JP7493991B2 - Parts holding material - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a part holding member that holds an item.

Conventionally, inkjet printing devices use ink cartridges that have ink containers filled with ink to supply ink to the inkjet head (hereinafter also referred to as the "head").

This type of ink cartridge has a communication tag (component) attached with an adhesive sheet or the like, which has a memory (storage means) that stores various information about the ink and allows communication via short-range wireless communication with the printing device in which it is loaded.

The printing device reads various information stored in the communication tag of the loaded ink cartridge, recognizes the state of the loaded ink cartridge, and performs control appropriate to the current state of the ink cartridge.

When refilling an ink cartridge with ink, the specifications and condition of the corresponding ink cartridge change, so various information must be rewritten accordingly. This requires the ink cartridge to be removed from the cartridge by peeling off the adhesive sheet, but this removal process is cumbersome for users.

Patent Document 1 discloses an ink cartridge in which a tag removal hole is provided on the holder surface on which the communication tag is provided. When removing the communication tag from this ink cartridge, a rod-shaped member is inserted through the tag removal hole to remove the sticker covering the communication tag, and the peeled-off part of the sticker that has risen up is then picked up and removed.

JP 2017-154482 A

However, with the ink cartridge described in Patent Document 1, a rod-shaped member must be inserted through the tag removal hole to remove the sticker covering the communication tag, and then the peeled-off, raised portion of the sticker must be picked up and removed, so a rod-shaped member must be prepared. Also, the seal strength must be increased to prevent the rod-shaped member from damaging the communication tag or penetrating the seal member, which can increase manufacturing costs.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above problems, and aims to provide a component holding member that allows the held components to be easily removed.

In order to achieve the above object, a first feature of the component holding member according to the present invention is to
A component holder that holds a component by placing the component on a contact area and adhering an adhesive member to the component and the contact area,
The contact area is
The adhesive device has a first surface area, a second surface area located lower than the first surface area, and a third surface area located higher than the first surface area, the component is placed on the second surface area, the adhesive material is attached to at least the component and the third surface area, and a height difference portion is provided in a position of the third surface area corresponding to an end of the adhesive material.

The features of the component holding member of the present invention allow the held components to be easily removed.

1 is a front view showing an overview of a printing device equipped with an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the ink cartridge according to the embodiment. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an abutment surface of an engagement member of the ink cartridge according to the embodiment. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of an abutting surface of an engaging member of an ink cartridge according to a modified example of the embodiment. FIG.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. The same or equivalent parts and components are designated with the same or equivalent reference numerals throughout the drawings. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and may differ from the actual product. In addition, the drawings may include parts with different dimensional relationships and ratios.

The embodiments shown below are merely examples of devices that embody the technical ideas of this invention, and the technical ideas of this invention do not limit the layout of each component to those shown below. The technical ideas of this invention can be modified in various ways within the scope of the claims.

(Overall configuration of the printing device)
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a front view showing an outline of a printing device 1 equipped with an ink cartridge (component holding member) according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, the printing device 1 will be described as an inkjet type line color printer, which has a plurality of inkjet heads each having a large number of nozzles formed therein, ejects black or color ink from each head to print line by line, and forms a plurality of images on a printing paper on a conveyor belt so that the images overlap each other.

In this embodiment, four heads are arranged in a line along the paper transport direction, and a color image is formed by overlapping multiple images on top of each other. Inside the printing device 1, an arithmetic processing device 330 is provided, which performs printing processing using the heads described above, drives and controls the transport mechanism, and also controls the supply of ink from the ink cartridge 200.

The arithmetic processing unit 330 is an arithmetic module that is composed of hardware such as processors, memory, and other electronic circuits, or software such as programs that have the functions of these, or a combination of these, and by appropriately loading and executing programs, it virtually constructs various functional modules, and each constructed functional module performs processing related to image data, controls the operation of each part, and various processes in response to user operations. In addition, an operation panel 340 is connected to the arithmetic processing unit 330, and instructions and setting operations from the user can be accepted through this operation panel 340.

The printing device 1 is provided with a cartridge mounting mechanism 30 for mounting the ink cartridges 200 on the top surface of the device body 10, and multiple ink cartridges 200 of each color (four in this example) are arranged and loaded into this cartridge mounting mechanism 30. A holder portion, which is a mechanism for attaching and detaching the ink cartridges, is provided in the cartridge mounting mechanism 30 and faces horizontally.

The printing device 1 is also provided with an upper surface device 350 that covers the upper side of the cartridge mounting mechanism 30, and the ink cartridge 200 is loaded by inserting it horizontally between the lower surface of the upper surface device 350 and the upper surface of the printing device main body 10. The upper surface device 350 is provided with, for example, a sheet feeder, an operation panel, and the like.

(Overall configuration of ink cartridge)
FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the ink cartridge 200. FIG.

The ink cartridge 200 is a long, narrow housing that can be attached to and detached from the printing device 1 in the front-to-rear direction, and is roughly composed of an exterior body 201, which is an outer box, and an ink container 220 that is housed within the exterior body 201 and contains ink.

The exterior body 201 is a cylindrical body whose inner shape in cross section is rectangular, and has a box body 202 having a rectangular cylindrical shape with one open end, and an engaging member 210 that closes the open end of the box body 202. In this embodiment, the ratio of the horizontal side in the left-right direction to the vertical side in the up-down direction of the exterior body 201 is approximately 1:2.

The end face of the box 202 facing the printing device 1 is an open end, and an engagement member 210 that engages with the cartridge mounting mechanism 30 on the printing device 1 side is fitted into this open end. This engagement member 210 is made of a hard material such as resin or metal, and serves as an abutment surface that comes into contact with the cartridge mounting mechanism 30 of the printing device 1.

The engaging member 210 has an ink supply port 215 located in the center, and the upper and lower surfaces of the ink supply port 215 form abutment surfaces 210a. The abutment surface 210a is a member integrally molded from resin or metal, and is fitted into the open end of the box-shaped exterior body 201 and fixed to the exterior body 201 with a paper label (not shown) with an adhesive surface.

On the left and right sides of the center of the engaging member 210, there are formed fitting portions 212 that can be fitted so as to be gripped by gripping means provided on the printing device 1 side. These fitting portions 212 can be fitted with gripping means provided on the holder portion on the device main body 10 side.

Furthermore, a communication tag 216 that communicates contactlessly with a contactless communication interface (I/F) provided on the printing device 1 side is attached to the abutment surface 210a of the engagement member 210 by an adhesive sheet 217. This communication tag 216 generates internal power from radio waves received from the contactless communication (I/F), and uses that power to read and write data to the memory, as well as to send and receive data via an antenna. This memory stores the color of the ink in the cartridge, the type of ink (water-based or oil-based), the number of times it has been attached and detached, etc., and when attachment is detected by the cartridge attachment mechanism 30, it begins communication with the contactless communication interface and transmits the data stored in the device.

In this engagement member 210, the ink supply port 215 is located at the rear.

The ink supply port 215 has a supply port side joint part 215a that fits into the cartridge mounting mechanism 30 on the printing device 1 side. The supply port side joint part 215a has a built-in opening/closing valve (not shown). The opening/closing valve is opened by fitting the engagement member 210 of the ink cartridge 200 into the cartridge mounting mechanism 30 on the printing device 1 side, and is closed by removing the ink cartridge 200 from the cartridge mounting mechanism 30.

The box body 202 is made of a material that is softer than the engaging member 210, such as paper or wood, and can be cut and bent.

Inside this box 202 is an ink container 220, which is a bag in which ink is sealed.

The ink container 220 is formed from a flexible material such as a single layer or laminate material of film or foil, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, vinyl chloride, or polyvinylidene chloride, and may be configured, for example, with two flexible films joined at their outer edges by heat welding, or with four flexible films joined by heat welding and provided with gussets.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the abutment surface 210a of the engagement member 210 of the ink cartridge 200. Note that in Figure 3, the ink supply port 215 of the ink cartridge 200 shown in Figure 2 is drawn facing upward. In other words, the rear direction in Figure 2 is the upward direction in Figure 3. In the explanation of Figure 3, the rear direction in Figure 2 is the upward direction, and the front direction in Figure 2 is the downward direction.

The communication tag 216 is attached to the abutment surface 210a of the engagement member 210 by an adhesive sheet 217, thereby holding the communication tag 216 in place.

The abutment surface 210a has a first surface region 301, a second surface region 302, and a third surface region 303, each of which is positioned at different positions in the vertical direction.

If the height of the first surface area 301 is L1, the height L2 of the second surface area 302 is lower than the height L1. Also, the height L3 of the third surface area 303 is higher than the height L1.

A communication tag 216 is disposed on the second surface area 302.

Adhesive is applied to the underside of the adhesive sheet 217, and the adhesive sheet 217 adheres to the first surface region 301, the upper part of the communication tag 216, and the third surface region 303 so as to cover the communication tag 216 from above.

The third surface region 303 is provided with a height difference portion 304 having a concave shape in the downward direction. Note that this concave shape does not extend all the way to the bottom, as shown in FIG. 3.

The height difference portion 304 is provided at a position that overlaps with the tip portion 217a of the adhesive sheet 217. Therefore, the tip portion 217a is not adhered to the height difference portion 304 and is in a floating state.

As a result, when removing the communication tag 216, the user can easily peel off the adhesive sheet 217 by picking up the tip 217a, and the communication tag 216 adhered to the adhesive sheet 217 can be easily removed.

<Modification>
Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the ink cartridge 200. In the explanation of Fig. 4, similar to Fig. 3, the rear direction in Fig. 2 is the upward direction, and the front direction in Fig. 2 is the downward direction.

Similar to the abutment surface 210a shown in FIG. 3, the abutment surface 210a of the ink cartridge 200 according to the modified example also has a first surface area 301 of height L1, a second surface area 302 of height L2, and a third surface area 303 of height L3.

In this modified example, the third surface region 303 is provided with a height difference portion 304A having an upwardly convex shape. The height difference portion 304A is provided at a position that overlaps with the tip portion 217a of the adhesive sheet 217. Therefore, the tip portion 217a is not adhered to the height difference portion 304 and is in a floating state along the upper side.

As a result, when removing the communication tag 216, the user can easily peel off the adhesive sheet 217 by picking up the tip 217a, and the communication tag 216 adhered to the adhesive sheet 217 can be easily removed.

In this embodiment, a printing device 1 is described as having a communication tag 216 as a part and an ink cartridge as a part-holding member, but the part is not limited to the communication tag 216 and the part-holding member is not limited to the ink cartridge.

Any part that can be covered and attached with an adhesive sheet is acceptable, and the part holding member can be any member that can hold the part.

(Additional Note)
This application discloses the following inventions.

(Appendix 1)
A component holder that holds a component by placing the component on a contact area and adhering an adhesive member to the component and the contact area,
The contact area is
A component holding member having a first surface area, a second surface area located lower than the first surface area, and a third surface area located higher than the first surface area, wherein the component is placed on the second surface area, the adhesive material is attached to at least the component and the third surface area, and a height difference portion is provided on the third surface area at a position corresponding to an end of the adhesive material.

This allows the user to easily remove the adhesive member by simply picking up the end of the adhesive member when removing the part, and thus makes it easy to remove the part adhered to the adhesive member.

1 Printing device 10 Printing device main body 30 Cartridge mounting mechanism 200 Ink cartridge 201 Exterior body 202 Box body 210 Engagement member 210a Abutment surface 212 Fitting portion 215 Ink supply port 215a Supply port side joint portion 216 Communication tag 217 Adhesive sheet 217a Tip portion 220 Ink container 301 First surface area 302 Second surface area 303 Third surface area 304, 304A Height difference portion 330 Processing device 340 Operation panel 350 Top device

Claims (1)

A component holder that holds a component by placing the component on a contact area and adhering an adhesive member to the component and the contact area,
The contact area is
A component holding member having a first surface area, a second surface area located lower than the first surface area, and a third surface area located higher than the first surface area, wherein the component is placed on the second surface area, the adhesive material is attached to at least the component and the third surface area, and a height difference portion is provided in a non-end area of the third surface area at a position corresponding to an end of the adhesive material.

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