bottle 105 on the support portion 19b that corresponds to the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink, among the multiple ink tanks 61 that are in the ink inlet position.

[0064] In the above embodiment, the ink bottle 105 is a small, disposable bottle. However, the ink bottle 105 does not have to be disposable, and may contain, for example, an amount of ink that allows ink to be injected into the ink storage chamber 62a in multiple batches. The ink bottle 105 may have an atmosphere communication passage that communicates the inside with the outside, or may not have an atmosphere communication passage. However, if the ink bottle 105 does not have an atmosphere communication passage, it is preferable that the ink tank 61 has an atmosphere communication passage 64. If the ink bottle 105 has an atmosphere communication passage, the ink tank 61 does not have to have the atmosphere communication passage 64.

[0065] In addition, in the present invention, the bottle support part 19 may not be provided, and the bottle 105 may be directly attached to the ink inlet 67. Hereinafter, a printer 101 having a configuration without the bottle support part 19 will be described with reference to Figs. 7 to 9. In the following description, the same components as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Figs. 7 to 9 are diagrams showing a state when the upper cover 73 is in an open state. In the printer 101, as shown in Fig. 7, each of the four ink tanks 61 has a cap 163 (injection lid of the present invention) that can rotate around a rotation axis (not shown) along the left-right direction at the rear end of the upper surface. When the front end part of the cap 163 is lifted by the user, the cap 163 rotates around the rotation axis (not shown) and enters an open state. When the cap 163 is in a closed state, the cap 163 covers the entire upper part of the upper wall 62b of the ink tank 61. When the cap 163 is in an open state, the cap 163 exposes the ink inlet 67 to the outside.

[0066] 7 to 9, the printer 101 is formed with a plate-like member 121 disposed in the left-right direction at a position that does not overlap with the opening / closing cover 14 in a plan view and that covers an upper part of the movement path of the front end of the cap 163 that moves together with the ink tank 61. A gap 171 is formed between the plate-like member 121 and the opening / closing cover 14 in a plan view, the gap 171 being larger than the left-right width of one cap 163 and smaller than the sum of the left-right widths of the two caps 163.

[0067] In the printer 101, the fillable position is the position of the ink tank 61 when the front end portion of the cap 163 is below the gap 171 between the plate-like member 121 and the opening / closing cover 14 when viewed from the top and bottom. When the ink tank 61 is in the fillable position, the user can lift the tip portion of the cap 163 of the ink tank 61 without being obstructed by the plate-like member 121. This makes it possible to access the ink fill port 67 of the ink tank 61 with the cap 163 in the open state.

[0068] In the printer 101, the fillable position is a position where only the ink fill port 67 of one ink tank 61 among the four ink tanks 61 can be accessed. For example, when the rightmost ink tank 61 among the four ink tanks 61 is moved to the fillable position, the control unit 40 controls the movement mechanism 71 so that the tip portion of the cap 163 of the rightmost ink tank 61 is positioned below the gap 171 between the plate-like member 121 and the opening / closing cover 14 when viewed from the top-bottom direction (see FIG. 8). When the second ink tank 61 from the right among the four ink tanks 61 is moved to the fillable position, the control unit 40 controls the movement mechanism 71 so that the tip portion of the cap 163 of the second ink tank 61 from the right is positioned below the gap 171 between the plate-like member 121 and the opening / closing cover 14 when viewed from the top-bottom direction (see FIG. 9). In this manner, only the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink among the four ink tanks 61 can be moved to the fillable position. In this case, the injection restricting position is a position of the ink tank 61 where the top of the tip of the cap 163 is covered by either the scanner member 99 or the plate member 121. In this embodiment, the scanner member 99 and the plate member 121 correspond to the restricting member of the present invention. According to the configuration of the printer 101 as described above, even if the top cover 73 is opened by mistake when the ink tank 61 is in the injection restricting position, the cap 163 cannot be opened because the ink tank 61 is in the injection restricting position and access to the cap 163 is impossible. Therefore, in a configuration having the top cover 73, it is possible to avoid the injection of ink into the ink storage chamber 62a even when a sufficient amount of ink remains in the ink storage chamber 62a.

[0069] In addition, in a configuration in which the ink bottle 105 is directly attached to the ink inlet 67, the fillable position may be a position that allows access to the ink inlet 67 of two or more of the ink tanks 61 among the multiple ink tanks 61. In this case, the control unit 40 moves two or more ink tanks 61, including the ink tank 61 that is the target of ink replenishment and in which the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is below a predetermined amount, from the fill restricted position to the fillable position. Then, the user attaches the ink bottle 105 to the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 that is the target of ink replenishment among the multiple ink tanks 61 that are at the fillable position.

[0070] In the above embodiment, the "predetermined amount" is the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a such that the amount of ink that can be injected into the ink storage chamber 62a matches the amount of ink contained in the disposable ink bottle 105 when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a reaches the predetermined amount. However, the "predetermined amount" may be the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a such that the amount of ink that can be injected into the ink storage chamber 62a matches the amount of ink contained in the disposable ink bottle 105 within a range in which the internal pressure of the ink tank 61 is equal to or lower than the withstand pressure value of the ink meniscus formed in the nozzle 32 when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a reaches the predetermined amount. In this case, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 61 to be replenished is equal to or higher than the predetermined amount, when ink is injected from the ink bottle 105 into the ink tank 61, the internal pressure of the ink tank 61 becomes equal to or higher than the withstand pressure value of the ink meniscus formed in the nozzle 32. In this case, the dynamic pressure generated when the carriage 70 is moved by the moving mechanism 71 may cause ink to leak from the nozzles 32, or ink may not be ejected from the nozzles 32 in the appropriate direction, which may result in malfunction of the printer 1. Therefore, the "predetermined amount" is defined as above, and the control unit 40 controls the moving mechanism 71 so as to allow the ink tank 61 to move from the injection restricting position to the injection enabling position when the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank 61 is below the predetermined amount. This makes it possible to prevent the pressure in the ink tank 61 from excessively increasing and causing malfunction of the printer 1 as described above, even if the entire amount of ink contained in the ink bottle 105 is injected into the ink tank 61 in a configuration in which ink is injected from the ink bottle 105 attached to the ink injection port 67.

[0071] In addition, the "predetermined amount" may be the amount of ink remaining in the ink storage chamber 62a such that, when the amount of ink remaining in the ink storage chamber 62a reaches a predetermined amount, the amount of ink that can be injected into the ink storage chamber 62a within a range in which the ink in the ink storage chamber 62a does not reach a certain height position of the atmosphere communication passage 64 matches the amount of ink contained in a disposable ink bottle 105.

[0072] In the above embodiment, opening / closing cover 14 is a member that can be opened and closed by rotating about a rotation axis (not shown) that is aligned in the left-right direction at the rear end of housing 11. However, opening / closing cover 14 may be a member that can be attached to and detached from housing 11 in the vertical direction. Also, the member that forms the ceiling portion of housing 11 may not be opening / closing cover 14, but may simply be a top plate that does not open or close.

[0073] In the above embodiment, the upper cover 73 is formed. When ink is injected into the ink tank 61 through the ink inlet 67, the upper cover 73 is opened. However, the printer 1 may be configured not to have the upper cover 73. In this case, the opening / closing cover 14 is not formed with a notch, and when ink is injected into the ink storage chamber 62a, the opening / closing cover 14 is opened. In this case, it is preferable that a cover member is separately provided at a position that does not overlap with the scanner member 99 in a plan view, so as to cover a part of the upper part of the movement path of the ink inlet 67 that moves in the left-right direction together with the ink tank 61. In this case, the injection possible position is a part below the opening / closing cover 14 where the cover member is not formed, and is a position of the ink tank 61 where the ink inlet 67 of the ink tank 61 to be replenished with ink is below the support part 19b of the bottle support part 19.

[0074] Furthermore, the printer 1 may have, for example, a locking member that prevents the upper cover 73 from going from a closed state to an open state. When the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 maintains the restriction by the locking member so that the upper cover 73 remains closed. This maintains the injection restriction state. Furthermore, when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a falls below a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 controls the upper cover 73 to close. From closed to openThe restriction by the locking member is released so that the ink can be injected into the injection-enabled state. This allows the ink to be injected from the injection-restricted state. In the above case, the locking member corresponds to the restricting member of the present invention. The printer 1 may also have a locking member that restricts the cap 63 from changing from a closed state to an open state. In addition, in the case of a configuration that does not have the upper cover 73, the printer 1 may have a locking member that locks the opening / closing cover 14 from changing from a closed state to an open state.

[0075] The printer 1 may also have an electromagnetic valve capable of opening and closing the ink inlet 67. In this case, the control unit 40 maintains the electromagnetic valve in a closed state when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. This maintains the injection restricted state. The control unit 40 also opens the electromagnetic valve when the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a falls below a predetermined amount. This enables injection. In this case, the injection restricted state is automatically switched to the injection permitted state. In the above case, the electromagnetic valve corresponds to the restricting member of the present invention. When injecting ink into the ink tank 61 from the ink inlet 67, the top cover 73 or the opening and closing cover 14 is opened.

[0076] In the above embodiment, after receiving the ink refill instruction signal, the control unit 40 judges whether the remaining amount of ink in each ink storage chamber 62a of the four ink tanks 61 detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. However, the control unit 40 may judge whether the remaining amount of ink in each ink storage chamber 62a of the four ink tanks 61 is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount before receiving the ink refill instruction signal. For example, the remaining amount of ink in each ink storage chamber 62a may be constantly detected by the remaining amount detection unit 80, and the control unit 40 may constantly or in short cycles judge whether the remaining amount of ink in each ink storage chamber 62a is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount. In this case, for an ink tank 61 for which the control unit 40 judges that the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, it generates an invalidation flag for invalidating an operation command of the moving mechanism 71 for moving the ink tank 61 to an ink refill position when an ink refill instruction is received. When the control unit 40 receives an instruction to refill the ink tank 61, the control unit 40 executes a process of invalidating the operation command of the movement mechanism 71 based on the invalidation flag. Furthermore, for an ink tank 61 for which the control unit 40 has determined that the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is below a predetermined amount, the control unit 40 generates an activation flag for validating an operation command of the movement mechanism 71 for moving the ink tank 61 to a refillable position when an ink refill instruction is received. When the control unit 40 receives an instruction to refill the ink tank 61, the control unit 40 executes an activation of the operation command of the movement mechanism 71 based on the activation flag, and controls the movement mechanism 71 to move the ink tank 61 to a refillable position. The invalidation flag is deleted when it is determined that the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is below a predetermined amount. Furthermore, the activation flag is deleted after ink is injected from the ink bottle 105 into the ink storage chamber 62a.

[0077] In addition, even when the control unit 40 controls the regulating member when switching between the injection restricted state and the injection enabled state, the control unit 40 may determine whether the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is a predetermined amount or more after receiving an ink refill instruction, or may determine whether the remaining amount of ink in the ink storage chamber 62a is a predetermined amount or more before receiving an ink refill instruction.

[0078] In the above embodiment, the fillable position is a position where only one ink tank 61 of the multiple ink tanks 61 can be located. The control unit 40 moves only the ink tank 61 of the multiple ink tanks 61 that is the target of ink refill and has a remaining amount of ink below a predetermined amount in the ink storage chamber 62a from the fill restricted position to the fillable position. However, the fillable position may be a position where two or more ink tanks 61 of the multiple ink tanks 61 can be located. In this case, the control unit 40 moves two or more ink tanks 61, including the ink tank 61 that is the target of ink refill and has a remaining amount of ink below a predetermined amount in the ink storage chamber 62a, from the fill restricted position to the fillable position.

[0079] In the present invention, the printer 1 may have one ink tank 61, or may have two or more ink tanks 61.

[0080] In the above embodiment, the printer has a scanner member 99. However, the printer 1 does not have to have a scanner member 99. In this case, the printer has a regulating member disposed below the opening / closing cover 14 at a position that does not overlap with the upper cover 23 in a plan view, and disposed so as to cover a part of the upper part of the moving path of the ink inlet 67 that moves together with the ink tank 61. The regulating member may be, for example, a plate member made of metal or resin. In a printer that does not have the opening / closing cover 14, the non-opening top plate of the housing 11 corresponds to the regulating member. In addition, the liquid ejection device according to the present invention can be applied to a multifunction machine, a copier, and the like, in addition to the printer 1.

[0081] In the above embodiment, the valve 63 is an electromagnetic valve. However, the valve 63 does not have to be an electromagnetic valve. For example, the valve 63 may be a valve that opens and closes mechanically in conjunction with the attachment of the ink bottle 105 to the ink inlet 67.

[0082] In the above embodiment, the electromagnetic valve 65 for opening and closing the atmosphere communication passage 64 does not have to be electrically controlled to open and close, and may be, for example, a valve whose opening and closing is mechanically controlled depending on the presence or absence of contact with a protruding member. Also, the electromagnetic valve 65 does not have to be provided. In this case, a semipermeable membrane that blocks the passage of ink but allows the passage of gas may be formed to close the atmosphere communication passage 64. [Explanation of symbols]

[0083] 1. Printer 14 Opening and closing cover 19 Bottle support 19a Base (regulating member) 19b Support part 20 Conveyor mechanism 31 Inkjet head (liquid ejection head) 32 Nozzles 40 Control section 61 Ink tank (liquid storage unit) 62a Ink storage chamber (liquid storage chamber) 63 Valve (injection lid) 67 Ink inlet (liquid inlet) 70 Carriage 71 Moving mechanism 73 Top cover 80 Remaining amount detection unit 99 Scanner parts (regulation parts) 101 Printer 105 Ink Bottle 121 Plate-shaped member (regulating member) 163 Cap (injection lid) P Paper (recording medium)

Claims

1. a liquid ejection head having nozzles for ejecting liquid onto a recording medium; a liquid storage section having a liquid storage chamber for storing a liquid and a liquid inlet connecting the liquid storage chamber to the outside; a conveying mechanism that conveys the recording medium in a conveying direction; a carriage supporting the liquid ejection head and the liquid storage unit; a moving mechanism that moves a carriage in a scanning direction that intersects with the transport direction; a remaining amount detection unit that detects a remaining amount of liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber; a regulating member capable of regulating the injection of liquid from the liquid inlet into the liquid storage chamber; A control unit, The control unit is determining whether the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber detected by the remaining amount detection unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount; when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is equal to or greater than the predetermined amount, controlling the movement mechanism so as to maintain an injection regulated state in which injection of liquid from the liquid injection port into the liquid storage chamber is regulated by the regulating member; when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is below the predetermined amount, controlling the movement mechanism so as to allow a transition from the injection restricted state to an injection enabled state in which injection of liquid from the liquid injection port into the liquid storage chamber is permitted; an upper cover that is disposed in a position covering the liquid inlet from above in the injectable state and that is movable between a closed state covering the liquid inlet and an open state exposing the liquid inlet to the outside; The control unit is controlling the movement mechanism so that, when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is equal to or greater than the predetermined amount, the liquid storage chamber is prohibited from moving from an injection restricting position at which access to the liquid inlet is impossible to a fillable position at which access to the liquid inlet is possible; controlling the movement mechanism so as to allow movement of the liquid storage section from the injection restricting position to the injection enabling position when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is below the predetermined amount; the upper cover is disposed at a position above the liquid inlet when the liquid storage portion is in the injectable position, a liquid injection lid that can open and close the liquid injection port and moves together with the liquid storage section; The liquid ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the injection lid is disposed at a position below the upper cover when the liquid storage section is in the injection position.

2. The liquid storage portion is provided in plurality, the remaining amount detection unit detects a remaining amount of liquid stored in each of the liquid storage chambers of the plurality of liquid storage units; The control unit is determining whether the remaining amount of liquid in each of the liquid storage chambers detected by the remaining amount detection unit is equal to or greater than the predetermined amount; for the liquid storage unit in which the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is equal to or greater than the predetermined amount, the movement mechanism is controlled so as to prohibit the liquid storage unit from moving from the injection restricting position to the injection enabling position while allowing the liquid storage unit to move at the injection restricting position; The liquid ejection device according to claim 1, characterized in that, for the liquid storage section in which the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is below the predetermined amount, the movement mechanism is controlled so as to allow the liquid storage section to move from the injection restricting position to the injection possible position.

3. The liquid storage section is configured such that a liquid bottle containing liquid therein is attached to the injection port, and liquid is injected from the liquid bottle into the liquid storage chamber, a bottle support part including a base part on a flat plate extending along a horizontal direction and a support part formed on the base part and capable of supporting the liquid bottle; The regulating member includes the base of the bottle support portion, 3. The liquid ejection device according to claim 2, wherein the injectable position is a position of the liquid storage part such that the liquid inlet of the liquid storage part is below a support part of the bottle support part.

4. The liquid storage unit is configured such that a liquid bottle containing liquid therein is attached to the injection port, and liquid is injected from the liquid bottle into the liquid storage chamber, A liquid ejection device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber reaches the specified amount, the amount of liquid that can be injected into the liquid storage chamber is equal to or greater than the amount of liquid contained in the liquid bottle.

5. The liquid storage unit is configured such that a liquid bottle containing liquid therein is attached to the injection port, and liquid is injected from the liquid bottle into the liquid storage chamber, A liquid ejection device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber becomes the specified amount, the amount of liquid that can be injected into the liquid storage chamber within a range in which the pressure inside the liquid storage section is below the withstand pressure value of the liquid meniscus formed in the nozzle is greater than or equal to the amount of liquid contained in the liquid bottle.

6. The regulating member includes a scanner member configured to be able to read image information of the recording medium, an openable / closable cover that covers the entire upper portion of the scanner member; a plate-like member disposed along the scanning direction so as to cover a portion above the moving path of the pouring lid; a gap is formed between the plate-like member and the opening / closing cover in a plan view, the gap being larger than a width of one of the pouring lids in the scanning direction and smaller than a width of two of the pouring lids in the scanning direction; The liquid ejection device according to claim 2 , wherein the injectable position is a position of the liquid storage portion when, in a plan view, the injection lid provided on the liquid inlet of the liquid storage portion is located below the gap.

7. 7. The liquid ejection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the remaining amount detection unit is of a sensor arm type.

8. 7. The liquid ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the remaining amount detection unit is of a prism type.

9. A liquid ejection device as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the remaining amount detection unit has a counting unit that counts a value related to the amount of liquid ejected from the nozzle of the liquid ejection head, and a calculation unit that calculates the remaining amount of liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber based on the value related to the amount of liquid counted by the counting unit.

10. A liquid ejection device as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it is provided with an alarm unit that notifies when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber detected by the remaining amount detection unit falls below the predetermined amount.

11. A locking member is provided to prevent the upper cover from changing from a closed state to an open state, A liquid ejection device as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, the control unit maintains the regulation by the locking member so that the upper cover is maintained in a closed state, and when the remaining amount of liquid in the liquid storage chamber falls below a predetermined amount, the control unit releases the regulation by the locking member so that the upper cover is allowed to change from a closed state to an open state.

Images