WO2007095835A1

WO2007095835A1 - Agitating member and developer cartridge using the same

Info

Publication number: WO2007095835A1
Application number: PCT/CN2007/000387
Authority: WO
Inventors: Benyou Jin
Original assignee: Print-Rite Technology Development Co., Ltd Of Zhuhai
Priority date: 2006-02-25
Filing date: 2007-02-05
Publication date: 2007-08-30
Also published as: CN2872422Y

Abstract

An agitating member for developer, includes a rotating axis and at least one agitating blade fit at the rotating axis, and the agitating blade has at least one hole (137). Wherein, the smallest distance between the bottom of the hole (137) on the agitating blade and the bottom of the agitating blade is not less than 3mm. The agitating member according to the present invention can agitate the developer sufficiently so as to keep high printing quality.

Description

Mixing rack and developer box using the same

The present invention relates to a developer agitating frame for a developer cartridge for an electrophotographic image forming apparatus and a developer cartridge equipped with such a stirring frame. The present invention is based on a Chinese utility model patent application filed on Feb. 25, 2006, with the application number of 200620006516. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Imaging devices such as laser printers and copying machines are all based on the principle of electrophotography. The working principle is as follows: The laser graphics are converted into laser beams by a laser and passed through a series of optical systems. The photosensitive drum is scanned at a constant speed on the axis of the photosensitive drum that rotates around the shaft, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the text pattern information on the photosensitive drum, and then sequentially developing, transferring, fixing, and finally on the paper, etc. A text graphic is formed on the medium. Wherein, the developer cartridge used in the above apparatus generally has a developing roller, a powder feeding roller, a powder bin containing toner, a stirring device installed in the powder bin, or a powder bin containing only toner; Stirring device in the powder bin. The agitation device is used to agitate the toner contained in the powder bin to prevent the toner from agglomerating and to ensure smooth powder supply. In many cases, the stirring device has the function of conveying toner to the powder outlet or the photosensitive drum in a specific direction in addition to the function of agitating the carbon powder, and is usually composed of a rotary shaft, a support arm and a stirring blade. The rotating shaft is installed between the two side walls of the powder bin, and is driven to rotate by the driving device. The supporting arm is disposed on the rotating shaft, and the stirring blade is disposed on the supporting arm. The stirring blade is in the form of a flat plate, and the motor drives the stirring device to rotate the blade in the powder bin to stir the toner in the powder bin. Especially when the amount of toner in the toner cartridge is small, the blade can sweep the toner at the bottom of the compact box. From, to the powder feed roller. Since the agitating blades are flat, the toner will be piled on the blades and transferred with the rotation of the blades during the stirring. At this time, the toner is required to be transported with a relatively large torque. Since the plate-like blades have a certain hardness, they usually A slit or hole is formed at the end of the blade to make the blade have a certain flexibility, so that the excess carbon powder falls back from the slit or the hole to the powder bin during the stirring process, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing the driving load and uniformly stirring the toner.

The above agitating device has a problem that, after opening the hole at the end of the blade, the strength of the blade is lowered, and the distance from the bottom of the hole in the blade to the end of the blade is too small, and the amount of toner carried on the surface thereof It also becomes smaller. When the toner stored in the powder bin is small, the agitator blade cannot uniformly and efficiently supply the toner to the powder feeding roller, thereby causing quality defects in the printed sample. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A primary object of the present invention is to provide a stirrer having a simple structure, which can more efficiently transfer toner in a powder silo, thereby ensuring print quality; and another object of the present invention is to provide an improved developer cartridge The developer cartridge can transmit toner more uniformly and efficiently than a conventional developer cartridge, thereby ensuring print quality.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a stirring frame comprising a rotating shaft body and at least one stirring blade mounted on the shaft body. At least one L is opened on the stirring blade, and the lowest end of the hole in the stirring blade is to the lower bottom of the stirring blade. The shortest distance between the sides is not less than 3 legs. The developer cartridge provided by the present invention comprises a storage compartment for accommodating the developer and a stirring frame for stirring the developer in the storage compartment, the agitating frame comprising a rotating shaft body and at least one stirring blade mounted on the shaft body. At least one hole is formed in the stirring blade, and the shortest distance between the lowest end of the hole in the stirring blade and the lower bottom edge of the stirring blade is not less than 3 mm.

Still further, the holes formed in the agitating blades are rectangular, and at least two are opened, and are arranged at intervals on the agitating blades.

The mixing frame may further include a pressing plate, the shaft body is provided with a circular column protruding from the surface of the shaft body, and the stirring blade and the pressing plate are provided with fixed mounting circular holes corresponding to the circular cylindrical body, and the stirring blade passes through the pressing plate Fixed to the shaft. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a preferred embodiment of a developer cartridge according to the present invention after removing an upper cover; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the developer cartridge taken along line A-A of FIG.

Figure 3 is a schematic view showing the combination of the embodiment of the stirring frame according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the mixing frame; Figure 5 is a schematic view of a mixer blade. The invention will now be further described in conjunction with the drawings and the preferred embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a developer cartridge is mainly composed of a housing 10 and a lid (not shown), both of which are made of synthetic resin, and the upper surface of the housing 10 is open. The housing 10 includes two side walls 101, 102, and side covers 14 are also provided on the outside of the side walls 101 and 102. The housing 10 is sequentially provided with a developing roller 11, a powder feeding roller 12, and a stirring frame 13, and the developing roller 11 and the powder feeding roller 12 are supported between the side walls 101, 102, and both end portions thereof protrude from the side wall 101. And 102, supported by a support structure 140 disposed in the side cover 14 outside the side wall.

The rear part of the storage compartment 10 is a toner hopper 15 which is disposed in the toner hopper 15 and located behind the developing roller 11 and the powder feeding roller 12, and has circular holes 104 formed in the side walls 101 and 102. A piece of protrusion support portion 105 is provided beside the circular hole 104, and the support portion 105 further includes an arcuate recess 106 corresponding to the circular hole 104. The agitator 13 is also interposed between the two side walls 101, 102. The shaft end is mounted on the support portion 105, in the arcuate recess 106, and protrudes into the circular hole 104 in the side walls 101, 102. .

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, the agitator 13 is composed of a shaft body 130, a stirring blade 131, and a pressure plate 132. A circular plate body 133 is disposed at each end of the shaft body 130. On both sides of the circular plate body 133, that is, the ends of the shaft body 130 are respectively provided with a long protrusion 134 and a short protrusion 135. Further, a plurality of circular cylinders 136 protruding from the surface of the shaft body 130 are further protruded from the shaft body 130. The agitating blades 131 are provided with a plurality of rectangular holes 137 which are arranged at intervals along the axial direction of the shaft body 130. A circular hole 138 corresponding to the shape and number of the circular cylinders 136 on the shaft body 130 is further provided on one side of the rectangular hole 137. After assembly, when the agitator 130 is agitated, the side of the agitating blade 131 opposite to the circular hole 138, that is, the other side of the rectangular hole 137, will be in contact with the bottom wall of the toner hopper 15 to agitate the toner, as shown in the figure. As shown in Fig. 5, the distance from the lower bottom edge of the rectangular hole 137 to the lower bottom edge of the stirring blade 131 is h, and the distance h is not less than three. The pressing plate 132 is a rectangular piece body, and a mounting hole 139 corresponding to the shape and number of the circular cylindrical body 136 on the shaft body 130 is also provided thereon. Referring to FIG. 4, when the agitating frame 13 is assembled, the agitating blade 131 and the pressing plate 132 are sequentially mounted on the shaft body 130, and the circular hole 138 of the agitating blade 131 is matched with the circular body 136 of the shaft body 130. The pressing plate 132 is further mounted on the stirring blade 131. The mounting hole 139 on the pressing plate 132 also cooperates with the circular cylinder 136 on the shaft body 130, and the stirring blade 131 is fixed to the shaft body 130. In the present embodiment, the agitating blade 131 is fixed to the shaft body 130 by the pressing plate 132, but it may be directly fixed to the shaft body by sticking or other means.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, the developing roller 11 and the feeding roller 12 are disposed adjacent to each other, and their ends project beyond the side walls 101, 102 of the housing 10 and are supported by the side cover 14 supporting structure 140. The agitator 13 is disposed in the powder silo 15, and the long projections 135 and the short projections 134 of the shaft body 130 are respectively disposed in the circular holes 104 in the side walls 101, 102. When the agitator 13 is driven to rotate by an external driving device (not shown), the agitating blade 131 agitates the toner in the powder bin 15 as the shaft 130 rotates, due to the lower bottom edge of the rectangular hole 137 on the agitating blade 131 to the agitating blade The distance h between the lower bottom edges of 131 is not less than 3, and the amount of toner that can be carried thereon can be ensured when stirring, especially when the amount of toner in the powder silo 15 is relatively small, if the bottom of the stirring blade is The width of the side is not wide enough, the amount of toner to be stirred and carried is relatively small, and the amount of toner supplied to the powder feeding roller 12 and the developing roller 11 is likely to be insufficient, thereby affecting the printing quality, and when the distance h is not less than 3 mm, The agitating and supporting part of the mixing blade is relatively wide. Even in the case of a small amount of toner, the blade can be stirred and contacted to the bottom of the powder bin, the carbon powder is stirred up, and more toner can be carried to the powder feeding. At the roller, the quality of the print is guaranteed. It is a matter of course that the agitator in the present embodiment is installed in a developer cartridge including a developing roller, a powder feeding roller, and a powder bin, but may be installed in a developer cartridge including only a powder silo and a stirring device. The technical idea of the invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many different specific solutions can be obtained according to the concept of the present invention. For example, the stirring blade can be installed not only directly on the shaft body but also on the shaft body and stirring. The blade is disposed on the support arm, and a plurality of agitating blades may be disposed on the shaft body. Further, the opening on the agitating blade may be a rectangle, or may be a circular shape or other irregular shape, and the arrangement may be along the axis. The directions are arranged one above the other, or may be arranged in a stepped manner, and even multiple rows of openings may be provided. When the openings are of other shapes, h is the lowest end of the opening in the lowermost row to the lower bottom of the stirring blade. The shortest distance between the two, which allows the blade to have a certain flexibility to bend while avoiding the fact that the blade is too soft to effectively stir the developer, such as this Converting changes and equivalents shall be included within the scope of the claims. Industrial applicability

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: when the agitator is stirred in the powder bin, the shortest distance between the lowest end of the hole in the agitating blade and the lower bottom edge of the agitating blade is not less than

3mm, the stirring blade has a wide mixing and bearing part, and the amount of toner that can be carried on it can be guaranteed. Even when the amount of toner in the powder bin is relatively small, the blade can contact the bottom wall of the powder bin, and carbon The powder is agitated and can carry more toner to the powder feeding roller to avoid if the width of the bottom edge of the stirring blade is insufficient, the amount of carbon powder carried is relatively small, and the amount of carbon supplied to the powder feeding roller and the developing roller is insufficient, thereby affecting Print quality situation.

Claims

Claim

1, the mixing rack, including

a rotating shaft body and at least one stirring blade mounted on the shaft body, at least one hole (137) is formed in the stirring blade;

It is characterized by:

The shortest distance between the lowest end of the upper hole (137) of the mixing blade and the lower bottom edge of the mixing blade is not less than 3.

2. The mixing rack according to claim 1, wherein:

The open hole (137) on the stirring blade is rectangular.

3. The mixing rack according to claim 2, wherein:

The holes (137) are provided at least two and are arranged at intervals on the stirring blade.

4. The mixing rack according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that:

The agitating frame further includes a pressing plate (132), and the shaft body is provided with a circular cylinder (136) protruding from the surface of the shaft body, and the stirring blade and the pressing plate are provided corresponding to the circular cylinder. The circular holes (138, 139) are fixedly mounted, and the stirring blades are fixed to the shaft body through the pressure plate.

5, developer cartridge, including

a receiving compartment for containing the developer and a stirring frame for stirring the developer in the receiving compartment, the stirring frame comprising a rotating shaft body and at least one stirring blade mounted on the shaft body, at least one hole is formed in the stirring blade ( 137);

It is characterized by:

The developer cartridge according to claim 5, wherein the opening hole (137) on the stirring blade is rectangular.

The developer cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the holes (137) are at least two and are spaced apart from each other on the stirring blade.

The developer cartridge according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein: the agitating frame further comprises a pressing plate, and the shaft body is provided with a circular cylinder protruding from the surface of the shaft body (136) The stirring blade and the pressure plate are provided with fixed mounting circular holes (138, 139) corresponding to the circular cylinder (136).