JPS59147377A - Process cartridge and loading mechanism for process cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the precision between an optical system and a photosensitive body by providing a coupling part which couples with the housing of a process cartridge at an upstream and a downstream side in a loading direction at the same time by moving the cartridge to the support of an optical means on the side of a main device in the loading direction. CONSTITUTION:When the process cartridge A inserted into the main device is pressed sufficiently into the main device along guide rails 43 and 44, a positioning pin 36 at the inner side of the cartridge A is fitted in a corresponding hole 38 of a write part cartridge B and a front-side positioning pin 37 is fitted in a corresponding hole 39 of the write part cartridge B. Further, the cartridge A is pressed in until the front-side upward bent piece 23c of the cartridge A contacts the upward bent piece 24 of the write part cartridge B. Consequently, the process cartridge A is coupled with the write part cartridge B in one body through the positioning pins 36 and 37 and corresponding fitting holes 38 and 39 to be positioned in the main device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a process cartridge configured to be removably attached to a main unit, and a coupling mechanism between the process force and the main unit.

−・Using a copying machine that generally uses electrophotography as an example,
If the device is used for a long time, it becomes necessary to replace the photoreceptor, replenish or replace the developer, clean the charging wire, and perform other adjustments or replacements, and such maintenance work is performed by specialized service personnel. However, in order to keep this copying apparatus operating in good condition at all times, a method has been proposed in which maintenance work is performed without relying on service personnel with the above-mentioned specialized knowledge. For example, there is a method in which a combination of a plurality of constituent members such as a discharger, a developer, a photosensitive drum, etc. (process cartridge) included in the apparatus is simply replaced with a new one. and,
If you create a configuration that allows you to replace the process cartridge in this way, you can prepare multiple cartridges depending on the purpose of use as an extension, and load the cartridge that suits the purpose into the main machine. By doing so, it becomes possible to use the same main unit for multiple functions.

In this way, a user who has a copying machine can insert a cartridge into
Handling the cartridge expands its maintenance and purpose of use. However, problems may arise when handling the cartridge. it is,
The cartridge must always be loaded in the correct position with respect to the main unit. Particularly in devices in which the optical system is disposed on the main unit side, the distance between the optical system and the photoreceptor is influenced by the state of the loaded process cartridge.

The object of the present invention is to place the process force in the main unit in a precise position, and to form an image on the photoreceptor in the process car ridge in a clear state. .

The present invention achieves the above object by moving the process cartridge in the loading direction with respect to the support of the optical means on the main unit side in the housing of the process cartridge. The invention is characterized in that it is provided with a connecting portion that engages at the same time.

The following is a comprehensive explanation based on the embodiment shown in the drawings.

Example 1 (Figures 1 to 3) The device in this example is a laser beam printer.

In the figure, ``■'' is an exterior casing of the main unit, and 2 is a photosensitive drum as an image carrier, which is driven to rotate around a support 3 in the direction of the arrow. Numbers 4 to 7 are a charger, a developer, a transfer charger, and a cleaner, which are arranged around the photosensitive drum as image forming process equipment, respectively.

8 to 11 constitute an optical scanning system as a writing section, including a laser light source (Fig. 3), a polygon mirror, an imaging lens,
It's a mirror. Reference numeral 12 denotes a motor for driving the rotation of the polygon mirror 9.

13 is a transfer paper supply tray, 14 is a paper feed roller, 15 is a registration roller, 16 is a transfer paper separation member, 17 and 18 are guide plates, 19 is a fixing device, 2o is a paper discharge roller, and 2J is a paper discharge tray. .

The circumferential surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 2 passes through the charger 4 position and receives a uniform negative iF electric current. Next, by passing through the exposure section 22, the writing section receives laser beam scanning exposure as optical information, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the optical information is formed. That is, a time-series electric digital pixel signal calculated and outputted from an image stringing device or an electronic calculator is input to a control circuit (not shown) of the laser light source 8, and the signal is modulated from the laser light source 8 in accordance with the signal. The laser beam L is oscillated, and the laser beam is incident on the rotationally driven polygon mirror 9 and is deflected.
The deflection beam 1 forms a gunpowder image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2, which has been charged in a --like manner by the charger 4, through the imaging lens 10 and the mirror 11, and the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 is aligned in the fit line direction. By scanning with a polarized laser beam, image exposure is performed on two surfaces of the drum.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the drum surface is successively visualized as a toner image by passing through the developing device 5 position. Then, the image surface of the drum is rotated to the transfer meter 6 position.

The transfer paper P is introduced into the apparatus from the supply tray 13. The introduced transfer paper is drawn into the inside of the apparatus by the paper feed roller 14, synchronized with the rotation of the drum 2 by the registration rollers 15, and introduced and conveyed between the drum 2 and the transfer charger 6.
Due to the action of the charger 60, the 1.S-image on the drum 2 side becomes ++.
Vt is then transferred to the second side of the transfer paper.

The transfer paper on which the image has been transferred is then separated from the drum 2 surface by the separating member 16 to the r++r+ direction, and then transferred to the guide plates 17 and 1.
8, the transferred image enters the fixing device 19, where it undergoes a fixing process, and is delivered by the paper ejection roller 20 to the rectangular paper tray 21-1-.

On the other hand, the surface of the drum 2 from which the transfer paper has been separated passes through a cleaner 7 position to remove residual toner after transfer and is cleaned, and is repeatedly used for the next image formation.

Thus, the apparatus of this example includes a photosensitive drum 2 as an image carrier, and a 4φ developing device 5, a 4φ developing device,
7, these are all assembled into the process cartridge housing 23, and the process force can be freely inserted and removed into the main unit.
It is configured as Trincy A.

In addition, all the components 8 to 11 of the optical scanning system, which is the fortune-telling section, are assembled into a common dark box 24 and configured as a writing section cartridge B, and both A and B are connected to each other within the space inside the main device. It is recommended to incorporate it into the system.

That is, the process cartridge A has a cartridge housing 23 whose bottom surface is open, and the shafts 3 are freely rotatably supported between a side plate 23a (FIG. 2) on the front side and a side plate 23b on the rear side of the housing. The photosensitive drum 2 is installed and supported approximately at the center of the body, the charger 4 is also installed and supported between the side plates 23a and 23L, and the space on the right side of the casing 23 with the drum 2 at the center. It consists of a developing device 5 and a cleaner 7 arranged in a left side space and a left side space. Each of these component devices 2, 4, 5, 7
are pre-adjusted to a predetermined arrangement and mutual positional accuracy (
f is being looked at.

The writing unit cartridge B has all the components 8 to 11 of the optical scanning system, which is a writing unit, arranged in a predetermined arrangement in a flat dark box 24.
It is assembled in advance with pre-adjustment to a predetermined mutual positional accuracy. However, the polygon mirror drive motor 12 is arranged to protrude downward from the bottom plate of the dark box 24.

Paper feed roller 14, registration roller 15, transfer charger 6
, separation member 16, guide plates 17 and 18, fixing device 19,
The paper rollers 20 and the like are assembled in the main unit in a predetermined arrangement and with a predetermined mutual positional accuracy.

Next, the installation of the process cartridge A described in F and the writing section cartridge B into the apparatus will be explained.

Reference numerals 25 and 26 denote a pair of left and right ice-flat frames disposed inside the exterior casing of the device, and 27 denotes a writing unit which is fixedly positioned and fixed with screws 28 and 29, spanning between the left and right frames 25 and 26. Car I ridge mounting is on the board.

The writing unit cartridge body B is inserted between the board 27 and the 1-face plate of the device exterior #1, and the north-facing protruding pins 30.3 for positioning formed on the top surface of the board 27 are inserted.
'r 2) and a corresponding hole 32 formed on the bottom surface of the dark box 24.
- Position and place the cartridge B on the board 27 by fitting the cartridges 33 and 33, and then place the cartridge B on the board 27.
7, fix it immovably with screws 34 and 35.

The process cartridge A is mounted on the back side plate 23 in the space inside the main unit between the lower surface of the substrate 27 and the rolling electric appliance 6.
The process cartridge housing 24 is inserted into the main unit with the side b first and the lower portions of the left and right side plates of the process cartridge housing 24 are received by a pair of left and right front and rear force direction guide rails 43 and 44L disposed inside the main unit. The back side plate 23b of this cartridge A
A positioning pin 36 (FIG. 2) is implanted on the outer surface of the cartridge so as to protrude in the cartridge insertion direction. The front edge of the car I-ridge 1-face plate is extended forward and bent into an abbreviated shape, and the bent piece 2
A positioning pin 37 is also implanted on the inner surface of the cartridge 3c so as to protrude in the cartridge insertion direction. Said substrate 27. The bottom plate of the dark box 24 of JiB has its back side extended and protruded, and is bent downward in a substantially inverted shape, and the bent piece 24b has the following process: Positioning hole 3 into which the back pin 36 of cartridge A fits
8 is formed. Similarly, the front side of the bottom plate has an eye extending forward and is bent to one side in an abbreviated shape, and the process cartridge A is attached to the bent piece 24a.
A positioning hole 39 is formed into which the front side pin 37 fits.

Therefore, when the process cartridge A inserted into the main unit as described in - is fully pushed into the main unit along the guides 1/- rules 43 and 44, the process force - the rear positioning pin 36 of the stringer A is pushed into the writing section. It fits into the corresponding hole 38 of the cartridge I/ridge B, and the front side positioning pin 37 fits into the corresponding hole 39 of the writing section cartridge B. After that, the bent piece 23 on the front side of the process cartridge A
c is the seven-way bent piece 24 on the writing part cartridge B side.
Push the process cartridge A into the apparatus far enough until it touches point a. As a result, the process car] ridge A has a positioning pin 36 and a corresponding fitting hole 38 for the cartridge B, which is the optical means on the main unit side.
39, and are positioned and incorporated into the main body device.

G is a drum rotation gear that is fixed in advance to the shaft 3 on the back side of the photosensitive tram 2, and this gear is omitted from the diagram when the process force-trinshi A is inserted into the main unit as described above and M1 is inserted. It will automatically mesh with the gears of the drive system.

40, 41-42 are the bottom plate of the dark box of the writing section Car I and Ridge B, the board 27, and the housing of the process cartridge A, respectively.
1 - Slit-like elongated exposure holes formed in the face plate in the direction of the generatrix of the drum 2. Each hole 40 to 42 must match when the cartridges A and B are installed in the apparatus, and the writing part cartridge B side laser beam 1. The light L enters the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 through holes 40 to 42 corresponding to j-th one.

That is, the writing unit cartridge B is fixed to the main device board 27 by fitting the positioning pin 30Φ31 and the corresponding holes 32 and 33 to the device board 27 in a predetermined manner. By fitting the pins 36 and 37 into the corresponding holes 38 and 39, they are integrally connected and assembled with a predetermined positional accuracy. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the mutual arrangement and stage position accuracy of the equipment in both cartridges A and B in advance to a certain level. Even without performing a separate position adjustment operation, the overall positional accuracy of the components is ensured when both carts A and B are installed in the apparatus, and the assembly work is extremely speeded up.

Also, when position adjustment operations are required, each of the cartridges A to B is taken out of the apparatus and adjustments such as alignment of built-in devices and alignment of optical axis are made for each cartridge. Next, it is only necessary to install the adjusted cartridge AφB into the apparatus, which simplifies the operation.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the optical axis of the writing section and the bus line of the photosensitive drum.
・Polygon mirror 9 ・Imaging lens 10 ・Mirror 11 (
If the position or angular orientation of the mirror (not shown in Fig. 3) is shifted, the optical axis will shift from the normal 0 to 1 like O', and the laser beam scanning line for the photosensitive drum 2 will shift from a to a. It shifts to

In other words, the image formed on the transfer paper becomes distorted because it is deviated from the 8J line of the drum 2. In addition, due to the deviation of the optical axis O, the laser beam scanning line for the photosensitive drum becomes the ideal scanning line a.
In some cases, the image is shifted by 111 lines, and in this case, the leading edge of the image is shifted with respect to the transfer paper surface. To adjust the writing section in such a case, remove Cartridge B from the device, adjust the mutual arrangement of the built-in devices in the dark box, align the optical axis, etc.
Insert the cable into the device.

If the process car) and engine A are inserted into and removed from the device by fitting the positioning pins 36 and 37 with the corresponding holes 38 and 39 as in this example device, when replenishing toner, etc. Replenishment operations can be easily performed by pulling the cartridge cartridge A toward the front of the device and pulling it out.

Embodiment 2 (FIGS. 4 to 6) This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an electrophotographic copying apparatus in which the light image exposure optical system mechanism for the photosensitive drum 2 is a mechanism consisting of a reciprocating document table and a short focus element array. It is.

1- Members common to those in Example 1 (FIGS. 1 to 3) described above are given the same reference numerals. 45 is the top plate-1 of the device exterior casing 1;
A reciprocating document table disposed on a transparent plate 46 such as a glass plate.
and a document pressure plate 47 that can be opened and closed, and are driven to reciprocate along the face plate in the direction of the arrow (the drive mechanism is omitted from the figure). The original 48 is placed on the transparent plate 46 with the image side facing F, and is set by covering with the original pressing plate 47.

49 is a slit hole formed in the approximate center of the top plate of the device exterior casing 1 in the front-back force direction of the device; 50 is a short focus element array disposed directly below the slit hole;
As shown in the figure, both ends are supported by supports 51 and 52 that are immovably positioned at the back and front sides of the main unit.

Reference numeral 53 denotes an original illumination device consisting of a light source 54 and a reflective shade 55 arranged on the left side of the array 50 described in 1-.
6, and a downward document surface area on the document table corresponding to the slit opening 49 area is illuminated.

As the document table 45 moves forward or backward, the documents facing the document table are sequentially illuminated by the slit apertures 49, and the light reflected from the document surface of the illumination light enters the array 50, and the document is processed. An image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2 through the slit opening 42 in the face plate of the cartridge A. That is, a slit mist of the original image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2.

As in the case of the first embodiment, the process cartridge A is provided with positioning pins 36 and 37 on the rear side and the front side, respectively. Further, the back and front supports 51 and 52 that support the array 50 are provided with positioning pins 36 and 52, respectively, as shown in -.
Corresponding holes 38-39 are formed into which the holes 37 are fitted.

The process cartridge A is installed inside the main unit according to the first embodiment.
When loaded in the same manner as in the case of , the pins 36 and 37 on the rear and front sides of the cartridge will be inserted into the corresponding holes 38 and 39 of the rear support 51 and the front support 52 of the array 50, respectively.
The prosenucer (Ridge A) is correctly positioned with the optical system in the main unit, and it is in the loaded state.

FIG. 6 shows an external oblique view of only the process cartridge A, and 53 is a hand grip for cartridge loading/unloading;
4 is a power supply connector to the charger, 55 is a developing bias application connector, and each connector is a mating connector (not shown) on the main unit side when cartridge A is loaded into the main unit.
Combine with.

Reference numeral 56 indicates a rotation locking pin for the loaded cartridge A.

In addition, in the first and second embodiments, the optical system support 24a
- Process cartridge positioning pins 36 and 37 may be provided on the 24b and 51@52 sides, and corresponding holes 38 and 39 for directing fire may be provided on the process cartridge A side.

The structure of the Nu process cartridge A itself includes at least the photosensitive drum 2, and can be configured in various ways by combining any other process equipment, and is not limited to the structure of the embodiment.

(11) The present invention moves the cartridge in the loading direction with respect to the support of the optical means on the main unit side in the housing of the process cartridge. Since a connecting portion that engages simultaneously on the downstream side is provided, this not only allows the removable process cartridge to be positioned with respect to the optical system means with as few parts as possible, but also
Since it is possible to further improve the precision of the optical system and photoreceptor, image quality problems caused by the lack of sharpness of the formed image can be improved. It becomes possible to prevent the decrease. In particular, when setting the central axis position of the photosensitive drum relative to the optical system through another independent member such as a conventional centering plate, deformation of the diameter due to deterioration of the tapped hole of that independent member may occur. However, according to the present invention, there is no need to worry about such a decrease in accuracy, whereas the accuracy cannot be maintained during predetermined inquiries.

Note that optical system means other than laser beam scanning and optical element arrays can also be used. For example, in an optical system using mirror scanning, the housing of this scanning means may be used as the object of positioning, especially parallel to the optical axis. A casing at or near the same location is suitable. Of course, the exit part of the image light is considered to be the most suitable part of the housing of the scanning optical system. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied not only to copying machines but also to facsimile machines and other image forming apparatuses.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 3 show the first embodiment, and Figure 1 is an example of a cartridge type laser beam printer.
FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional front view, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the cartridge portion, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the optical system, FIGS. 4 to 6 illustrate the second embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic longitudinal sectional front view of an example of a cartridge type electronic copying machine, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of the cartridge portion, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the cartridge. 2 is a photosensitive drum, A is a process cartridge, 36.3
7 is a positioning pin, 38 and 39 are pin insertion holes.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a process cartridge that is removably attached to the main unit by moving in the direction of the rotational axis of the built-in photosensitive drum, the housing of the process cartridge has a support for the optical means on the main unit side. A process cartridge characterized in that it is provided with a coupling portion that engages simultaneously on the upstream side and the downstream side in the loading direction] by moving the cartridge in the loading direction. (2) In a mechanism for attaching and detaching a process cartridge having a photosensitive drum to and from the main unit, an optical means on the main unit side, a means for guiding the movement of the process cartridge in the direction of the rotational axis of the photosensitive drum, and a means for guiding the process cartridge to move in the direction of the rotational axis of the photosensitive drum, and a mechanism for positioning the cartridge at a predetermined position. 1. A loading mechanism for a process cartridge, comprising a coupling part for fixing a support of an optical means and a cartridge at the same time on an upstream side and a downstream side in a loading direction when the cartridge is moved.