CN115610110A - Ink box and printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an ink box and a printing device, wherein the ink box comprises a shell, an ink outlet structure and an air guide structure, wherein the ink outlet structure and the air guide structure are arranged on the shell; the ink box also comprises a 1 st chamber to an Nth chamber which are arranged in the shell, wherein N is an integer which is more than or equal to 2; the nth chamber is communicated with the (N + 1) th chamber through a communication hole at the bottom end of the (N + 1) th chamber, and N is an integer from 1 to N-1; the 1 st chamber is communicated with the ink outlet structure, and the Nth chamber is communicated with the air guide structure. The ink box can solve the problem of broken lines and broken ink in the printing process of the ink box.

Description

Ink box and printing device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of printing consumables, in particular to an ink box and a printing device.

Background

An ink cartridge is a printing consumable for storing ink and supplying ink to an inkjet printing apparatus, which picks up ink from the ink cartridge by an ink pickup mechanism such as an ink pickup needle and ejects the ink from a head to perform printing. The ink cartridges may be generally classified into four kinds of CMYK ink cartridges according to colors of inks contained therein. In daily printing jobs, the printing of documents is abundant, resulting in a large amount of black (K) ink. In the related technology, the capacity of the black ink box is increased, and the number of the corresponding spray holes on the spray head is increased, so that the printing efficiency can be improved, but the capacity of the ink box is not in a direct proportion relation with the number of the spray holes on the spray head, and after the capacity of the ink box is increased, if the black (K) ink box still adopts the structure of a conventional color ink box (CMY), the problems of line breakage, ink breakage and the like can occur in the printing process, and the printing quality is influenced.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, a first object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge capable of solving the problem of disconnection and ink break of the ink cartridge during printing.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus including the above ink cartridge.

In order to achieve the first object of the invention, the invention provides an ink box, which comprises a shell, an ink outlet structure and an air guide structure, wherein the ink outlet structure and the air guide structure are arranged on the shell; the ink box also comprises a 1 st chamber to an Nth chamber which are arranged in the shell, wherein N is an integer which is more than or equal to 2; the nth chamber is communicated with the (N + 1) th chamber through a communication hole at the bottom end of the (N + 1) th chamber, and N is an integer from 1 to N-1; the 1 st chamber is communicated with the ink outlet structure, and the Nth chamber is communicated with the air guide structure.

The technical scheme is that the 1 st chamber to the Nth chamber are adjacent in sequence, the arrangement modes of every two adjacent chambers are respectively and independently selected from arrangement along a first direction or arrangement along a second direction, and the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other.

The further technical scheme is that the 1 st chamber to the Nth chamber are arranged to form at least two chamber rows which are arranged in parallel along the first direction, at least one chamber row comprises at least two chambers which are arranged along the second direction, and two adjacent chambers which are respectively positioned at one tail end of the two adjacent chamber rows are communicated through a communication hole.

The further technical scheme is that the number of the chamber rows is 2, and a communication port of the 1 st chamber communicated with the ink outlet structure is positioned in the middle of the width of the 1 st chamber row in the first direction.

The ink outlet structure comprises an ink outlet part exposed out of the shell and an ink outlet arranged on the ink outlet part, and the ink outlet is communicated to the outer side of the ink box; the air guide structure comprises an air guide hole, the air guide hole penetrates through the ink outlet part and leads to the outer side of the ink box, and the air guide hole is arranged close to the ink outlet.

The further technical scheme is that the air guide structure further comprises an air guide cavity which is arranged in the shell and communicated with the air guide hole, the air guide cavity is adjacent to the No. 1 cavity and is sealed and separated, and the air guide cavity is adjacent to the No. N cavity and is communicated with the No. N cavity through the air guide hole.

The ink box also comprises a clapboard arranged in the shell, the clapboard separates the 1 st chamber from the Nth chamber in the shell, and the communication hole is arranged in the clapboard.

The further technical scheme is that the shell comprises a bottom plate and a side plate, the side plate is perpendicular to the bottom plate and arranged around the bottom plate, and the partition plate is connected with the side plate and the bottom plate to form a 1 st chamber to an Nth chamber which are opened upwards; the shell also comprises a top plate, and the top plate is respectively connected with the top ends of the side plates and the top end of the partition plate in a sealing manner; the top plate is provided with a connecting part used for being connected with the top end of the side plate and the top end of the partition plate respectively, and a limiting part which is arranged on at least one side of at least one connecting part and is convex relative to the connecting part.

The further technical scheme is that the 1 st chamber comprises a buffer chamber and an outer chamber which are separated from each other, and the buffer chamber is communicated with the outer chamber through holes respectively positioned at the top end and the bottom end of the buffer chamber; the buffer cavity is communicated with the ink outlet structure, and the outer cavity is communicated with the No. 2 cavity through the communicating hole.

The further technical scheme is that the air guide structure comprises a first air guide cavity and a second air guide cavity which are arranged in the shell, and the first air guide cavity is communicated with the second air guide cavity through a vent hole positioned at the top end of the first air guide cavity; the bottom end of the first air guide cavity is communicated to the outer side of the ink box through an air guide hole; the second air guide cavity is communicated with the Nth cavity through an air passing hole in the lower half part of the second air guide cavity, the lower half part of the second air guide cavity is used for placing sponge covering the air passing hole, and the top end of the shell is provided with a limiting part which extends downwards and is used for pressing to the sponge.

In order to achieve the second object of the invention, the invention provides a printing device, which comprises a printer body, wherein the printer body comprises an ink taking mechanism, the printing device further comprises the ink box in any scheme, and the ink outlet structure is communicated with the ink taking mechanism.

Compared with the prior art, the invention can obtain the following beneficial effects:

the ink box of the invention has smooth gas-liquid exchange, and can obviously improve the problems of wire break, ink break and the like in the printing process when the ink box is applied to a printing device. Specifically, the ink box is internally provided with a plurality of chambers, and the chambers are communicated in sequence through the communication holes at the bottom ends of the chambers, namely the chambers are communicated and connected in series through the communication holes. The 1 st cavity at the head end of the series is connected with the ink outlet structure, the Nth cavity at the tail end of the series is connected with the air guide structure, during printing, ink in the 1 st cavity is consumed, the ink can flow to the next cavity through the communication hole according to the sequence from the Nth cavity to the 1 st cavity so as to replenish the ink in the 1 st cavity, and air enters the Nth cavity and gradually enters the next cavity after the ink in the Nth cavity is basically discharged. So set up for gas-liquid exchange is more smooth and easy in the ink horn, has avoided printing the broken string problem such as black absolutely. The printing device provided by the invention also has the technical effect of avoiding printing disconnection and ink break.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of an embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an ink cartridge of an embodiment of the present invention with the top plate removed.

FIG. 4 is a top view of an ink cartridge of an embodiment of the invention with the top plate removed.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the top plate of an embodiment of the ink cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a top view of an embodiment of an ink cartridge of the invention.

Fig. 7 isbase:Sub>A schematic structural view ofbase:Sub>A sectionbase:Sub>A-base:Sub>A in fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a structural view of a section B-B in fig. 6.

In the figures, the reference numbers are: the ink container comprises a shell 100, a 1 st chamber 101, a 2 nd chamber 102, a 3 rd chamber 103, a 4 th chamber 104, a 5 th chamber 105, a 6 th chamber 106, an Nth chamber 10N, a buffer chamber 107, an outer chamber 108, a through hole 109, a communication hole 110, a chamber discharge 120, a communication port 130, a partition plate 140, a bottom plate 150, a side plate 160, a top plate 170, a connecting portion 171, a limiting portion 172, a limiting member 180, an ink outlet structure 200, an ink outlet portion 210, an ink outlet 220, an air guide structure 300, an air guide hole 310, an air guide chamber 320, an air passing hole 321, a first air guide cavity 322, a second air guide cavity 323 and an air passing hole 324.

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

As shown in fig. 1 to 8, the present embodiment provides an ink cartridge that is suitable for use as a black ink cartridge and also as a color ink cartridge; the ink cartridge is suitable for being used as an ink cartridge with large capacity, and can also be used as an ink cartridge with other various capacities. No matter what color ink box or what capacity ink box, the ink box structure of this embodiment can all improve the ink box gas-liquid exchange, reduces the probability that ink box appears the problem such as disconnected line, disconnected china ink in the printing process.

In the related art, in order to increase the capacity of the ink cartridge, the casing of the ink cartridge may be widened and/or lengthened, and the air passage of the air guide structure of the ink cartridge is directly communicated to the chamber where the ink outlet is located. The inventor finds that the ink box has the problems of wire breakage, ink breaking and the like in the printing process, and the printing quality is influenced. The inventor researches the ink box, and adopts various methods such as optimizing the structure of the air guide one-way valve, but the printing quality of the ink box with increased capacity cannot be improved well, and the failure probability of the experiment of the ink box with larger capacity is more obvious. The inventor researches and discovers that the problems of disconnection and ink breaking of the ink box in the printing process are related to gas-liquid exchange in the shell.

Based on this, the present embodiment provides an ink cartridge, which mainly comprises a casing 100, and an ink outlet structure 200 and an air guide structure 300 disposed in the casing 100. The case 100 is for containing ink; the ink outlet structure 200 is communicated with the inner side and the outer side of the shell and provides a channel for ink in the shell 100 to flow out; the air guide structure 300 communicates the inside of the case with the outside of the case, providing a passage for air outside the case to enter the inside of the case. When the ink flows out from the ink outlet structure, air enters the inner side of the shell from the air guide structure 300, and the air-liquid balance of the ink box is kept.

The ink cartridge further includes a 1 st chamber 101 to an nth chamber 10N disposed in the housing 100, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, N is an integer greater than or equal to 3, or N is an integer greater than or equal to 4, or N is an integer greater than or equal to 5, or N is an integer greater than or equal to 6, for example, N may be 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, or an integer greater than 10, and a value of N may be selected according to a housing volume, an ink capacity, a cost, and the like, and is not particularly limited herein.

Wherein the nth chamber and the (N + 1) th chamber are communicated through a communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the (N + 1) th chamber, and N is an integer of 1 to N-1. For example, when N is 2, the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 are communicated through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 2 nd chamber 102; when N is 3, the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 2 nd chamber 102, and the 2 nd chamber 102 and the 3 rd chamber 103 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 3 rd chamber 103; when N is 4, the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 2 nd chamber 102, the 2 nd chamber 102 and the 3 rd chamber 103 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 3 rd chamber 103, and the 3 rd chamber 103 and the 4 th chamber 104 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 4 th chamber 104; when N is 5, the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 2 nd chamber 102, the 2 nd chamber 102 and the 3 rd chamber 103 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 3 rd chamber 103, the 3 rd chamber 103 and the 4 th chamber 104 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 4 th chamber 104, and the 4 th chamber 104 and the 5 th chamber 105 communicate through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the 5 th chamber 105. And so on when N takes other integer values. Wherein the (n + 1) th chamber bottom end is a bottom end of the (n + 1) th chamber in a vertical direction when the ink cartridge is used in the printing apparatus. The communicating hole 110 at the bottom end of the (n + 1) th chamber means that the end of the communicating hole 110 communicating with the (n + 1) th chamber is arranged at a position below the middle of the bottom wall or the side wall of the (n + 1) th chamber in the vertical direction, preferably the communicating hole 110 is arranged at a position close to the bottom wall of the side wall, and since when air and ink exist in one chamber at the same time, the air is gathered at the upper end of the chamber and the ink is gathered at the lower end of the chamber under the action of gravity, the structure can enable the air to enter the next chamber after the ink in each chamber is basically discharged. The communication hole 110 is communicated with the nth chamber and the (n + 1) th chamber, the first end of the communication hole is communicated with the bottom end of the (n + 1) th chamber, and the second end of the communication hole can be communicated with the bottom end of the nth chamber, at the moment, the bottom end of the nth chamber and the bottom end of the (n + 1) th chamber can be level in the vertical direction, and the chambers with level bottom ends are beneficial to enabling the ink capacity of each chamber to be large; in other embodiments of the present invention, a height difference may also be formed between the bottom end of the nth chamber and the bottom end of the (n + 1) th chamber in the vertical direction, and the first end of the communication hole 110 may communicate with the bottom end of the (n + 1) th chamber, and the second end may communicate with a position, which is closer to the middle, of the bottom end of the nth chamber, or the top end of the bottom end of the nth chamber. When the nth chamber and the (n + 1) th chamber are communicated through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the (n + 1) th chamber, the positions between the nth chamber and the (n + 1) th chamber except the communication hole 110, particularly the top end of the nth chamber and the top end of the (n + 1) th chamber are not communicated and are kept sealed.

Wherein, the 1 st chamber 101 is communicated with the ink outlet structure 200, and the 1 st chamber 101 supplies ink to the outside through the ink outlet structure 200. The nth chamber 10N communicates with the air guide 300 and the nth chamber 10N receives air entering the ink cartridge from the air guide 300.

With the ink cartridge of the above embodiment, the plurality of chambers are communicated in sequence through the communication hole 110 at the bottom end of the chamber, and the plurality of chambers are communicated and connected in series through the communication hole 110 to form a gas-liquid flow path. The 1 st cavity 101 that is located the series connection head end is connected with a structure 200 that goes out black, and ink can flow out for printing device's shower nozzle confession ink through a structure 200 that goes out black from the 1 st cavity 101, and the Nth cavity 10N that is located the series connection tail end is connected with air guide structure 300, and the air in the ink horn outside can get into Nth cavity 10N from air guide structure 300, goes out black structure 200 and air guide structure 300 and is located two ends on gas-liquid circulation route respectively, and both distances are far away. During printing, ink in the 1 st chamber 101 is consumed, so that negative pressure is generated in the 1 st chamber 101 and the chambers therebehind, the ink can flow to the next chamber according to the sequence from the Nth chamber 10N to the 1 st chamber 101 so as to replenish the ink in the 1 st chamber 101, air also enters the Nth chamber 10N at the moment, and after the ink in the Nth chamber 10N is basically discharged, the air can gradually enter the next chamber through the communication hole according to the sequence from the Nth chamber 10N to the 1 st chamber 101, so that the ink in each chamber is basically discharged. By the arrangement, the phenomenon that according to the sequence from the Nth chamber 10N to the 1 st chamber 101, ink in the previous chamber is not basically discharged, air enters the next chamber firstly, and the ink in the previous chamber is blocked by gas-liquid exchange when entering the next chamber does not exist. Here, that ink is substantially discharged from a chamber means that a portion, e.g., a major portion, of the ink is discharged from the chamber, and another portion, e.g., a minor portion, of the ink may remain in the chamber. Moreover, the cross-sectional area of ink in a single cavity can be reduced by arranging the plurality of cavities, the shaking of the ink during gas-liquid exchange and printing is reduced, and the smooth degree of the gas-liquid exchange is also improved. In addition, dividing the plurality of chambers also contributes to increasing the strength of the ink cartridge. Therefore, the ink box of the embodiment can enable the gas-liquid exchange in the ink box to be smoother, experiments prove that the ink box of the embodiment can obviously improve the problems of line breaking and ink breaking during printing, and the like, and the black full-coverage document is continuously printed for 20 pages at high speed, and the phenomenon of line breaking and ink breaking does not occur in the period.

Preferably, the 1 st chamber 101 to the nth chamber 10N are adjacent in sequence, where adjacent is physically adjacent, i.e. two chambers adjacent in sequence are also adjacent in physical structure, so that the communication hole 110 may be directly disposed between the adjacent two chambers, for example, may be conveniently disposed on a common wall of the adjacent two chambers, i.e. the partition 140, without forming the communication hole 110 by an additional pipe or a bent duct inside the housing.

Preferably, each two adjacent chambers are arranged in a manner independently selected from the group consisting of being arranged in a first direction and being arranged in a second direction, the first direction and the second direction being perpendicular to each other. The first direction may be a width direction of the housing, and the second direction may be a length direction of the housing. For example, when N is 3, the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 may be aligned in the second direction, and the 2 nd chamber 102 and the 3 rd chamber 103 may be aligned in the first direction; when N is 5, the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 may be arranged in a forward direction of the second direction, the 2 nd chamber 102 and the 3 rd chamber 103 may be arranged in the first direction, and the 3 rd chamber 103, the 4 th chamber 104, and the 5 th chamber 105 may be arranged in a reverse direction of the second direction, forming two rows. The chamber combination with different arrangement modes can be obtained by dividing different chambers in the length direction and/or the width direction of the shell. In some embodiments, the first direction, the second direction, and the vertical direction are perpendicular to each other two by two when the ink cartridge is used in a printing apparatus.

Preferably, the 1 st chamber 101 to the nth chamber 10N are arranged to form at least two chamber rows 120 arranged in parallel in a first direction, e.g., a width direction of the housing 100, to divide the housing 100 into a plurality of rows in the first direction, e.g., the width direction. The at least one chamber row 120 includes at least two chambers arranged along a second direction, e.g., a length direction of the housing 100, and the at least one chamber row 120 is divided into a plurality of chambers along the second direction, e.g., the length direction, and in some embodiments, each chamber row 120 may include at least two chambers arranged along the second direction, e.g., the length direction of the housing 100. The arrangement can ensure that the chambers are regularly arranged and are convenient to manufacture. More preferably, the chambers in a chamber row 120 are aligned with the chambers of an adjacent chamber row 120. Two adjacent chambers respectively located at the same ends of two adjacent chamber rows 120 are communicated through the communication holes 110, and the communication of the chambers between the rows is realized. The number of rows 120 of chambers may be 2,3, or greater than 3; the number of chambers per chamber row 120 may be 1,2,3 or greater than 3.

More preferably, the number of the chamber rows 120 may be 2, and the communication port 130 of the 1 st chamber 101 communicating with the ink outlet structure 200 is located in the middle of the width of the first chamber row 120 including the 1 st chamber 101 in the first direction, i.e., the width of the first chamber row 120 in the first direction, e.g., the width direction of the housing 100, is set such that the communication port 130 is located in the middle of the first direction of the first chamber row 120, i.e., the communication port 130 is located in the middle of the width of the 1 st chamber 101 in the first direction, where the middle refers to an approximately middle position, e.g., the communication port 130 covers the middle point of the width of the first chamber row 120 or the 1 st chamber 101 in the first direction, i.e., the communication port 130 is considered to be located in the middle. The width of the second chamber row 120 is the total width of the housing minus the width and wall thickness of the first chamber row 120. The arrangement makes the width of the chambers of the first chamber row 120, including the 1 st chamber 101 and other chambers close to the 1 st chamber in sequence, moderate, and the gas-liquid exchange is more stable.

Preferably, the ink outlet structure 200 includes an ink outlet portion 210 exposed to the housing and an ink outlet 220 disposed on the ink outlet portion 210, the ink outlet portion 210 may be connected to the bottom end of the housing 100 and extend outward from the housing 100, the ink outlet portion 210 may be used to connect an ink fetching mechanism of the printing apparatus, and the ink outlet 220 leads to the outside of the ink cartridge, that is, the ink outlet 220 communicates the first chamber 101 and the outside of the ink cartridge, so as to realize ink outlet from the first chamber 101. Before the ink cartridge is installed in the printing apparatus, the ink outlet portion 210 may be connected to a sealing member, which seals the ink outlet portion to prevent ink leakage. The air guide structure 300 includes an air guide hole 310, the air guide hole 310 passes through the ink outlet 210 and leads to the outside of the ink cartridge, the air guide hole 310 is disposed near the ink outlet 220, so that when the sealing member closes the ink outlet 220, the air guide hole 310 can be closed at the same time, the sealing property of the ink cartridge is ensured, and when the ink cartridge is mounted to a printer, the sealing member is opened to open the ink outlet 220 and the air guide hole 310 at the same time. It can be seen that the above structure facilitates the simultaneous closing and opening of the ink outlet 220 and the air guide hole 310.

Preferably, the air guide structure 300 further includes an air guide cavity 320 disposed in the casing 100 and communicated with the air guide hole 310, the air guide cavity 320 is adjacent to the 1 st chamber 101, so that the air guide hole 310 does not need to extend too long and has a simple duct from the air guide cavity 320 to the ink outlet portion 210, for example, the air guide hole 310 may communicate with the air guide cavity 320 at one end and pass through the ink outlet portion 210 at the other end in the vertical direction, and the ink outlet portion 210 may extend to a position corresponding to the bottom end of the air guide cavity 320 at the outer surface of the bottom end of the casing 100. The air guide cavity 320 is sealed and separated from the 1 st chamber 101, and the air guide cavity 320 and the 1 st chamber 101 cannot be directly subjected to gas-liquid exchange, so that the phenomenon that air enters the 1 st chamber 101 in advance to block ink in other chambers from entering the 1 st chamber to cause ink discharge blockage is avoided. The air guide cavity 320 is adjacent to the nth cavity 10N and is communicated with the gas passing hole 321, so that the nth cavity 10N is communicated with the air guide structure 300. In some embodiments, the 1 st chamber 101 to the nth chamber 10N are sequentially and adjacently communicated and are connected to the air guide chamber 320 end to end, for example, the air guide chamber 320 and the 1 st chamber 101 to the nth chamber 10N may be arranged into 2 chamber rows 120, the first chamber row 120 is formed by arranging the 1 st chamber 101 to the nth chamber 10N in the sequence from the air guide chamber 320 along the forward direction of the second direction, the second chamber row 120 is formed by arranging the 1 st chamber 101 to the nth chamber 10N in the reverse direction of the second direction, and the nth chamber 10N is adjacent to the side surface of the air guide chamber 320 in the second chamber row 120, so that the space of the ink cartridge is saved.

Preferably, the ink cartridge further includes a partition plate 140 disposed within the case 100, the partition plate 140 partitioning the 1 st chamber 101 to the nth chamber 10N within the case 100, the communication hole 110 being disposed at the partition plate 140. The communication hole 110 between the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 may be provided in the middle of the bottom end of the partition 140 between the 1 st chamber 101 and the 2 nd chamber 102 so that the uneven disturbance of the ink is reduced when the air enters the 1 st chamber 101. The air guide chamber 320 may also be formed by the partition 140, and the air passing hole 321 is provided in the partition 140.

Preferably, the housing 100 includes a bottom plate 150 and a side plate 160, the side plate 160 is perpendicular to the bottom plate 150 and disposed around the bottom plate 150, and the bottom plate 150 and the side plate 160 form an upwardly open cavity. The partition plate 140 connects the side plate 160 and the bottom plate 150, respectively, to partition the chamber body to form the 1 st to N-th chambers 101 to 10N opened upward. The bottom plate 150, the side plate 160, and the partition plate 140 may be integrally formed, for example, by injection molding or the like.

Preferably, the housing 100 further comprises a top plate 170, and the top plate 170 is hermetically connected to the top ends of the side plates 160 and the top end of the partition plate 140, for example, by welding. The top plate 170 is provided with connecting portions 171 for respectively connecting top ends of the side plates 160 and the partition plates 140, and a limiting portion 172 which is provided on at least one side of at least one of the connecting portions 171 and protrudes relative to the connecting portion 171, wherein the limiting portion 172 enables the top plate 170 to be better aligned and matched with the side plates 160 and the partition plates 140 when the top plate 170 is assembled with the side plates 160 and the partition plates 140.

Preferably, the 1 st chamber 101 comprises a buffer chamber 107 and an outer chamber 108 which are separated, the buffer chamber 107 is communicated with the outer chamber 108 through a plurality of through holes 109 respectively positioned at the top end and the bottom end of the buffer chamber 107, the through hole 109 at the top end is mainly used for air to pass through, the through hole 109 at the bottom end is mainly used for ink to pass through, and the buffer chamber 107 and the outer chamber 108 form a communicating device. The buffer chamber 107 communicates with the ink discharge structure 200, the buffer chamber 107 is disposed around the communication port 130, and the outer chamber 108 communicates with the 2 nd chamber through the corresponding communication hole 110. The cross-sectional area of the chamber directly communicated with the ink outlet 220 can be reduced by the arrangement, and ink shaking above the ink outlet structure 200 when the ink box moves along with the ink vehicle in the printing process is further reduced. The enclosure forming the buffer chamber 107 may be attached to the bottom plate 150 or the top plate 170 and to the other of the bottom plate 150 or the top plate 170 by welding or the like at the time of assembly of the ink cartridge.

Preferably, the air guide chamber 320 of the air guide structure 300 includes a first air guide chamber 322 and a second air guide chamber 323 provided in the casing 100, the first air guide chamber 322 and the second air guide chamber 323 are communicated through a vent hole 324 at the top end of the first air guide chamber 322, the bottom end of the first air guide chamber 322 is communicated to the outside of the ink cartridge through the air guide hole 310, the second air guide chamber 323 is communicated with the nth chamber 10N through a vent hole 321 at the lower half of the second air guide chamber 323, and the first air guide chamber 322 and the second air guide chamber 323 can change the flow direction of air. The lower half of the second gas-guiding cavity 323 is used for placing a sponge covering the gas-passing hole 321, and the sponge can play a role of a one-way valve which is liquid-sealed to the Nth chamber 10N and allows gas to pass through by using a capillary effect. The top end of the housing 100 may be provided with a stopper 180 extending downward for pressing against the sponge so as to prevent the sponge from moving.

The embodiment also provides a printing device, which comprises a printer body, wherein the printer body comprises an ink taking mechanism, the printing device further comprises the ink box in the embodiment, the ink outlet structure 200 of the ink box is communicated with the ink taking mechanism, and during printing, ink in the ink box enters the ink taking mechanism through the ink outlet 220 and flows to a spray head connected with the ink taking mechanism to perform ink jet printing. The printing device has all the advantages of the ink box embodiment.

In the above-described embodiment, the direction of gravity when the ink cartridge is mounted to the printing apparatus will be defined as the vertical direction. It should be noted that all the directional indicators "up", "down", "front", "back", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. in the embodiments of the present invention are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement, etc. of the components in a specific posture (as shown in the drawings), and if the specific posture is changed, the directional indicator is changed accordingly. In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the term "coupled" and the like are to be construed broadly, e.g., "coupled" may be a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral part; may be a mechanical connection. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific situations by those of ordinary skill in the art.

Finally, it should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments are merely preferred examples of the invention, which is not intended to limit the invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. An ink box comprises a shell, an ink outlet structure and an air guide structure, wherein the ink outlet structure and the air guide structure are arranged on the shell; the method is characterized in that:

the ink box also comprises a 1 st chamber to an Nth chamber which are arranged in the shell, wherein N is an integer which is more than or equal to 2; the nth chamber and the (N + 1) th chamber are communicated through a communication hole at the bottom end of the (N + 1) th chamber, and N is an integer from 1 to N-1; the 1 st chamber is communicated with the ink outlet structure, and the Nth chamber is communicated with the air guide structure.

2. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, characterized in that:

the 1 st chamber to the Nth chamber are adjacent in sequence, the arrangement mode of every two adjacent chambers is respectively and independently selected from arrangement along a first direction or arrangement along a second direction, and the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other.

3. An ink cartridge according to claim 2, characterized in that:

the 1 st chamber to the Nth chamber are arranged to form at least two chamber rows which are arranged in parallel along the first direction, at least one chamber row comprises at least two chambers which are arranged along the second direction, and two adjacent chambers which are respectively positioned at one tail end of the two adjacent chamber rows are communicated through the communication hole.

4. An ink cartridge according to claim 3, characterized in that:

the number of the chamber rows is 2, and the communication port of the 1 st chamber, which is communicated with the ink outlet structure, is located in the middle of the width of the first chamber row containing the 1 st chamber in the first direction.

5. The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein:

the ink outlet structure comprises an ink outlet part exposed out of the shell and an ink outlet arranged on the ink outlet part, and the ink outlet is communicated with the outer side of the ink box; the air guide structure comprises an air guide hole, the air guide hole penetrates through the ink outlet part and leads to the outer side of the ink box, and the air guide hole is arranged close to the ink outlet.

6. An ink cartridge according to claim 5, characterized in that:

the air guide structure further comprises an air guide cavity which is arranged in the shell and communicated with the air guide hole, the air guide cavity is adjacent to the No. 1 cavity and is sealed and separated, and the air guide cavity is adjacent to the No. N cavity and is communicated with the No. N cavity through the air guide hole.

7. The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein:

the ink box further comprises a partition plate arranged in the shell, the partition plate partitions the 1 st chamber from the Nth chamber in the shell, and the communication hole is formed in the partition plate;

the shell comprises a bottom plate and a side plate, the side plate is perpendicular to the bottom plate and is arranged around the bottom plate, and the partition plate is connected with the side plate and the bottom plate so as to form the 1 st chamber to the N th chamber which are opened upwards;

the shell further comprises a top plate, and the top plate is respectively connected with the top ends of the side plates and the top end of the partition plate in a sealing manner; the top plate is provided with connecting parts used for being connected with the top ends of the side plates and the top end of the partition plate respectively, and a limiting part which is arranged on at least one side of at least one connecting part and is convex relative to the connecting part.

8. The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 or 4, wherein:

the 1 st chamber comprises a cache chamber and an outer chamber which are separated, and the cache chamber is communicated with the outer chamber through holes respectively positioned at the top end and the bottom end of the cache chamber; the buffer cavity is communicated with the ink outlet structure, and the outer cavity is communicated with the No. 2 cavity through the communication hole.

9. The ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 or 4, wherein:

the air guide structure comprises a first air guide cavity and a second air guide cavity which are arranged in the shell, and the first air guide cavity is communicated with the second air guide cavity through a vent hole positioned at the top end of the first air guide cavity; the bottom end of the first air guide cavity is communicated to the outer side of the ink box through an air guide hole; the second air guide cavity is communicated with the Nth cavity through an air passing hole in the lower half part of the second air guide cavity, the lower half part of the second air guide cavity is used for placing sponge covering the air passing hole, and the top end of the shell is provided with a limiting part which extends downwards and is used for pressing to the sponge.

10. A printing apparatus comprising a printer body including an ink extracting mechanism, characterized in that the printing apparatus further comprises an ink cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 9, the ink outlet structure being in communication with the ink extracting mechanism.

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