System and method for recycling hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsDavid S. Vejtasa, Christopher A. Schantz
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Abstract
A system and method for recycling used hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid removes contaminants from the used carrier liquid and monitors an electrical property of the output carrier liquid so that the carrier liquid can be reused in a predefined application, such as an electrostatic imaging process. The system and method may be integrated into an electrostatic imaging machine.
Claims25
A method of recycling used hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid comprising:
- receiving said used hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid;
- removing contaminants in said used hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid to produce an output hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid;
- and
- monitoring an electrical properly of said output hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid to determine the suitability of said output hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid for predefined application.
A system for recycling used hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid comprising:
- a contaminant removal device having an input to receive said used hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid, said contaminant removal device being configured to remove contaminants in said used hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid to produce an output hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid;
- and
- a monitoring device configured to monitor an electrical property of said output hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid to determine the suitability of said output hydrocarbon-based carrier liquid for predefined application.
An electrostatic imaging apparatus comprising:
- an electrostatic imaging system configured to generate images on target substrate using liquid toner that includes carrier liquid said electrostatic imaging system being configured to extract used carrier liquid from used liquid toner;
- and
- a contaminant removal device having an input to receive said used carrier liquid from said electrostatic imaging system, said contaminant removal device being configured to remove contaminants in said used carrier liquid to produce an output carrier liquid to be reused in said electrostatic imaging system, said contaminant removal device including at least one diesel fuel filter and water separator.
The apparatus or 18 further comprising a monitoring device configured to monitor resistivity of said output carrier liquid to determine the suitability of said output carrier liquid for use in an electrostatic imaging process.
An electrostatic imaging apparatus comprising:
- an electrostatic imaging system configured to generate images on target substrate using liquid toner that includes carrier liquid, said electrostatic imaging system being configured to extract used carrier liquid from used liquid toner;
- and
- means for removing contaminants in said used carrier liquid to produce an output carrier liquid, said removing means being configured so receive said used carrier liquid from said electrostatic imaging system and to reintroduce said output carrier liquid into said electrostatic imaging system, said removing means including at least one diesel fuel filter and water separator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.