JPH08160840A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make an electricity supply route short and simple between a power feeding device in an upper main body and a power fed device in a lower main body so as to reduce costs in an electrophotographic device having a device main body divided into lower and upper main bodies with the upper main body being freely opened/closed against the lower main body. CONSTITUTION: A process cartridge 20 having a photosensitive body 11 and a developer 13 having similar service lives is freely loaded/unloaded in a lower main body A and a transfer device 14 as a power fed part is provided in the lower main body A. On the other hand, in an upper main body B, a power feeding device 35 is provided. Further, an electric connection part 30 is provided in the process cartridge 20 so as to electrically interconnect the power feeding device 35 and the transfer device 14 of the lower main body A when the upper main body B is closed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine and a facsimile which uses a laser and records on a sheet by an electrophotographic method. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus in which an apparatus main body is divided into a lower main body and an upper main body, and the upper main body is provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to the lower main body in order to facilitate maintenance such as replacement of parts, repair and jam processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 6, an electrophotographic apparatus of this type, for example, a laser printer, is provided with an upper main body b of an apparatus main body a which can be opened and closed with respect to a lower main body c, and below the main body b. Process cartridge 1 for main body c
Some are equipped with a removable. The process cartridge 1 is formed by integrally incorporating a plurality of process devices such as a photoconductor 2, a developing device 3, a charging device (not shown), which have a short replacement life, into a main body case 4.

Further, the process cartridge 1 is provided with contacts 1a, 1b, 1c on the upper part of the main body case 4. The contact 1a is a contact for developing bias for applying a voltage to the developing roller 3a of the developing device 3, and contacts 1b and 1c.
Are contacts for applying a voltage to the charging wire and the charging grid of the charging device, respectively.

On the other hand, the upper body b is provided with a power feeding device 5. The power supply device 5 includes power supply terminals 5a, 5b corresponding to the respective contacts 1a, 1b, 1c of the process cartridge 1.
.Transfer device 6 provided with lower body c while providing 5c
A power supply terminal 5d for applying a voltage is provided.

When the upper body b is closed, the power supply terminals 5a, 5b, 5c come into contact with the contacts 1a, 1b, 1c,
Each power-supplied part of the process cartridge 1, that is, the developing roller 3a of the developing device 3, the charging wire of the charging device, the charging grid of the charging device, and the power feeding device 5 of the upper main body b are electrically connected.

Further, an electric wire or the like is used between the transfer device 6 of the lower main body c and the power supply device 5 of the upper main body b, and electric power is constantly supplied through a dedicated power supply path 7 formed near the support shaft d. Connected to each other.

[0007]

However, in the related art as described above, the electric power supply path 7 is provided between the transfer device 6 and the electric power supply device 5 by arranging a wire or the like between the upper main body b and the lower main body c. As a result, the power supply path 7 becomes long and complicated, resulting in high cost.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce the cost by simplifying and simplifying the power feeding path between the power feeding device of the upper body and the power-supplied portion of the lower body in the electrophotographic apparatus as described above. is there.

[0009]

Therefore, the present invention provides
For example, as in the following illustrated embodiment, an upper main body B is openably and closably attached to a lower main body A, a process cartridge 20 is detachably attached to the lower main body A, and the lower main body A is provided with a power-supplied portion. On the other hand, in the electrophotographic apparatus including the power supply device 35 for applying a voltage to the power-supplied part of the lower main body A and the power-supplied part of the process cartridge 20 in the upper main body B, the power supply device when the upper main body B is closed. The process cartridge 20 is provided with an electric connection portion 30 for electrically connecting the power supply target portion 35 of the lower main body A with the electric connection portion 35.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, as in the following illustrated embodiment, for example, in the electrophotographic apparatus of the first aspect, the power-supplied portion of the lower main body A is formed on the photoconductor 11. The transfer device 14 transfers an image onto the sheet P.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, for example, as in the following illustrated embodiment, in the electrophotographic apparatus according to the first aspect, the electric connection portion 30 is fed to a fed portion of the process cartridge 20. It is characterized in that it is provided by branching from the path 28.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a resistance element 50 is provided in the electric connecting portion 30 in the electrophotographic apparatus according to the third aspect, as in the following illustrated embodiment. Characterize.

[0013]

When the upper body B is closed, the power feeding device 35
And the power-supplied part of the lower main body A by the process cartridge 20.
Are electrically connected via the electric connection part 30 of FIG.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the upper main body B is closed, the power feeding device 35 and the transfer device 14 of the lower main body A are electrically connected to each other via the electrical connecting portion 30 of the process cartridge 20. .

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the upper body B is closed, the power feeding device 35 and the fed portion of the lower body A are connected to the feeding path 2 of the fed portion of the process cartridge 20.
8 and an electrical connection portion 30 for electrical connection.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, at the time of energization, a voltage is applied from the power supply device 35 to the power-supplied part of the lower body A through the resistance element 50 in the electric connection part 30.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of a laser printer which is an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 10 in the figure denotes the apparatus main body. A drum-shaped photoconductor 11 is provided substantially in the center of the apparatus main body 10, and a charging device 12, a developing device 13, a transfer device 14, and a cleaning device 15 are sequentially arranged around the photoconductor 11 in a driving direction indicated by an arrow. Prepare An optical writing device 16 is provided above the charging device 12, and a fixing device 17 is provided on the left side of the cleaning device 15 in the figure. The paper feed cassette 18 is detachably attached to the front operation side on the right side in the figure.

Then, at the time of image recording, the paper P is sent out from the paper feed cassette 18 and conveyed to the lower side of the photoconductor 11 by the registration roller 19 at a timing. On the other hand, photoconductor 1
1 is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow, and first the surface is uniformly charged by the charging device 12. Next, the surface of the photoconductor 11 is irradiated with laser light from the optical writing device 16 to form an electrostatic latent image. After that, at the position of the developing device 13, toner is attached by the developing roller 13a to visualize the electrostatic latent image. Then, the image is transferred by the transfer device 14 to the paper P conveyed to the lower side of the photoconductor 11. After the image transfer, the paper P is conveyed to the fixing device 17, the image is fixed by the fixing device 17, and the paper P is discharged onto the external paper discharge tray 21.

On the other hand, after the image transfer, the surface of the photoconductor 11 is cleaned by the cleaning device 15.

By the way, this laser printer is constructed by dividing the apparatus main body 10 into a lower main body A and an upper main body B.
As shown in, the upper main body B is provided to the lower main body A so as to be openable and closable about the support shaft C.

The lower main body A is provided with a process cartridge 20 detachably attached thereto. The process cartridge 20 is formed by incorporating a photoreceptor 11, a charging device 12, a developing device 13, and a cleaning device 15 in a main body case 20a as shown by a dotted line in FIG.

The process cartridge 20 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a developing bias contact 22, a charging grid contact 23,
The charging wire contacts 24 and the transfer device contacts 25 are arranged. Each of the contacts 22 to 25 is formed by bending a conductive leaf spring material into an inverted V shape. The developing bias contact 22 among them is connected to the developing roller 13a through a power supply path 26 formed of a conductive member.
It is electrically connected to a. The charging grit contact 23 is electrically connected to the charging grit of the charging device 12 via a power supply path 27 provided between the charging grit contact 23 and the charging grit (not shown). The charging wire contact 24 is electrically connected to the charging wire of the same charging device 12 via a feeding path 28 provided between the charging wire 12 and the charging wire (not shown).

Further, the photoconductor 1 is provided in the main body case 20a.
The electric connection part 30 is provided on the left side of FIG. The electrical connecting portion 30 is L-shaped, and has its upper end electrically connected to the conductive leaf spring 29 having the transfer device contact 25 and its lower end electrically connected to the contact part 14 a of the transfer device 14. It becomes.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
The power feeding device 3 is provided at a position corresponding to the process cartridge 20.
5 is provided. The power supply device 35 is provided with power supply terminals 36 to 39 arranged corresponding to the contacts 22 to 25, respectively.

Now, for example, the process cartridge 20
When it is replaced for the end of its life, the upper body B is opened and brought into the open state as shown in FIG. Then, the process cartridge 20 is taken out from the lower main body A, a new one is attached to the lower main body A instead, and then the upper main body B is closed.

When the upper body B is closed, the power supply terminals 36 to 39 come into contact with the corresponding contacts 22 to 25 as shown by the chain line in FIG. The developing roller 13a of the device 13
The charging grid of the charging device 12 and the charging wire of the charging device 12 are electrically connected to the power feeding device 35, and the power-supplied portion of the lower main body A, that is, the transfer device 14 and the power feeding device 35 are electrically connected.

By the way, in the illustrated embodiment described above, the contact 25 for the transfer device is individually provided in the process cartridge 20, and the electric connection portion 30 is connected thereto. However, in the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG.
Is provided so as to be branched from the power feeding path 28 of the charging wire in the charging device, whereby the above-mentioned transfer device contact 25 and power feeding terminal 39 are not required.

In this case, when the power supply terminal 38 contacts the charging wire contact 24 when the upper body B is closed, the power supply device 35 is electrically connected to the charging wire of the process cartridge 20 and at the same time, the lower body. The transfer device 14 of A is also electrically connected.

In the present invention, the electric connection portion 30 is
The present invention is not limited to such a case where the charging device is branched from the power supply path 28. If the timing of voltage application by the power supply device 35 is the same as that for the transfer device 14, the electrical connection part 30 may be provided so as to be branched from the power supply path in another power supplied part of the process cartridge 20.

By the way, in the electrophotographic apparatus, for example, the laser printer as described above, the voltage applied by the power supply device 35 depends on the type of the process cartridge 20.
In some cases, the power-supplied part of No. 1 and the power-supplied part of the lower body A may be different. Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG.
When the electrical connection portion 30 is provided by branching from the power supply path 28 in the power-supplied portion of the process cartridge 20, the resistance element may be provided in the electrical connection portion 30.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the resistance element 50 is provided by screwing between the upper end and the lower end of the electric connecting portion 30. Then, the resistance element 50 may be appropriately replaced according to the model.

In the above embodiments, the case where the power-supplied portion of the lower main body A is the transfer device 14 has been shown. However, in the present invention, the power-supplied portion of the lower main body A may be, for example, a charging device or a developing device installed in the lower main body A, or various sensors that require voltage application. May be.

[0034]

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the process cartridge is provided with the electric connection portion for electrically connecting the power feeding device and the power-supplied portion of the lower body when the upper body is closed, the conventional structure is provided. It is possible to electrically connect the power feeding device of the upper body and the power-supplied portion of the lower body without providing a long and complicated dedicated power feeding path, and the cost can be reduced accordingly.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the electric connection part is provided so as to branch from the power supply path of the power-supplied part of the process cartridge, a dedicated contact for the power-supplied part of the lower body is provided. Since it is not necessary to provide the process cartridge, the cost can be reduced by eliminating the contact between the power feeding device of the upper body and the power-supplied portion of the lower body.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the resistance element is provided in the electrical connection portion branched from such a power feeding path, whereby the voltage applied by the power feeding device is the power fed portion of the process cartridge. It is possible to easily adapt to various models of which the main body and the power-supplied part of the lower body are different.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a laser printer according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 8 is a state explanatory view showing a state in which the upper main body is opened and the process cartridge is removed from the lower main body.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged configuration diagram of a process cartridge and a transfer device attached to a lower main body thereof.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the laser printer.

FIG. 4 is a state explanatory view similar to FIG. 1, showing a laser printer in the case where an electric connection portion is provided by branching from a power supply path of a process cartridge.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged configuration diagram showing a process cartridge, a power feeding device, and a transfer device in the case where a resistance element is provided in an electrical connection portion.

FIG. 6 is a state explanatory view showing a conventional laser printer in a state in which an upper main body is opened and a process cartridge is taken out from the lower main body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Photoreceptor 12 Charging Device 14 Transfer Device 20 Process Cartridge 30 Electric Connection Unit 35 Power Supply Device 28 Charging Device Power Supply Path 50 Resistive Element A Lower Body B Upper Body P Paper

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An upper body is provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to a lower body,
A process cartridge is detachably attached to the lower body, and a power-supplied portion is provided on the lower body, while power is applied to the upper body to supply a voltage to the power-supplied portion of the lower body and the power-supplied portion of the process cartridge. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising an apparatus, wherein the process cartridge is provided with an electrical connection section that electrically connects the power feeding apparatus and a power-supplied section of the lower body when the upper body is closed. 2. The power supply unit of the lower main body is a transfer device for transferring an image formed on a photoconductor to a sheet.
The electrophotographic apparatus according to 1. 3. The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electrical connection portion is provided so as to branch from a power feeding path of a power fed portion of the process cartridge. 4. The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a resistance element is provided in the electrical connection portion.