Thermally activated sealing apparatus and method
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsDavid M. Payne, Tim Hoberock, Troy Jensen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus include a thermally activatable sealing member. The sealing member can be operatively positioned in or near an opening or passage to control the flow of material therethrough by way of selective thermal activation of the sealing member. Methods include providing a thermally activatable sealing member in or near an opening or passage and selectively thermally activating the sealing member to control the flow of material through the opening or passage.
Claims31
A toner cartridge for containing a quantity of toner to be dispensed onto an optical photoconductor, the cartridge comprising a thermally activatable sealing member that is configured to control toner flow by selectively moving between a closed position and an open position in response to the absorption of heat energy.
An apparatus to selectively block and unblock an opening, the apparatus comprising:
- a frame defining the opening;
- and,
- a thermally activatable sealing member that is configured to:
- have a first shape corresponding to a first temperature of the sealing member;
- and,
- have a second shape corresponding to a second temperature of the sealing member, wherein:
- at the first temperature, the sealing member substantially blocks the opening;
- and;
- at the second temperature, the sealing member substantially unblocks the opening.
A toner cartridge for containing a quantity of toner to be dispensed onto an optical photoconductor, the cartridge comprising:
- a body which defines a substantially enclosed toner reservoir, wherein an opening is defined through the body, through which the toner passes when dispensed onto the optical photoconductor;
- a thermally activatable sealing member supported by the body, wherein the sealing member is configured to substantially block the opening at a relatively low temperature of the sealing member, and that is further configured to unblock the opening at a relatively high temperature of the sealing member, the sealing member comprising:
- a hyper-expansive element substantially in sheet form;
- and,
- a hypo-expansive element substantially in sheet form and bonded to the hyper-expansive element in a bi-layered manner, wherein the hyper-expansive element and the hypo-expansive element are oriented in substantially juxtaposed registration relative to one another.
A toner cartridge comprising:
- a body;
- and,
- a thermally activatable sealing member supported by the body, wherein:
- the toner cartridge is configured to be operatively supported by an imaging device;
- and,
- the sealing member is configured to operate by selectively moving between a closed position and an open position in response to the absorption thereby of energy supplied by the imaging device.
A method of controlling material flow through an opening, comprising:
- providing a thermally activatable sealing member proximate the opening, wherein when not thermally activated the sealing member substantially blocks the opening, thus substantially preventing material flow therethrough;
- and
- providing heat to the sealing member, whereby the sealing member is thermally activated, thus causing the sealing member to substantially unblock the opening.
A sealing apparatus, comprising:
- a frame defining an opening;
- a thermally activated sealing member configured to operate in response to absorption thereby of heat energy, wherein the sealing member operates by moving between a closed position in which the opening is substantially blocked by the sealing member, and an open position in which the opening is substantially unblocked by the sealing member;
- and,
- a means for providing heat energy to the sealing member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.