CN211653404U

CN211653404U - Drum assembly, developing cartridge and process cartridge

Info

Publication number: CN211653404U
Application number: CN202020729570.5U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄定飞
Original assignee: Zhongshan Hongpengtai Plastic Mould Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Zhongshan Hongpengtai Plastic Mould Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-05
Filing date: 2020-05-05
Publication date: 2020-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2030-05-05

Abstract

The utility model relates to a drum subassembly, development box and including development box and the processing box of drum subassembly, wherein, development box detachably installs in the drum subassembly, development box includes the development casing and forms a plurality of guide ribs on development casing lower surface, the drum subassembly includes interconnect's drum subassembly main part and formation of image portion, set up the guide piece in at least one of drum subassembly and development box, when development box is installed to the drum subassembly, the guide piece is arranged with guide rib adjacent or the guide piece is arranged with drum subassembly main part downside board adjacent to the smooth guide rib of paper that will pass through drum subassembly main part downside board, finally get into formation of image portion smoothly, therefore, the utility model relates to a drum subassembly and the assembly process who contains the processing box of drum subassembly can be simplified.

Description

Drum assembly, developing cartridge and process cartridge

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a process cartridge detachably mountable in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the process cartridge including a developing cartridge and a drum assembly detachably mountable to each other.

Background

A printer is a common electrophotographic image forming apparatus, in which a process cartridge is detachably mounted in the printer, in order to reduce the use cost of an end user, there have been printer designers which design the process cartridge in a structure in which a developing cartridge and a drum assembly are combined with each other, the developing cartridge contains toner required for development, and is mounted with a developing member for supplying the toner outward, the drum assembly is mounted with a photosensitive member for forming an electrostatic latent image, and when the developing cartridge is mounted to the drum assembly, the developing member contacts the photosensitive member and supplies the toner to the photosensitive member, so that the electrostatic latent image is developed.

Generally, the life of the photosensitive member is much longer than that of the developing cartridge, and when the toner is consumed, the end user only needs to replace the developing cartridge, and the drum assembly can be continuously used, so that the use cost of the end user can be reduced.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional process cartridge, and fig. 2 is a perspective view of a conventional developing cartridge. As shown in the drawing, the process cartridge 100 includes a developing cartridge 20 and a drum assembly 10 which are combined with each other, the developing cartridge 20 is detachably mounted in the drum assembly 10 and can be mounted to a printer as the drum assembly 10 advances in a front-rear direction, and the printer operates such that an image forming medium (paper) passes through the developing cartridge 20 from below the process cartridge 100 and then enters the drum assembly 10, and is opposed to a photosensitive member in the drum assembly 10 to transfer an electrostatic latent image developed on the photosensitive member.

In order to ensure that paper can smoothly enter the image forming section 13 (shown in fig. 3) of the drum assembly 10 after passing through the developing cartridge 20, as shown in fig. 2, the developing cartridge 20 includes a developing casing 21 and a plurality of guide ribs 23 formed on a lower surface 22 of the developing casing 21, and the paper needs to be guided below the drum assembly 10 before reaching the guide ribs 23, and a platen roller movable in the up-down direction is provided below the conventional drum assembly 10, and guides the paper when the paper passes below the drum assembly 10, so that the paper is prevented from falling and jamming when the paper reaches the guide ribs 23 from below the drum assembly 10.

The platen roller solves the problem of paper jam, but the assembly process of the platen roller is complicated, and thus a structure capable of preventing the occurrence of the paper jam even when the platen roller is not installed is considered.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The utility model provides a drum subassembly of non-pressure paper roll to reach the purpose of simplifying drum subassembly assembly process, simultaneously, under the condition of drum subassembly non-pressure paper roll, carry out redesign to drum subassembly and at least one of developing cartridge, finally reduce the assembly process of processing box, and adopt following technical scheme:

a drum assembly for detachably accommodating a developing cartridge, the developing cartridge including a developing housing and a plurality of guide ribs formed on a lower surface of the developing housing, the drum assembly including a drum assembly body and an image forming portion connected to each other, an exposure port being further formed between the drum assembly body and the image forming portion, the drum assembly further including a guide piece extending from a lower side plate of the drum assembly body to the exposure port, the guide rib being exposed through the exposure port when the developing cartridge is mounted to the drum assembly, the guide piece being disposed adjacent to at least one of the guide ribs.

The guide piece includes a first portion connected to the drum assembly main body, a second portion connected to the first portion, and a third portion connected to the second portion, the first portion and the second portion being gradually inclined upward, and the third portion being gradually inclined downward.

The guide rib includes first guide surface and the second guide surface that connects gradually, and at least the second guide surface is the inclined plane, and along fore-and-aft direction, the rear end of second guide surface is closer to development housing than the front end.

The third portion has a free end point P3, and P3 is located within the second guide surface when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the up-down direction.

The utility model also provides a processing box, including developing cartridge and as above drum subassembly, developing cartridge detachably installs in the drum subassembly.

The utility model also provides a developing box, detachably installs in the drum subassembly, developing box includes the developing housing and forms a plurality of guide ribs on the developing housing lower surface, the drum subassembly includes interconnect's drum subassembly main part and formation of image portion, still be formed with between drum subassembly main part and formation of image portion and expose the mouth, developing box is still including forming the guide piece on the guide rib, when developing box is installed to the drum subassembly, the guide rib exposes through exposing the mouth, and the guide piece is arranged with drum subassembly main part lower side board is adjacent.

Preferably, the guide piece is formed as a rear end portion of the guide rib.

The guide rib includes a third guide surface and a fourth guide surface connected to each other with an angle formed therebetween of not less than 90 °.

The utility model also provides a processing box, including the drum subassembly and as above the development box, development box detachably installs in the drum subassembly.

The utility model provides another kind of processing box, including the developing box and the drum subassembly that combine each other, the developing box includes the developing housing and forms a plurality of guide ribs on the developing housing lower surface, the drum subassembly includes interconnect's drum subassembly main part and formation of image portion, still be formed with between drum subassembly main part and formation of image portion and expose the mouth, the developing box is still including setting up the guide piece on the guide rib, the drum subassembly still includes the guide piece that extends to exposing the mouth from drum subassembly main part downside board, when the developing box was installed to the drum subassembly, the guide rib exposes outside through exposing the mouth, guide piece and the guide rib on the drum subassembly are adjacent to be arranged in the left and right directions.

As described above, the present invention relates to a drum assembly in which a platen roller is not provided, but a guide piece is provided in at least one of the drum assembly and the developing cartridge, and when the developing cartridge is mounted to the drum assembly, the guide piece is disposed adjacent to a guide rib or the guide piece is disposed adjacent to a lower side plate of a drum assembly main body, so that paper passing through the lower side plate of the drum assembly main body is smoothly guided to the guide rib and finally smoothly enters an image forming portion, and therefore, the assembly process of the drum assembly and the process cartridge including the drum assembly is simplified.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional process cartridge.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a conventional developing cartridge.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a drum assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4A and 4B are perspective views of a drum assembly and a developing cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention after assembly.

Fig. 4C is an enlarged schematic view of a portion R1 in fig. 4B.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the process cartridge according to the first embodiment of the present invention, taken along the front-rear direction thereof.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a developing cartridge according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the assembled developing cartridge and drum assembly according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the process cartridge according to the second embodiment of the present invention, taken along the front-rear direction thereof.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a process cartridge according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

For simplicity, the same reference numbers will be used for the same components as those in the background, and the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention relates to a process cartridge 100 detachably mountable to a printer (electrophotographic image forming apparatus), including a detachably attachable developing cartridge 20 and a drum assembly 10, the developing cartridge 20 includes a developing casing 21 and a plurality of guide ribs 23 formed on a lower surface 22 of the developing casing 21.

[ example one ]

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a drum assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention; fig. 4A and 4B are perspective views of a drum assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention assembled with a developing cartridge; fig. 4C is an enlarged schematic view of a portion R1 in fig. 4B.

The drum assembly 10 includes a drum assembly body 11 and an image forming portion 13 connected to each other, an exposure opening 12 is further formed between the drum assembly body 11 and the image forming portion 13, the photosensitive member 15 is rotatably mounted in the image forming portion 13 (as shown in fig. 5 and 8), and the guide rib 23 is exposed through the exposure opening 12 when the developing cartridge 20 is mounted to the drum assembly 10.

Further referring to fig. 2, the guide rib 23 includes a first guide surface 23a and a second guide surface 23b connected in series, at least the second guide surface 23b being a slope surface inclined in such a direction that, in the front-rear direction of the developing cartridge 20, the rear end of the second guide surface 23b is closer to the developing casing 21 than the front end; meanwhile, the guide rib 23 further includes a concave surface 23c connected to the second guide surface 23b, and the concave surface 23c is recessed from the rear to the front, so that the material consumption of the guide rib 23 is reduced, and the comfort level when the developing cartridge 20 is grabbed is also improved.

Returning to fig. 3 in conjunction with fig. 4A and 4B, the drum assembly 10 further includes a guide piece 14 extending from the lower side plate 11a of the drum assembly main body 11 to the exposure port 12, the guide piece 14 being disposed adjacent to at least one guide rib 23 when the developing cartridge 20 is mounted to the drum assembly 10, and the paper sheet reaches the guide rib 23 under the guidance of the guide piece 14 after passing through the drum assembly main body lower side plate 11a when the printer is in operation, preventing the paper sheet from falling between the drum assembly 10 and the developing cartridge 20.

As shown in fig. 4C, the guide piece 14 includes a first portion 14a connected to the drum assembly main body 11, a second portion 14b connected to the first portion 14a, and a third portion 14C connected to the second portion 14b, wherein the first portion 14a functions to support the guide piece 14 and may be referred to as a support portion, the second portion 14b may be referred to as a transition portion, and the third portion 14C may be referred to as a guide portion.

The first portion 14a and the second portion 14b are gradually inclined upward in the front-rear direction to guide the sheet more accurately to the position where the guide rib 23 is located, the third portion 14c is set to be gradually inclined downward, as shown by a part R2 in fig. 5, the first guide surface 23a and the second guide surface 23b intersect at a point P1, the second guide surface 23b and the concave surface 23c intersect at a point P2, the third portion 14c and the second portion 14b intersect at a point P4, the free end point of the third portion 14c is set to be P3, in the front-rear direction, P1 is located forward of P2, P3 is located forward of P4, in the up-down direction, P1 is located downward of P2, P3 is located downward of P4, and P3 is also located downward of P2, that is, when viewed in the direction perpendicular to the up-down direction, P3 is located within the range of the second guide surface 23b, and thus, the sheet passes first through the first guide rib 14a and the second portion 14b, has reached a position closer to the upper side of the drum assembly where the sheet is less likely to move in a direction away from the drum assembly 10, and then has passed through the guide of the third portion 14c to the second guide surface 23b, and then to the first guide surface 23a, and finally smoothly enters the image forming portion 13.

As described above, when the above-described guide piece 14 is provided in the drum assembly 10, the platen roller will no longer need to be provided, and the guide piece 14 may be formed integrally with the drum assembly main body 11, which is preferable; the guide piece 14 may be formed separately from the drum assembly body 11, and then the guide piece 14 is connected to the drum assembly body 11 by means of snap-fit connection, key-groove connection, magnetic connection, or the like, and it can be understood that even if the guide piece 14 is connected to the drum assembly body 11 by one of the above-described means, the assembling process thereof is simpler than the conventional process of mounting the platen roller.

Further, the guide pieces 14 can be arranged in a plurality at intervals along the left-right direction, which is beneficial for drum component manufacturers to mass-produce the drum components 10 in an injection molding mode and can also reduce the material consumption of the guide pieces 14; further, according to the function of the guide piece 14, when the guide piece 14 is provided in plural, only the guide pieces 14 located at the ends of the left and right sides in the left and right direction can achieve the object of the present invention.

[ example two ]

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a developing cartridge according to a second embodiment of the present invention; fig. 7 is a perspective view of the assembled developing cartridge and drum assembly according to the second embodiment of the present invention; fig. 8 is a sectional view of the process cartridge according to the second embodiment of the present invention, taken along the front-rear direction thereof.

In the present embodiment, the drum assembly 10 is not modified after the platen roller is eliminated, but the object of the present invention is achieved by modifying the structure of the existing developing cartridge 20.

As shown in fig. 6 and 7, the guide rib 23 is no longer provided with the groove 23c, but includes a third guide surface 23d and a fourth guide surface 23e connected to the third guide surface 23d, and at this time, the rear distal end portion of the guide rib 23 may be regarded as the guide piece 14, and the guide rib 23 (guide piece 14) is adjacent to the drum assembly main body 11 when the developing cartridge 20 is mounted to the drum assembly 10. In operation of the printer, the paper sheet passes through the lower side plate 11a of the drum assembly body and then directly reaches the guide rib 23, and does not fall between the drum assembly 10 and the developing cartridge 20.

As shown in fig. 8, the third guide surface 23d intersects the fourth guide surface 23e at a point P5, and the point at the forefront of the drum assembly main body 11 in the front-rear direction is P6, and both satisfy that, in the up-down direction, the point P6 is located below the point P5, and the sheet reaches the third guide surface 23d directly after passing through the point P6.

Further, the third guide surface 23d and the fourth guide surface 23e form an angle α, and in order to make the paper smoothly reach the guide rib 23 from the drum assembly main body 11, it is preferable that the angle α is not less than 90 °, and when the angle α is greater than 90 °, the third guide surface 23d is inclined such that the rear end of the third guide surface 23d is closer to the developing housing 21 than the front end in the front-rear direction, and at this time, the third guide surface 23d and the fourth guide surface 23e correspond to the first guide surface 23a and the second guide surface 23b in the first embodiment, respectively.

[ third example ]

In the present embodiment, the drum assembly 10 and the developing cartridge 20 are modified as described above, respectively, in that the guide rib 23 is elongated, the guide piece 14 extends from the drum assembly main body 11 toward the exposure port 12, and the guide piece 14 is partitioned into the first guide piece 141 and the second guide piece 142 disposed at an interval, the guide rib 23 enters between the first guide piece 141 and the second guide piece 142, at this time, the first guide piece 141 and the second guide piece 142 are both disposed adjacent to the guide rib 23 in the left-right direction, the paper reaches the guide piece 14, namely, simultaneously reaches below the guide rib 23, and finally, the paper smoothly enters the image forming portion 13 under the guidance of the guide rib 23.

[ example four ]

This embodiment is a modification of the first embodiment and the second embodiment.

With respect to the first embodiment, the guide piece 14 extends to reach below the first guide surface 23a, that is, the guide piece 14 partially overlaps the guide rib 23 in the front-rear direction, and at this time, the guide piece 14 is disposed adjacent to the guide rib 23, and the paper sheet reaches the third guide surface 23d directly after passing through the guide piece 14.

With respect to the second embodiment, the guide piece 14 (guide rib 23) extends to reach above the drum assembly body lower side plate 11a, that is, the guide piece 14 partially overlaps the guide rib 23 in the front-rear direction, and at this time, the guide piece 14 is disposed adjacent to the drum assembly body lower side plate 11a, and the paper sheet reaches the third guide surface 23d directly after passing through the guide piece 14.

It should be noted that the adjacent arrangement includes not only the case where the two are in close proximity but also the case where there is a slight gap between the two due to an assembly error or a manufacturing error.

For example, in the first embodiment, the guide piece 14 is arranged adjacent to the guide rib 23, and a gap is formed between the guide piece 14 and the guide rib 23 along the front-back direction; in the second embodiment, the guide pieces 14 (guide ribs 23) and the drum assembly main body 11 may form a gap not only in the front-rear direction but also in the up-down direction; in the third embodiment, the guide piece 14 and the guide rib 23 form a gap in the left-right direction. As shown in fig. 5 and 8, the gap t1 or t2 may be in the range of 0.3mm to 1.0mm, so that the paper can smoothly reach the guide rib 23 without falling from between the guide piece 14 and the guide rib 23.

As described above, the present invention relates to a drum assembly in which the platen roller is not provided, but the guide piece 14 is provided in at least one of the drum assembly 10 and the developing cartridge 20, and when the developing cartridge 20 is mounted to the drum assembly 10, the guide piece 14 is opposed to the guide rib 23 of the developing cartridge 20 and the drum assembly main body lower side plate 11a at the same time, or the guide piece 14 is disposed adjacent to the guide rib 23 or the guide piece 14 is disposed adjacent to the drum assembly main body lower side plate 11a, so that the paper passing through the drum assembly main body lower side plate 11a is smoothly guided to the guide rib 23 and finally smoothly enters the image forming portion 13, and thus, the assembling process of the drum assembly 10 and the process cartridge 100 including the drum assembly 10 is simplified.

Claims

1. A drum assembly for detachably accommodating a developing cartridge, the developing cartridge including a developing housing and a plurality of guide ribs formed on a lower surface of the developing housing, the drum assembly including a drum assembly main body and an image forming portion connected to each other, an exposure port being further formed between the drum assembly main body and the image forming portion, characterized in that the drum assembly further includes a guide piece extending from a lower side plate of the drum assembly main body to the exposure port, the guide rib being exposed through the exposure port when the developing cartridge is mounted to the drum assembly, the guide piece being disposed adjacent to at least one of the guide ribs.

2. The drum assembly of claim 1 wherein the guide tab includes a first portion connected to the drum assembly body, a second portion connected to the first portion, and a third portion connected to the second portion, the first and second portions being gradually inclined upwardly and the third portion being gradually inclined downwardly.

3. A drum assembly according to claim 2, wherein the guide rib includes a first guide surface and a second guide surface connected in series, at least the second guide surface being a slope, and a rear end of the second guide surface being closer to the developing casing than a front end thereof in the front-rear direction.

4. A drum assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the third portion has a free end point P3, and when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the up-down direction, P3 is located within the confines of the second guide surface.

5. A process cartridge comprising a developing cartridge and a drum assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the developing cartridge being detachably mountable in the drum assembly.

6. And a developing cartridge detachably mounted in the drum assembly, the developing cartridge including a developing housing and a plurality of guide ribs formed on a lower surface of the developing housing, the drum assembly including a drum assembly main body and an image forming portion connected to each other, an exposure port being further formed between the drum assembly main body and the image forming portion, characterized in that the developing cartridge further includes a guide piece formed on the guide rib, the guide rib being exposed through the exposure port when the developing cartridge is mounted to the drum assembly, and the guide piece being disposed adjacent to the lower side plate of the drum assembly main body.

7. A developing cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the guide piece is formed as a rear end portion of the guide rib.

8. A developing cartridge according to claim 7, wherein the guide rib includes a third guide surface and a fourth guide surface connected to each other with an angle formed therebetween of not less than 90 °.

9. A process cartridge comprising a drum assembly and the developing cartridge according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the developing cartridge is detachably mountable to the drum assembly.

10. A process cartridge including a developing cartridge and a drum assembly combined with each other, the developing cartridge including a developing housing and a plurality of guide ribs formed on a lower surface of the developing housing, the drum assembly including a drum assembly main body and an image forming portion connected to each other, an exposure port being further formed between the drum assembly main body and the image forming portion, characterized in that the developing cartridge further includes a guide piece provided on the guide rib, the drum assembly further includes a guide piece extending from a lower side plate of the drum assembly main body to the exposure port, when the developing cartridge is mounted to the drum assembly, the guide rib is exposed to the outside through the exposure port, and the guide piece on the drum assembly and the guide rib are adjacently disposed in a left-right direction.