JPS5824151A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ease maintenance and inspection of a device by providing a process kit which is provided with a part or all of an image preserving body and an image forming means in one body, and is attached freely attachably and detachably to the main body of a device, and an exchanging member fitted to the process kit. CONSTITUTION:In an image forming device, a process kit 14 is constituted of a photosensitive drum 3, an electric charging device 4, a developing device 5, a cleaning device 13 having a blade cleaner 13a and a toner storing well 13b and a cleaning device for a fixing device 16, in one body. This process kit 14 is provided freely attachably and detachably to/from a main body, and when said kit is fitted to the main body, the projected parts 14a, 14b of the process kit 14 is arranged so as to be engaged and guided with a guide 15 at the main body side. By such a constitution, the members exchanging periodically including the articles of consumption are exchanged easily, and maintenance and preservation for an image forming device are performed easily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a device eA#i, an electrophotographic copying machine, or an image recording device.

The following is an explanation using electrophotographic copying as an example.

Conventionally, in electrophotographic copying machines, it is necessary to periodically replace the photoreceptor as an image carrier, replenish the developing agent, dispose of waste toner, clean the charging wire, and replace and adjust various consumable parts. These services were carried out by dedicated service personnel. Therefore, the SI salesman had to come to the office, which was very troublesome for the company.

For example, conventionally, the replacement or replenishment of Korean consumables in a copying machine has been carried out as follows.

For example, when replacing a photoconductor drum, the drum is rotatably supported by a shaft fixed to the copier body, so first remove the shaft fixing member fixed to the side plate of the Awayuki body, then remove the drum. must be removed from the shaft and the drum replaced. Also, 3j
41111! Toner replenishment to the hopper of the device is performed by knowing the toner replenishment time by means of a detection means provided in the developing device or the hopper (for example, by using a remaining toner amount detection device), and then replenishing the toner into the hopper. In addition, in drum cleaners, if the waste toner collected from the photoreceptor is not transported to the developing device again, it is stored in the cartridge main body (this means that a detection means is provided to detect when the waste toner storage section is full. Waste toner must be disposed of outside the device before it becomes stained.Furthermore, in a roller pressure type fixing device, when the roller surface comes into contact with the developer, a portion of the roller surface is offset and contaminated. When the sheet carrying the image is passed between the rollers, the offset toner on the roller surface is retransferred onto the sheet, resulting in poor quality copies. Therefore, a means for cleaning the roller surface is required. It is necessary to store the collected offset toner in a predetermined location and dispose of it periodically.

As explained above, it is not easy to replace and replenish consumables (conventional copying machines have had the problem of having to do this frequently and being troublesome).

Therefore, the present invention solves the problem of interlacing in the conventional apparatus described above, and makes it possible to easily replace regular replacement parts including consumables, thereby facilitating maintenance and maintenance of the image forming apparatus. . That is, in the present invention, by integrating periodically replaceable members including consumables, it becomes unnecessary to attach and detach the individual members described above, and the maintenance and maintenance of the apparatus can be facilitated.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, an embodiment of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied will be described.

The first figure shows a sectional view of the main body C of the copying machine.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a document mounting table made of a transparent member such as glass, which reciprocates in the direction of the arrow. Reference numeral 2 denotes a short focal length small-diameter imaging element array, and an original image 0 placed on an original placing table 1 is slitted onto a photosensitive drum 6 . Further, the photosensitive drum 3 is uniformly charged using a charger manufactured by 4 manufacturers. The charger 4 uniformly charges the latent image to a hopper 5a-26 that stores replenishment toner and a registration roller 7 that rotates in synchronization with the image on the photosensitive drum 6.
It is fed onto the drum 3 by. Then, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 3 is transferred to the photosensitive drum 3 by the transfer belt 8.
transferred on top. Thereafter, the sheet P Ia is separated from the drum 6 by a separating means (not shown), and the guide 9
The toner image on the sheet P is guided to a fixing device 10 having a fixing roller and a pressure roller 220a, and after the toner image on the sheet P is fixed, the sheet P is discharged onto a tray 12 by a tortoise discharge roller 11.

Note that the fixing device 10 is cleaned of adhered toner by a fixing device cleaning device [16, which will be described later.

In this embodiment, a cleaning device 13 and a fixing device cleaning device 16 each include a photosensitive drum 6, a charger 4, a developing device 5, a blade cleaner 131, and a toner reservoir 13b.
together constitute a process kit 14. This process kit 14 guide 15 has a process kit 14
The protrusions 14a-14b are engaged and guided. In FIG. 2, the kit 14 is shown without its frame to show the individual units. Also, Figure 6 is [16
This is a peripheral perspective view of the 15Fi image, and the original party is drum 3.
This is a window for upward irradiation, and various color filters and ND filters can be provided as necessary. Alternatively, a suitable transparent body may be provided to cut the interior and exterior of the kit 14. In addition, the hFi removal is a prevention lever that can be opened and closed against the fire, and in Figure W and 2, it is opened with the lower side hinged. Further, T is a handle, which is used when attaching and detaching the kit 14 to the main body C.

Now, in this embodiment, the fixing device cleaning device 16
7 is in the shape of a sedge roll, and is fed from a supply roller 18 little by little continuously or intermittently to a winding roller 19 by a drive source (not shown in Figure Ka). Then, this web 17 is transferred to the fixing roller 2 of the fixing device 10 on the way.
The contact roller 21 presses the contact roller 21 into contact with the circumferential surface of the contact roller 21.

Note that if the contact roller 21 is an elastic roller made of sponge-like rubber or the like, uniform contact pressure can be obtained. At this time, the web 17 is collected by the take-up roller 19 after removing the offset toner on the row 220 from its surface.

In this embodiment, the feed speed of the web 17 was set to about 10-10 for each copy of 100 copies. When the web 17 is impregnated with toner and brought into contact with the fixing row 220, the amount of offset of the toner to the circumferential surface of the roller 20 can be reduced.The mechanism for moving the contact roller 21 of the device 16 will now be described.

5 is a detailed view of the cleaning device 16 shown in FIG. 1; FIG. In the figure, the abutment roller 21 is provided on the side wall of the kit and is rotatable about a shaft 24m (not shown) or automatically moves the cam 26 by pressing a button (not shown). When the lever A24 is rotated in the inward direction and retracted to the illustrated position, the lever A24 is pulled by the paddle 25 and is maintained in a non-contact state with the fixing row 220 of the fixing device 10 of the contact roller 21#i. In other words, it is possible to attach and detach the main body CK of the intermediate button 14 while being separated from the Web 17 fixing row 2O. Then, when the insertion of the kit 14 is completed, this is detected by a detection means (not shown), or at an appropriate timing, the cam 26 of the main body C of the copying machine rotates half a turn (in the direction of the arrow), and the lever 24 is brought into a pressurized state. Become.

That is, in this embodiment, even if the kit is provided with a cleaning device that presses against the fixing roller during operation, the kit can be attached to and removed from the main body C without any trouble.Therefore, a consumable member such as a web cleaning device is installed as a gift. You can. And,
In this embodiment, the service life for replenishing and replacing the photosensitive drum 3, replenishment toner T, blade cleaner 13m, waste toner storage 1!1b, fixing device cleaning means 16, etc. is approximately 1000 copies of M4 size copies. Since they are the same, it is possible to downsize the device.

In this embodiment, only the side of the web-like fixing device cleaning means is shown, but as shown in FIG. You can take it. This blade 2
The offset toner removed in step 2 is stored in a waste toner collecting section 26 of a photoreceptor nodding device provided inside the kit 14. That is, the toner scraped from the photoreceptor and the toner scraped from the fixing roller can be stored in the same collection section. Note that the blade 22 may be provided in the fixing device 10 of the apparatus main body, or may be provided in the collecting section 26 of the kit 14 as shown in the embodiment.

Here, using FIG. 7, fix the fixing roller 2 of the plate 22.
The mechanism for approaching and separating from zero will be explained.

In the figure, the blade 22 is held by an arm 24. This arm 24 is connected to the sleeve wall 231 of the collecting section 23.
It is rotatably attached to the shaft 241 by a shaft 241. The arm 24 is normally subjected to force in the direction indicated by the arrow by the tension force of the screw 25, and is stopped at the retracted position where it comes into contact with the first stopper z6.

Therefore, when inserting the kit 14 into the main body C, the tip of the blade 22 should not touch the circumferential surface of the fixing row 220 (the kit 1
4 can be loaded into the main body C well. When the kit 14 is loaded at a predetermined loading position of the main body C, this is detected by a detection means (not shown) or by pushing a lever (not shown) by the frame of the kit 14, a motor (not shown) is activated. (not shown) is turned on for a predetermined time and the kit 14
The cam 27 provided at @ rotates half a turn (in the direction of arrow E),
The arm 24 is rotated in the direction of arrow F to bring the blade 22 into pressure contact with the circumferential surface of the roller 20 (the state shown in FIG. 7).

When taking out the kit 14 from the main body C, the burner 9 motor is turned on for a predetermined period of time, the cam 27 rotates half a turn in the direction of arrow g, and the arm 24 reaches the retracted position where it abuts against the stopper 26 due to the tensile force of the spring 25. Stop. Therefore, the kit 14 can be easily taken out from the main body C. In addition, by increasing the rotation angle of the blade 22, the waste toner collecting section 2 of the kit 14 is removed from the predetermined loading position of the main body.
The inlet 28 of No. 3 may be closed and sealed.

In this embodiment, the cam is automatically rotated, but the cam may of course be operated manually using a handle or the like.

In addition, in this embodiment, a fixing device cleaning means is provided in a kit that integrates replacement parts including consumables such as a photoconductor and replenishment toner, so that the service life can be adjusted according to the service life of the consumables. A cleaning means can be provided, the copying machine can be simplified and downsized, and maintenance and maintenance can also be facilitated.

In particular, by making the service life of each replacement member the same, each member is not required to be excessively large or in large quantities, which contributes to miniaturization of the device.

In this embodiment, the photoconductor, replenishment toner, cleaning means for the photoconductor, waste toner storage, and cleaning means for the fixing device are given as examples of replacement parts, but the replacement parts are not limited to these, and for example, the fixing device This includes known parts such as silicone oil application means that are expendable or require replacement. Further, in this embodiment, only an example in which the photoreceptor, replenishment toner, cleaning means for the photoreceptor, waste toner storage, or cleaning means for the fixing device are integrally dyed with HR is shown in the kit, but the present invention is not limited to this. Of course, for example, only a part of these parts or a part of these parts and other replacement parts may be assembled into a kit.

As described above, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus that facilitates maintenance and inspection of the apparatus by providing replacement parts in a kit, or that is a smaller version of the original apparatus.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a copying machine to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the device, Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the kit, Fig. 4 (maro) is a sectional view of the kit, Fig. 4 (b) is a perspective view of the vicinity of the cleaning means, and Fig. 5 is a contact view. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a copying machine to which another embodiment is applied, and FIG. 7 is a side view showing the roller approaching and separating mechanism. In the figure, 3...Photosensitive drum, 8.Φ...Transfer charger, 5
...Fist developing device, 13.Φ...Cleaning device,
15a...Φ・Blade cleaner, 13b...-
Waste toner storage, 14...Kit, 16...
Fuser cleaning device, 117・φ...web, 2 Q
@@@...Fuser roller, 22...0 blade.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 0) An image carrier, an image forming means for forming an image according to information on the image carrier, and a part or all of the image carrier and the image forming means integrated together. An image forming apparatus comprising: a process kit that can be freely attached to and removed from the apparatus main body; and a replacement member provided in the core process kit. (2) The image forming apparatus according to claim (1), wherein the replacement member is cleaning means for the fixing section. 6) The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cleaning means is a sprawling movable web. A) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the toner removed from the fixing section by the cleaning means is collected in a waste toner storage part of the image carrier glue device. (5) The image forming apparatus according to claim (5), wherein the web can freely approach and separate from the fixing section.