Print liquid supply units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11298950-B2
Application number	US-201916768583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 3, 2018
Publication date	Apr 12, 2022
Grant date	Apr 12, 2022

Abstract

Examples of a print liquid supply unit are described herein. In some examples, the print liquid supply unit includes a first housing component that is welded to a second housing component along a supply joint. In some examples, the print liquid supply unit also includes a conductor situated through the supply joint from an outside of the supply unit to an inside of the supply unit. In some examples, the conductor is sealed in the supply joint with a sealing material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A print liquid supply unit, comprising:
a first housing component that is welded to a second housing component along a supply joint;
a first conductor situated through the supply joint from an outside of the supply unit to an inside of the supply unit, wherein the first conductor is sealed in the supply joint with a sealing material; and
a second conductor situated through the supply joint, wherein the first conductor is a serial data line and the second conductor is a clock line.

2. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , further comprising a third conductor and a fourth conductor situated through the supply joint, wherein the third conductor is a power line and the fourth conductor is a ground line.

3. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , wherein the sealing material comprises transmissive plastic or elastomeric material.

4. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , wherein the sealing material comprises a slot.

5. The print liquid supply unit of claim 4 , wherein joint material is situated in the slot.

6. The print liquid supply unit of claim 4 , wherein the slot is situated in a weld path of the supply joint.

7. The print liquid supply unit of claim 4 , wherein the slot is located in the sealing material between the first conductor and a second conductor.

8. The print liquid supply unit of claim 4 , wherein the slot is located at an edge of the sealing material.

9. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , wherein the supply joint is welded with a laser that passes through the sealing material.

10. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , wherein the sealing material has a first melting temperature that is greater than a second melting temperature of joint material.

11. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , wherein welding is performed with an ultrasonic weld or with a laser weld that is not applied along a portion of the supply joint with the sealing material.

12. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , wherein the sealing material is non-transmissive sealing material.

13. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , further comprising a print liquid outlet and a gas inlet on a front end of the print liquid supply unit.

14. The print liquid supply unit of claim 1 , wherein the first conductor is coupled to a sensor inside of the print liquid supply unit and to an electrical connection pad on the outside of the print liquid supply unit.

15. The print liquid supply unit of claim 14 , further comprising a front end with at least one print liquid interface, a bottom, and a top, wherein the print liquid supply unit comprises a recess in and between the front end and the top, wherein the electrical connection pad is situated in the recess.

16. The print liquid supply unit of claim 15 , wherein the electrical connection pad and the first conductor are supported by the first housing component.

17. The print liquid supply unit of claim 15 , wherein the electrical connection pad and the first conductor are supported by a same wall of the first housing component.

18. The print liquid supply unit of claim 16 , comprising at least one sensor connected to the first conductor, wherein the at least one sensor is supported by the same wall or the first housing component.

19. A print liquid container, comprising:
a container property sensor including at least one of a digital liquid level sensor, temperature sensor, strain sensor, or pressure sensor connected to a container wall;
a first conductor coupled to the container property sensor that passes through a slot in the container wall, wherein the slot is distanced from a joint of container shells; and
a second conductor, wherein the first conductor is a serial data line and the second conductor is a clock line.

20. The print liquid container of claim 19 , wherein the container property sensor includes the digital liquid level sensor.

21. The print liquid container of claim 19 , wherein a carrier supporting the container property sensor is sealed to the container wall.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Studer Anthony Donald
• Olsen David
• Weaver Quinton Buford
• Nichols Brian Allen

Classifications

• G06F13/4282

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title

• H04L9/0819

  Key transport or distribution, i.e. key establishment techniques where one party creates or otherwise obtains a secret value, and securely transfers it to the other(s) (network architectures or network communication protocols for key distribution in a packet data network H04L63/062) · CPC title

• B41J2202/20

  Modules · CPC title

• G06F9/30105

  Register structure · CPC title

• G06F21/62

  Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules · CPC title