System for registration of a fluid level in a receptacle
AssigneePelikan Produktions AG
InventorsPhilippe Georges Locher, Markus Bürgin, Joachim Kretschmer
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Abstract
A system is provided for registration of a fluid level of a fluid in the fluid chamber of an invention-specific receptacle (1), in particular of ink in an ink cartridge, with a light source (11) which beams into the chamber of the receptacle, a reflection body (2) which is designed as a float, which moves in the chamber of the receptacle in dependency upon the filling level of the fluid and which variably reflects the light in dependency upon its movement, and a light detector (10) which receives a variable amount of light.
Claims58
A system for detecting a level of a fluid contained within a fluid chamber of a receptacle, the system comprising:
- a light source directing a beam of light in a path into the fluid chamber of said receptacle;
- a reflection member disposed within said fluid chamber along said path and being movable relative to the receptacle based said level of the fluid contained within the receptacle, the reflection member reflecting said beam of light as a reflected beam of light having an intensity related to a position of the reflection member relative to the receptacle;
- and,
- a light detector positioned to receive the reflected beam of light and adapted to determine said level of the fluid contained within the fluid chamber based on said intensity of the reflected beam of light.
An ink cartridge for use with an associated ink jet printer including a light source directing a beam of light in a path toward said cartridge and a light detector positioned to receive a reflected beam of light from the cartridge and adapted to determine a level of fluid contained within the cartridge based on an intensity of the reflected beam of light, the ink cartridge comprising:
- a set of receptacle walls defining a fluid chamber for containing ink within the cartridge;
- and,
- a reflection body floatable on said fluid contained within the cartridge, the reflection body being movable relative to a receptacle wall of the cartridge based on a level of the fluid contained within the receptacle, the reflection body reflecting said beam of light from said light source as a reflected beam of light toward said light detector, the reflected beam of light having an intensity related to a position of the reflection body relative to said receptacle wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.