INK CONTAINER PROVIDING PRESSURIZED INK WITH INK LEVEL SENSOR

摘要

An ink container for an off-carriage printing system including an ink supply station. The ink container contains a collapsible reservoir (114) filled with ink that is fluidically connectable to a conduit that leads to a pressure regulator. The outlet of the regulator delivers ink to a printhead. A pressure vessel (1102) surrounds the reservoir. The system pressurizes the pressure vessel, which results in pressurized ink being delivered to the regulator. The ink container has a sensor that infers the actual volume of ink in the resevoir by sensing the relative position of the reservoir walls. This sensor is mounted between the pressure vessel and the collapsible reservoir. The sensor is electrically connected to pads that are accessible from the outside of the ink container. Leads route from the pads, through a seal zone, and to the sensor. The seal is provided by a compressed o-ring.