Ink Jet Printer Bubble Removal via Airtight Discharge Cap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ink jet printers face inefficiencies in bubble removal due to air entrainment when the ink tank is open to the atmosphere, leading to deteriorated bubble removal efficiency and potential ink waste.
Innovation Solution
An ink jet printer design featuring a bubble collecting chamber with a discharge path and an opening and closing valve, where a discharge cap creates an airtight space with the carriage to prevent outside air from entering, allowing for unidirectional bubble discharge using a suction member, thereby avoiding ink waste and pressure issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the ink tank is opened to the atmosphere for ink supply, then ink can be freely supplied to the printing head, but air (bubbles) is entrained in the ink during circulation, deteriorating bubble removal efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into separate airtight spaces (bubble collecting chamber, discharge path, airtight space at discharge port) that are isolated from the atmosphere during bubble discharge operations, while allowing open ink supply during printing. This segmentation allows independent control of ink supply and bubble discharge functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The bubble collecting chamber preliminarily collects bubbles from the ink path before discharge. The airtight space is preliminarily formed by bringing the discharge cap into contact with the carriage before bubble discharge begins, preventing air entrainment from the start of the discharge operation.
2Reliability
If bubbles are discharged by inducing negative pressure from the nozzle side of the printing head, then bubbles can be removed from the ink path, but ink is wasted and the process takes longer time
Solution Approach 1:
The bubble discharge function is extracted from the printing head nozzle side and relocated to the bubble collecting chamber with its own dedicated discharge path and discharge port. This allows bubbles to be removed directly from the collection chamber without involving the printing head nozzles, preventing ink waste and reducing discharge time.
3Reliability
If the discharge path is opened to the atmosphere for bubble discharge, then collected bubbles can be removed, but outside air may enter the bubble collecting chamber or ink paths, causing air to be entrained in the ink
Solution Approach 1:
The discharge cap acts as a flexible sealing element that forms an airtight space when brought into contact with the carriage. This flexible seal effectively isolates the discharge path from the atmosphere during bubble discharge, preventing outside air from entering while allowing bubbles to be discharged through the controlled airtight space.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design effectively prevents air entrainment in the ink path, reduces ink waste, and maintains negative pressure in the bubble collecting chamber, ensuring efficient and reliable bubble removal without damaging meniscuses.
Implementation Method 1
a suction member that sucks air from the airtight space
Implementation Method 2
the air existing in the airtight space is sucked by the suction member to be discharged to the atmosphere
Data Source
AI summary
An ink jet printer includes a carriage movable on a body frame, including at least one printing head; an ink tank that stores the ink; and an ink path that supplies the ink from the ink tank to the printing head. The carriage has a bubble collecting chamber that collects bubbles produced in the ink path, a discharge path which is communicated with the bubble collecting chamber, and an opening and closing valve which is arranged in the discharge path and is normally closed. The body frame has a member for opening and closing the opening and closing valve, a discharge cap which can be brought into tight contact with the carriage to close an outlet of the discharge path so that an airtight space communicated with the outlet is defined between the discharge cap and the carriage, and a suction member that sucks air from the airtight space.