Liquid Discharging Apparatus With Side-Access Waste Container
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing liquid discharging apparatus faces issues where the waste liquid container exchange is hindered by stacked sheets due to both being ejected in the same direction, causing interference and complicating the exchange process.
Innovation Solution
The waste liquid container is designed to be exchanged in a direction different from the sheet ejection, with a mountable compartment positioned to avoid interference, allowing easy access and reducing the risk of structural weakness at corners.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the waste liquid container is drawn outward in the same direction as sheet ejection, then the container can be easily accessed, but the container interferes with stacked sheets on the ejection tray
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the dimension of waste liquid container access by providing a separate access opening on the side surface of the housing, perpendicular to the sheet ejection direction. This allows the container to be removed from a different spatial dimension (side direction) rather than the front direction where sheets are ejected, eliminating interference between the two operations.
2Area of stationary object
If the waste liquid container is positioned below the feeder cassette, then space is efficiently utilized, but the container exchange path conflicts with sheet ejection path
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the access paths by providing separate openings: a front opening for sheet operations and a side opening for waste liquid container operations. This segmentation allows both functions to coexist in the same compact space without interfering with each other, maintaining efficient space utilization while ensuring easy container exchange.
3Ease of operation
If the housing structure is opened for container access, then the container can be exchanged, but structural weakness may occur at corner openings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by strategically positioning the waste liquid container opening on the side surface rather than at corner positions. This location provides good accessibility while avoiding the structural weakness associated with corner openings, maintaining housing integrity while enabling easy container exchange.
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid discharging apparatus, having a main housing, a liquid discharging head with nozzles, a container to store a printable medium, a waste liquid storage located at a position to at least partly overlap the container and lower than the container in a vertical direction, a mountable compartment, in which the waste liquid storage is demountably mountable, is provided. The mountable compartment is formed on a sideward face of the main housing on one side in a widthwise direction being a scanning direction of the liquid discharging head. The mountable compartment is open at a position frontward with respect to a connector, which connects a power cord for receiving external power supply to the main housing there-through, in a front-rear direction being a conveying direction to convey the printable medium and toward which the printable medium is ejected from the main housing.