Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-26
2002-02-19
Vo, Anh T. N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06347865
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container that utilizes negative pressure for supplying liquid to the outside. The invention also relates to a liquid supply system and a method for manufacturing such liquid container.
2. Related Background Art
As disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-267483 filed by the applicant hereof, there has been known conventionally the ink tank having ink contained in an area (hereinafter referred to as an ink containing portion) surrounded by the inner walls which are separable from the outer walls that form the outer enclosure thereof.
The inner walls of the aforesaid ink tank are formed sufficiently thicker than the outer walls so that the outer walls present almost no deformation even when the inner walls are deformed by the outflow of ink contained therein. Also, the air intake is provided for the outer walls to induce the air into the gap between the outer walls and the inner walls. For the inner walls, the welding portions (pinch offs) are provided to support the inner walls by the welding portions to enable them to engage with the outer walls.
For the ink tank thus structured, the force exerted by the deformation due to the consumption of ink acts upon the inner walls thereof, together with the force that may be exerted by the restoring action thereof to return its shape to the initial state. This contributes to making negative pressure more stable in the ink container, and also, making the ink tank excellently functional in utilizing such stabilized negative pressure while supplying liquid.
Also, in the specification of the aforesaid Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application, it has been disclosed that the inner and outer walls of the ink tank are structured with multiple layers of different materials in order to enhance its shock resistance.
Now, a printer is often used under the environment having a specific temperature, although the use environment of a printer in general differs greatly depending on the regions where it is used.
In actual cases, there is a region where the temperature is considerably changeable or a region where the temperatures are considerably different even in a day. Here, the inventors hereof have found that the negative pressure changes even when the degree of deformation is the same if the ink tank is used in a condition where the temperatures may change as described above. Then, it is also known that even with an ink tank which is capable of demonstrating the desired characteristic of negative pressure at a certain specific temperature, there is a possibility that such desired characteristic of negative pressure becomes unobtainable due to its fluctuation that may be caused by the environmental condition where the temperature changes greatly against the temperature thus set specifically. In this case, there is a need for the adjustment of negative pressure, such as increasing the frequency of recovery process more than usual so that the ink leakage is prevented from the recording head when printing is made under such environment that its temperature is caused to differ greatly from the one thus set specifically.
Therefore, the inventors hereof have studied assiduously to ascertain the causes in this respect, and succeeded in obtaining the new knowledge that there is an important relationship between the elastic moduli of resin used as the material of the inner walls, which may change due to the temperature changes, the temperature at the glass transition point (that is, the temperature at which molecules begin micro-Brownian motion and the characteristic changes from glass to rubber), and the temperature of use environment.
Also, since the ink tank contains ink or some other liquid in it, the ink tank should be made to present an excellent liquid contactness with ink (that is, it does not affect the composition of ink when it is in contact with ink), and also, present an excellent gas barrier capability. However, these functional resins are generally subjected to being peeled off from each other thus making it necessary to provide a bonding layer between them in order to bond the resin layers firmly with each other.
On the other hand, the ink tank, which has been disclosed in the aforesaid specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application, is manufactured by expanding a cylindrical parison in the mold the section of which is square column so that the ink tank has a thickness distribution. As a result, when the inner walls should be formed with multiple layers, the central part of each layer is made relatively thicker than each of the corner portions, thus making the thickness distribution to change smoothly from the central portion to the corners eventually. As a result, if the contact layers should be provided in order to allow the multiple layers to be in contact reliably with each other, the thickness of the contact layers increases inevitably centering on the central portion, which makes the thickness larger for the inner walls as a whole.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Now, therefore, the present invention is designed with a view to solving the problems discussed above. It is an object of the invention to provide a liquid container capable of implementing the stable supply of liquid by stabilizing the characteristic of negative pressure irrespective of the temperature changes of use environments, and also, to provide a liquid supply system and a method for manufacturing such liquid container as well.
In order to achieve the objects described above, the liquid container of the present invention comprises the inner wall that forms the liquid containing portion to contain liquid therein; the outer wall that forms the container to contain the liquid containing portion therein; and the liquid supply portion for supplying liquid from the liquid containing portion to the outside. Then, the aforesaid inner wall is arranged to be a member to generate negative pressure in the liquid containing portion by being deformed following the leading-out of the liquid, and formed by the material having the elastic modulus change of 25% or less against the temperature change of use environment.
In accordance with the liquid container of the present invention thus structured, it becomes possible to stabilize the characteristic of negative pressure irrespective of the temperature changes of the use environment whether the material of the inner walls is an amorphous resin or a crystalline resin.
Also, the liquid container of the present invention comprises the inner wall that forms the liquid containing portion to contain liquid therein; the outer wall that forms the container that contains the liquid containing portion therein; and the liquid supply portion for supplying liquid from the liquid containing portion to the outside. Then, the aforesaid inner wall is arranged to be a member to generate negative pressure in the liquid containing portion by being deformed following the leading-out of liquid, and formed by an amorphous resin material having a higher glass transition temperature than the maximum temperature of use environment.
Also, the liquid container of the present invention comprises the inner wall that forms the liquid containing portion for containing liquid therein; the outer wall that forms the container that contains the liquid containing portion therein; and the liquid supply portion for supplying liquid from the liquid containing portion to the outside. Then, the aforesaid inner wall is arranged to form a multiply layered structure comprising an oxygenproof permeable layer, a resistive layer against the environmental change of temperature, and a liquid resistance layer. Then, the liquid resistance layer is provided for the innermost layer which is in contact with the liquid. The resistive layer against the environmental temperature change is formed by an amorphous resin having a higher glass transition temperature than the maximum temperature of use environment. Then, the inner wall is structured to generate negative
Hattori Shozo
Hayashi Hiroki
Hinami Jun
Matsumoto Hidehisa
Shimizu Eiichiro
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Vo Anh T. N.
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