MAINTENANCE SYSTEM HAVING WASTE CONTAINER FOR PRINTHEAD
A maintenance system for a printhead, the system having an ingestion member for ingesting waste fluid from the printhead; and a container for containing said ingested waste fluid, the container being flexible so as to expand as an amount of contained waste fluid increases.
1 . A maintenance system for a printhead, the system comprising:
an ingestion member for ingesting waste fluid from the printhead; and
a container for containing said ingested waste fluid, the container being flexible so as to expand as an amount of contained waste fluid increases.
2 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein the container is positioned within a body of a printer having the printhead between a media input area and a printed media output area.
3 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein the container is a modular assembly of fluid containing modules.
4 . A system according to claim 3 , wherein each module is formed of flexible, collapsible material so as to define expandable bags which are substantially flat when empty of fluid and are expanded otherwise.
5 . A system according to claim 4 , wherein the ingestion member is an absorbent material which fills each module.
6 . A system according to claim 5 , wherein the absorbent material is a polymer which is a powder when dry and a stiff gel when wet.
7 . A system according to claim 3 , wherein the modules are linked to each other by a wick element which provides capillary wicking paths between the modules.