US 11,833,808 B2
Air purging
Wenbing Li, Singapore (SG); and Craig L Malik, Corvallis, OR (US)
Assigned to Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Spring, TX (US)
Appl. No. 17/049,116
Filed by Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Spring, TX (US)
PCT Filed May 3, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/030955
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 20, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/212558, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 7, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0237465 A1, Aug. 5, 2021
Int. Cl. B41J 2/19 (2006.01); B33Y 40/00 (2020.01); B29C 64/321 (2017.01)
CPC B41J 2/19 (2013.01) [B29C 64/321 (2017.08); B33Y 40/00 (2014.12)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An air purging unit for an imaging device, comprising:
a barrel;
a fluid-flow channel, one end of the fluid-flow channel being connected to the barrel and another end of the fluid-flow channel being removably couplable to an inlet of a housing of the imaging device, the inlet being couplable to a fluid delivery tube from a fluid storage chamber to deliver a printing fluid to a cartridge;
a piston element forming an air-tight seal inside the barrel;
a spring element, in a biased state, connected between an inner surface of the barrel and the piston element; and
a locking unit to lock the piston element and retain the spring element in the biased state, wherein the locking unit is unlockable to release the piston element, break the air-tight seal, and unbias the spring element to remove air from the fluid delivery tube through the inlet prior to coupling the cartridge to the inlet.