Patent ID: 8721057

Claim:
An ink transport system comprising: a thermally conductive tube having a first end that is fluidly connected to a first ink reservoir and a second end that is fluidly connected to a second ink reservoir to enable transport of melted phase change ink between the first ink reservoir and the second ink reservoir; a thermoelectric device operatively connected to the thermally conductive tube; a sensor configured to generate an electric signal corresponding to an amount of ink in the second ink reservoir; and a controller operatively connected to the thermoelectric device and to the sensor, the controller being configured to selectively operate the thermoelectric device at a first polarity to heat the thermally conductive tube to melt phase change ink within the thermally conductive tube to enable the phase change ink to flow from the first ink reservoir to the second ink reservoir in response to the electric signal from the sensor indicating that ink in the second ink reservoir is below a first predetermined threshold, and to remove heat from the thermally conductive tube to solidify the melted phase change ink within the tube to disable flow of the phase change ink from the first ink reservoir to the second ink reservoir.