JP2009220338A - Connector unit for discharging fluid and fluid supply system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the remaining amount of fluid in a container and moreover, to prevent the risk of the occurrence of the leakage of the fluid, when the container is replaced by making a fluid discharge amount per unit time larger, in a fluid supply system such as an ink supply system for a printer. <P>SOLUTION: A connector unit for supplying ink includes: a female connector 2 which is attached to the discharge port 13 of the container 1 filled with the ink and has a through-hole 21 opened inside and outside of the container; a male connector 3 which is inserted into the through-hole and has an ink path 31 extending in an axial direction inside and an ink introducing hole 32 communicated with the ink path in the vicinity of a top end; and a plug 4 which is pushed by the male connector inserted into the through-hole, to be away from the inner opening 21a of the through-hole and open the inner opening and re-seals the inner opening of the through-hole by pulling out the mail connector from the through-hole. An air intake port 30 for introducing air for replacement into the container, when the ink is discharged is formed in the male connector. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a connector unit that is used to discharge a fluid from a container filled with fluid, and more particularly, to a fluid discharge that is suitably used when supplying ink filled in a container to a tank in an industrial inkjet printer. It relates to a connector unit.
The present invention also relates to a fluid supply system using the connector unit.

For example, as an ink supply system for an industrial ink jet printer, an ink container filled with ink and having a rubber stopper fitted in the discharge port, and a hollow needle inserted into the rubber stopper at one end and the other end in the tank In the past, there has been known one provided with an ink supply pipe positioned at (refer to Patent Document 1).
In the above ink supply system, when the hollow needle of the ink supply tube is inserted into the rubber stopper of the ink container, the ink in the container is supplied from the hollow needle through the ink supply tube to the tank.

However, in the case of the ink supply system described above, since a hollow needle with a small inner diameter is used, the amount of ink discharged per unit time is small, and in particular when discharging from a large capacity ink container, the discharge time becomes long. The problem arises.
Further, in the above system, when a certain amount of ink is ejected, the inside of the container becomes negative pressure, and the ejection may not be performed smoothly, or the ejection may be stopped. There was a problem that ink remained.
Furthermore, according to the above system, after ink discharge is completed, the hollow needle is pulled out from the rubber stopper and the ink container is replaced. However, since the sealing performance of the rubber stopper is not so high, it remains from the rubber stopper when replacing the container. Ink could leak.
JP 2002-29041 A

  It is an object of the present invention to increase the amount of fluid discharged per unit time in a fluid supply system such as an ink supply system for a printer, so that the remaining amount of fluid in the container is small and fluid leaks when the container is replaced. There is no fear.

As means for achieving the above object, the present invention provides the following fluid discharge connector unit.
In other words, the fluid discharge connector unit according to the present invention includes a female connector having a through hole attached to a discharge port of a container filled with fluid and opened on both the inside and outside of the container, and inserted into the through hole, and is axially disposed inside. A male connector having a fluid passage extending in the vicinity and having a fluid introduction hole leading to the fluid passage in the vicinity of the tip, and a male connector inserted into the through hole is pushed away from the inner opening of the through hole to open the opening. And a plug that reseals the inner opening of the through hole by removing the male connector from the through hole, and the male connector is formed with an air intake port for introducing replacement air into the container when fluid is discharged. It is what.

In the fluid discharge connector unit of the present invention, when the male connector is inserted into the female connector attached to the discharge port of the container filled with fluid, the plug opens away from the inner opening of the through hole, Thereby, the fluid in the container is discharged through the male connector. Here, the diameter of the fluid passage in the male connector can be set to be relatively large according to the inner diameter of the female connector and consequently the diameter of the discharge port of the container. Therefore, according to the fluid discharge connector unit of the present invention, the amount of fluid discharged per unit time is greatly increased as compared with the prior art using a hollow needle. Even in the case of ejection, the ejection time can be shortened.
Further, according to the fluid discharge connector unit of the present invention, when a negative pressure is generated in the container during the discharge of the fluid, the replacement air is introduced into the container through the male connector from the air intake port, thereby Since the negative pressure is eliminated, the fluid is smoothly discharged to the end, and the remaining amount of fluid in the container can be reduced. Moreover, in the case of the connector unit according to the present invention, the air intake is provided in the male connector, and the user does not need to perform any special operation other than inserting the male connector into the female connector. Well, anyone can easily perform the fluid discharge operation.
Furthermore, according to the fluid discharge connector unit of the present invention, when the male connector is removed from the female connector when the discharge of the fluid is finished, the used container is detached from the male connector, and the inside of the through hole in the female connector is removed. Since the opening is resealed by the plug, the replacement operation of the container is simple, and there is no possibility that the fluid remaining in the container leaks from the discharge port.
Note that the air intake port formed in the male connector has a structure and arrangement as long as it can introduce replacement air into the container without leakage of fluid flowing through the fluid passage of the male connector. There is no particular limitation.

As one aspect of the fluid discharge connector unit according to the present invention, the male connector has a substantially hollow shaft-shaped male connector body whose one end is inserted into the through hole, and a fluid having one end connected to the other end of the male connector body. And a supply pipe.
In this case, the other end of the fluid supply pipe is preferably positioned below the fluid surface in the tank that receives the fluid discharged from the container.

In the case of the connector unit of the above aspect, since the male connector is composed of the male connector main body and the fluid supply pipe, if the size or shape of the fluid supply pipe is appropriately changed, the arrangement of the tank that is the fluid supply destination, etc. It can be easily handled.
In the above aspect, if the other end of the fluid supply pipe is positioned below the surface of the fluid in the tank, it is possible to prevent foaming of the fluid supplied into the tank.

  In the fluid discharge connector unit of the above aspect, one end of the fluid supply pipe is fitted and fixed to the other end of the male connector main body, and an air intake adapter is provided in the other end of the male connector main body. The air intake adapter has a large-diameter fluid passage that passes through its central portion and at least one small-diameter air passage that passes through its outer peripheral portion. A cylindrical projecting portion that projects from the end surface to extend the fluid passage may be provided, and an air intake may be formed between the male connector body and the fluid supply pipe.

According to the above, the air intake adapter is fitted into the other end of the connector body, and the air for replacement is introduced into the container simply by forming the air intake port between the male connector body and the fluid supply pipe. For example, when used to supply fluids with different viscosities, if the adapter is changed to an adapter having a corresponding diameter or number of air passages, it can be replaced by air replacement. It becomes possible to appropriately eliminate the negative pressure in the container.
The adapter is formed with a large-diameter fluid passage so as to pass through the central portion thereof, while a small-diameter air passage is formed so as to pass through the outer peripheral portion thereof, and from the end surface on the fluid supply pipe side. Since the cylindrical protrusion is formed so as to extend the fluid passage, the introduction of the replacement air into the container is smoothly performed without being hindered by the fluid discharged from the container.
The air intake port is formed, for example, by providing one or more slits having a required length at the inner peripheral surface of one end of the fluid supply pipe, the outer peripheral surface of the other end of the male connector body, or the position opposite to these surfaces. can do.

  In the fluid discharge connector unit according to the present invention, the plug is provided so as to connect the plug body that opens and closes the inner opening of the through hole, the attachment portion that is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the female connector, and the plug body and the attachment portion. And a connecting portion having at least one fluid passage hole and formed of an elastic material so as to bias the plug body toward the inner opening of the through hole.

  In the plug of the above aspect, when the male connector is inserted into the through hole of the female connector, the plug main body is pushed into the container by the tip of the male connector, and the inner opening of the through hole is opened. When the male connector is removed from the through hole of the female connector, the plug body is moved to the initial position by the elastic restoring force of the connecting portion, and the inner opening of the through hole is resealed. Therefore, if the above plug is used, the opening and resealing of the inner opening of the through hole is automatically and reliably performed with the insertion and removal of the male connector, and the structure of the plug itself is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. In particular, the cost can be reduced by integrally molding the entire plug with an elastic material such as rubber.

The plug may be any plug as long as the female connector can be opened and resealed by inserting / removing the male connector, and is not limited to the above-described embodiment.
For example, as another aspect of the plug, the plug body is urged toward the inner opening of the through hole in the female connector by a spring, or a connection disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-67700. The structure of the system can be used. In the latter connection system, a head is formed at the tip of the male connector, while a recess into which the head is fitted is formed in the plug so that the plug and the female connector can be detachably attached to the inner opening edge of the through hole. An engaging portion to be engaged is formed, and by inserting the male connector into the through hole of the female connector, the head of the male connector fits into the concave portion of the plug and the engaging portion of the plug is female. The inner opening of the through-hole is released from the engagement portion of the connector, and the male connector is pulled out so that the engagement portion of the plug engages with the engagement portion of the female connector and the head of the male connector from the recess of the plug. The part is removed, and the inner opening of the through hole is resealed by the plug.

  Next, a fluid supply system according to the present invention includes a container having a discharge port and filled with a fluid, and the above-described fluid discharge connector unit according to the present invention, wherein a female connector is attached to the discharge port of the container. With things.

  According to the fluid supply system of the present invention, by using the above-described connector unit with an air replacement function, the amount of fluid discharged per unit time increases, and the fluid is smoothly discharged to the end. In addition to reducing the remaining amount of fluid, the user does not need to perform any special operation other than inserting the male connector into the female connector, so it is easy to use and anyone can easily supply fluid. In addition, the container can be easily replaced, and the fluid remaining in the container can be prevented from leaking from the discharge port.

An embodiment in which the fluid supply system according to the present invention is preferably used includes application to an ink supply system in a printer, that is, a case where the fluid is ink for a printer.
However, the application target of the present invention is not limited to the above, and the present invention can be used for various other fluid supply systems.

  1-4, one embodiment of the present invention is shown. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an ink supply system of an industrial inkjet printer.

FIG. 1 schematically shows an ink supply system according to this embodiment.
This system includes a container (1) filled with ink, and a tank (1) that is connected to the downward discharge port (13) of the container (1) and in which the ink in the container (1) is disposed below the container (1). And a connector unit to be supplied to 5).

As the container (1), there is a back-in-box type constituted by an outer box (11) made of cardboard or the like and an inner container (12) made of a blow container, a thin layer blow container, a film-made flexible container, or the like. It is used.
The discharge port (13) is formed by joining the upper end flange portion (131a) of the tubular discharge port member (131) to the peripheral portion of the hole (121) formed in the bottom surface of the inner container (12). (See FIGS. 2 and 4).
Although the capacity | capacitance of an inner container (12) is not specifically limited, As a result of using the connector unit demonstrated in detail later, it is also possible to make it a large capacity | capacitance of about 4-10 liters, for example.

  The tank (5) has a substantially box shape, and temporarily stores ink discharged from the container (1) through the connector unit.

2 to 4 show the structure of the connector unit in detail.
The connector unit is attached to the discharge port (13) of the container (1) and is inserted into the female connector (2) having a vertical through hole (21) opened on both the inside and outside of the container (1) and the through hole (21). A male connector (3) having an ink passage (31) extending in the axial direction and having an ink introduction hole (32) leading to the ink passage (31) in the vicinity of the tip, and the through-hole (21). When the male connector (3) is pushed away from the inner opening (21a) of the through hole (21), the opening (21a) is opened, and the male connector (3) is removed from the through hole (21). A plug (4) for resealing the inner opening (21a) of the through hole (21). The male connector (3) is formed with an air intake (30) for introducing replacement air into the container (1) when ink is ejected.

The female connector (2) is made of synthetic resin or metal, has a substantially cylindrical shape, and has a horizontally outward annular flange portion (22) at a height of about one third from the bottom. ing.
An annular recess (23) is formed in the upper portion of the flange portion (22) on the outer peripheral surface of the female connector (2), and this recess (23) is formed at the lower portion of the inner peripheral surface of the discharge port member (131). The female connector (2) is attached to the discharge port (13) by forcibly fitting the formed annular inward convex portion (131b). The mounting structure of the female connector (2) to the discharge port (13) is not limited to that shown in the figure. For example, one of the female connector and the discharge port is formed with a male screw and the other with a female screw. They may be formed and screwed together.
The upper third part of the outer peripheral surface of the female connector (2) is slightly reduced in diameter so as to form a gap with the inner peripheral surface of the discharge port (13). Is formed with an annular groove (24).
On the inner peripheral surface of the female connector (2), a horizontal first annular step (251) is formed at a height of about one third from the upper end, and the height of about one third from the lower end. A second annular step (252) inclined at a position is formed, and the inner diameter increases in steps from the top to the bottom.

  The male connector (3) includes a substantially hollow shaft-shaped male connector body (3A) whose upper end is inserted into the through hole of the female connector, and an ink supply pipe whose upper end is connected to the lower end of the male connector body (3A). (3B).

The male connector body (3A) is made of synthetic resin or metal.
On the upper end surface of the male connector (3A), there are formed inclined shaft portions (301) extending obliquely upward from a plurality of circumferentially spaced locations in the radial direction, and each inclined shaft portion. A plug pressing portion (302) is formed so as to continue to the tip of (31). The plug pressing portion (302) has a short cylindrical shape and is disposed above the central axis of the male connector (3A).
The ink introduction hole (32) is formed by a gap between adjacent inclined shaft portions (301).
At the upper end side portion of the outer peripheral surface of the male connector main body (3A), a horizontal contact with the first annular step (251) of the female connector (2) when inserted into the through hole (21) of the female connector (2). An inclined second annular step (304) that is brought into contact with the first annular step (303) and the second annular step (252) of the female connector (2) is formed, and is stepped from top to bottom. The outer diameter is increased.
An annular groove (305) is formed at the upper end of the outer peripheral surface of the male connector main body (3A), and an annular seal member (306) such as an O-ring is fitted and fixed in the groove (305).
The male connector main body (3A) is formed with a pair of left and right stoppers (33). Each stopper (33) includes a horizontal base (331) extending sideways from a position slightly below the center of the height on the outer peripheral surface of the male connector main body (33), and extending upward from the tip of the horizontal base (331) and the tip. An engaging portion (332) having an engaging claw (332a) on the inside, and a knob (334) extending downward via an intermediate connecting portion (333) extending obliquely outward from the tip of the horizontal base (331) And the tip of the male connector main body (33) comes into contact with the intermediate connecting portion (333) when the knob portion (334) is picked horizontally from the lower end of the outer peripheral surface toward the intermediate connecting portion (333). Part (335).
When the male connector main body (3A) is inserted into the through hole (21) of the female connector (2), the engaging claw (332a) at the tip of the engaging portion (332) becomes the flange portion (22) of the female connector (2). ), The engaging portion (332) is elastically deformed and opens slightly outward. When the engaging claw (332a) exceeds the flange portion (22), the engaging portion (332) is restored, and the engaging claw (332a) is locked to the flange portion (22). This prevents the male connector body (3A) from coming off the female connector (2). When the male connector main body (3A) is removed from the female connector (2), the engaging portion (332) is moved to the outer side by picking the grip portions (334) of both stoppers (3) with fingers so as to approach each other. And the engagement between the engagement claw (332) and the flange portion (22) can be released.
On the inner peripheral surface of the male connector main body (3A), a horizontal annular step (307) is formed at a height of about one-fourth from the upper end, and the lower part is smaller in inner diameter than the upper part. Is configured to be large.

The ink supply pipe (3B) is made of synthetic resin or metal, and is fixed to the male connector main body (3A) by fitting the upper end of the ink supply pipe (3B) to the lower end of the male connector main body (3A).
As shown in FIG. 1, the ink supply pipe (3B) is passed through the upper wall (51) of the tank (5), and its lower end is positioned below the ink surface in the tank (5). It has been made.

An air intake adapter (6) is fitted into the lower end of the male connector body (3A).
The adapter (6) has a large-diameter ink passage (61) passing through its central portion and a small-diameter air passage (62) passing through its outer peripheral portion, and the ink passage (61) from its lower end surface. It has the cylindrical protrusion part (63) protruded below so that may be extended. Therefore, the lower end of the air passage (62) is open to the lower end surface of the adapter (6).
In this embodiment, one air passage (62) is formed in the left part of FIGS. 2 to 4 in the outer peripheral part of the adapter (6), and the left part is slightly bulged inward. Therefore, it is thicker than the other parts (see FIG. 3).
The diameter of the air passage (62) is, for example, about 1 mm. On the other hand, the minimum diameter of the ink passage (61), that is, the inner diameter of the cylindrical protrusion (63) is, for example, about 7 mm. However, these diameters can be changed as appropriate according to the viscosity and capacity of the ink.
An annular groove (64) is formed in the center of the height of the outer peripheral surface of the adapter (6), and a sealing member (65) such as an O-ring is fitted and fixed in the groove (64).

The air intake port (30) is formed between the male connector body (3A) and the ink supply pipe (3B).
In this embodiment, the air intake (30) is formed by providing a slit (34) perpendicular to the lower end of the outer peripheral surface of the male connector body (3A). The slit (34) has a length that reaches from the lower end surface of the male connector main body (3A) to an upper level than the upper end of the ink supply pipe (3B).

The plug (4) includes a plug body (41) that opens and closes the inner opening (21a) of the through hole (21) in the female connector (2), and an attachment portion (42) that is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the female connector (2). The plug body (41) and the mounting portion (42) are connected to each other, have an ink passage hole (43a), and the plug body (41) faces the inner opening (21a) of the through hole (21). And a connecting portion (43) for energizing the entire body, and the whole is integrally formed of an elastic material such as rubber.
The plug body (41) has a substantially disk shape, and its peripheral surface (41a) is a tapered surface inclined downward toward the center, and this tapered surface (41a) is a female that forms the valve seat. It is brought into contact with or separated from the upper end surface of the connector (2).
The attachment portion (42) includes a cylindrical peripheral wall (42a) fitted over the upper end portion of the female connector (2), an inward groove from the lower end of the peripheral wall (42a), and an annular groove (24 ) And an annular inward projection (42b).
The connecting portion (43) is a film-like member formed so as to connect the upper end of the peripheral surface (41a) of the plug body (41) and the upper end of the peripheral wall (42a) of the mounting portion (42), and passes through the ink. A plurality of holes (43a) are formed at intervals in the circumferential direction. The shape of the ink passage hole (43a) is not particularly limited, but is, for example, a slit shape extending in the circumferential direction.

  Next, a method for using the ink supply system will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the container (1) filled with ink is disposed above the male connector (3) with the discharge port (13) facing downward. In this state, the inner opening (21a) of the female connector (2) attached to the discharge port (13) of the container (1) is sealed by the plug (4).

When the container (1) is lowered in this state, the male connector (3) is inserted into the through hole (21) of the female connector (2) as shown in FIG. When the plug body (41) is pushed upward by the plug pressing portion (302), the inner opening (21a) of the through hole (21) is opened. As a result, the ink in the container (1) is transferred from the ink passage hole (43a) of the plug (4) to the ink introduction hole (32) and the ink passage (31) of the male connector body (3A) and the ink of the adapter (6). The ink is discharged into the tank (5) through the passage (61) and the ink supply pipe (3B). The ink supply path configured as described above has a large cross-sectional area as compared with the prior art using a hollow needle, and can sufficiently increase the ink flow rate per unit time. Further, since the lower end of the ink supply pipe (3B) is positioned below the ink surface in the tank (5), the occurrence of bubbles in the ejected ink is avoided.
When the ink discharge starts, for example, when the inner container (12) is a thin blow container or a flexible container, the volume of the inner container (12) is reduced first as the negative pressure increases due to the discharge. When the limit is reached, air is introduced into the inner container (12) from the air inlet (30) of the male connector (3) through the air passage (62) of the adapter (6), and the inside of the inner container (12). The negative pressure of is eliminated. As a result, the ink is smoothly ejected to the end without being interrupted, and the amount of ink remaining in the inner container (12) is extremely small.

When the ink discharge is completed, the container (1) is lifted upward while performing the releasing operation of the stopper (3). Then, the male connector (3) comes out from the through hole (21) of the female connector (2), and the plug body (41) is lowered by the elastic restoring force of the connecting portion (43) along with this, and the through hole (21 The inner opening (21a) is resealed (see FIG. 2). Therefore, even if ink remains in the used container (1), there is no possibility of leakage from the discharge port (13).
Thereafter, by the same method as described above, the ink can be supplied by connecting the female connector (2) attached to the new container (1) filled with ink to the male connector (2).

[Example 1]
When using the connector unit with an air replacement mechanism of the above embodiment, an experiment was conducted on the relationship between the viscosity of the fluid filled in the container, the remaining amount and the discharge time.

As the fluid, (A) to (D) shown in Table 1 below were used, and these were filled into a container composed of a thin layer blow container by 4 liters. (A) is water, and (B) to (D) are prepared by adding a required amount of a water-soluble adhesive to water and adjusting the viscosity. Throughout the experiment, the temperature of each fluid was 20 ° C.

Then, the connector unit was used to discharge the fluid five times from the container filled with each fluid of (A) to (D), the discharge state was observed for each, and the remaining amount and the discharge time were measured. . The remaining amount was calculated by subtracting the mass of the container measured before fluid filling from the mass of the container (including residual fluid) measured at the completion of ejection. Moreover, the remaining rate was calculated based on these remaining amounts. As for the discharge time, in addition to the time from the start of discharge to the completion of discharge, the time from the start of discharge to the start of air replacement was also measured. The results are shown in Table 2. The remaining amount, the remaining amount rate, and the discharge time are average values for five measurements.

  As is apparent from Table 2, in the case of Example 1, any of the fluids (A) to (D) was smoothly discharged without stagnation in the middle. The discharge time became longer as the viscosity of the fluid increased. On the other hand, the remaining amount is almost constant even when the viscosity increases. From this, it can be seen that the remaining amount of a fluid having a high viscosity can be reduced by using a connector unit having an air replacement mechanism.

[Comparative Example 1]
As Comparative Example 1, the same experiment as in Example 1 was performed when a connector unit having no air replacement mechanism was used.
As the connector unit of Comparative Example 1, except that the adapter for air intake is not incorporated in the male connector body and that the one having no slit for forming the air intake port is used as the fluid supply pipe. The same connector unit as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 was used.
The results are shown in Table 3 below.

  As is clear from Table 3, in the case of Comparative Example 1, for any of the fluids (A) to (D), the discharge stops halfway, and about 8 times as much fluid as in the case of Example 1 is contained in the container. Remained in. The cause of this is considered to be that discharge is possible up to the range where the volume of the container is reduced, but further discharge becomes impossible when the weight of the fluid balances with the restoring force of the container.

[Example 2]
In addition, when the connector unit with an air replacement mechanism of the above embodiment was used, the relationship between the volume of the fluid filled in the container, the remaining amount and the discharge time was tested.

As the fluid, water (see (A) of Table 1) was used, and a thin layer blow container having a capacity of 6 liters filled with a capacity shown in Table 4 below was prepared.

And from each container filled with the water of the capacity | capacitance of (E)-(H) of Table 4, the discharge of the fluid was performed 5 times each using the connector unit, About each, a discharge state similarly to Example 1 And the remaining amount and discharge time were measured. The results are shown in Table 5.

  As can be seen from Table 5, in the case of Example 2, in any case of the capacities (E) to (H), the discharge was smoothly performed without stagnation in the middle. Although the discharge time became longer in proportion to the volume of water, the time from the start of air replacement to the completion of discharge (“Discharge completed”-“Switching” in Table 5) was almost constant regardless of the volume. It was. On the other hand, there was almost no difference in the remaining amount even when the capacity increased.

[Comparative Example 2]
Further, as Comparative Example 2, the same experiment as in Example 2 was performed in the case where a connector unit without an air replacement mechanism was used.
The connector unit of Comparative Example 2 is the same as that used in Comparative Example 1.
The results are shown in Table 6 below.

As can be seen from Table 6, in the case of Comparative Example 2, for any of the volumes (E) to (H), the discharge stops in the middle, and about eight times as much fluid as in the case of Example 2 is contained in the container. Remained in.
From the above, it can be seen that the remaining amount can be reliably reduced even when the fluid capacity is increased by using the connector unit having the air replacement mechanism as in the second embodiment.

It is a figure showing the outline of the ink supply system concerning the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing a main part of a connector unit in the ink supply system of FIG. 1 in a state where a female connector and a male connector are not connected. FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the connector unit taken along line III-III in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing a main part of a connector unit in the ink supply system of FIG. 1 in a state where a female connector and a male connector are connected.

Explanation of symbols

(1): Container (13): Discharge port (2): Female connector (21): Through hole (21a): Inner opening (3): Male connector (3A): Male connector body (3B): Ink supply pipe ( Fluid supply pipe)
(30): Air intake port (31): Ink passage (fluid passage)
(32): Ink introduction hole (fluid introduction hole)
(34): Slit (4): Plug (41): Plug body (42): Mounting portion (43): Connection portion (43a): Ink passage hole (fluid passage hole)
(5): Tank (6): Air intake adapter (61): Ink passage (fluid passage)
(62): Air passage (63): Cylindrical protrusion

Claims (7)

A female connector having a through-hole attached to a discharge port of a container filled with fluid and opened on both the inside and outside of the container;
A male connector having a fluid passage inserted into the through-hole and extending in the axial direction inside and having a fluid introduction hole leading to the fluid passage in the vicinity of the tip;
By being pushed by the male connector inserted into the through hole, the same opening is opened away from the inner opening of the through hole, and when the male connector is removed from the through hole, the inner opening of the through hole is opened. A plug for resealing,
A fluid discharge connector unit, wherein the male connector is formed with an air intake for introducing replacement air into the container when fluid is discharged.   The male connector includes a substantially hollow shaft-shaped male connector body whose one end is inserted into the through hole, and a fluid supply pipe having one end connected to the other end of the male connector body. The fluid discharge connector unit according to claim 1.   3. The fluid discharge connector unit according to claim 2, wherein the other end of the fluid supply pipe is positioned below a fluid surface in a tank that receives the fluid discharged from the container. The fluid supply pipe has one end fitted and fixed to the other end of the male connector body, and an air intake adapter is fitted into the other end of the male connector body. And
The air intake adapter has a large-diameter fluid passage that passes through a central portion thereof and at least one small-diameter air passage that passes through an outer peripheral portion thereof, and the fluid passage from an end surface on the fluid supply pipe side. Has a cylindrical protrusion that protrudes to extend
The fluid discharge connector unit according to claim 2, wherein the air intake port is formed between the male connector body and the fluid supply pipe.   The plug is provided so as to connect a plug body that opens and closes the inner opening of the through hole, an attachment portion that is attached to an outer peripheral surface of the female connector, and the plug body and the attachment portion. A connecting portion having a fluid passage hole and formed of an elastic material so as to urge the plug body toward the inner opening of the through hole. 5. The fluid discharge connector unit according to any one of 4 above.   A fluid comprising a container having a discharge port and filled with a fluid, and a fluid discharge connector unit according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a female connector is attached to the discharge port. Supply system.   The fluid supply system according to claim 6, wherein the fluid is ink for a printer.

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