JPH05119620A - Developer supplying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a developer supplying device incapable of replenishing toner after a process unit is used to the limit, with a simple constitution, in the process unit adopting a system for driving and replenishing the toner plural times by using a toner case. CONSTITUTION:When a toner supplying unit 12 is fitted to a developing unit 5, the toner supplying unit 12 is fixed on the developing unit 5 by a holder 27a or 27d, in a state where a projecting part 17 is inserted into a holder 31, and when the toner supplying unit 12 is removed from the developing unit 5, the projecting part 17 is broken away, and left inside the holder 31. When a novel toner supplying unit 12 is fitted, it is fitted to the developing unit 5 so that the projecting part 17 of the fresh toner supplying unit 12 is inserted into a holder 30 in which the projecting part 17 is not left.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developer supply device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a process unit 1 using an electrophotographic Carlson process as shown in FIG. 8 has been widely used in an image recording apparatus.

In FIG. 8, a process unit 1 is a photosensitive drum (hereinafter referred to as a drum) as an image carrier.
2 and a primary charger 3 for uniformly charging the drum 2
And the exposure opening 4 for forming an electrostatic latent image by scanning and exposing the light beam from a light source (not shown) modulated by the image recording signal onto the drum 2, and the electrostatic latent image on the drum 2 with toner. The developing device 5 for developing a visible image and the toner on the drum 2 are transferred to a sheet (not shown) by a transfer charger 6 provided on the main body of the image recording apparatus (not shown), and then transferred to the sheet. The main component is a cleaning device 10 for scraping off and collecting the toner remaining on the drum 2.

Of the components of the process unit 1, the toner 8 stored in the developing device 5 is consumed according to the number of printed sheets. On the other hand, the waste toner 9 that has not been transferred is stored in the cleaning device 10. Further, the charging and exposure characteristics of the drum 2 generally gradually deteriorate as the above printing process is repeated. Therefore, it is necessary to replace or add these consumables for each certain number of printed sheets. In recent years, a so-called integrated process unit in which the above-mentioned process means are integrally formed is often used in order to save the trouble of replacement for this purpose and prevent the waste toner from spilling during replacement.

The integral process unit is designed so that the life of the drum 2, the life of the toner determined by the toner capacity of the developing device 5, and the life of the waste toner container 11 of the cleaning device are substantially the same. There is. When these constituent elements reach the end of their lives, the process unit 1 is integrally replaced with a new one, which facilitates the above-described replacement.

However, the above-mentioned integrated process unit has the following problems.

In recent years, OPC (organic photoconductor) used as a photoconductor has been improved, and the number of printed sheets is 1 with a drum of φ30 mm.
Long-life products with a life of 000 to 20,000 have come into practical use. The toner consumed when the number of printed sheets is 10,000 varies depending on the developing method. For example, in the case of the one-component magnetic toner method, when the printing area ratio is 5%, it is about 600 grams (bulk density is 0.6, Volume is about 1000CC).
For this reason, the volume of the toner storage portion in the developing device 5 of the process unit must be made larger than this, and the volume of the process unit becomes large, the handleability of the process unit deteriorates, and the main body of the image recording apparatus becomes large. There was a problem that it was inconvenient to convert.

Therefore, in the process unit, only the toner is filled in another toner container, and the toner amount required until the other components such as the drum and the waste toner container reach the end of their life is divided into several times. A method of replenishing the toner with toner is conceivable.

[0009]

However, such a toner replenishment type process unit has the following problems.

That is, since the toner can be supplied into the process unit any number of times by the toner container, if the toner is supplied over the life of the drum and the waste toner container and printing is continued, the electrical characteristics of the drum are deteriorated and the surface is damaged. As a result, there is a risk that the image quality is deteriorated, the normal cleaning action cannot be performed due to the waste toner container becoming full, the toner is spilled from the cleaning device, and the paper and the inside of the device body are contaminated.

Therefore, a means for detecting or displaying how many times the process unit or the developing device has been replenished with toner can be considered. FIG. 9 shows an example of such a device, in which the developing device 105 is provided with a counter device 42 for displaying the number of times the toner container 112 has been replaced. When the user replaces the toner container 112, the toner container 112
The claw 41 of the counter device 42 provided on the developing device 105
The ratchet wheel of is rotated by one step, and the number in the display window 43 is advanced by one step. Toner container 1 as many times as the life of the process unit
When 12 is replaced, a display can be issued to inform the replacement of the entire process unit.

However, in this method, if the user does not understand the meaning of the display or if the user forcibly replaces the toner container even if he or she understands it, it is possible to supply more toner to the process unit that has reached the end of its life. However, the above-mentioned problems may occur.

In addition to the above, there is also a method of displaying the time of replacement of the process unit or the drum and the waste toner to the user by detecting the number of printed sheets from the cumulative rotational speed of the drum, the cumulative light emitting time of the light source, and the like. However, it requires a counter circuit, memory, etc. in the device body, which makes the control device complicated,
There was a problem that the cost was high.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and in a process unit of the type in which toner is replenished in several times depending on the toner case, when the process unit reaches the end of its life, An object of the present invention is to provide a developer supply device that cannot replenish toner with a simple configuration.

[0015]

In order to achieve this object, a developer supplying device of the present invention comprises a developing device and a toner supplying device which is detachably attached to the developing device and stores toner therein. The fixing means capable of fixing the developing device and the toner supplying device in a plurality of directions, the tongue piece provided on the toner supplying device, and the developing device provided in the same number as the number of times of supplying the toner. And a fitting portion with which the tongue piece is fitted.

[0016]

In the developing device of the present invention having the above structure, when the toner feeder is mounted on the developing device, the toner feeder is fixed to the developing device by the fixing means with the tongue piece fitted in the fitting portion. The tongue piece is broken off when the toner supply device is removed from the developing device, and is left inside the fitting portion. When a new toner supply device is attached, the toner supply device is attached to the developing device by the fixing means so that the tongue piece of the toner supply device fits into the fitting portion where the tongue piece does not remain inside.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 4 show a toner container 12 of this embodiment.
And the developing device 5.

The toner container 12 is a container having a substantially rectangular or trapezoidal cross section and an open lower surface, and includes polystyrene (PS) and modified polyphenylene oxide (MP).
It is formed by injection molding a thermoplastic resin such as PO) to a wall thickness of 1 to 3 mm.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the toner container 12. The opening on the bottom surface is filled with toner, and then a film seal 14 is adhered and closed to seal the toner. The film seal 14 is made of low density polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or the like having a thickness of 50 to 2.
Made of flexible material of 00 micron. The portion of the toner container 12 that does not adhere to the opening surface is folded back,
A resin knob 15 is provided at the tip thereof. Further, a brim 13 is formed around the entire opening surface of the toner container 12, and four projections 16a, 16b, 1 for fixing the developing device 5 described later to the left and right are formed on the brim 13.
6c and 16d are formed. In addition, a protrusion 17 is formed at one corner of the brim 13, and the protrusion 17 has a constricted notch 18 having a small cross-sectional area over its entire width.
And a step portion 19 is provided.

The developing device 5 includes a developing device case 22, a developing roller 6 provided on the developing device case 22 for developing toner on a drum, and a blade 7 for regulating the toner layer thickness on the developing roller 6. And a gear 21 for rotating the developing roller 6 by receiving a driving force from a driving source (not shown) as main constituent elements.

The developing device case 22 is made of polystyrene (P
S), acrylonitrile butadiene (ABS), modified polyphenylene oxide (M-PPO), or other thermoplastic resin is injection molded to a thickness of 2 to 4 mm.

An opening 25 for mounting the toner container 12 and supplying toner is provided on the upper surface 26 of the developing device case 22.
And the protrusion 16a formed on the collar 13 of the toner container 12.
To 16d, respectively, and holders 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d for fixing the toner container 12, and holes 30a, 3 for fitting with the protrusion 17 of the toner container 12 described above.
Two holders 30, 31 with 1a are provided.
As shown in FIG. 2, the holders 30 and 31 of the developing device case 5 are
Is located symmetrically with respect to the center point of the opening 25, so that the toner container 12 can be attached to the developing device 5 in the direction in which the protrusion 17 fits into both the holders 30 and 31. ..

As described above, the notch 1 is formed in the protrusion 17.
8 and the step portion 19 are formed, and when the projecting portion 17 is inserted into the hole 31a of the holder 31, there is the step portion 32 at the position where the step portions 19 fit (FIG. 5A). Holder hole 31
The bottom of a is slightly recessed from the upper surface 26 of the toner container 12, and the height of the step 32 of the hole is the same as the step 19 of the protrusion 17.
It is slightly larger than the height of. Therefore, when the protrusion 17 is inserted into the hole 31 a of the holder 31, since the protrusion 17 has the notch 18, the step 19 is the step 32 of the hole.
When it passes through, the step portion 19 and the step portion 32 are engaged with each other as shown in FIG. 5B.

Incidentally, each projection of the toner container 12 and the developing device 5
In each of the holders, the protrusion 17 has the holder 30 or the holder 3
1, the toner container is slid in the longitudinal direction so that the projections 16a to 16d engage with the holders 27a to 27d.

Next, the operation will be described.

When the toner container 12 is attached to the developing device 5 for the first time, since the holders 30 and 31 of the developing device 5 are located symmetrically with respect to the center point of the opening 25, the toner container 1
The unit 2 may be mounted on the developing unit 5 in the direction shown in FIG. 1, or in the opposite direction.

Now, assuming that the first mounting direction of the toner container 12 is the direction shown in FIG. 1, the user first inserts the protrusion 17 of the toner container 12 into the hole 31a of the holder 31 of the developing device 5.
Plug in. Then, the lower surface of the toner container 12 is slid along the upper surface 26 of the developing device 5 so as to be inserted into the protrusions 27a to 27d of the developing device 5, respectively.

Next, pull the knob 15 in the direction of arrow E,
The film seal 14 is peeled off while peeling off the adhesive surface between the film seal 14 and the lower surface of the toner container 12, and the toner in the toner container 12 is supplied into the developing device 5.

When the main body of the image recording apparatus is used and the remaining amount of toner in the developing device case 22 becomes small and it becomes necessary to replenish the toner, the second toner container 12 is replaced.

This operation starts with the first toner container 12
Slide in the direction opposite to the mounting direction to attach the protrusions 16a to 16a.
6d is removed from the holders 27a to 27d. This allows
The toner container 12 can be lifted from the upper surface of the developing device 5. However, at this time, the stepped portion 19 of the protrusion 17 meshes with the stepped portion 32 of the holder 31, and the toner container 12 is no longer engaged.
Can't pull out. Here, when a little force is applied to twist the toner container 12, the notch 18 of the protrusion 17 breaks at the fracture surface 18a, and the protrusion 17 remains in the hole 31a of the holder 31 (FIG. 5C). ), The empty first toner container 12 can be removed (FIG. 4).

Next, a new second toner container 12
In the direction of mounting, since the protrusion 17 of the toner container previously removed remains in the holder 31, the protrusion 17 of the second toner container 12 is inserted into the holder 30. The following procedure is the same as the procedure for mounting the first toner container, and the toner is supplied into the developing device.

In the case of the present embodiment, the printable number according to the amount of toner that can be supplied by the toner container 12 and the printable number of other parts such as the drum in the process unit and the capacity of the waste toner container match. Is designed. Therefore, when the amount of toner remaining in the second toner container becomes low, the toner container can be removed as described above, but the protrusions 17 are inserted into both the holders 30 and 31 of the developing device. Therefore, I cannot attach a new toner container. Therefore, the process unit is replaced in accordance with the display section of the image recording apparatus main body (not shown) or the instruction of the instruction manual.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.

The developing device of the second embodiment is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, the holders 50, 51, 52 and 53 are provided at four points which are point-symmetric with respect to the center of the opening on the upper surface of the developing device case. On the other hand, the toner container is the same as the toner container 12 of the first embodiment, and the protrusion 37 as shown in FIG.
The toner containers 62 provided at different positions are prepared.
The protrusion 37 of the toner container 62 corresponds to the protrusion 1 of the toner container 12.
7 is provided on the end surface on the opposite side to the film seal 14.

Then, as in the first embodiment, the toner container 1
After the toner is replenished twice in 2, the toner can be supplied twice in the toner container 62, and therefore, the toner in four toner containers can be supplied to the developing device.

As is clear from the above description, in this embodiment, when the toner containers 12 and 62 are detached from the developing device 5, the protrusions 17 and 37 are broken off and left inside the holder. Is provided in the developing device 5 as many times as the number of times of toner supply, it is impossible to supply toner to the developing device 5 more than necessary.

Therefore, the toner is not erroneously supplied to the process unit that has reached the end of its life, and the image quality is deteriorated due to the deterioration of the electrical characteristics of the drum, the surface scratches, etc., and the waste toner container becomes full. It is possible to achieve easy maintenance and a long service life in line with the original purpose of the process unit without the problem that the cleaning function cannot be performed, toner from the cleaning device spills, and the paper and the inside of the device become dirty. You can

Further, in this embodiment, the toner containers 12 and 62 are
There is only one protrusion at the corner of the brim 13, while the holder of the developing device 5 is at two points symmetrical with respect to the center of the upper opening. Therefore, the toner containers attached to the developing device twice can have the same shape, and the injection molding mold of the toner container can be shared. Further, there is also an advantage that it is not necessary to call the user's unnecessary attention to the order of using the toner container for the first time and the second time, and the management becomes easy in distribution.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in detail above, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0041]

As is clear from the above description, in the developer supplying device of the present invention, the tongue piece is broken off when the toner supplying device is detached from the developing device and is left inside the fitting portion. Since the fitting portion is provided in the developing device as many times as the toner is supplied, it is impossible to supply the toner to the developing device more than necessary.

Therefore, the toner is not erroneously supplied to the process unit that has reached the end of its life, and the image quality is deteriorated due to the deterioration of the electrical characteristics of the drum and the surface scratches, and the waste toner container becomes full. It is possible to achieve easy maintenance and a long service life in line with the original purpose of the process unit without the problem that the cleaning function cannot be performed, toner from the cleaning device spills, and the paper and the inside of the device become dirty. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toner container and a developing device.

FIG. 2A is a plan view of a developing device. FIG. 3B is a plan view of the toner container.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the toner container as viewed from below.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where the toner container and the developing device are removed.

5 (a) to 5 (c) are cross-sectional views of a fitting state of a protrusion and a holder.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a toner container and a developing device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a toner container according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional process unit.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional toner container and a developing device.

[Description of Reference Signs] 5 developing device 12 toner container 17 protrusion 27a holder 27b holder 27c holder 27d holder 30 holder 31 holder 37 protrusion 50 holder 51 holder 52 holder 53 holder 62 toner container

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Soichiro Nishimura 15-1 Naeshiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi Brother Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A developer supplying device comprising a developing device and a toner supplying device which is detachably attached to the developing device and stores toner therein, wherein the developing device and the toner supplying device are provided in a plurality of directions. A fixing unit that can be fixed; a tongue provided on the toner supply unit; and a number of toners provided on the developing unit for the number of toner supply times.
A fitting part to which the tongue is fitted, and when the toner supplier is mounted on the developing device, the toner supplier is the developing device with the tongue fitted to the fitting part. The toner supply device is fixed by the fixing means, and the tongue piece is broken off when the toner supply device is detached from the developing device, and is left inside the fitting portion.