JP2008289239A - Drive unit, and image forming apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To keep the stable rotating action of a motor shaft even if, in particular, a drive motor itself is thin by reducing the axial deflection of the motor shaft of a drive motor and the load to a bearing. <P>SOLUTION: This drive unit is equipped with the drive motor 1 and a drive transmitting mechanism 4 which transmits the driving force from this drive motor 1. The drive motor 1 is equipped with a motor casing 1a and a motor shaft 2, and the drive transmitting mechanism 4 is equipped with a drive member 5 which is provided coaxially with the motor shaft 2 within the driving force transmitting case 4a, and a drive transmitting member 6 to which the driving force from the drive motor 1 is transmitted, being arranged in contact with this drive member 5. For the motor shaft 2, its one side is supported rotatably by one inner bearing 3 consisting of a rolling bearing provided within the motor casing 1a, and the other side is arranged on the opposite side of the inner bearing 3 across a drive member 5, and besides it is supported rotatably by one outer bearing 7 consisting of a rolling bearing provided within the drive transmitting casing 4a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving device and an image forming apparatus using the driving device.

  In general, when driving a rotary member used in an image forming apparatus or the like, there is known one that transmits drive using a pinion shaft provided with a pinion gear on a motor shaft of a drive motor. The pinion shaft used in such a drive motor is usually used in a so-called cantilever type supported by a bearing in the motor housing, but in order to prevent shaft runout, the pinion shaft is shortened or pinion shaft is used. It is necessary to devise such as disposing the gear so that the reaction forces of the forces transmitted to the gear meshing with the shaft pinion cancel each other.

Furthermore, due to the recent demand for downsizing of the device, the use of a thin motor having a thin structure, for example, has been actively used for the drive motor itself, and there is a growing concern about the shaft runout of the pinion shaft. For this reason, various proposals have been made to devise a bearing that supports the motor shaft of the drive motor in response to such a request (for example, see Patent Documents 1 to 3).
Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose one in which a shaft end of a motor shaft extending from a drive motor is supported by a bearing provided on a frame so as to suppress uneven rotation of a rotation member of the image forming apparatus and vibration of the drive motor itself. Has been. Patent Document 3 proposes a system in which the tension applied to the motor shaft of the drive motor is supported only by a bearing outside the drive motor.

JP 2002-207330 A (Embodiment of the Invention, FIG. 2) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-208085 (Example, FIG. 2) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-216368 (Example, FIG. 2)

  The technical problem of the present invention is to reduce the shaft runout of the motor shaft of the drive motor and the load on the bearing, and in particular, to maintain a stable rotational operation of the motor shaft even when the drive motor itself has a thin shape. is there.

  That is, the invention according to claim 1 is a drive device including a drive motor and a drive transmission mechanism that transmits a drive force from the drive motor, and the drive motor is a motor in which a motor rotor is accommodated. A housing and a motor shaft that rotates by rotation of the motor rotor and projects outside the motor housing, and the drive transmission mechanism accommodates a portion of the motor shaft that projects outside the motor housing. A drive transmission housing; a drive member provided coaxially with the motor shaft in the drive transmission housing; and a drive transmission member disposed in contact with the drive member to transmit a driving force from the drive motor. The motor shaft is rotatably supported by one internal bearing comprising a rolling bearing provided in the motor housing, and the other is disposed on the opposite side of the internal bearing with the drive member interposed therebetween. And a drive device which is rotatably supported by one of the external bearing consisting of a rolling bearing provided in the drive transmission housing.

The invention according to claim 2 is the drive apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external bearing is provided at a shaft end position of the motor shaft.
The invention according to claim 3 is the drive device according to claim 1, further comprising a slide bearing between the internal bearing and the drive member, on which the motor shaft is rotatably supported so as to be slidable. It is.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the drive device according to the first aspect, the drive transmission mechanism includes a plurality of drive transmission members corresponding to the drive member and arranged substantially opposite to each other along the normal direction of the motor shaft. It is the drive device which has.
The invention according to claim 5 includes an image forming unit in which one or more rotationally driven members to be rotated are used and an image can be formed, and a driving device capable of transmitting a driving force to the rotated member. An image forming apparatus using the drive device according to claim 1 as the drive device.

According to the first aspect of the invention, the motor shaft of the drive motor is rotatably supported by the two rolling bearings that are separated from each other, so that the shaft runout of the motor shaft and the load on the bearing are reduced. Even in the thin shape, stable rotation of the motor shaft can be maintained.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, compared with the case where it does not have this structure, the distance between the bearings of a motor shaft can be separated to the maximum, and rotation of a motor shaft comes to be stabilized more.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, compared with the case where it does not have this structure, the load with respect to the rolling bearing of a motor shaft can be reduced, and rotation of a motor shaft can be stabilized.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 4, compared with the case where it does not have this structure, the load with respect to a motor shaft comes to be stabilized, and the rotational stability of a motor shaft comes to improve further.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus in which the rotation of the rotated body is stable.

First, an outline of an embodiment model to which the present invention is applied will be described.
Outline of Embodiment Model FIG. 1 shows an outline of a driving apparatus according to an embodiment model embodying the present invention. Here, one of typical models of the drive device is a drive device including a drive motor 1 and a drive transmission mechanism 4 for transmitting a drive force from the drive motor 1 as shown in FIG. The drive motor 1 includes a motor housing 1a in which the motor rotor is accommodated, and a motor shaft 2 that rotates by the rotation of the motor rotor and protrudes to the outside of the motor housing 1a. A drive transmission housing 4a that accommodates a portion of the motor shaft 2 that protrudes outside the motor housing 1a, a drive member 5 provided coaxially with the motor shaft 2 in the drive transmission housing 4a, and the drive A drive transmission member 6 that is disposed in contact with the member 5 and transmits a driving force from the drive motor 1, and the motor shaft 2 has one inner part formed of a rolling bearing provided in the motor housing 1 a. Rotation supported by the bearing 3, the other Are those rotary support by one of the external bearing 7 formed by a rolling provided inside the bearing 3 is disposed on the opposite side and drive transmission casing 4a across the driving member 5.

  Here, the drive member 5 may be configured integrally with the motor shaft 2, or the drive member 5 made of another member may be mounted on the motor shaft 2. Further, as the rolling bearings of the internal bearing 3 and the external bearing 7, ball bearings (so-called ball bearings) are preferable from the viewpoint of reducing the shaft runout of the motor shaft 2. Furthermore, the drive transmission housing 4a is not limited to a container shape, and may be a simple frame-shaped member. In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a support member that supports the space between the motor housing 1a and the internal bearing 3.

Next, the operation of the internal bearing 3 and the external bearing 7 with respect to the motor shaft 2 in the present embodiment model will be described. FIG. 2 shows the positional relationship between the motor shaft 2 and the internal bearing 3 and the external bearing 7. FIG. 2A shows an aspect of this embodiment model, and FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C show aspects of a comparison form model. The motor shaft 2 is rotatably supported by rolling bearings.
Here, when the motor shaft 2 is rotationally supported by two rolling bearings (the internal bearing 3 and the external bearing 7) with the driving member 5 interposed therebetween as in the present embodiment model of FIG. Even when a load is applied to the motor shaft 2, the load can be distributed substantially evenly to the internal bearing 3 and the external bearing 7, and the shaft runout during rotation of the motor shaft 2 can be suppressed.

  On the other hand, when two rolling bearings (inner bearing 3 and another bearing 3 ′) are provided on one side of the drive member 5 as in the comparative model of (b), the load applied to the drive member 5 The motor shaft 2 is pushed to one side and tends to tilt with respect to the two bearings 3 and 3 ′, and it becomes difficult to stably support the rotation of the motor shaft 2 by the two bearings 3 and 3 ′. Is likely to occur. Further, as in the comparative model of (c), an external bearing 7 is additionally arranged at a position sandwiching the drive member 5 so as to suppress the shaft runout of the motor shaft 2 in the arrangement of (b). Then, although the shaft runout of the motor shaft 2 is reduced, since the motor shaft 2 is supported by the three rolling bearings, the motor shaft 2 is easily gnawed by at least one bearing. As a result, there is a risk of causing a new shaft runout. That is, since the dimensional tolerance of the rolling bearing itself is small, at least one rolling bearing is likely to bite the motor shaft 2 due to assembly accuracy when the motor shaft 2 and the rolling bearing are assembled.

In the present embodiment model, since the internal bearing 3 and the external bearing 7 are respectively disposed with the drive member 5 interposed therebetween as shown in (a), there is a concern in (b) and (c) when the motor shaft 2 rotates. Instability will be resolved. If a sliding bearing is used instead of the rolling bearing as the bearing 3 'in (c), it is possible to prevent the motor shaft 2 from galling due to the tolerance of the sliding bearing itself. Note that there is no problem.
If the external bearing 7 is provided at the shaft end position of the motor shaft 2, the distance between the internal bearing 3 and the external bearing 7 can be increased, and a more stable rotation of the motor shaft 2 can be ensured. become.

  In the present embodiment model, the drive transmission mechanism 4 has a plurality of drive transmission members 6 corresponding to the drive members 5 and arranged substantially opposite to each other along the normal direction of the motor shaft 2. The load on the drive member 5 is uniformly applied, and the occurrence of shaft runout of the motor shaft 2 is also suppressed. The drive member 5 may be configured integrally with the motor shaft 2 as long as it is a member that can transmit the rotation of the motor shaft 2 to the drive transmission member 6, or is configured separately from the motor shaft 2. As a representative example of the separate structure, a gear or a driving pulley may be used. Therefore, as the drive transmission member 6, for example, a gear is used when the drive member 5 is a gear, and when the drive member 5 is a driving pulley, for example, a belt-like member spanned between the opposing driving pulleys is used. Used.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment FIG. 3 shows an outline of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has an apparatus housing 10 that incorporates an image forming section 20 that forms a toner image on a recording material, and the image forming section 20 is provided above the apparatus housing 10. In addition, a recording material discharge unit 11 for discharging a recording material on which a toner image is formed is provided, and for example, a two-stage recording material supply unit 12 is disposed below the image forming unit 20. A recording material supply device (not shown) provided with a plurality of recording material supply units as an optional device can be mounted below the apparatus housing 10.

The image forming unit 20 includes a detachable body (hereinafter referred to as a process cartridge) 21 in which a member such as a photoconductor 22 that forms and holds a toner image is accommodated, and exposes the photoconductor 22 from the back of the process cartridge 21, for example, laser operation The optical writing device 23 is composed of an apparatus, and a fixing device 30 that is disposed downstream of the process cartridge 21 in the recording material conveyance direction and fixes a toner image formed on the recording material.
The process cartridge 21 includes a photoconductor 22 that forms and holds a toner image, a charging device 24 that uniformly charges the surface of the photoconductor 22, and a latent image formed by the optical writing device 23 on the uniformly charged photoconductor 22. A developing device 25 for making an image visible, a cleaning device 26 for cleaning residual toner on the photosensitive member 22 and the like are integrally arranged, and an exposure beam from the optical writing device 23 is The photosensitive member 22 is irradiated through the gap of the developing device 25. In the figure, reference numeral 27 denotes a transfer device disposed opposite to the photoconductor 22, and a transfer bias is applied between the photoconductor 22 and a toner image formed and held on the photoconductor 22 is transferred onto the recording material. It is supposed to be transferred to. Reference numeral 28 denotes a developing roll provided in the developing device 25 so as to face the photosensitive member 22 and to which a developing bias is applied to the photosensitive member 22.

In addition, the fixing device 30 includes, for example, a heating roll 31 and a pressure roll 32, and the toner on the recording material that is transported with sufficient heat and pressure at the pressure contact portion between the heating roll 31 and the pressure roll 32. As a result, good fixing is achieved.
Further, the recording material supply unit 12 is provided with a pullable recording material container 13 for storing the recording material, and an upper part of the recording material container 13 near the downstream end in the recording material conveyance direction. The recording medium is provided with a supply roll 14 for supplying and transporting the recording material, and a separating mechanism 15 provided on the downstream side of the supply roll 14 and configured to roll the recording material supplied by the supply roll 14.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the recording material discharge portion 11 of the apparatus housing 10 is configured to be able to swing with the upstream end side in the recording material discharge direction as a swing fulcrum. By lifting upward, the inside of the apparatus housing 10 is opened, and for example, the process cartridge 21 can be easily attached and detached through this opening.

  Next, the recording material conveyance system in the present embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the recording material that has been rolled by the rolling mechanism 15 is directed upward, and the recording material that is discharged from the pressure contact portion between the photosensitive member 22 and the transfer device 27 to the recording material discharge portion 11 through the fixing device 30. A main conveyance path 17 that is conveyed, a return conveyance path 18 that can return and convey the recording material from the main conveyance path 17 on the downstream side of the fixing device 30, and a communication that extends downward in the apparatus housing 10 from the main conveyance path 17. A conveyance path 19 is provided.

  In the main transport path 17, one recording material that is transported by the scooping mechanism 15 is temporarily stopped and positioned downstream of the scooping mechanism 15, and then transported downstream at a predetermined timing. A resist roll 16 is provided. Further, on the downstream side of the resist roll 16, a transfer device 27 for transferring the toner image on the photosensitive member 22 to the recording material conveyed by the resist roll 16, a fixing device 30 for fixing the toner image, and a post-fixing A discharge roll 33 and the like for discharging the recording material from the apparatus housing 10 to the recording material discharge unit 11 are provided. The discharge roll 33 according to the present embodiment can be appropriately reversed so that the recording material can be discharged and accommodated in the recording material discharge portion 11 while the recording material can be conveyed in the reverse direction by the reversing operation. It has become.

The return conveyance path 18 returns the recording material along with the switching operation of the switch 34 for switching the conveyance path between the fixing device 30 and the discharge roll 33 in the main conveyance path 17 and the reverse operation of the discharge roll 33. In order to form a new image again on the back side of the recording material on which the toner image has been formed on one side of the recording material, the recording material on which the toner image has been formed on one side is transferred to the main conveyance path 17. This is a route that returns to the upstream side of the resist roll 16.
Further, in the present embodiment, a communication conveyance path 19 from the bottom of the apparatus housing 10 toward the registration roll 16 is provided, and this communication conveyance path 19 is provided on the apparatus housing 10 when an optional device is mounted. The recording material can be conveyed from below to the resist roll 16.
In these conveyance paths, conveyance members for conveying the recording material are appropriately disposed.

In other words, in the present embodiment, the recording material supplied and conveyed from the recording material supply unit 12 is regulated by the registration roll 16 via the main conveyance path 17 and then conveyed downstream at a predetermined timing. Then, the toner image on the photoconductor 22 is transferred onto the recording material at a transfer site that is a site where the photoconductor 22 and the transfer device 27 are opposed to each other. After the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 30, the recording material onto which the toner image has been transferred is discharged from the recording material discharge opening provided in the apparatus housing 10 to the recording material discharge portion 11 by the discharge roll 33.
Here, under the condition that the rear end portion of the recording material is in pressure contact with the discharge roll 33, the discharge roll 33 performs a reversing operation and the switch 34 is switched, so that the recording material sandwiched between the discharge rolls 33 is It goes to the return conveyance path 18. The recording material conveyed through the return conveyance path 18 reaches the main conveyance path 17 again, and a new toner image is formed on the back side of the recording material.

  In such an image forming apparatus, in particular, the present embodiment is characterized by a driving device 40 for driving the photosensitive member 22 and the developing roll 28 in the process cartridge 21. FIG. 4 shows an outline of a drive device 40 and a drive transmission mechanism 50 in which the drive force from the drive device 40 is transmitted to the photosensitive member 22 and the developing roll 28 in the present embodiment. The drive device 40 is omitted in FIG. 3 because it is disposed on the side of the process cartridge 21.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the drive device 40 includes a thin drive motor 41 and a drive transmission mechanism 50 provided corresponding to a portion of the motor shaft 42 of the drive motor 41 that protrudes from the drive motor 41. It consists of and. The drive motor 41 includes a motor housing on the surface and a motor rotor (not shown) inside. A part of the motor casing is composed of, for example, a steel frame 41a and a printed wiring board 41b provided so as to cover the opening of the frame 41a, and the inside is rotated by the rotation of the motor rotor. The motor shaft 42 is provided so as to protrude from the motor housing. Further, an internal bearing 43 made up of a rolling bearing for rotating and supporting the motor shaft 42 is provided inside, and a support member 44 made of, for example, aluminum die casting or zinc die casting is provided between the printed wiring board 41b and the internal bearing 43. It is provided so that the positioning between the motor housing and the internal bearing 43 is fixed. By using the wiring of the printed wiring board 41b, power can be supplied to the internal motor rotor.

  The drive transmission mechanism 50 is as follows. A part of the motor shaft 42 of the drive motor 41 is accommodated in a frame 51 as a drive transmission housing, and a groove as a drive member is formed along the peripheral surface of a part of the motor shaft 42. A cut pinion 42a is formed. Further, the frame body 51 is fixed to the printed wiring board 41b of the motor housing via the support member 44 described above, and the other end side of the frame body 51 is composed of a rolling bearing. An external bearing 45 is supported, and the external bearing 45 is disposed at a shaft end position outside the pinion 42a of the motor shaft 42 so as to rotatably support the motor shaft 42. Further, inside the frame 51, gears 52 and 54 as drive transmission members arranged so as to mesh with the pinion 42a are arranged at positions substantially opposite to each other with the motor shaft 42 interposed therebetween, and the respective rotary shafts 52a and 54a. Is supported by a frame 51 or a bearing (not shown) provided on the frame 51. Furthermore, the gear 54 is disposed so that the gear 55 is engaged with the gear 54, and the rotation shaft 55 a of the gear 55 is also supported by the frame body 51.

  And in the drive transmission mechanism 50 of this Embodiment, the gear 53 and the gear 56 are provided in the one end side which protruded outward from the frame 51 of the rotating shaft 52a of the gear 52 and the rotating shaft 55a of the gear 55, respectively. ing. Therefore, when power is supplied to the drive motor 41, the gear 53 and the gear 56 protruding outward from the frame 51 are rotated by the rotation of the motor shaft 42.

  As a drive motor 41 for realizing such a drive device 40, the rolling bearing 46 on the outside is removed from the thin drive motor 41 ′ that is usually commercially available as shown in FIG. The rolling bearing 46 may be removed. FIG. 5B is a perspective view showing the external appearance of a drive motor 41 ′ that uses, for example, a rare earth magnet and has a thin shape by devising the arrangement of the rolling bearings.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the photoconductor 22 and the developing roll 28 on the process cartridge 21 side are also devised. That is, the rotating shaft 22a of the photosensitive member 22 and the rotating shaft 28a of the developing roll 28 are protruded outward from the outer case 21a of the process cartridge 21, and gears 22b and 28b are provided at the protruding shaft end positions. The thing is adopted. By mounting the process cartridge 21 in the apparatus housing 10, the gear 22 b of the photosensitive member 22 is connected to the gear 53 of the driving device 40, and the gear 28 b of the developing roll 28 is connected to the gear 56 of the driving device 40. It comes to mesh.

The operation of the driving device 40 will be described in detail.
In the present embodiment, an external bearing 45 composed of a rolling bearing is disposed at the shaft end position of the motor shaft 42, and another rolling bearing is used as the internal bearing 43 in the frame 41a, so that two rollings sandwiching the pinion 42a. The motor shaft 42 is rotationally supported by the bearing, and the motor shaft 42 can be stably rotated. At this time, since the motor shaft 42 itself is supported at two points, the occurrence of galling by the internal bearing 43 and the external bearing 45 can be suppressed. This realizes a small-sized drive device 40 capable of stable rotational driving despite the use of the thin drive motor 41.

In the present embodiment, a method of forming a monochrome image as the image forming unit 20 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a color image may be formed as the image forming unit 20. Further, the drive transmission to the process cartridge 21 is shown, but the process cartridge 21 may not be used.
Further, the method of driving the photosensitive member 22 and the developing roll 28 in the process cartridge 21 by the driving device 40 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. 28 may be driven from the photosensitive member 22.

  Moreover, although the aspect which uses a gearwheel (specifically gearwheels 52 and 54) in two directions along the normal line direction of the motor shaft 42 was shown as a drive transmission member of the drive device 40, it is not limited to this. For example, the motor shaft 42 may be provided in three directions, and the motor shaft 42 is stably rotated because the support by the internal bearing 43 and the external bearing 45 is stable even in only one direction. Needless to say. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a mode in which the drive transmission member is accommodated in the frame body 51 is shown. However, for example, the drive transmission member may be connected to the outside of the frame body 51.

Further, in the present embodiment, the mode in which the pinion 42a is provided on the motor shaft 42 as the driving member is shown, but the driving member is not limited to this, and a gear of another member may be mounted on the motor shaft 42. However, it is possible to attach a driving pulley. In particular, when a driving pulley is used, for example, a belt member is bridged between the driving pulley and another driving pulley provided inside or outside the frame 51, and the desired pulley is rotated. What is necessary is just to make it rotate the to-be-rotated body.
In this embodiment, the image forming method is not limited to the above-described electrophotographic method, and an electrostatic recording method or an ink jet recording method, for example, may be used as long as it includes a rotationally driven body. It does not matter if you do it.

FIG. 6 shows an outline of a driving device 40 as a modification of the present embodiment.
In this figure, the drive device 40 of this example is configured in substantially the same manner as the drive device 40 of FIG. 4, but is a slip that rotatably supports the motor shaft 42 in the vicinity of the boundary between the drive motor 41 and the drive transmission mechanism 50. The driving device shown in FIG. 4 differs from the driving device shown in FIG. 4 in that the bearings 47 are provided. In FIG. 6, the rotation shafts of the gears 52, 54, and 55 and members on the process cartridge 21 side are omitted.

  In the drive device 40 of this example, a sliding bearing 47 is provided on the motor shaft 42. Unlike the internal bearing 43 and the external bearing 45, which are rolling bearings, the sliding bearing 47 itself is connected to the motor shaft 42. Therefore, the motor shaft 42 is supported by two rolling bearings, so that the sliding bearing 47 does not bite the motor shaft 42 and the rotation of the motor shaft 42 is stably performed. It becomes like this. Further, by providing the slide bearing 47 in this way, the motor shaft 42 is rotatably supported by the slide bearing 47 even when a large shaft runout occurs. The load on the bearing 43 and the external bearing 45 can be reduced. Therefore, the stable operation of the drive motor 41 can be maintained.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of the drive device which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the positional relationship of a motor shaft and a bearing, (a) shows the aspect of embodiment model which concerns on this invention, (b) and (c) show the aspect of a comparison form model. It is explanatory drawing which shows the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drive device of embodiment. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows a normal drive motor, (b) is the perspective view. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drive device of the modification of this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Drive motor, 1a ... Motor housing, 2 ... Motor shaft, 3 ... Internal bearing, 4 ... Drive transmission mechanism, 4a ... Drive transmission housing, 5 ... Drive member, 6 ... Drive transmission member, 7 ... External bearing, 8 ... Support member

Claims (5)

A drive device comprising a drive motor and a drive transmission mechanism for transmitting a drive force from the drive motor,
The drive motor includes a motor housing in which the motor rotor is accommodated, and a motor shaft that rotates by the rotation of the motor rotor and protrudes outside the motor housing.
The drive transmission mechanism includes a drive transmission housing that accommodates a portion of the motor shaft that protrudes outside the motor housing, a drive member provided coaxially with the motor shaft in the drive transmission housing, and the drive A drive transmission member that is disposed in contact with the member and transmits a driving force from the drive motor,
One of the motor shafts is rotatably supported by one internal bearing formed of a rolling bearing provided in the motor housing, and the other is disposed on the opposite side of the internal bearing with the drive member interposed therebetween and the drive transmission A drive device characterized in that it is rotatably supported by one external bearing comprising a rolling bearing provided in a housing. The drive device according to claim 1, wherein
The external bearing is provided at a shaft end position of a motor shaft. The drive device according to claim 1, wherein
A drive device further comprising a slide bearing between which the motor shaft is rotatably supported so as to be slidable between the internal bearing and the drive member. The drive device according to claim 1, wherein
The drive transmission mechanism includes a plurality of drive transmission members corresponding to the drive member and arranged substantially opposite to each other along the normal direction of the motor shaft. An image forming unit that uses one or more rotationally driven members and that can form an image;
An image forming apparatus comprising: the driving device according to claim 1, wherein a driving force to the rotating body can be transmitted.

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