JP3311554B2 - Toner supply device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is directed to an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic type which is mounted on a developing device and is driven to rotate to discharge toner inside to supply toner to a developing section of the developing device. The present invention relates to a toner supply device described above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a developing device for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier is provided for supplying toner to a developing unit. A toner supply device is provided. As the toner replenishing device, a toner replenishing device having a configuration in which a toner storage container storing toner is detachably mounted is known.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4 (1999) -1995, when attaching and detaching the toner container, the detachable position for attaching and detaching the toner container is changed from a state in which the toner container and the toner introduction portion to the developing device are communicated, that is, a state in which the toner container is held in a horizontal position. There is disclosed a toner replenishing device of a type in which a toner storage container is rotated. Since this rotation operation requires space, it is performed on the front side of the image forming apparatus main body. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-2882 discloses a toner container having a configuration in which a toner container is rotatably supported around fulcrums provided on outer ends of both ends thereof, and a rotational force is transmitted from at least one of the fulcrums. A replenishing device is disclosed.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional toner replenishing apparatus, the toner container is attached and detached by rotating the toner container at the front side of the image forming apparatus main body. Although the emphasis is placed on the exchangeability of the device, there is a problem that a considerable space is required for the rotation operation, and the size of the apparatus body becomes large in spite of the recent demand for miniaturization. In addition, when a toner container having a toner discharge port formed at the center on one end side, which is advantageous in preventing toner scattering during rotation, is used, since the toner discharge port is located at the center, the drive of the rotation driving means is transmitted. Method becomes complicated. Further, the use of a shaft member having only a function of supporting the central portion on the other end side of the toner storage container has a problem that the cost is increased. Therefore, the present invention solves the conventional problems described above, and can easily replace the toner storage container with a small space.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost, compact and simple toner supply device.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A toner outlet is formed at the center of one end of the cylindrical container body.
The toner container from the toner discharge port to the developing device.
Maintains substantially horizontal so that toner can be introduced into the toner introduction section
Container holding means, and before holding by the container holding means
An engaging portion that engages with the toner storage container;
The storage container is moved around the central axis in the longitudinal direction of the container body.
Replenishing device having a rotation driving means for rotating the toner supply device
Wherein the container holding means attaches the toner storage container.
It is detachably held and the toner storage
From the first position where the container is mounted and the main body of the device,
The center axis direction between the storage container and the second position where the storage container is separated;
In which the container holding means moves the first position.
When occupied, the toner container and the engaging portion are connected.
It is characterized by being performed. The invention described in claim 2 is a claim
Item 2. A toner container used in the toner supply device according to Item 1.
The one end side further formed with the toner discharge port
A concave portion that engages with the engaging portion at a central portion on the other end side opposite to the concave portion
It is characterized by having a shape. The invention according to claim 3
Is a toner used in the toner supply device according to claim 1.
In the storage container, the toner discharge port is further formed.
Engaged with the engaging portion at the center of the other end opposite to the one end
It is characterized by having a convex shape.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a photosensitive drum 1 as an image carrier is disposed in a process cartridge 40.
A charging roller 2 for uniformly charging the photosensitive drum 1 in proximity to or in contact with the periphery of the photosensitive drum 1, a charge removing light 7 for removing charges on the photosensitive drum 1, and a static electricity on the photosensitive drum 1 A laser beam 3 from exposure means (not shown) for forming an electrostatic latent image; a developing sleeve 4 for attaching toner to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 1; a transfer roller 5 for transferring the toner image to transfer paper; A cleaning blade 6 for removing residual toner on the body drum 1 and a toner transport coil 8 for transporting the toner removed by the cleaning blade 6 to a recycle toner transport unit (not shown) are provided. The developing sleeve 4 has a fixed shaft in which a five-pole magnet is disposed, and the outer peripheral surface of the developing sleeve 4 is covered with a non-magnetic pipe material. A doctor blade 10 and a stirring screw 11 for circulating and stirring the developer are arranged. The photosensitive drum 1, the charging roller 2, the developing sleeve 4, and the like are housed in an integral photosensitive member surrounding case 42. The process cartridge 40 has an appearance as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a toner replenishing device 41 is mounted on the toner introducing portion 12 of the process cartridge 40. A bottle holding member 16 to which a plurality of push-out members 17 are attached is rotatably supported in the inside thereof so as to rotate in the direction of the arrow.

In this configuration, the photosensitive drum 1 is neutralized by the neutralizing light 7, and the surface potential is averaged to a reference potential of 0 to 150V. Next, it is charged by the charging roller 2 and the surface potential becomes around -1100V. Next, the portion (image portion) irradiated with the exposure laser beam 3 has a surface potential of 0.
Since the bias of about -800 V is applied to the developing sleeve 4 in the image portion, the toner on the developing sleeve 4 adheres. The photoreceptor drum 1 on which the toner image has been formed is rotated and moved from a paper feeding unit (not shown).
The transfer paper is fed at such a timing that the leading end of the sheet coincides with the leading end of the image at the transfer roller 5, and the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is transferred to the transfer paper at the transfer roller 5. The transferred transfer paper is sent to a fixing unit (not shown), and the toner is fused to the transfer paper by heat and pressure, and is discharged as a copy. On the other hand, the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 6, and then the residual charge is removed from the photosensitive drum 1 by the charge removing light 7 to remove the toner. Move to. The above is the basic movement. The toner collected by the cleaning blade 6 is conveyed by the toner conveying coil 8 and sent to the recycled toner conveying section, where it is sent to the developing device stirring section by the recycling belt 9 (see FIG. 2), and the toner is recycled. It is a mechanism that works.

As for the operation inside the process cartridge 40, the developer moves on the developing sleeve 4 as the developing sleeve 4 rotates. This developer is a two-component developer composed of a small iron ball called a carrier and toner. The stirring screw 11 circulates and stirs the developer, so that the toner has a charge, adheres to the carrier, is carried to the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, and can adhere to the photosensitive drum 1 by the action of electrostatic force. Becomes Although the carrier circulates in the developer, the toner adheres to the image portion on the photosensitive drum 1 and is consumed, so that it is necessary to appropriately supply the toner. Further, the amount of the developer supplied to the photosensitive drum 1 is made constant by regulating the amount of the developer flowing in by the doctor blade 10.

Next, the toner supply device 41 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, reference numeral 13 denotes a rotation driving means,
A driving unit for driving the toner replenishing device 41, the joint 13c, the spring 13d,
3e, and a case part with a built-in shaft, and is fixed to a rear side plate 31 of a copying machine or the like (see FIG. 5). 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes a toner container (hereinafter, referred to as a toner bottle), which has protrusions 14a and 14b (projection shape) at the bottom. 14b is the concave portion 1 of the joint 13c.
3b, it has a function of holding the bottom of the toner bottle 14, and 14a is a protrusion for fitting the protrusion side surface 13a of the joint 13c to rotate the toner bottle 14. The height H of the projection 14b is
It is formed so as to be higher than the height h of (a) (H> h). Reference numeral 16 denotes a bottle holding member for holding the head of the toner bottle 14. Reference numeral 17 denotes an extrusion member made of an elastic material such as mylar or rubber, and a rib 16 which is a kind of agitator integrally formed with the bottle holding member 16.
a is attached with double-sided tape or the like. In this embodiment, four pushing members 17 are provided.

[0010] The toner bottle 14 is provided with a helical projection on its inner wall surface, and by rotating this, the toner is discharged from the toner discharge port 14d. A cap 15 for preventing toner from being discharged is fitted into the toner discharge port 14d. The rib 16b provided on the inner wall surface of the bottle holding member 16 is caught by the head flat portion 14c provided on the toner bottle 14, and the bottle holding member 16
And the toner bottle 14 rotate integrally.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a sealing material, 21 denotes a cap 1
5 is a collet chuck for picking and releasing, and is housed in the cylindrical case 22,
It is integrated with. Reference numeral 25 denotes a seal member, and reference numeral 28 denotes a coil spring that constantly presses a series of components such as the collet chuck 21, the cylindrical case 22, and the shaft member 23 toward the toner bottle 14. It is held in a case 18 a which is a container holding means formed integrally with 18. Reference numeral 26 denotes a handle for opening and closing the cap 15.
8a, and can rotate.

Reference numeral 27 denotes a hole 2 provided in the shaft member 23.
3a, which is in contact with a cam portion 26a provided on the handle 26, and the collet chuck 21, the cylindrical case 22, the shaft member 2
3 can be slid in a direction away from the toner bottle 14.

An opening provided in the case 18a for communicating the toner discharged from the toner discharge port 14d of the toner bottle 14 supported by the receiving table 18 to the toner introduction section 12 (see FIG. 1) of the process cartridge 40. 18c
An elastic member 19 made of an elastic material such as mylar or rubber and having a slit hole 19a which is an elongated rectangular hole in a direction (horizontal direction) perpendicular to the moving direction of the pushing member 17 is attached with a double-sided tape or the like. Have been. By setting the opening area of the slit hole 19a, that is, by appropriately setting the length (horizontal direction) and the width K (moving direction of the pushing member 17; see FIG. 1) of the slit hole 19a, the toner supply amount can be reduced. We have an appropriate amount. In this embodiment, the pushing member 17 is attached to the rib 16a so that the amount of protrusion of the pushing member 17 from the slit hole 19a is about 1 mm.

Reference numeral 29 denotes a toner introduction section 12 of the process cartridge 40 for transferring the toner discharged from the slit hole 19a.
The cover 29 is provided with an opening 29a below the cover 29.
It corresponds to the position. As shown in FIG. 5, the toner replenishing device 41 having such a configuration is held by a guide plate (not shown) attached to the main body front side plate 30 and the main body rear side plate 31. 18 integrated with cradle 18
Reference numerals b and 18d denote holes for engaging with positioning pins provided on a front side plate (not shown) . Reference numeral 33 denotes a stopper for preventing the toner replenishing device 41 from shifting, which is attached to the guide plate here. . Accordingly, the toner replenishing device 41 of this embodiment includes a mechanism portion including the case 18a and movable parts such as the bottle holding member 16 built therein, and the toner bottle 14 detachable from the mechanism portion.
And a drive unit 13.

Next, a configuration for attaching and detaching the toner supply device 41 to and from the apparatus main body will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, the toner supply device 41, the upper guide plate 36 which is detachable in the direction of arrow E, the guide plate 36 is screw fixed to the body front plate 32 and the main body rear plate 31 . The pin 37 is attached to the main body front side plate 32 ,
It is a positioning pin between the guide plate 36 and the toner replenishing device 41 and enters the positioning hole 18b of the toner replenishing device 41.
Note that the pins entering the positioning holes 18d are also similar to the body front side plate 32.
, But not shown here. The stopper 33 is used to prevent the toner replenishing device 41 from slipping out when the toner replenishing device 41 is pulled out of the apparatus main body. 36 is welded. In order to prevent the toner replenishing device 41 from being pulled out at this time, steps 50 and 51 are provided in the receiving table 18, and notches 38 and 39 are provided in the guide plate 36 to catch the steps 50 and 51 , respectively.

In the above configuration, the operation of setting the toner replenishing device 41 will be described first. As shown in FIG. 7, the receiving table 18 is pulled out from the guide plate 36, and the steps 50 and 51 of the receiving table 18 are notched 3 of the guide plate 36.
When the toner bottle is caught on the trays 8 and 39, the toner filled bottle 14 is placed on the tray 18 as shown by the arrow D and set. Next, toner bottle 1
4 toner supply device 41 by sliding on the guide plate 36 in the arrow E ₁ direction in a state that sets continue to set. As a result, the projection 14b at the bottom of the toner bottle 14 enters the positioning hole 13b of the joint 13c and is positioned, and the head of the bottle 14 engages with the bottle holding member 16, respectively. At this time, the setting of the toner supply device 41 is completed by the stopper 33 being pressed against the front surface of the receiving table 18.

Then, as shown in FIG.
Is rotated in the direction of arrow A (downward), the cam portion 26a
8, pulls the slide shaft 27 in the direction of arrow C as shown in FIG. 8, and the shaft member 23 also starts to move in the direction of arrow C.
As a result, the collet chuck 21 starts to close and the cap 15 is picked up. In this state, when the movement in the direction of arrow C further proceeds, as shown in FIG.
4 cap 15 is removed from, the toner in the toner bottle 14 to flow out into the case 18a (the toner bottle 1
If the amount of toner in the area 4 is small, the toner does not flow out at this time. This state is a state where the setting of the toner supply device 41 is completed.

Next, the operation during toner supply will be described. To replenish the toner, the toner density in the process cartridge 40 is detected by the magnetic permeability measurement sensor 34 shown in FIG. 2, and when the toner density falls below the reference density, the drive unit 13 shown in FIGS. Rotate in the direction. Then, the joint 13c is connected to the projection 1 at the bottom of the bottle.
4a, the toner bottle 14 rotates. When the toner bottle 14 rotates, the toner is discharged from the toner discharge port 5 and accumulates in the case 18a as shown by arrows in FIGS. At the same time, the rotation of the toner bottle 14 is transmitted to the holding member 16 via a rib 16 b integrated with the bottle holding member 16, and the pushing member 17 is moved to the case 1.
By sliding and rotating on the inner wall surface of the case 8a, the toner accumulated in the case 18a is scraped up as shown by the arrow in FIG. When the pushing member 17 passes through the slit hole 19a of the elastic member 19, the toner is pushed out from the slit hole 19a as shown by an arrow. At this time, when the pushing member 17 protrudes from the slit hole 19a, the toner accumulated near the end of the slit hole 19a and the end of the opening 18c is pushed out. The extruded toner falls in the cover 29, and the opening 2 below the cover 29
As shown by an arrow in FIG. 1, toner is supplied from the toner introduction section 12 of the process cartridge 40 into the process cartridge 40 through 9a.

That is, only when the toner bottle 14 is rotating , the toner is pushed out to the toner introduction portion 12 by the pushing member 17, so that the toner is replenished into the process cartridge 40, and the toner density is kept constant.
The detached piece of the toner replenishing device 41 when the toner runs out will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5, the handle 26 is returned in the direction opposite to the arrow A direction. Thereby, the cap 15 of the toner bottle 14 is closed . Next, as shown in FIG. 10, pressing the stopper 33 in the direction of arrow G, the force applied to the toner supply device 41 will become <br/> only the force of the spring 13d, the toner replenishing device 41 is shown in FIG. 5 little jumping Removing the <br/> direction (arrow _{E 2} direction). Therefore, drawer in the arrow _{E 2} Direction toner supply device 41 has a handle 26, take out the toner bottle 14.

Next, an embodiment based on claim 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, instead of the joint 13c (see FIG. 4), a joint 45 having a diameter S, which is an engaging portion, is used, and a plurality of convex portions 45
a is formed. A plurality of ribs 14f are provided inside a concave portion 14e (recess shape) having a diameter S at the bottom of the toner bottle 14.
Is provided. In this configuration, the toner bottle 1
When the tray 4 is set on the receiving tray 18 and the receiving tray 18 is pushed in, the concave portion 14e at the bottom of the toner bottle 14 is engaged with the joint 45 and positioned. And the driving unit 13
Is driven, the side surface of the convex portion 45a of the joint 45 contacts the rib 14f of the concave portion 14e, and the driving is transmitted to the toner bottle 14.

[0021]

As described above, according to the first aspect, the toner storage container is detachable from the apparatus main body in the central axis direction while being held by the container holding means. In addition, the space in the apparatus can be effectively used without impairing the interchangeability of the toner storage container, which can contribute to downsizing of the apparatus. According to the second aspect, the toner container has a concave shape at the center of the other end with respect to the one end where the toner discharge port is formed,
Further, since the rotation driving means has an engagement portion for transmitting the driving by engaging with the concave shape, it can have both functions of positioning the toner container and transmitting the rotation driving. . In addition, the torque of the rotational drive can be reduced. According to the third aspect, the toner storage container is provided with a convex shape at the center of the other end with respect to one end side where the toner discharge port is formed, and the rotation driving unit is configured to have the convex shape. Since it has an engaging portion for transmitting the drive by being engaged, the same effect as that of the second aspect is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an internal structure of a process cartridge showing an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of the process cartridge of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of each component of the toner supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state where the toner supply device of FIG. 4 is set.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a receiving tray of the toner storage container and a guide plate on the apparatus main body side.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where the receiving stand is pulled out from the guide plate.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where the toner storage container is mounted on the toner supply device.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where the toner in the toner storage container is discharged into the container holding unit.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method of releasing a stopper when the toner storage container is pulled out.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a concave shape of an engagement portion and a bottom portion of the toner storage container.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 toner introduction part 13 rotation drive means 13c, 45 engagement part 14 toner storage container 14d toner discharge port 18a container holding means 14e concave shape 14a, 14b convex shape

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-7-20703 (JP, A) JP-A-3-54965 (JP, U) JP-B-44-836 (JP, B1) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 15/08

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A toner container having a toner discharge port formed at the center of one end side of a cylindrical container body in a state in which toner can be introduced from the toner discharge port to a toner introduction section of a developing device.
A container holding means for substantially horizontally holding the toner container and engaged held in the container holding means
A mating engagement portion, wherein the toner container is
And a rotation driving means for rotating about a central axis in the longitudinal direction of the body , wherein the container holding means detachably holds the toner storage container.
The toner container is attached to the main body of the apparatus.
The toner storage container from the first position to be
Moves in the direction of the central axis between the second position where
And the container holding means occupies the first position.
Wherein the toner storage container and the engaging portion are connected to each other . 2. The toner supply device according to claim 1, wherein
A toner storage container, the other end of which is opposite to the one end where the toner discharge port is formed.
Having a concave shape at the central portion thereof for engaging with the engaging portion.
A toner storage container characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. A toner supply device according to claim 1, wherein
A toner storage container, the other end of which is opposite to the one end where the toner discharge port is formed.
Having a convex shape at the central portion thereof for engaging with the engaging portion.
A toner storage container characterized by the above-mentioned.