CARTRIDGE HAVING LIGHT GUIDE

• US 20120018451A1
• Filed: 08/11/2011
• Published: 01/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Henkel AG & Co KGaA
• Original Assignee: Henkel AG & Co KGaA
• Inventors: Fileccia, Salvatore, Kessler, Arnd, Eichholz, Dieter, Mühlhausen, Hans-Georg, Nitsch, Christian, Bastigkeit, Thorsten
• Application Number:
  US13/207,736
• Publication Number:
  US 20120018451A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 222/129
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/4454 with automatic identification means, e.g. barcodes, RFID tags or magnetic strips
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/4463 Multi-dose dispensing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 15/4472 Blister packaging or refill cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/024 mounted on the agitator or the rotating drum; Free body dispensers

Abstract

The invention relates to a cartridge for coupling to a metering device for dispensing at least one washing and/or cleaning agent preparation from the cartridge into the inside of a household appliance, wherein the cartridge comprises at least one chamber for storing at least one free-flowing or pourable washing and/or cleaning agent preparation, wherein at least one light guide into which a light signal can be coupled from outside of the cartridge is arranged in or on the cartridge.

Claims

1. A cartridge for coupling to a dispenser for delivering at least one washing- and/or cleaning-agent preparation out of the cartridge into the interior of a household appliance, wherein:

the cartridge encompasses at least one chamber for stocking at least one flowable or pourable washing- and/or cleaning-agent preparation; and

at least one light guide, into which a light signal can be coupled from outside the cartridge, is arranged in or on the cartridge.

2. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge encompasses at least two chambers.

3. The cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the chambers are separated from one another by separating webs.

4. The cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the light guide is shaped entirely or partly into or onto walls and/or webs of the cartridge.

5. The cartridge according to claim 3, wherein the light guide is shaped integrally into or onto walls and/or webs of the cartridge.

6. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the light guide is shaped from a transparent plastic material.

7. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge is formed from a transparent material.

8. The cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the light guide is suitable for guiding light in the visible region (380 to 780 nm).

9. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the light guide is suitable for guiding light in the near infrared region (780 nm to 3000 nm).

10. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the light guide is suitable for guiding light in the medium infrared region (3.0 μ

m to 50 μ

m).

11. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the light guide is suitable for guiding light in the far infrared region (50 μ

m to 1 mm).

12. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the light signal that can be coupled into the light guide is a carrier of information regarding the operating state of the dispenser and/or the fill level of the cartridge.

13. The cartridge according to claim 12, wherein the light guide is configured so that the light signal that can be coupled into the light guide can be coupled out of the light guide.

14. The cartridge according to claim 13, wherein the light guide is configured so that the light signal can be coupled out at a point on the cartridge that is different from the point at which the light signal can be coupled into the cartridge.

15. The cartridge according to claim 12, wherein a light signal can be coupled in or out at a prismatically embodied edge of the cartridge.

16. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the light signal and the light guide are configured in such a way that a light signal visible to a user can be generated on and/or in the cartridge.

17. The cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the light guide is, at least locally, surrounded entirely or partly by a material having a lower optical refractive index.

18. The cartridge according to claim 17, wherein the material having the lower optical refractive index is a preparation stocked in a chamber of the cartridge.

19. The cartridge according to claim 17, wherein the light guide is severed at at least one point in the cartridge in such a way that the preparation can fill the severed point.

20. A dispenser for delivering at least one washing- and/or cleaning-agent preparation out of a cartridge according to claim 1 and into the interior of a household appliance, wherein a light signal can be coupled, by means of a light source present on the dispenser, into a light guide of the cartridge.

21. The dispenser according to claim 20, wherein the light source is an LED.

22. The dispenser according to claim 20, wherein the light signal coupled into the light guide of the cartridge and passing through the light guide can be sensed by a sensor present on the dispenser.