JP2020060744A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Kind Code: A1 An image carrier comprising a transfer belt or a photosensitive drum, a transfer section for transferring a toner image carried on the image carrier to a recording medium, and a toner image transferred to the recording medium by heating and pressing. In an image forming apparatus having a fixing section for fixing and a waste toner section for conveying or accumulating residual toner remaining on the surface of a recording medium without being transferred to the recording medium, the toner can be removed from the fixing section without reducing space efficiency. suppress the temperature rise of the waste toner portion caused by the heat generated by the An image forming apparatus (1) includes a cover member (40). The cover member 40 is connected to a cover main body portion 41 that covers the waste toner portion 32 from the fixing device 8 side, and is connected to the cover main body portion 41 and extends in a direction away from the fixing portion 8 with the cover main body portion 41 side as a base end side. and a first extension 42 . [Selection drawing] Fig. 7

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a toner image carried on an image carrier is transferred to a recording medium at a transfer section, and then the toner image is heated and pressed at a fixing section to be fixed on the recording medium. Let The image carrier is composed of a photosensitive drum in the case of the direct transfer system, and is composed of an intermediate transfer belt in the case of the intermediate transfer system.

  In this type of image forming apparatus, a cleaning member may be provided to remove residual toner (untransferred toner that has not been transferred to the recording medium) remaining on the surface of the image carrier. The cleaning member is composed of, for example, a blade member or a sliding contact roller that contacts the surface of the image carrier.

  A waste toner portion is provided on the side of the cleaning member. The waste toner portion stores the residual toner removed by the cleaning member as waste toner, or conveys it to a waste toner container by a rotating conveyance screw (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP, 2001-282077, A

  Incidentally, due to the structure of the image forming apparatus, the waste toner portion is often arranged near the fixing portion. The fixing unit has a heater for heating the fixing roller, and the temperature becomes considerably high during printing.

  Therefore, there is a problem that the heat generated in the fixing unit is transferred to the waste toner unit, and the waste toner in the waste toner unit is fused. As a result, there arises a problem that the fluidity of the toner in the waste toner portion deteriorates, the toner removal performance deteriorates, and the conveying screw in the waste toner portion is damaged.

  In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to flow cooling air between the fixing section and the waste toner section. However, in this case, there is a problem that the space efficiency is deteriorated because an air blower for blowing the cooling air is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to suppress a temperature rise of a waste toner portion due to heat generation from a fixing portion without reducing space efficiency. .

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image carrier including a transfer belt or a photosensitive drum, a transfer unit that transfers a toner image carried on the image carrier to a recording medium, and a toner image transferred to the recording medium. And a waste toner unit for collecting and transporting or accumulating residual toner remaining on the surface of the recording medium without being transferred to the recording medium.

  And a cover main body portion that covers the waste toner portion from the fixing portion side, and a first extending portion that is connected to the cover main body portion and extends in a direction away from the fixing portion with the cover main body portion side being a base end side. And a cover member including.

  According to the present invention, the temperature rise of the waste toner portion due to the heat generation from the fixing portion can be suppressed without lowering the space efficiency.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the fixing unit. FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing a state in which the right side cover of the image forming apparatus is removed. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a frame structure of the image forming apparatus as viewed from the front diagonally right side. FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a state where the supporting sheet metal of the fixing unit is engaged and fixed to the main body stay. FIG. 6 is a view on arrow VI in FIG. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing the periphery of the cleaning device including the waste toner portion in an enlarged manner. FIG. 8 is an external perspective view showing the fixing unit and a cover member provided on the upper side of the fixing unit and covering the waste toner portion. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a heat transfer path in the cover member. FIG. 10 is a view corresponding to FIG. 9 showing the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments below.
<< Embodiment 1 >>

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, the front side and the rear side mean the front side and the rear side of the image forming apparatus 1 (the front side and the rear side in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1), and the left side and the right side refer to the image forming apparatus 1 from the front side. It means the left side and the right side when viewed.

  The image forming apparatus 1 is a tandem-type color printer, and includes an image forming unit 3 in a box-shaped casing 2. The image forming unit 3 transfers and forms an image on a recording paper P (recording medium) based on image data transmitted from an external device such as a computer connected to a network.

  An exposure device 4 that irradiates a laser beam is arranged below the image forming unit 3, and an intermediate transfer belt 5 is arranged above the image forming unit 3. The intermediate transfer belt 5 is wound around a drive roller 18 and a driven roller 19 which are arranged in the left-right direction at intervals. The drive roller 18 corresponds to a facing roller that faces the secondary transfer roller 16.

  A paper storage unit 6 that stores the recording paper P is arranged below the exposure device 4, and a manual paper feeding unit 7 is arranged on the left side of the paper storage unit 6. On the right side and the upper side of the intermediate transfer belt 5, a fixing unit 8 that fixes the image transferred and formed on the recording paper P is arranged. Reference numeral 9 denotes a paper discharge unit that is disposed above the casing 2 and discharges the recording paper P that has been subjected to the fixing process by the fixing unit 8 (fixing unit).

  The image forming unit 3 includes four image forming units 10 arranged in a line along the intermediate transfer belt 5. Each of these image forming units 10 has a photosensitive drum 11. A charger 12 is arranged directly below each photosensitive drum 11, a developing device 13 is arranged on the left side of each photosensitive drum 11, and a primary transfer roller 14 is arranged directly above each photosensitive drum 11. A cleaning unit 15 that cleans the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is disposed on the right side of each photosensitive drum 11.

  A peripheral surface of each photoconductor drum 11 is uniformly charged by a charger 12, and a laser corresponding to each color based on image data input from the computer or the like is applied to the peripheral surface of the photoconductor drum 11 after the charging. Light is emitted from the exposure device 4, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripheral surface of each photoconductor drum 11. A developer is supplied from the developing device 13 to the electrostatic latent image, and a yellow, magenta, cyan, or black toner image is formed on the peripheral surface of each photoconductor drum 11. These toner images are transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 5 in an overlapping manner by the transfer bias applied to the primary transfer roller 14.

  Reference numeral 16 denotes a secondary transfer roller that is arranged below the fixing unit 8 in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 5, and is conveyed from the paper storage unit 6 or the manual paper feed unit 7 through the paper conveyance path 17. The recording paper P is sandwiched between the secondary transfer roller 16 and the intermediate transfer belt 5, and the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 5 is transferred to the recording paper P by the transfer bias applied to the secondary transfer roller 16. There is. Then, the secondary transfer roller 16 and the intermediate transfer belt 5 form a transfer section.

  A cleaning device 30 is provided above the intermediate transfer belt 5. The cleaning device 30 removes the residual toner (toner left on the belt surface without being transferred to the recording paper P) attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 5.

  The fixing unit 8 includes a fixing roller 81 and a pressure roller 82 and is unitized. The recording paper P is nipped by the fixing roller 81 and the pressure roller 82 and heated while being pressed, so that the toner image transferred to the recording paper P is fixed to the recording paper P. The recording paper P after the fixing process is discharged to the paper discharge unit 9. Reference numeral 20 is a reversing conveyance path for reversing the recording paper P discharged from the fixing unit 8 during double-sided printing.

[Fixing unit positioning configuration]
As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing unit 8 has a housing 83 that houses the fixing roller 81 and the pressure roller 82 therein.

  The housing 83 is formed in a rectangular box shape extending in the front-rear direction, and positioning protrusions 84a project from both ends in the front-rear direction of the housing 83. The positioning protrusions 84 a are formed on each of the supporting metal plates 84 (see FIG. 5) that support both ends of the fixing roller 81.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a main body stay 23 for fixing the fixing unit 8 is provided in the casing 2 of the image forming apparatus 1. The main body stay 23 is made of a sheet metal member extending in the front-rear direction. Both ends in the front-rear direction of the main body stay 23 are connected and fixed to the front frame plate 21 and the rear frame plate 22, respectively. The main body stay 23 is formed with a pair of engagement holes 23d and 23e that engage with the respective positioning protrusions 84a of the fixing unit 8.

  The pair of engagement holes 23d and 23e are formed at both ends of the main body stay 23 in the front-rear direction. The width of the rear engagement hole 23d is set to be approximately the same as or slightly smaller than the thickness (thickness in the front-rear direction) of the positioning protrusion 84a. The width of the front engagement hole 23e is set to be slightly larger than the thickness of the positioning protrusion 84a in the front-rear direction. The front engagement hole 23e absorbs the expansion in the front-rear direction due to the temperature rise of the fixing unit 8, while the rear engagement hole 23d regulates the front-rear position of the fixing unit 8.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which the positioning protrusions 84 a formed on the support sheet metal 84 supporting the rear end of the fixing roller 81 and the engagement holes 23 d of the main body stay 23 are engaged with each other.

  The main body stay 23 includes a vertical plate portion 23a that extends in the vertical direction, an upper horizontal portion 23b that horizontally projects from an upper edge of the vertical plate portion 23a, and a lower L-shaped portion 23c that is connected to a lower edge of the vertical plate portion 23a. And have. The pair of engagement holes 23d and 23e (only the engagement hole 23d is shown in FIG. 5) are formed in the vertical plate portion 23a.

  FIG. 6 is a view on arrow VI in FIG. As shown in this figure, the central portion of the positioning projection 84a is bent in a trapezoidal shape when viewed from the tip side in the projecting direction. The positioning protrusion 84a is in contact with the inner side surface of the engagement hole 23d at three points, that is, both end portions in the vertical direction and the central portion when viewed from the tip side.

  Thick line arrows in FIGS. 5 and 6 indicate heat transfer paths. The heat generated by the heater 81a in the fixing roller 81 is transferred to the supporting sheet metal 84. The support sheet metal 84 is connected to the main body stay 23 by the positioning protrusions 84a as described above. Therefore, the heat transferred from the heater 81a to the support metal plate 84 is transferred to the main body stay 23 through the positioning protrusion 84a. When the transferred heat is transferred from the lower end portion (lower L-shaped portion 23c) of the main body stay 23 to the waste toner portion 32 of the cleaning device 30, which will be described later, the temperature of the waste toner portion 32 may rise excessively. is there. In order to prevent this problem, in the present embodiment, the entire cleaning device 30 including the waste toner portion 32 is covered with the cover member 40.

[Configurations of Cleaning Device 30 and Cover Member 40]
FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view including the cleaning device 30 and the cover member 40 that covers the cleaning device 30. The cleaning device 30 is provided at the end of the upper side of the intermediate transfer belt 5 on the side of the secondary transfer roller 16.

  The cleaning device 30 has a cleaning member 31 and a waste toner portion 32. The cleaning member 31 is composed of a blade whose tip contacts the upper surface of the intermediate transfer belt 5. The cleaning member 31 extends over the entire width of the intermediate transfer belt 5 (the front-back direction of the image forming apparatus 1). The cleaning member 31 scrapes off and removes the residual toner adhering to the upper surface of the intermediate transfer belt 5. The cleaning member 31 is not limited to the blade, and may be, for example, a sliding contact roller that comes into sliding contact with the upper surface of the intermediate transfer belt 5.

  The waste toner portion 32 is provided adjacent to the upper side of the cleaning member 31. The waste toner portion 32 has a resin housing 33 that accommodates a conveying screw 34 extending in the front-rear direction. The cleaning member 31 is attached to the housing 33 via a bracket 35. Then, the toner scraped off by the cleaning member 31 is introduced into the waste toner portion 32, and then discharged by a carrying screw 34 to a waste toner tank (not shown).

  The cover member 40 has a cover main body 41 and a plate-shaped extending portion 42 connected to the cover main body 41. The cover main body portion 41 and the extension portion 42 are formed by bending a single plate material, for example. The cover member 40 is attached to a fixing member (not shown) in the casing 2.

  The cover body 41 is formed in a substantially U-shaped cross section that opens downward. The cover body 41 is formed to cover the entire cleaning device 30 including the waste toner portion 32 from the upper side (fixing unit 8 side).

  The cover body 41 has an inclined plate 41a, a horizontal plate 41b, a vertical plate 41c, and a connecting plate 41d. The inclined plate portion 41a is arranged so as to block between the fixing unit 8 and the waste toner portion 32. The horizontal flat plate portion 41b extends horizontally from the left edge of the inclined plate portion 41a toward the left side. The vertical plate portion 41c extends vertically downward from the right end edge of the inclined plate portion 41a. The connecting plate portion 41d extends vertically downward from the left end edge of the horizontal plate portion 41b and then is connected to the extending portion 42. A gap C is provided between the inner surface of the cover body 41 and the housing 33 that forms the outer wall of the waste toner portion 32.

  The extending portion 42 extends horizontally from the lower edge of the connecting plate portion 41d toward the left side. In other words, the extended portion 42 extends in a direction away from the fixing unit 8 with the cover body 41 side being the base end. The lower surface of the extended portion 42 and the upper surface of the intermediate transfer belt 5 are parallel to each other, and a slight gap (for example, 0.5 mm to 1 mm) is provided between the lower surface of the extended portion 42 and the upper surface of the intermediate transfer belt 5. Has been. The left end of the extending portion 42 is located at the center of the intermediate transfer belt 5 in the left-right direction when viewed from above.

  The cover main body portion 41 and the extended portion 42 are provided over the entire width of the intermediate transfer belt 5 as shown in FIG. A slight gap is provided between both end edges of the cover main body portion 41 and the extension portion 42 in the width direction and the drive casing 27 provided in the width direction of the intermediate transfer belt 5. A drive mechanism (not shown) that drives the primary transfer roller 14 is housed in the drive casing 27. Therefore, by providing the gap, it is possible to suppress heat transfer from the cover member 40 to the primary transfer roller 14.

  The cover member 40 is made of a high thermal conductivity material having a higher thermal conductivity than the constituent material of the housing 33 of the waste toner portion 32 (resin material in this embodiment). As the high heat conductive material, iron, aluminum, copper or the like is preferably used, and particularly aluminum is preferably used.

  Further, the cover member 40 is made of a low emissivity material having a lower thermal emissivity than the constituent material of the housing 33 of the waste toner portion 32. As the low-emissivity material, it is preferable to use plating, steel plate, aluminum or the like, and it is particularly preferable to use aluminum.

[Air Cooling of Waste Toner Part 32]
The structure for cooling the waste toner portion 32 with air will be described with reference to FIG. 7. A blower fan 24 is provided on the side wall of the casing 2 of the image forming apparatus 1 in order to cool the inside of the casing 2. In the present embodiment, the air introduced from the outside by the blower fan 24 is used as waste toner. The part 32 is also used (also used) for cooling.

  The blower fan 24 is arranged at one end (rear end) of an air passage 25 extending in the front-rear direction inside the casing 2. When the blower fan 24 operates, air circulates in the air passage 25. The air passage 25 is formed by the main body stay 23 and the air passage forming member 26. The air duct forming member 26 is made of a resin member that extends in the front-rear direction and opens to the right.

  A ventilation hole 26a is formed at the lower end of the air passage forming member 26. The ventilation hole 26a communicates the space inside the air passage 25 with the space outside the air passage 25 on the side of the waste toner portion 32. Then, a part of the air flowing in the air passage 25 is guided to the waste toner portion 32 side through the ventilation hole 26a. Then, the cover member 40 is cooled by the airflow that has circulated from the ventilation hole 26a to the waste toner portion 32 side, and thus the waste toner portion 32 is indirectly cooled.

[Operation and effect of Embodiment 1]
As described above, the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes the cover member 40, the cover member 40 includes the cover main body portion 41 and the extending portion 42, and the cover main body portion 41 is discarded. The toner portion 32 is formed so as to cover it from the fixing unit 8 side, and the extended portion 42 is connected to the cover body portion 41 and extends in a direction away from the fixing unit 8 with the cover body portion 41 side being the base end side. Has been formed.

  According to this configuration, the heat from the fixing unit 8 is once received by the cover body 41 of the cover member 40 as shown by the arrow path in FIG. 9. Part of the heat received by the cover main body 41 is transferred to the extended portion 42 by heat conduction and is radiated. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the heat from the fixing unit 8 from being directly transferred to the waste toner portion 32 and reduce the total amount of heat received by the waste toner portion 32. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the waste toner portion 32 from rising and to avoid the problem that the waste toner in the waste toner portion 32 is fused and the transport screw 34 is damaged.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the cover member 40 is made of a highly heat-conductive material having a higher thermal conductivity than the housing 33 that constitutes the outer wall of the waste toner portion 32. By adopting the high thermal conductive material in this way, the amount of heat transferred from the cover body 41 to the extension 42 can be increased, and the temperature rise of the waste toner portion 32 can be suppressed more effectively.

Here, since the housing 33 of the waste toner portion 32 is made of a resin material having a high thermal emissivity, it is easy to absorb the heat from the fixing unit 8. Therefore, the temperature of the waste toner portion 32 is likely to rise.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the cover member 40 is made of a low thermal radiation material having a lower thermal emissivity than the housing 33 constituting the outer wall of the waste toner portion 32.

  Therefore, the heat from the fixing unit 8 can be efficiently blocked by the cover member 40 so as not to be transmitted to the housing 33. Therefore, the temperature rise of the waste toner portion 32 can be further suppressed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, an aluminum material is used as the material of the cover member 40. The aluminum material has both properties as a high heat conductive material and a low radiation material, and is cheaper than other metal materials. Therefore, the temperature rise of the waste toner portion 32 can be surely suppressed with an inexpensive structure.

  Further, in this embodiment, a gap C is provided between the inner surface of the cover body 41 of the cover member 40 and the housing 33 of the waste toner portion 32.

According to this configuration, since the gap is provided between the cover member 40 and the waste toner portion 32, heat does not directly move between the cover member 40 and the waste toner portion 32. Therefore, the temperature rise of the waste toner portion 32 can be suppressed as much as possible.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the lower end portion of the main body stay 23 to which the fixing unit 8 is fixed is adjacent to the waste toner portion 32 (see FIG. 7 and the like).

  In the image forming apparatus 1 having such a configuration, the temperature of the waste toner portion 32 easily rises due to the heat from the lower end portion of the main body stay 23. Therefore, the configuration of the present invention in which the waste toner portion 32 is covered with the cover member 40 is particularly useful.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the casing 2 of the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a resin air passage forming member 26 that cooperates with the main body stay 23 to form the air passage 25. At the lower end of the air duct forming member 26, a vent hole 26a is formed to guide a part of the air flowing in the air duct 25 to the waste toner portion 32 side.

  According to this configuration, the waste toner portion 32 can be efficiently cooled by the air flow from the ventilation hole 26a. Here, in the conventional configuration, the toner near the entrance of the waste toner portion 32 may fly up and be scattered by the air flow. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the waste toner portion 32 is covered with the cover member 40, the toner is not scattered by the air flow guided to the waste toner portion 32. Therefore, the waste toner portion 32 can be efficiently air-cooled while preventing the toner from scattering.

<< Embodiment 2 >>
FIG. 10 is a view corresponding to FIG. 9 showing the second embodiment. In this embodiment, the structure of the cover member 40 is different from that of the first embodiment. The same components as those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  That is, in this embodiment, the cover member 40 has the right side extension 43 in addition to the cover body 41 and the left extension 42 (the same configuration as the extension 42 of the first embodiment). The left extended portion 42 corresponds to the first extended portion, and the right extended portion 43 corresponds to the second extended portion.

  The right extending portion 43 is connected to the right end edge of the cover body 41. The right extending portion 43 extends horizontally to the right with the cover body 41 side as the base end side. The leading edge (right side edge) of the right extending portion 43 is located immediately above the drive roller 18 (an example in the vicinity).

[Operation and effect of the second embodiment]
According to this embodiment, the right extension 43 extends from the right edge of the cover body 41 to just above the drive roller 18. Therefore, the heat from the drive roller 18 can be received by the right side extension portion 43, and the received heat can be radiated from the extension portion 42 via the cover body portion 41. Therefore, the temperature rise of the drive roller 18 can be suppressed, and by extension, the temperature rise of the secondary transfer roller 16 facing the drive roller 18 can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the abutting portion (nip portion) between the secondary transfer roller 16 and the intermediate transfer belt 5 from rising excessively and causing a transfer failure.

<< Other Embodiments >>
In each of the above-described embodiments, the intermediate transfer method is adopted in which the toner image on the surface of each photoconductor drum 11 is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 5 and then secondarily transferred to the recording paper P, but the present invention is not limited to this. Instead of this, a direct transfer system may be adopted in which the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is directly transferred to the recording paper P. In this case, the photosensitive drum 11 functions as an image carrier. Further, the number of the photosensitive drums 11 may be one.
Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the waste toner unit 32 is configured to convey the waste toner in the axial direction by the conveying screw 34, but the present invention is not limited to this. The waste toner unit 32 may not have the conveying screw 34 and may simply accumulate the waste toner.

  As described above, the present invention is useful for image forming apparatuses.

C: Gap P: Recording paper 1: Image forming device 5: Intermediate transfer belt (transfer belt)
8: Fixing unit (fixing section)
16: Secondary transfer roller (transfer section)
18: Driving roller (opposing roller)
24: Blower fan 25: Air passage 26: Air passage forming member 26a: Ventilation hole 32: Waste toner portion 33: Housing 40: Cover member 41: Cover main body portion 42: Extended portion (first extended portion)
43: Right side extension (second extension)
81: fixing roller 82: pressure roller

Claims (9)

An image carrier including a transfer belt or a photosensitive drum, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image carried on the image carrier to a recording medium, and a fixing that fixes the toner image transferred to the recording medium by heating and pressing. And a waste toner portion that collects and conveys or accumulates residual toner remaining on the surface of the recording medium without being transferred to the recording medium,
A cover main body portion that covers the waste toner portion from the fixing portion side, and a first extending portion that is connected to the cover main body portion and extends in a direction away from the fixing portion with the cover main body portion side as a base end side. An image forming apparatus including a cover member. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the cover member is made of a material having a higher thermal conductivity than the housing forming the outer wall of the waste toner portion. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the cover member is made of a material having a lower emissivity than the housing forming the outer wall of the waste toner portion. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The housing forming the outer wall of the waste toner portion is made of a resin material,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the cover member is made of an aluminum material. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An image forming apparatus, wherein a gap is provided between an inner surface of the cover body of the cover member and a housing forming an outer wall of the waste toner portion. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The image carrier is a transfer belt wound around a pair of rollers,
One of the pair of rollers is an opposed roller arranged to face the transfer roller with the transfer belt interposed therebetween,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the cover member further includes a second extending portion connected to the cover body portion and extending toward the transfer roller with the cover body portion side as a base end. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the tip of the second extending portion is located near the facing roller. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The fixing unit is unitized,
Further comprising a body stay to which the unitized fixing unit is fixed,
An image forming apparatus in which a lower end portion of the main body stay is adjacent to the waste toner portion. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8,
A resin-made air passage forming member that forms an air passage in cooperation with the main body stay;
And a blower fan for circulating air in the air passage,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the air passage forming member has a ventilation hole for guiding a part of the air flowing in the air passage to the waste toner portion side.

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