JP2723689B2 - Waste toner recovery device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming an electrostatic latent image, supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image, forming a toner image, and transferring the toner image to paper. And waste
The present invention relates to a waste toner collecting apparatus that removes waste toner from a plurality of sites to which toner is attached by a plurality of cleaning units and collects the waste toner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows a conventional example of a full-color copying machine provided with this type of waste toner collecting apparatus.
A yellow developing tank 102, a magenta developing tank 103, a cyan developing tank 104, and a black developing tank 105 are arranged adjacent to each other in the moving area of the photosensitive belt 101 shown in FIG. In color copying, the optical system 106 scans the original on the platen glass three times, and each time scanning, the reflected light from the original passes through the color separation filter and the photosensitive belt 1.
On the other hand, an electrostatic latent image having a complementary color relationship with the yellow, magenta, and cyan toners is formed. Each time an electrostatic latent image is formed, a yellow developing tank 102, a magenta developing tank 103, and a cyan developing tank 104
, Yellow toner, magenta toner, and cyan toner are individually supplied in this order, and the images are superimposed on the transfer belt 107 pressed against the photosensitive belt 101.

When image superposition is completed, the sheet cassette 108
Is transferred to the position of the transfer roller 109 from
Here, the toner image is transferred to the copy sheet. The copy paper having undergone the transfer process is fixed by a fixing device, and then discharged outside the machine. It should be noted that only black toner is used during black-and-white copying.

[0004] The photosensitive belt 101 and the transfer belt 107 related to the toner in the copying machine having such a configuration.
Cleaning units 110, 111 and 112 for scraping off the remaining toner on the transfer roller 109.
Is provided. The cleaning units 110, 111, and 112 include waste toner receivers 110a, 111a, and 112a that store waste toner generated by scraping.
Waste toner can be collected during maintenance.

[0005]

However, in the case of the above configuration, it is necessary to collect waste toner at three locations during maintenance, which is troublesome. Further, these waste toner receivers are provided on the front side of the copying machine for easy recovery.
And 111a interfere with each other, so that the front space is narrowed and the maintenance workability is deteriorated.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a disadvantage of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a waste toner collecting apparatus capable of concentrating waste toner collection in one place and improving workability of maintenance. I do.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A waste toner collecting apparatus according to the present invention forms an electrostatic latent image, supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, and transfers the toner image to paper. A waste toner collecting device that is provided in an image forming apparatus for transferring and removes waste toner from a plurality of sites to which the waste toner is attached by a plurality of cleaning units and collects the waste toner. A plurality of waste toner receivers respectively provided in the cleaning unit for receiving waste toner, a waste toner collection pipe disposed via the plurality of waste toner receivers, and receiving waste toner from each waste toner receiver; Means for sending the waste toner in the collection pipe toward the outlet side of the waste toner collection pipe; and a waste toner collection box provided at the exit of the waste toner collection pipe. Achieved That.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a plurality of cleaning units are used.
Waste toner removed is received in the receiving waste toner is provided at each cleaning unit I, the waste toner from the waste toner receiving
The waste toner is sent to the collection pipe, is sent through the waste toner collection pipe, and is concentrated and stored in the waste toner collection box provided at the outlet of the pipe.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 3 shows a copying machine to which the present invention is applied. At the upper end of the copying machine 80, a document table 81 made of hard transparent glass is provided. The document table 81
The original (not shown) placed on the top
And the reflected light from the original is reflected by mirror 2,
Exposure is performed on the photosensitive drum 8 rotatable in the direction of arrow B via the lens units 3 and 4, the lens unit 5, and the mirrors 6 and 7. A scanner is composed of the lamp unit 1, the mirror 2, and the like.

In the rotation area of the photosensitive drum 8, a charging charger 14 for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 8 prior to exposure is provided, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the exposed portion. On the downstream side of the charger 14, an inter-image eraser (not shown), a black developing tank 9, and a yellow developing tank 1 are provided.
0, a developing device having a magenta developing tank 11 and a cyan developing tank 12, a transfer belt 15, a cleaning unit 19, and a discharging lamp 13 are arranged in this order. Each of the developing tanks 9 to 12 of the developing device stores toner of a corresponding color.

In the above configuration, color copying is performed according to the following operation procedure. When the charging charger 14 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 8, the scanner 1
The second scan is performed, and the light reflected from the document is slit-exposed to the surface of the photosensitive drum located between the charger 14 and the inter-image eraser (not shown) through a color separation filter (not shown). Is formed. Next, an inter-image eraser (not shown) erases a portion corresponding to a non-image area of the electrostatic latent image, and yellow toner is supplied from the yellow developing tank 10 to the electrostatic latent image in an image area which is not erased. A toner image is formed.

Next, the toner image circulates in the direction of arrow C and is partially transferred to the transfer belt 15 which is pressed against the surface of the photosensitive drum 8. At this time, a part of the toner that does not contribute to the transfer remains on the surface of the photoconductor drum 8, and the cleaning unit 19 scrapes the residual toner. Next, the charge removing lamp 13 removes the charge remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum.

When the above steps are completed, the charger 1
4, the surface of the photosensitive drum is uniformly charged again, and the reflected light from the document obtained by the second scan is subjected to slit exposure to form a green electrostatic latent image. Thereafter, similarly, the non-image area is erased by the inter-image eraser, magenta toner is supplied from the magenta developing tank 11 to the electrostatic latent image, and a toner image of the same color is formed. Then, this toner image is transferred to the transfer belt 15 and image superposition is performed.
Thereafter, when the same processing as described above is performed, the charging charger 14 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum again, and thereafter, cyan toner is supplied from the cyan developing tank 12 to the photosensitive drum 8 in the same manner, and the same color toner image is formed. Is formed. Then, the toner image is transferred to the transfer belt 15, and a final image superposition is performed. After that, the toner image on the transfer belt 15 on which the image is superimposed is transferred to a copy sheet, and the fixing unit 30
Is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the discharge roller 31.

On the other hand, black and white copying is performed by supplying black toner from a black developing tank 9 to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 8 and transferring the toner image to copy paper via a transfer belt 15.

In the copying machine which performs the transfer in this manner, in addition to the cleaning section 19 provided in the rotation area of the photosensitive drum 8, a cleaning section 25 around the transfer belt 15 is provided around the transfer roller 16. Cleaning unit 2
2 are provided. The cleaning unit 19 includes a cleaning blade 19a, a waste toner receiver 20, and an auger shaft 21 having spiral blades formed around a rotation shaft. The cleaning blade 19a removes toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 8 by the cleaning blade 19a. The scraped and scraped waste toner is received by the waste toner receiver 20, and the accumulated waste toner is sent by the auger shaft 21 in the discharge direction.

The cleaning units 22 and 25 have the same configuration. Specifically, the cleaning unit 22 (2
5) includes a cleaning blade 22a (25a), a waste toner receiver 23 (26), and an auger shaft 24 (27). The cleaning blade 22a (25a) removes the toner remaining on the transfer roller 16 (transfer belt 15). Is scraped off, and the scraped waste toner is
(26) receives and collects the accumulated waste toner in the auger shaft 24 (2).
7) is sent in the discharge direction.

The above-mentioned waste toner receivers 20, 23 and 26
Is disposed inside the copying machine as shown in FIG. 1, and a waste toner collecting pipe (70, 7) is provided on the rear side (right side) of the copying machine.
2, 74, and 76), and each waste toner receiver 20, 2
Arranged via 3 and 26, waste toner is sent in the direction of the arrow.

One end (outlet side) of the most downstream waste toner collecting pipe 76 is connected to the waste toner collecting box 34 arranged on the front side inside the copying machine, and the other end of the waste toner collecting pipe 70 is connected to the other end. One end side is communicatively connected. The waste toner collecting pipe 70 is provided with the other end disposed below the waste toner receiver 26, and an upward portion 70a branched from a part near the other end.
Are connected to the waste toner receiver 26. One end of a waste toner collecting pipe 72 is connected to the upward portion 70a, and the other end of the waste toner collecting pipe 72 is disposed immediately below the waste toner receiver 23. One end of another waste toner collecting pipe 74 is connected in communication with the waste toner collecting pipe 72. The other end of the waste toner collecting pipe 74 is disposed below the waste toner receiver 20, and an upward portion branched from a portion near the other end is connected to the waste toner receiver 20.

Next, the internal structure of the waste toner collecting pipe 70 and the like will be described with reference to FIG.

First, a description will be given of the waste toner collecting pipe 70 one upstream of the lowermost stream. An auger shaft 71 is rotatably disposed inside the pipe 70. The auger shaft 71 is connected to the cleaning unit 2 of the transfer belt 15.
The power from the drive motor 35 provided to the gear 5 is transmitted to the gear 65 at the upper end of the auger shaft 71 via a gear mechanism including the timing belt 44 and the gears 45, 46, 47, and 48 and a gear 66 coaxial with the gear 48. The rotation is driven by the transmission. Thereby, the waste toner in the pipe 70 is sent in the direction of the arrow.

An auger shaft 73 is disposed inside the waste toner collecting pipe 72 on one upstream side. The auger shaft 73 is similarly connected to the cleaning unit 2 of the transfer belt 15.
The power from the drive motor 35 provided in
The rotation is driven by transmitting the power to the gear 42 at the upper end of the auger shaft 73 via a gear mechanism including 38, 39, and 40. Thereby, the waste toner in the pipe 72 is sent in the direction of the arrow. Subsequently, the rotation of the auger shaft 73 is transmitted to the auger shaft 27 of the cleaning unit 25 via the gear 41 meshing with the waste toner 42. As a result, the auger shaft 27 is driven, and the waste toner received by the waste toner receiver is sent to the pipe 70 described above. The pipe 7
The auger shaft 24 in the vicinity of the other end of the gear 2 receives power from a driving motor 64 of a driving device (not shown) for feeding, suctioning, and fixing the gears 63, 62, 61, 60, 5
The drive is performed by transmitting the power to the auger shaft 24 coaxial with the gear 58 through a gear mechanism including the gears 9 and 58.

An auger shaft 75 is rotatably disposed inside the most upstream waste toner collecting pipe 74. The auger shaft 75 receives the driving force from the driving gears 51 and 52 constituting the driving device (not shown) of the photosensitive drum 8 via the gears 54 and 55 and the auger shaft 21 coaxial with the gear 55. The gear 56 is driven by transmitting it to the gear 56 and further transmitting it to the gear 57 at the upper end of the auger shaft 75 meshing with the gear 56. Thereby, the waste toner in the pipe 74 is sent in the direction of the arrow. Further, the waste toner accumulated in the cleaning unit 19 is removed from the pipe 74 by the force transmitted to the auger shaft 21.
Sent to

Finally, inside the most downstream pipe 76,
An auger shaft 33 is provided. This auger shaft 33
Is driven via a gear 49 meshing with the gear 48 used for driving the auger shaft 71 described above. That is, in this embodiment, no dedicated driving device is provided for all the auger shafts.

Therefore, the waste toner accumulated in the waste toner receiver 20 is sent to the downstream side through the waste toner collecting pipe 74 as shown in FIG. Further, the waste toner accumulated in the waste toner receiver 23 is sent to the downstream side via the waste toner collecting pipe 72 while being merged with the waste toner from the waste toner collecting pipe 74 on the way. The waste toner accumulated in the waste toner receiver 26 is discharged along the waste toner collection pipe 7.
In a state of being merged with the waste toner from No. 2, the waste toner is sent to the downstream side through waste toner recovery pipes 70 and 76 and stored in the waste toner recovery box 34.

Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to the case where the present invention is applied to a full-color copying machine equipped with a photosensitive drum, the present invention can be similarly applied to general image forming apparatuses equipped with a photosensitive belt.

[0027]

According to the present invention, the waste toner removed by the plurality of cleaning units is received by the waste toner receiver provided in each cleaning unit, and is sent from each waste toner receiver to the waste toner recovery pipe. Then, the waste toner is sent through the waste toner collecting pipe, and is concentrated and stored in the waste toner collecting box provided at the outlet of the pipe. That is, since the waste toner collection pipe is provided via each waste toner receiver, the waste toner can be concentrated at one place in the waste toner collection box. Therefore, it is only necessary to collect the waste toner from the waste toner collection box at the time of maintenance, and it is not necessary to collect the waste toner from each waste toner receiver. Furthermore, there is no need to provide each waste toner receiver on the front side of the copying machine,
The front space can be widened, and the workability of maintenance can be improved. On the other hand, in the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 4, the waste toner is collected at three locations as described above, which is troublesome. In addition, since each waste toner receiver is provided on the front side of the copying machine for easy collection, the front space is narrowed,
In addition, maintenance workability is poor. Furthermore, waste toner collection
Pipes are routed via multiple waste toner receptacles
Therefore, each of the multiple cleaning units of the image forming apparatus
The generated waste toner is concentrated and stored in the waste toner collection box.
Need to provide independent waste toner collection pipes
And the inside of the image forming apparatus is simplified,
Work becomes easier.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the inside of a copying machine provided with a waste toner collecting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the structure of the waste toner collecting device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a structure of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 8 photoconductor drum 19 cleaning unit 20 waste toner receiver 22 cleaning unit 23 waste toner receiver 25 cleaning unit 26 waste toner receiver 33 auger shaft 34 waste toner collection box 70 waste toner recovery pipe 71 auger shaft 72 waste toner recovery pipe 73 auger shaft 74 Waste toner recovery pipe 75 Auger shaft 76 Waste toner recovery pipe 80 Copy machine

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Koichi Moriyama 22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka City Inside Sharpe Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A 1-144088 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A forming an electrostatic latent image, and supplies the toner to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, provided in the image forming apparatus for transferring the toner image to the sheet, the waste toner is adhered Doing
The waste toner is removed by a plurality of cleaning portions of a plurality of sites that, in the waste toner collecting device for collecting the waste toner, respectively provided on the cleaning portion of the plurality of the plurality of waste toner receiving for receiving the waste toner, the A waste toner collecting pipe that is disposed via a plurality of waste toner receivers and receives waste toner from each waste toner receiver; and sends the waste toner in the waste toner collecting pipe toward an outlet side of the waste toner collecting pipe. And a waste toner collecting box provided at an outlet of the waste toner collecting pipe.