Liquid Cartridge Sloped Substrate for Contact Protection and Board Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional liquid cartridges face challenges in accommodating larger circuit boards due to protective walls around contacts, restricting the front-rear dimension and hindering the mounting of components like memory and electronic components.
Innovation Solution
A liquid cartridge design with a sloped substrate that allows for a longer insertion direction, enabling larger substrate size and better positioning of contacts and memory, while preventing collisions and facilitating easier cleaning of foreign matter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If walls are provided in the attachment section to protect contacts, then contact protection is improved, but the front-rear dimension of the circuit board is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is designed with a sloped surface instead of a flat surface, changing the dimensional configuration. This allows the substrate to extend beyond the walls in the front-rear direction while maintaining proper contact alignment, effectively utilizing three-dimensional space to resolve the conflict between contact protection and circuit board size
Solution Approach 2:
The sloped surface configuration allows the substrate to dynamically adapt its position relative to the walls during insertion. The inclination angle enables the substrate to clear the walls while still achieving proper contact engagement, providing a dynamic solution to the static constraint imposed by the walls
2Adaptability or versatility
If the circuit board size is increased to accommodate more components, then component mounting capability is improved, but the substrate may collide with contacts in the attachment section
Solution Approach 1:
By transitioning from a flat to a sloped substrate surface, the invention creates additional spatial clearance between the substrate and the attachment section walls. This dimensional change allows larger circuit boards to be mounted without increasing the risk of collision, as the sloped configuration provides a clearance path during insertion
3Area of stationary object
If the substrate length in insertion direction is increased, then space for contacts and memory is improved, but the substrate may interfere with protective walls
Solution Approach 1:
The sloped surface configuration transforms the substrate from a two-dimensional flat plane to a three-dimensional inclined structure. This allows the substrate to extend longer in the front-rear direction to provide adequate space for contacts and memory components while the inclination angle ensures it clears the protective walls during insertion, eliminating interference
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A liquid cartridge is insertable into an attachment portion of a printing device in an insertion direction and attached thereto in an upright posture. The liquid cartridge includes: a housing defining a liquid chamber; a substrate; a contact; and a memory electrically connected to the contact. The substrate in the upright posture defines a sloped surface facing upward and sloping relative to a first imaginary plane extending in the insertion direction and a widthwise direction orthogonal to the insertion direction and a gravitational direction. The contact is formed on the sloped surface. An acute angle formed between the sloped surface and the first imaginary plane is greater than an acute angle formed between the first imaginary plane and a second imaginary plane passing through: a contact point between the contact and a contact of the device; and a lower end of a wall constituting a holder of the attachment portion.