JPS6392981A - Toner recovery device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To replace a toner color by the replacement of only a developing unit by providing the titled device with two or more toner collecting rooms, two or more carrying members and one or more toner guide parts and switching these members in accordance with a toner color to be used. CONSTITUTION:In case of replacing black toner by red toner, a black developing unit is replaced by a red one. Namely, the positions of an aperture 26a having a ring sponge 25a and a recessed part 27a on a red toner developing box 23a are inverted on the right and left sides against these parts on a black toner developing box. As to toner cartidges 24a for red and black toner components, the positions of an aperture 31a and a blocking plate (not shown) are also inverted on the right and left sides. At the time of replacing the developing unit, a reed switch commands a control circuit to switch electromagnetic clutches 33, 34 and drive a rotary solenoid 17. The solenoid 17 rotates a 2nd toner guide part 16 to a driving position as shown by an alternate long and short dash line, guides the toner scraped from a photosensitive drum 4 into a toner collecting room 14 and recovers the toner to a toner feeding part 2 through a carrying spiral 19. Thus, the toner color can be replaced only by replacing the developing unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial Application Field This invention relates to a toner recovery device, and in particular to an electrostatic recording device such as a copying machine or a facsimile machine. The present invention relates to a toner collection device that collects and uses toner.

(B) Conventional Technology Conventionally, as such a toner collection 1Affi, one is known in which the used toner scraped off from the photoreceptor drum by a cleaning blade is collected by a conveying spiral to a developing toner replenishing section (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Showa 56-6688
(See Publication No. 4).

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention Normally, most of the toner used in electrostatic recording devices as described above is black, but some users use red, for example, toner.
In some cases, it may be desired to use a color toner such as blue.

Generally, if you do not have a toner recovery device, you can often just replace the developing unit, but if you have a toner recovery device as mentioned above, in addition to the development unit, you will also need to replace the cleaning unit to avoid contamination with residual different color toner. In many cases, the conveyor spiral and the conveyor spiral must be replaced together.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems and Their Effects This invention provides a developing unit that supplies toner to a photoreceptor using a developing roller, and a cleaning unit that collects toner scraped off from the photoreceptor by a cleaning member. and a toner conveying means for conveying the collected toner from inside the cleaning unit to the developing unit, and the cleaning unit is provided with two or more toner collection chambers separated from each other and corresponding to each of the toner collection chambers. , one or more toner guide portions that are switched in accordance with the toner used in the developing unit and guide the scraped toner to the corresponding collection chamber, and the toner conveying means is separately operated from each toner collection chamber. This is a toner recovery device consisting of two or more toner conveying members extending to the developing unit and switching operation according to the toner used in the developing unit.

That is, the present invention provides two or more toner collection chambers and two or more conveyance members, and one or more toner guide portions, and makes it possible to switch them according to the color of the toner used, thereby improving the cleaning unit and toner conveyance means. Toners of two or more colors can be used, thereby making it possible to change the color of the toner used by replacing the toner itself, that is, by replacing only the developing unit.

(e) Examples The present invention will be described in detail below based on examples shown in the drawings. Note that this invention is not limited to this.

First, in FIG. 8, the toner recovery device 1 for copying 1fiF includes a developing unit 5 that supplies toner supplied from a toner replenishing section (hopper) 2 to a photosensitive drum 4 using a developing roller 3, and a cleaning blade 6 that supplies toner to the photosensitive drum 4. 4, and a toner transport means 8 that transports the collected toner from inside the cleaning unit 7 to the toner replenishing section 2 of the developing unit 5. Note that 9 is a main charger, 10 is a transfer charger, 11 is a separation charger, and 12 is a fixing unit.

Specifically, the cleaning unit 7 has two toner collection chambers 13 .
14, and further includes a first toner guide section 15 and a second toner guide section 16 corresponding to each toner collection chamber. The first toner guide section 15 is always in the operating position,
The second toner guide section 16 always closes the toner collection chamber 14 and rotates when changing the toner color so that the first toner guide section 1
5 to the operating position upstream of the photoreceptor drum 4, and closes the toner collection chamber 13. The rotation in this case is performed by a rotary solenoid 17 as shown in FIG.

Thin urethane rubber plates are used at the tips of the first and second toner guide portions 15 and 16.

The toner conveying means 8 then consists, in particular in FIG. It consists of a shaft. And those spiral axes are connected to the photoreceptor drum 4.
From the auxiliary gears 21 and 22 meshing with the main gear 20 coaxial with the
Each receives rotational power via electromagnetic clutches 33 and 34.

Subsequently, the toner replenishing section 2 consists of a toner cartridge 24 that is fitted into the developing box 23 of the developing unit 5, and the former developing box 23 has the WtN of the black toner conveying spiral 18 particularly in FIGS. 4 and 6. It has an opening 26 that supports the annular sponge 25 and four parts 27 that simply support the rear end of the red toner conveying spiral 19. In addition, 28 in FIG. 6 is a magnet, and a reed switch 29 installed on the main body side of the copying machine.
30, the presence of the magnet is detected. Of course, when black toner is used, the reed switch 29 is activated, and the appropriate control circuit commands the operation of the corresponding electromagnetic clutch 33 or 34, thereby activating the black toner conveying spiral 18. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, the black toner cartridge 24 includes an opening 31 corresponding to the opening 026 of the developer box, and a closing plate 32 that closes this opening so that it can be opened and closed from the inside.

In this way, when black toner is used, the toner remaining on the photoreceptor drum 4 is guided to the toner collection chamber 13 by the first toner guide section 15, and from there is transferred to the developing unit 5 again via the conveyance spiral 18. The toner is collected in the toner supply section 2. Note that when the amount of black toner used decreases, the toner cartridge 24 is replaced with a new one.

Next, when converting from black toner to red toner, the developing unit including the developing box 23 and toner cartridge 24 is replaced with a red one as shown in FIG. In other words, the red toner developing box 23a is
The positions of the opening 26a with 5a and the recess 27a are opposite in the left and right from those in the case of black toner, and the position of the magnet body (not shown) is also opposite in the left and right. Also, toner cartridge 2
4a as well, the positions of the opening 31a and the closing plate (not shown) are left and right opposite. By replacing the developing unit including the developing box 23a and the toner cartridge 24a, the reed switch 30 is connected to a control circuit (not shown).
commands to switch the electromagnetic clutches 33 and 34 and to operate the 0-tally solenoid 17. The rotary solenoid 17 rotates the second toner guide section 16 to the operating position as shown by the dashed line in FIG.
9 to the toner replenishing section 2.

In this case, the second gutter guide section 16 is partitioned and closed to prevent red toner from entering the collection chamber 13 for black toner.

As described above, according to this toner recovery device, toner colors can be changed by simply replacing the developing unit.

Unlike the above embodiments, there is no need to turn off toner! It is also possible to manually command the operation of the electromagnetic clutch and rotary solenoid during (color switching). In addition, the copying machine F shown in FIG. 8 is a two-color copying machine that can be used by simply connecting two color development units to the tips of the toner conveying spirals instead of one color development unit, either black or red. It is also possible to do this.

To detect the color of toner when a developing box equipped with a toner cartridge is installed, a protrusion is formed on the developing box instead of the reed switch 29, 30 and magnet 28 shown in FIG. This may be done by operating a switch, or the developing box may be detected by a photosensor.

(f) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, the cleaning unit and toner conveying means can be used for toner of two or more colors, thereby allowing the color of the toner to be changed by replacing the toner itself, that is, by replacing only the developing unit. enable.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a cleaning unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a part of the cleaning unit, Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a conveyance spiral, and Fig. 4 is a toner when using black toner. 5 is a diagram corresponding to the previous time when red toner is used, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the main parts of the developing box, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the main parts of the toner cartridge, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the supply section. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the overall configuration of a copying machine incorporating the above embodiment. 1...Toner collection 5Ar+¥, 2...
Toner supply section, 4... Photosensitive drum, 5.
...Development unit, 6...Cleaning blade, 7...Cleaning unit, 8.
...Toner conveying means, 13.14... Toner collection chamber, 15...
- First toner guide section, 16...: Second toner guide section, 18.19... Toner conveyance spiral.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A developing unit that supplies toner to the photoreceptor by a developing roller, a cleaning unit that collects the toner scraped off from the photoreceptor by a cleaning member, and a cleaning unit that collects the collected toner. It consists of two or more toner collection chambers in which a cleaning unit is partitioned, and a toner conveyance means for conveying toner from the inside to the developing unit, and a cleaning unit is provided corresponding to each of the toner collection chambers, and a toner is provided corresponding to the toner used in the developing unit. It has one or more toner guide sections that are switched and guide the scraped toner to the corresponding collection chambers, and the toner conveyance means extends from each toner collection chamber to the development unit separately, and the toner guide section that guides the toner to be scraped off to the corresponding collection chamber. A toner recovery device consisting of two or more toner conveying members that switch and operate in response to.