Ink cartridge receiving module

Abstract

An ink cartridge receiving module having a plurality of receiving spaces (14) for receiving a plurality of ink cartridges (20), each receiving space (14) having a bottom surface (22) which is inclined at an angle between 10 and 45 with respect to a horizontal plane, each receiving space (14) further having a connector (30) adapted for removing ink from the respective cartridge (20), the connectors (30) being arranged at the lower side of the receiving spaces (14).

Claims

1. An ink cartridge receiving module comprising: a plurality of receiving spaces for receiving a plurality of ink cartridges, each receiving space of the plurality of receiving spaces having a bottom surface which is inclined at an angle between 10 and 45 with respect to a horizontal plane, each receiving space further having a connector adapted for removing ink from a respective cartridge of the plurality of ink cartridges, the connector being arranged at a lower side of each receiving space, and each receiving space further having a stop surface which is arranged in a region of the lower side of the bottom surface to contact the respective cartridge to stop the respective cartridge from further entry into the receiving space, wherein the stop surface extends from the bottom surface towards the connector.

2. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, wherein each receiving space includes lateral guidance surfaces which are located on two opposing sides of the bottom surface, to provide lateral guidance for the plurality of ink cartridges.

3. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, wherein each receiving space includes a horizontal introductory support surface which is arranged in a region of an upper side of the bottom surface.

4. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, wherein the stop surface contacts one of the plurality of ink cartridges when the one of the plurality of ink cartridges is in a final position.

5. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one load sensor associated with the receiving spaces to determine a weight of the ink cartridges.

6. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, further comprising: a scale located under the bottom surface of the respective receiving space.

7. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, wherein the connector comprises a locking mechanism to lock an inserted ink cartridge in place.

8. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, further comprising: a release device assigned to the connector to release locked ink cartridges.

9. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, wherein the connector is adapted to incorporate a cap of an ink cartridge which acts as an adapter from cartridge to connector.

10. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, wherein the connector is followed by a buffer for collection of ink.

11. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 10, wherein the buffer comprises a tank for holding ink, an intake in the tank for ink supplied from the ink cartridge, a level sensor to determine the ink level in the tank, an ink outlet, and a buffer volume.

12. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 1, wherein the ink cartridge receiving module comprises a bowl-shaped drip ink recovery area which extends at least partly underneath the receiving spaces.

13. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 12, wherein the drip ink recovery area is designed as a drawer that can be pulled out from underneath the ink cartridge receiving module.

14. The ink cartridge receiving module according to claim 13, wherein the drip ink recovery area has a drain valve to drain collected ink.

15. An ink cartridge receiving module comprising: a plurality of receiving spaces for receiving a plurality of ink cartridges, each of the plurality of receiving spaces including: a bottom surface inclined at an angle between 10 and 45 with respect to a horizontal plane; a connector adapted for removing ink from a respective ink cartridge of the plurality of ink cartridges, the connector being arranged at a lower side of each receiving space; and a stop surface extending from the bottom surface towards the connector, the stop surface provided to contact a respective cartridge to stop the respective cartridge from further entry into the receiving space; and a plurality of buffers, each buffer connected by a cable to the connector of a respective receiving space of the plurality of receiving spaces, and each buffer connected by a feeding tube and a return tube to an ink supply.

Description

(1) Features and advantages of the invention become apparent from the following description and the enclosed figures. In the figures:

(2) FIG. 1 shows an inventive ink cartridge receiving module in a perspective view;

(3) FIG. 2 shows the inventive ink cartridge receiving module in a perspective view loaded with ink cartridges;

(4) FIG. 3 shows the inventive ink cartridge receiving module from FIG. 2 in a side view;

(5) FIG. 4 shows the inventive ink cartridge receiving module from FIG. 2 in a front view;

(6) FIG. 5 shows the inventive ink cartridge receiving module from FIG. 2 in a rear view;

(7) FIG. 6 shows the inventive ink cartridge receiving module from FIG. 2 in a top view;

(8) FIG. 7 shows a receiving space of the inventive ink cartridge receiving module in a side view;

(9) FIG. 8 shows a section along the plane VII-VII of FIG. 6;

(10) FIG. 9 shows a buffer of the inventive ink cartridge receiving module in a perspective view;

(11) FIG. 10 shows a section along the plane X-X of FIG. 9;

(12) FIGS. 11a and 11b shows an inventive ink cartridge receiving module in a perspective view with a ink cartridge in different arrangements;

(13) FIG. 12 shows a ink cartridge with a cap in a perspective view;

(14) FIG. 13 shows a section of a cut-out A along the plane XIII-XIII of FIG. 3 with a ink cartridge partly introduced in the connector; and

(15) FIG. 14 shows a section of the cut-out A along the plane XIII-XIII of FIG. 3 with an ink cartridge locked in the connector.

(16) FIG. 1 shows an ink cartridge receiving module 10 comprising a framework 12, a plurality of receiving spaces 14 which are arranged on the framework 12, and a control box 16 that accommodates the electrics, in particular a control system.

(17) Module 10 is adapted for supplying ink to an industrial printing machine (not shown).

(18) Ink cartridge receiving module 10 further comprises a ball-shaped drip ink recovery area 18 which is arranged at the framework 12 and which extends below the receiving spaces 14, is designed as a drawer that can be pulled out from underneath the ink cartridge receiving module 10 and has a drain valve 19 to drain collected ink.

(19) FIGS. 2 to 6 show the ink cartridge receiving module 10 in different views whereby the receiving spaces 14 are equipped with ink cartridges 20.

(20) The receiving spaces 14 are arranged in two rows stepwise on the framework 12. Each row comprises five receiving spaces 14 so that a total of ten receiving spaces 14 for receiving ink cartridges 20 are provided.

(21) Of course, both the number of receiving spaces 14 and the number of rows can be varied according to the special requirements.

(22) Each receiving space 14 is having a bottom surface 22 which is inclined at an angle between 10 and 45 with respect to a horizontal (see also FIGS. 7 and 8 for detailed presentation of receiving spaces 14).

(23) Further, lateral guidance surfaces 24 extend on two opposite sides of each bottom surface 22 to provide lateral guidance for the ink cartridges 20.

(24) Additionally, horizontal introductory support surfaces 26 are provided for each receiving space 14. The horizontal introductory support surfaces 26 are arranged in the region of the upper side of the bottom surfaces 22, which extend in the direction of the ink cartridge receiving module to the front.

(25) Furthermore, on the opposite side from which the horizontal introductory support surface 26 is extending from the bottom surface 22 there is a stop surface 28 provided which is approximately perpendicular to the inclination plane of the bottom surface 22.

(26) In addition to the bottom surface 22 the stop surface 28 is also connected to the lateral guidance surface 24 on both sides.

(27) Moreover, receiving space 14 comprises a connector 30 adapted for removing ink from the ink cartridges 20. The connector 30 is arranged at the lower side of each receiving space 14 in the region of the stop surface 28.

(28) Furthermore, an adjustment mechanism 36 is provided with which the inclined bottom surface 22 can be adjusted vertically and according to another embodiment it could also be adjusted angularly.

(29) For the angular adjustment two adjustment screws 38 are located beneath the bottom surface 22 with which the angle can be adjusted in a range from +/4 degrees.

(30) For the vertical setting an adjustment screw 40 is provided which allows a vertical adjustment of a receiving space 14 within a range of +/5 mm (see especially FIG. 7).

(31) To determine the weight of the ink cartridges which are being placed on each receiving space 14, load sensors 42 are associated with each receiving space 14.

(32) Through the load sensors 42 a scale 44 can be realized which is right below the inclined bottom surface 22 of the receiving spaces 14 (see especially FIG. 8).

(33) From each connector 30 a cable 46 extends from the backside of the ink cartridge receiving module 10 by which the connector 30 is connected to a buffer 48 (see especially FIG. 5).

(34) The buffer 48, shown in detail in FIGS. 9 and 10, comprises a tank 50 for holding ink. The tank 50 of each buffer 48 has an intake 52, which is connected via the cable 46 to the respective ink cartridge 20.

(35) A level sensor 54 determines the ink level in the tank 50.

(36) An ink outlet 56 connected to a feeding tube supplies an ink supply connected to a cluster (not shown in the Figures) with ink.

(37) From the ink supply and the cluster a return tube goes back to the buffer 48 via which redundant ink is being led back into the tank 50 through a return intake 58.

(38) An air-inlet 60 ensures that the buffer 48 can be filled and emptied easily.

(39) Based on the FIGS. 11A to 14, the principle of inserting the ink cartridges 20 and the functionality of the connector 30 are explained below.

(40) Before inserting the ink cartridge 20 a cap 62 is applied on the opening which can be seen better in FIG. 12. The cap 62 acts as an adapter from the cartridge 20 to the connector 30.

(41) In order to insert the ink cartridge 20 it is moved towards the ink cartridge receiving module 10 with its opening facing the ink cartridge receiving module 10 (see FIG. 11A).

(42) In order to simplify the introduction of the ink cartridge 20, it can be first placed on its side on the horizontal introductory support surface 26 (see FIG. 11B).

(43) In a next step, the ink cartridge 20 can be tilted so that it starts sliding down the inclined bottom surface 22 with its cap 62 pointing down. Hereby it is being led laterally by the lateral guidance surfaces 24.

(44) The ink cartridge 20 reaches its final position as soon as it is in contact with the stop surface 28 so that cap 62 is fully introduced to the connector 30 (see FIG. 13).

(45) By further pushing the ink cartridge 20 towards the connector 30, a locking mechanism 64 is being activated by which the inserted ink cartridge is locked into place.

(46) With the activated locking mechanism 64, ink can be extracted out of the ink cartridge 20 via the end of the cap 62 (see FIG. 14).

(47) During the printing process the fill level of the ink cartridge 20 can be detected with the scale 44 via the load sensor 42.

(48) Is the ink cartridge 20 about to be empty, it can be exchanged by deactivating the locking mechanism 64 so that it returns to an unlocking position as shown in FIG. 13 to enable an exchange of the ink cartridge 20.

(49) In order to deactivate the locking mechanism 64 of the connector 30, a release device 66 is assigned to the connector 30 to release locked ink cartridges 20 when it is being pulled.

(50) The locking mechanism 64 goes back into the position as shown in FIG. 13 and the empty ink cartridge 20 can be exchanged by a new ink cartridge.

(51) While no ink cartridge 20 is connected to the connector 30 the ink left in the tank 50 of the buffer 48 is being used, so that the printing process can be continued for a certain time without a ink cartridge 20.