JP4617800B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a toner replenishing mechanism by exchanging toner cartridges, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a load while run function that allows a toner cartridge to be replaced while a print job is being executed.

  In recent years, an image forming apparatus capable of replacing a toner cartridge while executing a print job has been proposed. In this apparatus, by providing a toner intermediate storage section called a reserve tank between the toner cartridge and the developing device, the print output is continued using the toner stored in the reserve tank even after the toner cartridge is removed. be able to.

  Conventionally, however, the replenishment storage part provided on the machine body side for storing toner replenished from the toner cartridge has a detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of toner, and the remaining toner cartridge is determined based on the detection result of the detecting means. The quantity state was predicted and the image forming apparatus was controlled. For this reason, if the toner cartridge has no means for storing the original remaining amount of the toner cartridge, and if a toner cartridge in use with a small amount of remaining toner or a cartridge in which the toner is aggregated is used, the Empty of the toner cartridge is used. There have been problems such as false detection of image quality or a decrease in image density. In addition, since control in consideration of Load While Run or the like was not performed, operation control corresponding to Load While Run was newly performed by newly reconfiguring the logic.

  In Patent Document 1, the remaining amount of developer is detected based on detection information of a detection unit on the machine body side, information on an operation time of a sending unit, or pixel amount information of an image.

  In Patent Document 2, the amount of developer consumed by printing information is calculated, and the means for storing the remaining amount of developer in the developer containing member is compared with the remaining amount of developer stored, and the printing information is output based on the comparison information. Is controlling.

  In Patent Document 3, the date and time when a power supply or a door switch is turned on are stored and compared with the information that was turned on last time, and the drive time of the developing device is varied according to the leaving time.

  In Patent Literature 4, the remaining amount is predicted using a table corresponding to the output of the remaining amount detecting means.

  Further, in Patent Document 5, in a process cartridge in which a photosensitive drum and a developing device are integrally held, a detection result of a developer remaining amount detection unit is combined with history information corresponding to a use state, and a latent image carrier or the like is further combined. A warning is notified according to the state of use.

JP 2000-75627 A JP-A-10-55104 JP 2002-207356 A JP 2002-91152 A JP-A-9-106227

  None of the above-described prior arts individually manage the state of the toner cartridge itself and the remaining amount of toner in the developer supply unit on the machine body side. For this reason, when the developer replenishing part on the machine body side is almost empty, even if the remaining amount of the toner cartridge is sufficient, the state of the toner cartridge is erroneously detected as empty, or the toner in the developer replenishing part is removed. There arises a problem that the image forming operation is interrupted. Further, a desired TC (mixing ratio of toner and carrier) cannot be ensured, and there is a concern that image quality troubles such as density reduction, BCO (Beads Carry Over), and display on the user interface may be inadequate.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus that can prevent erroneous detection of a toner cartridge and improve the reliability of a developer supply unit.

In order to achieve this object, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 develops an image with toner supplied from the developing device, forms an image on a sheet, and determines the remaining amount of toner in the toner cartridge. A first storage means for storing, the toner cartridge detachably mounted on the apparatus main body, a developer containing and supplying device for storing toner supplied from the toner cartridge and supplying toner to the developing device; , Second storage means for storing the remaining amount of toner in the developer containing and supplying device, a toner sensor provided in the developer containing and supplying apparatus for detecting the presence or absence of toner, the first storing means and the first second storage means and the stored toner remaining amount state, and in response to the toner sensor detection result, and a control means for controlling the operation of the image forming unit, the serial control hand , The toner sensor is continuously in response to continuous time or number of successive detected the absence of toner, the toner status and the normal state of the toner remaining amount with said developer accommodating replenishing apparatus of the toner cartridge, near-empty state , The toner remaining state of the toner cartridge is the near empty state, and the toner remaining state of the developer storage and replenishing device is the normal state or the near empty state. When the near empty state is displayed, the toner remaining amount state of the toner cartridge is the near empty state, and the toner remaining amount state of the developer containing and supplying device is the empty state, and the state of the toner cartridge is In the empty state, the operation of stopping the image forming unit is controlled, and the When the toner remaining amount state of the cartridge is the normal state and the toner remaining amount state of the developer containing and supplying device is the empty state or the near empty state, the continuous time or the continuous number of times is subtracted. It is characterized by.
According to the present invention, since the control is performed based on the toner remaining amount state of both the toner cartridge as the toner replenishing device and the developer containing and replenishing device, the toner replenishment is prevented from being erroneously detected. It is possible to prevent image quality defects due to lack.

In the image forming apparatus, the developer storage and replenishment device is driven to supply toner from the developer storage and replenishment device to the development device, and the toner cartridge is driven to drive the toner cartridge. and a second driving means for supplying toner to the developer accommodating replenishing apparatus, the control means, the toner sensor is a predetermined number of times or a predetermined time, and no toner toner state of the developer accommodating replenishing device When detected, the toner cartridge may be driven by the second driving means, and the toner in the toner cartridge may be supplied to the developer containing and supplying device.
According to the present invention, when the toner detection unit detects that the toner state of the developer storage and replenishing device is no toner for a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined time, the toner in the toner cartridge is supplied to the developer storage and replenishment device The toner in the toner cartridge can be supplied to the developer containing and supplying device before the toner in the developer containing and supplying device becomes empty.

In the image forming apparatus, the first storage unit and the second storage unit are nonvolatile memories that can be read and written, and the first storage unit includes a wireless communication unit that can wirelessly communicate with the control unit. It is good to have.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent erroneous detection of the toner cartridge and to improve the reliability of the developer supply unit.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. A corona charger 3 that charges the photosensitive drum 2 to a predetermined potential around a photosensitive drum (image carrier) 2 that rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1, and a laser that writes an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 2 An image writing device such as a scanning device (ROS: Raster Output Scanner) (only laser light from the device is shown in this example), and the discharge product generated by the discharge operation of the corona charger 3 is the longitudinal length of the corona charger 3. Photosensitive from transfer means such as a suction duct 4 that uniformly sucks and removes in the direction, a developing device 5 that visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 2 with toner, a transfer belt 9, and a transfer roller 10. A charge removing device 6 for removing charges injected into the photosensitive drum 2, a cleaning device 7 for cleaning untransferred toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2, and an electrostatic afterimage on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2. The image forming apparatus includes a discharging unit 8 including a discharging lamp 8 for discharging, a transfer belt 9 for transferring a transfer material, and a transfer roller 10 for transferring a developed image developed by the developing device 5 to the transfer material.

  An image forming process of the image forming apparatus will be described. First, after the photosensitive drum 2 is charged by the corona charger 3, an electrostatic latent image is written on the photosensitive drum 2 by laser light from the image writing device. Thereafter, the electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image by the developing device 5 and moved to a transfer site at a predetermined timing. On the other hand, the transfer material is transported to the transfer site at a predetermined timing by the transfer belt 9, and a transfer bias is applied by the transfer roller 10 and the charged transfer belt 9, whereby the toner on the photoconductive drum 2. The image is transferred to a transfer material. The transfer means including the transfer belt 9 and the transfer roller 10 applies a transfer electric field so as to have a polarity opposite to that of charging by the corona charger 3.

  FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of a peripheral portion of the photosensitive drum 2 and a toner supply mechanism that supplies toner to the developing device 5. As shown in FIG. 2, the toner supply mechanism includes a cartridge storage unit 11 that stores the toner cartridge 12 and a reserve tank 17 that temporarily stores toner supplied from the toner cartridge 12. The toner cartridge 12 and the reserve tank 17 are connected via a supply path 15, and when the toner supply mechanism 14 provided in the toner cartridge 12 is rotated, the toner in the toner cartridge 12 is sent to the supply path 15 to be reserved. The toner is supplied into the tank 17. A cartridge motor 21 shown in FIG. 3 is connected to the toner replenishing mechanism 14, and as the motor rotates, the toner replenishing mechanism 14 also rotates and feeds toner to the replenishment path 15. The reserve tank 17 and the developing device 5 are connected via a replenishment path 19. When the toner replenishing mechanism 16 provided in the reserve tank 17 is rotated, the toner in the reserve tank 17 is replenished to the developing device 5. To do. A dispense motor 22 shown in FIG. 3 is connected to the toner replenishing mechanism 16, and by rotating this motor, the toner replenishing mechanism 16 also rotates and feeds toner to the replenishment path 19.

  The remaining amount of the toner cartridge 12 is detected by a toner sensor 18 provided in the reserve tank 17 to detect the remaining amount of toner in the toner cartridge, and the remaining amount of toner is called a crumb 31 mounted on the toner cartridge 12. Recorded in non-volatile memory. The crumb 31 also has a wireless communication function, and the recorded toner remaining amount is received by the control device 20 on the image forming apparatus 1 side. The reserve tank 17 also detects the remaining amount of toner with a toner sensor 18 that detects the remaining amount of toner, and the remaining amount of toner in the reserve tank 17 detected by the toner sensor 18 is a reserve tank state storage unit on the image forming apparatus 1 side. 32. The reserve tank state storage unit 32 is a nonvolatile storage device.

  The cartridge motor 21 is connected to the control device 20 and controls rotation by a control signal from the control device 20. For example, the toner sensor 18 periodically detects the presence or absence of toner in the reserve tank 17, and a signal from the toner sensor 18 is always output to the control device 20. The control device 20 determines that the toner in the reserve tank 17 is low when the signal from the toner sensor 18 is continuously output indicating no toner, and rotates from the control device 20 to the cartridge motor 21. A signal instructing is transmitted. The cartridge motor 21 rotates according to the signal to rotate the toner replenishing mechanism 14 to supply toner to the reserve tank 17.

  When the toner sensor 18 detects the absence of toner in the reserve tank 17 for a specified number of times, the controller 20 inputs a drive instruction to the cartridge motor 21 and drives the cartridge motor 21 for a specified time. The toner sensor 18 detects the presence or absence of toner only while the dispense motor 22 is being driven. When the dispense motor 22 is driven, the number of dots in the print image is counted and when a certain count value is reached, a drive instruction is input to the dispense motor 22. It is like that. Further, the drive time of the dispense motor 22 is driven for the time obtained by applying feedback to the drive time based on the detection result of the mixing ratio detection sensor 33 that detects the mixing ratio of the toner and the carrier of the developer attached to the developing device 5. Is done.

A cartridge door 23 shown in FIG. 4 is provided in the cartridge storage portion 11 that stores the toner cartridge 12. When the cartridge door 23 is opened, the toner cartridge 12 can be taken out. As shown in FIG. 4 , an opening / closing detection sensor 24 for detecting the opening / closing of the cartridge door 23 is provided in the cartridge housing portion 11. On the cartridge door 23 side, an opening / closing detection protrusion 26 for detecting opening / closing of the cartridge door 23 is provided, and the opening / closing detection sensor 24 detects the opening / closing detection protrusion 26 to detect the opening / closing of the cartridge door 23. Detect that is closed. The open / close detection sensor 24 is connected to the control device 20, and transmits a signal indicating that the cartridge door 23 is closed or opened to the control device 20.

  When the cartridge motor 21 and the toner supply mechanism 14 rotate to supply toner from the toner cartridge 12 and the cartridge door 23 of the cartridge storage unit 11 is opened, the open / close detection sensor 24 indicates that the cartridge door 23 has been opened. Detect and output a signal indicating that to the control device 20. The control device 20 transmits a control signal for stopping the rotation to the cartridge motor 21, and the cartridge motor 21 stops the rotation in accordance with the control signal. Therefore, even during the printing operation, the cartridge door 23 can be opened and the replacement operation of the toner cartridge 12 can be performed safely.

  Next, control by the control device 20 will be described. The control device 20 controls the developer supply device 30 and displays on the display unit 25 from the state of the toner cartridge 12 recorded in the crumb 31 and the state of the reserve tank 17 recorded in the reserve tank state storage unit 32. And do.

  First, the state determination of the toner cartridge 12 using the toner sensor 18 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the state determination of the reserve tank 17 using the toner sensor 18 is the same as the state determination of the toner cartridge, and thus description thereof is omitted. The state of the new toner cartridge 12 or the toner cartridge 12 having a sufficient remaining amount is set to the normal state (0th state), and the state of the toner cartridge 12 is detected by the toner sensor 18 every 100 ms while the dispense motor 22 is driven. .

  When the toner sensor 18 detects the absence of toner continuously for the first threshold (20 times) or more, it is determined that the toner is in a low toner state (first state), and shifts to a low toner state. Further, when the toner sensor 18 continuously detects the absence of toner in the low toner state (first state), it counts up as many times as it detects the absence of toner, and conversely counts down as many times as the number of times the toner sensor 18 detects the presence of toner. When the presence of toner is detected continuously for the second threshold (10 times) or more, the low toner state is returned to the normal state (the 0th state).

  The count value is subtracted only for the time when the presence of toner is detected in a state other than the empty state. Further, when the low toner state (first state) is counted up to the absence of toner for a third threshold (50 sec) or more, the low toner state is determined as the near empty state (second state), the state is shifted to the near empty state, and the display unit 25 displays. Display this on the screen.

  Similarly, when the toner sensor 18 detects that there is no toner from the near empty state, the count is continuously increased, and when the toner value exceeds the fourth threshold value (350 sec), the toner empty state (third state) is entered to form an image. Among them, the cycle is lowered to prompt replacement of the toner cartridge 12.

  The state (0th to 3rd states) of the toner cartridge 12 detected by the toner sensor 18 is stored in a crumb (wireless communication means) 31 provided in the toner cartridge 12. Similarly to the toner cartridge 12, the state of the reserve tank 17 is detected by the toner sensor 18, and the state (0th to 3rd states) is held in the reserve tank state storage unit 32.

  The control device 20 controls the developer supply device 30 and displays on the display unit 25 from the state of the toner cartridge 12 read from the crumb 31 and the state of the reserve tank 17 read from the reserve tank state storage unit 32. Do. FIG. 6 shows a control determination table of the image forming apparatus. State 0 shown in FIG. 6 is a normal state, state 1 is a low toner state, state 2 is a near empty state, and state 3 is an empty state. The control of the image forming operation is determined based on the state of the toner cartridge 12 and the reserve tank 17 after replacement. As shown in FIG. 6, when the reserve tank 17 before replacement is in the near empty or empty state and the toner cartridge 12 is in the normal or low toner state, the toner sensor 18 counts up from the count up time without toner. Subtraction is performed for (50 sec), and the image forming operation is restarted. On the contrary, when the state of the toner cartridge after replacement is empty, the cycle is down regardless of the state of the reserve tank, and the image forming operation is stopped.

  FIG. 7 is a table used for the display unit 25 when the cartridge door 23 is in a closed state after it is determined that the toner cartridge needs to be replaced, and shows the remaining amount of the toner cartridge 12 and the reserve tank 17. The state determined in response is shown. FIG. 8 is a table used for the display unit 25 when the cartridge door 23 is in an open state, and shows a state determined according to the remaining amount of the toner cartridge 12 and the reserve tank 17.

  The state of the toner cartridge 12 and the reserve tank 17 indicates the remaining amount on the toner cartridge side when the cartridge door 23 is detected to be closed or when the cartridge door 23 is closed and the power of the machine body is detected. 17 is reflected in the remaining amount state. When the toner cartridge replacement door is closed and an appropriate toner cartridge is mounted during image formation, the states of the toner cartridge 12 and the reserve tank 17 are changed together.

  Further, when the cartridge door 23 is open or the cartridge door 23 is closed and an appropriate toner cartridge is not loaded, the toner cartridge side does not recognize the state change.

  The embodiment described above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a toner supply mechanism that supplies toner to a developing device. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a toner supply mechanism that supplies toner to a developing device. It is a figure which shows a cartridge door. It is a figure which shows the structure of the detection table of residual amount state. It is a figure which shows the table of control determination. It is a figure which shows the table of the state determination at the time of cartridge door closing. It is a figure which shows the table of the state determination at the time of cartridge door opening.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Photoconductor drum 3 Corona charger 4 Suction duct 5 Developing apparatus 6 Static elimination charging apparatus 7 Cleaning apparatus 8 Static elimination lamp 9 Transfer belt 10 Transfer roller 11 Cartridge storage part 12 Toner cartridge 18 Toner sensor 14, 16 Toner supply mechanism DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15, 19 Supply path 17 Reserve tank 20 Control apparatus 21 Cartridge motor 22 Dispense motor 23 Cartridge door 24 Opening / closing detection sensor 25 Display part 26 Opening / closing detection projection part 30 Developer supply apparatus 31 Clam 32 Reserve tank state memory | storage part 33 Mixing ratio detection Sensor

Claims (2)

An image forming unit that develops an image with toner supplied from a developing device and forms an image on paper;
A first storage means for storing the remaining amount of toner in the toner cartridge; and the toner cartridge detachably attached to the apparatus body;
A developer containing and supplying device for storing toner supplied from the toner cartridge and supplying toner to the developing device;
Second storage means for storing the remaining amount of toner in the developer containing and replenishing device;
A toner sensor provided in the developer containing and replenishing device for detecting the presence or absence of toner;
Control means for controlling the operation of the image forming unit according to the remaining amount of toner stored in the first storage means and the second storage means and the detection result of the toner sensor ;
The control means sets the toner remaining amount state of the toner cartridge and the remaining amount state of the developer accommodating and replenishing device in a normal state according to a continuous time or a continuous number of times that the toner sensor continuously detects the absence of toner. Change in the order of near empty state, empty state,
When the toner remaining amount state of the toner cartridge is the near empty state, and the toner remaining amount state of the developer containing and supplying device is the normal state or the near empty state, a near empty is displayed,
When the toner remaining amount state of the toner cartridge is the near empty state, the toner remaining amount state of the developer containing and replenishing device is the empty state, and when the state of the toner cartridge is the empty state , Stop control of the operation of the image forming unit,
When the toner remaining amount state of the toner cartridge is the normal state and the toner remaining amount state of the developer containing and supplying device is the empty state or the near empty state, the continuous time or the continuous count is subtracted. An image forming apparatus. First driving means for driving the developer containing and supplying device to supply toner of the developer containing and supplying device to the developing device;
Second driving means for driving the toner cartridge and supplying the toner in the toner cartridge to the developer containing and replenishing device;
The control means, the toner sensor is a predetermined number of times or a predetermined time, the toner state of the developer accommodating replenishing device when detecting that there is no toner, by driving the toner cartridge by the second driving means, said The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein toner in a toner cartridge is supplied to the developer containing and supplying device.

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