Patent ID: 7968250

Claim:
A portable cartridge for storing a fuel used in a fuel cell system, the portable cartridge comprising: a housing; a connector configured to interface with a mating connector to permit transfer of the fuel between the cartridge and a device that includes the mating connector; a sliding interface configured to cooperate with a mating sliding interface on the device to provide detachable mechanical coupling between the portable cartridge and the device such that the cartridge is linearly held along the sliding interface, wherein the sliding interface includes a linear member adapted to fit within a pair of opposing linear rails included in the mating sliding interface, and wherein the sliding interface and the mating sliding interface are adapted, when engaged, to permit relative motion between the portable cartridge and the device; and a cartridge latching interface configured to cooperate with a mating latching interface on the device to hold the cartridge in multiple positions along the sliding interface relative to the device, wherein the multiple positions include a first position that permits fluidic communication between the cartridge and the device, and a second position that does not permit fluidic communication between the cartridge and the device, wherein, in the second position, the cartridge latching interface maintains mechanical coupling without any force, in all directions except along the sliding interface, between the cartridge and the device by permitting one degree-of-freedom motion between the cartridge and device along the sliding interface, wherein the cartridge latching interface includes a set of female recesses adapted to receive a male latch positioned on the device to insert into one of the set of recesses, wherein the set of female recesses includes a first recess that provides the first position when the male latch on the device rests in the first recess and a second recess that provides the second position when the male latch on the device rests in the second recess, wherein the cartridge is moved from the first position to the second position and from the second position to the first position by retracting the male latch from a recess and sliding the cartridge relative to the device along the linear rails on the device, wherein the cartridge may be fully detached from the device by sliding the cartridge along the linear rails on the device.