JP5010991B2 - Heating element cooling structure and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention includes a heating element mounted in a mounting hole formed in a housing, and a bladed gear attached to a shaft provided in the vicinity of the heating element and partially configured as a fan-like blade. The present invention relates to a cooling structure for a heating element that cools the heating element by the wind sent by the blade as the bladed gear rotates, and more particularly to a cooling structure that can improve cooling efficiency.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image forming apparatuses such as printers, facsimile machines, and copiers often employ servo motors and stepping motors as drive sources for rotating devices such as photosensitive drums and intermediate transfer members. In addition, a cassette to be used may be selected by providing a multi-stage sheet cassette and switching a sheet feed roller (an example of a sheet feed unit) corresponding to each cassette by a clutch.

  The motors and clutches as described above have a coil inside and are regarded as a heating element that becomes quite hot when used for a long time. May adversely affect the life of electronic devices such as capacitors.

Therefore, for example, in Patent Document 1, a gear provided in the vicinity of a heating element is configured as a bladed gear part of which is configured as a fan-like blade-shaped portion, and when the bladed gear rotates, It has been proposed to cool the heating element by the generated wind.
JP 2001-336612 A

If the above-mentioned gear with blades is used, the necessary gear itself has a function as a blower fan, so there is no need to newly provide a blower means, and it can save space and appropriately contribute to downsizing of the device. Become.
However, in the cooling structure shown in Patent Document 1, since the wind generated by the bladed gear is simply blown to the heating element, the portion of the heating element facing the bladed gear may be cooled. However, since it does not take heat widely from the large area of the heating element, for example, from its surroundings, it cannot be denied that cooling efficiency is very poor.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to provide a heating element mounted in a mounting hole formed in the housing and a shaft provided in the vicinity of the heating element. And a bladed gear partly configured as a fan-like blade, and cooling the heating element by cooling the heating element by the wind sent by the blade as the bladed gear rotates. The object is to provide a cooling structure that can be expected to improve the cooling efficiency of the structure.

In order to achieve the above object, the cooling structure for a heating element according to the present invention is:
A heating element mounted in a mounting hole formed in the housing, and a gear with a blade attached to a shaft provided in the vicinity of the heating element and partly configured as a fan-like blade. In the cooling structure of the heating element that cools the heating element by the wind sent by the blade as the attached gear rotates,
A cooling structure for a heating element is provided, in which the wind sent by the blades flows through the housing surrounding the heating element, and a ventilation hole for cooling the heating element is formed by the wind. The

  In the cooling structure of the heating element according to the present invention, the wind generated by the rotation of the blades circulates through the ventilation holes as described above, so that the heating elements such as the housing, the clutch, and the motor around it can be efficiently cooled. Can do.

  In this case, if the vent hole is formed adjacent to the heating element, the cooling efficiency will be very good. If the vent hole is provided in contact as in the embodiment described later, it will be best. I will.

  The vent is formed at a portion of the housing facing the bladed gear, an inflow portion, a gap portion connected to the inflow portion and formed around the heating element, and connected to the gap portion. If it is formed with an outflow part formed on the opposite side of the gear to the housing, the wind entering from the inflow part cools the heating element through a gap formed around the heating element. However, it will flow out from the outflow part, and an efficient cooling structure will be provided.

  Furthermore, a structure in which a part of the vent hole is constituted by a spiral wall portion that proceeds in the wind flow direction passing therethrough can be considered. If there is such a spiral wall, the wind will flow smoothly along the spiral wall without blocking the flow, and an improvement in cooling efficiency is expected.

When there are a plurality of heating elements to be cooled, the plurality of heating elements can be cooled at once by forming one ventilation hole so that the ventilation holes are continuously formed over a plurality of heating elements provided in close proximity. can do.
The heating element is often an electromagnetic actuator such as a clutch or a motor.
The present invention is equally applicable to devices having the above-described clutches and motors, but is also applicable to a clutch in which the heating element drives a paper feed unit of an image forming apparatus. In such a case, the image forming apparatus having the clutch cooling structure is a target.

  In the cooling structure of the heating element according to the present invention, the wind generated by the rotation of the blades circulates through the ventilation holes as described above, so that the heating elements such as the housing, the clutch, and the motor around it can be efficiently cooled. Can do.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings so that the present invention can be understood. The following embodiment is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
1 is a perspective view of a gear with blades used in a cooling structure for a heating element according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a clutch mounting housing portion, and FIG. 3 is a blade portion of the portion shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the clutch mounting housing itself, FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view seen from the outflow portion side of the housing, and FIG. 6 is a view from the outflow portion side. It is a front view which shows the whole housing seen.

First, the structure of a bladed gear used in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the bladed gear 1 has a boss portion 5 having an attachment hole 3 for attachment to a rotating shaft 15 to be described later at the center, and the boss portion 5, the outer gear portion 7, Are connected by a plurality of (in this case, six) blades 9 and are integrally formed. The outer peripheral gear shape is not shown.
The blades 9 are inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the axis of the boss portion 5 in the shape of a fan for blowing air, and have a function of sending wind by rotating. In the case of the gear 1 with blades, by rotating clockwise in the state shown in the figure, the wind is sent from the back of the paper to the front.

The housing 11 to which the bladed gear 1 is attached is shown by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 3 (shown by a solid line in FIG. 4). In this case, as shown in FIG. And 13b are mounted and embedded in mounting holes 11a and 11b formed in the housing 11. In this embodiment, the clutches 13a and 13b are an example of a heating element in the present invention.
The clutches 13a and 13b are for driving a paper feed roller provided in a paper feed unit in the image forming apparatus, and the paper feed units of the respective paper feed cassettes are very close to each other due to downsizing of the device. As a result, the clutches 13a and 13b are also provided very close to each other as shown in the figure. Therefore, there is no escape from the heat generated in each clutch, and the temperature rises remarkably.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the housing 11 is provided with a rotating shaft 15 adjacent to the clutches 13a and 13b and parallel to the clutches 13a and 13b. The rotating shaft 15 is an example of a shaft in the present invention. The bladed gear 1 is attached to the rotating shaft 15 as shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the bladed gear 1 is removed from the rotating shaft 15.

Since the bladed gear 1 is provided in the vicinity of the clutches 13a and 13b as described above, at least the surfaces of the clutches 13a and 13b by the wind sent by the blade 9 as the bladed gear 1 rotates. Is cooled.
In this regard, there is no difference from the cooling structure described in Patent Document 1. However, in the cooling structure according to this embodiment, the wind sent by the blades 9 flows through the housing 11 to which the clutches 13a and 13b, which are examples of the heating element, are attached. It differs greatly from the prior art in that a vent hole 17 for cooling 13b is formed.
The vent hole 17 is preferably formed in the vicinity of the clutches 13a and 13b, particularly as a gap between the mounting holes 11a and 11b and the clutches 13a and 13b mounted therein. With this configuration, the cooling air passing therethrough flows in direct contact with the clutches 13a and 13b, so that the cooling efficiency is significantly improved.
That is, in this embodiment, the vent hole 17 is configured to be curved so that the cooling air flows around the clutches 13a and 13b.

  Specifically, the vent hole 17 is coaxial with the bladed gear 1 and the rotary shaft 15 to which the bladed gear 1 is attached, and has an inflow portion 17a formed in a portion of the housing 11 facing the bladed gear 1. A first clearance 17b around the clutch 13a that is adjacent to the inflow portion 17a and is continuously connected to the inflow portion 17a, and a periphery of the clutch 13b that is continuously connected to the first clearance 17b. The second gap portion 17c and the second gap portion 17c are connected to the second gap portion 17c and an outflow portion 17d formed on the opposite side of the housing 11 from the bladed gear 1.

Accordingly, the wind sent by the blade 9 by the rotation of the bladed gear 1 first flows into the inflow portion 17a, and then the clutch 13a that directly contacts through the first gap portion 17b connected to the inflow portion 17a. After cooling, the clutch 13b that directly contacts through the second gap portion 17c connected to the first gap portion 17b is further cooled, and then discharged from the housing 11 through the outflow portion 17d.
As described above, in the cooling structure according to this embodiment, the wind generated by the bladed gear 1 is not simply blown to the heating element such as the clutch, but also through the vent hole 17 formed in the housing 11 and the clutch 13a and Since it passes through the periphery of 13b from the front side to the back side of the housing 11, the clutches 13a and 13b and the housing 11 can be efficiently cooled.
The vent hole 17 does not necessarily need to be in contact with the clutch 13a or 13b. However, when the air hole 17 is in contact with the clutch 13a or 13b as in the above embodiment, the cooling air is in direct contact with the clutch. A cooling effect can be expected.

  Furthermore, the vent hole 17 according to this embodiment is configured by a spiral wall portion 19 in which a part of the vent hole 17 advances in the direction of the wind passing therethrough so that the wind passing therethrough flows smoothly. Yes. By forming the spiral wall portion 19 that proceeds in such a wind flow direction (in the case of FIG. 3, it proceeds from the front side to the back side of the paper surface), the wind flows along the spiral wall portion 19. The flow of wind becomes smooth and the cooling effect is improved.

In this embodiment, as described above, the vent hole 17 is formed continuously around the periphery of the plurality of clutches 13a and 13b provided close to each other. Needless to say, each may be formed independently.
Even when the vent hole 17 is continuously formed across the plurality of clutches 13a and 13b provided in close proximity, the outflow part 17d constituting the exhaust part is provided for each clutch. Also good. In this embodiment, the outflow portion 17d is provided for each clutch as shown in FIG.

The perspective view of the gear with a blade | wing used for the cooling structure of the heat generating body which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The perspective view of the housing part for clutch attachment. The perspective view which shows the state which removed the gear with a blade | wing of the part shown in FIG. The perspective view of the single body of the housing itself for clutch attachment. The partial perspective view seen from the outflow part side of the housing. The front view which shows the whole housing seen from the outflow part side.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Gear with blade 3 ... Mounting hole 9 ... Blade 11 ... Housing 13 (13a, 13b) ... Clutch (heating element)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Rotary shaft 17 ... Vent hole 17a ... Inflow part 17b ... 1st clearance part 17c ... 2nd clearance part 19 ... Spiral wall part

Claims (7)

A housing with a mounting hole;
A heating element mounted in the mounting hole,
Mounted on a shaft provided in the vicinity of the front Symbol heating element, in the cooling structure of the heating element partially to cool the pre-Symbol heating element and a vaned gear which is configured as a blower fan shaped blade,
Before Symbol housing, vent holes for air sent by the previous SL vanes to cool the heating element and distributed is formed,
The vent is
An inflow portion formed in a portion of the housing facing the bladed gear;
A gap between the mounting hole and the heating element connected to the inflow portion;
A cooling structure for a heating element, comprising: an outflow portion connected to the gap portion and formed at a portion of the housing opposite to the bladed gear . The vent holes, the cooling structure of the heating element formed by formed adjacent the leading SL heating element according to claim 1, wherein. Cooling structure of the vent part of the hole, heating element according to claim 1 or 2 formed by constituted by helical wall portion proceeds in the flow direction before Symbol air passing therethrough. The cooling structure for a heating element according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the ventilation hole is formed continuously over a plurality of heating elements provided in proximity. Cooling structure of the heating element according to the heating element, a clutch, claim 1-4 is an electromagnetic actuator such as a motor. Image forming apparatus having a cooling structure of a heating element according to any one of claims 1-5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the heating element is a clutch that drives a paper feeding unit of the image forming apparatus.

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