Liquid Container Nozzle and Circular Wall Drip Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ink supplying apparatuses face challenges in preventing incorrect connections of liquid containers to tanks, leading to potential ink spills and contamination issues.
Innovation Solution
A liquid container design featuring a main body with a nozzle, a circular wall, and a key member that corresponds to a receiver key member on the tank, ensuring correct attachment and preventing erroneous connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a liquid container is connected to a tank via an ink outflow pipe and air inflow pipe, then the liquid surface in the tank can be maintained at a constant level, but ink may drip from the cap or pipes causing contamination and mess
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a receiving chamber as an intermediary structure between the ink outflow pipe and the external environment. This chamber captures and contains any ink that drips from the pipe, preventing it from contaminating the surrounding area. The receiving chamber acts as a mediator that isolates the harmful dripping effect from the user and environment while preserving the beneficial ink supply function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of ink dripping by designing the cap structure where dripped ink is redirected into a receiving chamber. Instead of allowing ink to contaminate the external environment, the design channels the dripping ink into a contained space where it can be collected or evaporate without causing mess. This transforms a harmful contamination issue into a controlled containment solution.
2Quantity of substance
If a cap is attached to the liquid container to store remaining ink, then ink can be retained, but ink may still drip from the cap to the outside causing contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The receiving chamber serves as an intermediary containment structure between the ink storage system and the external environment. When ink drips from the cap or pipes, the receiving chamber intercepts and contains these drips, preventing them from reaching the external environment. This mediator structure preserves ink retention functionality while eliminating the harmful dripping effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap structure is segmented into functional zones: the main cap body for sealing, the ink outflow path, and the receiving chamber for drip collection. This segmentation separates the ink storage function from the drip containment function, allowing each component to perform its specific role effectively. The receiving chamber is a distinct segmented portion dedicated to capturing and isolating dripped ink.
3Ease of manufacture
If the liquid container is designed without connection prevention features, then it is simple to manufacture, but wrong types of liquid containers can be connected to the tank causing errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements asymmetry through the key member and receiver key member design. The key member on the liquid container has a specific asymmetric shape that corresponds to a matching asymmetric receiver key member on the tank. This asymmetric pairing creates a mechanical interlock that only allows correct containers to connect to their designated tanks, preventing wrong connections. The asymmetric geometry ensures that incompatible containers physically cannot be attached.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection prevention feature is implemented as a localized key member structure on the liquid container and corresponding receiver key member on the tank. Rather than redesigning the entire container, only specific local portions (the key member areas) are modified with asymmetric geometries. This localized quality change maintains overall manufacturing simplicity while adding the necessary connection verification function at critical interface points.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a liquid container including: a main body having an internal space configured to store liquid to be supplied to a tank of a liquid consuming apparatus; and a cap configured to be attached to the main body. The main body has: an upper surface, a nozzle projecting upward from the upper surface and having an opening formed in a forward end surface of the nozzle, and a circular wall positioned in a surrounding of the nozzle with a spacing distance with respect to the nozzle, and projecting upward from the upper surface; and a key member corresponding to a receiver key member provided on surrounding of a respective supply port of the tank. The cap has a circular contacting part configured to liquid-tightly make contact with the circular wall in an attached state in which the cap is attached to the main body.