Electrophotography – Diagnostics – Unit or part identification
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-14
2001-06-19
Chen, Sophia S. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Diagnostics
Unit or part identification
C222SDIG001, C399S237000, C399S250000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06249655
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer and an ink refilling method thereof, and more particularly, to an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer, which has a structure capable of refilling a plurality of ink storage tanks and a carrier storage tank which are installed in a main body of the printer with corresponding one of concentrated inks or a carrier by using a refill cartridge so as to supply liquid developers to developing units, and capable of recovering waste developer within a waste tank into an empty cartridge, and an ink refilling method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in a color printing device such as a color laser printer or a color copier, a latent electrostatic image formed on the surface of a photosensitive medium such as a photosensitive belt is developed with a liquid developer composed of a solid toner having a predetermined color and a liquid carrier functioning as a solvent, and the developed image is transferred to a paper.
A conventional liquid electrophotographic color printing device is provided with ink cartridges and a carrier cartridge which are installed to be replaceable at a main body of the printing device. The color printing device has an ink supplying structure in which concentrated inks and a carrier within the cartridges are supplied to respective developing units, and liquid developers required for the printing device are made by mixing the concentrated inks and the carrier. Here, the liquid developers are solutions made by mixing, in predetermined proportions, the concentrated inks composed of powder toners and are supplied from the ink cartridges and liquid carrier supplied from the carrier cartridge. The toners include pigments exhibiting colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, respectively.
However, since the above cartridges supply the concentrated inks or the carrier contained therein to the developing unit via a predetermined passage and a pump, there is a disadvantage in that the passage between the cartridge and the developing unit is long. Also, although the cartridge has a characteristic of a consumable part, a functional part such as an agitator must be installed so that contents stored in the cartridge do not precipitate. Therefore, the conventional ink delivery system has a disadvantage in which the system is expensive.
Recently, in order to reduce the cost thereof, a printing device employs an ink delivery system in which tanks are provided in the vicinity of developing units. The functional parts such as an agitator can be omitted, and a refill cartridge is installed at the outside of a main body of a printer for supplying a carrier or inks to the respective tanks.
In a liquid developer circulation process of an ink delivery system, liquid developer which has been recovered at a corresponding circulation tank via a development gap of a developing unit and a drying/condensing unit is transferred from one developing unit to another, neighboring, developing unit by a circulating photosensitive medium. Such a developer mixing event in which the transferred developer is mixed with a peculiar developer in a circulation tank, i.e., cross contamination occurs. Therefore, when printing jobs are repeatedly performed, the purity of the liquid developers of the circulation tanks is not maintained within an allowable range due to the cross contamination, and the liquid developers stored in the circulation tanks become unusable waste developer. Under this situation, the waste developer must be discharged out of the circulation tank, and new inks and new carrier are refilled to the circulation tanks. Thus, a waste tank is installed at a printing device for recovering waste developer within the circulation tank.
In addition, although the waste developer in the waste tank can be recovered to a separate waste bottle installed at the printing device, a method of recovering waste developer by using an empty refill cartridge, corresponding to a tendency in which an ink delivery system employs a refill cartridge, is under consideration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer, in which the structure thereof is improved so that any one of the concentrated inks and a liquid carrier, stored in a cartridge together with compressed air, is refilled to a corresponding ink tank and a carrier tank equipped within the main body of the printer. Waste developer stored in a waste tank is recovered. When any one of the ink refill cartridges storing yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks, respectively, a carrier refill cartridge, and an empty cartridge are installed at a common installation portion, a corresponding valve of a plurality of valves installed at a valve block can be automatically connected to the cartridge.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer, in which, in a printer employing a refill cartridge, the structure of securing the refill cartridge after the refill cartridge is installed at a common installation portion is improved, and the recognition of the identity of the contents of the cartridge is also improved.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer, in which the structure of a waste tank is improved to prevent waste developer from adhering to a bottom surface or a discharge port of a waste tank by installing a cylindrical agitator of a predetermined shape at the bottom surface of the waste tank and circulating the waste developer through the cylindrical agitator with a pump.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer, in which the structure thereof is improved so that agitating devices installed in a plurality of ink storage tanks can be driven by one driving source by using a belt-pulley and a clutch.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer having a developer concentration measuring device which is configured to form a developer film of a predetermined thickness on the surface of a rotating roller, and to measure the transmittance of light of the developer so as to measure the concentration of the developer within a circulation tank to be supplied to a developing unit.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer having a carrier tank which is configured to separate a carrier and water, which are condensed in a drying/condensing unit and are recovered to the carrier tank separate from each other.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an ink refilling method of a liquid electrophotographic color printer, in which an ink or carrier within a refill cartridge can be automatically supplied to an ink tank or carrier tank, and waste developer within a waste tank can, if necessary, be recovered to an empty cartridge.
Accordingly, to achieve the above objectives, there is provided an ink delivery system of a liquid electrophotographic color printer for supplying liquid developers of predetermined concentration, each of which is a mixture of a toner and a liquid carrier, to a plurality of developing units, respectively, and for recovering the carrier of a drying/condensing unit which absorbs and evaporates the carrier remaining on the photosensitive medium after development. The ink delivery system comprises a plurality of circulation tanks which store respective developers to be supplied to the developing unit, and comprise respective concentration measuring devices for measuring the concentration of the developers; a waste tank receiving waste developer produced in t
Baek Chung-guk
Hong Seung-Ho
Kim Jong-woo
Chen Sophia S.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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