CN215117173U - Counting device and developing cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to a counting assembly and have this counting assembly's development box, counting assembly is used for receiving the drive power of driving piece and outside by counting piece interact and realize the count, including rotatable counting piece, the guide piece that is used for leading counting piece and the compel that is used for forcing the translation of counting piece, the guide piece leads counting piece, counting piece includes main part, at least one guide rod and the driving lever of being connected with the main part, the main part can receive the drive power of driving piece and rotate, the guide rod is outstanding from the main part; when the counting device counts, the main body is combined with the driving piece, and the deflector rod interacts with the counted piece along with the rotation of the main body; when counting device accomplished the count, under the compelling push effect of compelling the piece that pushes away, the guide bar is guided by the guide piece, and the whole with the driving piece of counting piece breaks away from the combination, need not tear the end cover when counting device need be reset to simplify the test procedure of developing box, reduce the damaged possibility of part of developing box.

Description

Counting device and developing cartridge

Technical Field

The utility model relates to an electrophotographic imaging field especially relates to a detachably installs the developing cartridge in electrophotographic imaging apparatus and is located the counting assembly of developing cartridge.

Background

Conventionally, a counting device is provided in a developing cartridge for interacting with a member to be counted in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, so that the developing cartridge can be recognized by the electrophotographic image forming apparatus when mounted, and when the developing cartridge starts to operate, the counting device is driven to rotate, interacts with the member to be counted by touching and disengaging, and the counting device no longer receives a driving force and maintains a stationary state after rotating by a predetermined angle.

The developing cartridges are tested before being shipped from a manufacturing factory to ensure that each of the developing cartridges shipped from the manufacturing factory is a good product, however, the developing cartridges must be mounted to the electrophotographic image forming apparatus during the testing process, and then the counting device in the tested developing cartridges needs to be reset, otherwise, the end user cannot use the cartridges normally.

The existing resetting method is to remove the end cover of the developing box, then manually reset the counting device, and finally install the end cover back.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The utility model provides a counting assembly and developing box, this counting assembly is redesigned, when needs reset counting assembly, need not disassemble developing box, perhaps, need not tear developing box end cover open to simplify developing box's test procedure, reduce developing box's the impaired possibility of part, its concrete scheme is as follows:

the counting device comprises a rotatable counting piece, a guide piece and a pushing piece, wherein the guide piece is used for guiding the counting piece, the pushing piece is used for forcing the counting piece to translate, the guide piece guides the counting piece, the counting piece comprises a main body, at least one guide rod and a deflector rod connected with the main body, the main body can receive the driving force of the driving piece to rotate, and the guide rod protrudes from the main body; when the counting device counts, the main body is combined with the driving piece, and the deflector rod interacts with the counted piece along with the rotation of the main body; when the counting device finishes counting, the guide rod is guided by the guide piece under the urging action of the urging piece, and the counting piece is integrally separated from the driving piece.

Preferably, the urging member is formed integrally with the driving member; the axis of rotation of the guide rod coincides with the axis of rotation of the counter element.

The guide piece comprises a first translation groove and a second translation groove which are communicated with each other, wherein the second translation groove is farther away from the driving piece than the first translation groove, the guide rod is positioned in the first translation groove when the counting device counts, and the guide rod translates from the first translation groove to the second translation groove under the action of the urging piece when the counting device finishes counting.

The first translation groove and the second translation groove are provided with two intersection points, and the size of a connecting line between the two intersection points is smaller than the maximum size of the guide rod.

The utility model provides a developing box, detachably install in electrophotographic imaging device, developing box includes the casing and is located the vertical terminal power receiving part of casing, the casing is used for holding the carbon dust, and power receiving part is arranged in receiving drive power from electrophotographic imaging device, developing box still includes as above counting assembly, wherein, the driving piece is received the piece drive by power, and the guide sets up on the casing.

Preferably, the first and second translation grooves are arranged in a direction parallel to a mounting direction of the developing cartridge.

The developing cartridge further includes an end cap covering a part of the counting device, the end cap being provided with a third translational groove and a fourth translational groove communicating with each other, the counting member including a first guide rod guided by the first translational groove and the second translational groove and a second guide rod guided by the third translational groove and the fourth translational groove.

The third translational groove is opposite to the first translational groove, and the fourth translational groove is opposite to the second translational groove.

As described above, the utility model relates to a counting assembly is after the count is accomplished, and the whole with the driving piece of counting member breaks away from the combination, need not tear open when counting assembly needs to be reset and get the end cover to simplify the test procedure of developing box, reduce the impaired possibility of part of developing box.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a developing cartridge according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an exploded view of a counting end part of the developing cartridge according to the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of an internal structure of an end cap of a counting end in the developing cartridge according to the present invention.

Fig. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams illustrating relative positions of the counting member and the driving member before the counting device of the present invention starts counting.

Fig. 4C is a schematic view of the position of the rotation axis of the counting member in the translation groove when the counting device of the present invention is cut along a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the counting member before starting counting.

Fig. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating relative positions of the counting member and the driving member after the counting of the counting device according to the present invention is completed.

Fig. 5C is a schematic view of the position of the rotation axis of the counting member in the translation groove when the counting device of the present invention is cut along a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the counting member before starting counting.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a developing cartridge according to the present invention; fig. 2 is an exploded view of a counting end part of the developing cartridge according to the present invention.

The developing cartridge C is mountable to and removable from the electrophotographic image forming apparatus in a mounting direction a, and includes a housing 11 containing toner, a developing roller 12 rotatably mounted in the housing 11, a power assembly 20 and a counting device 30 at longitudinal ends of the housing 11, and alternatively, the power assembly 20 and the counting device 30 may be located at the same longitudinal end of the housing 11 or at both longitudinal ends of the housing 11, respectively, and the power assembly 20 is configured to receive a driving force from the electrophotographic image forming apparatus and transmit the driving force to the developing roller 12 and the counting device 30.

The utility model is described by taking the power assembly 20 and the counting device 30 located on the same side of the shell 11 as an example, as shown in the figure, the developing box C also comprises an end cover 13 arranged on the same side of the power assembly 20, the end cover 13 is combined with the shell 11, and a part of the power assembly 20 and a part of the counting device 30 are both extended out of the end cover 13; the driving assembly 20 further includes a power receiving part 21 for receiving a driving force and a driving element 22 combined with the counting device 30 for providing the counting device 30 with the driving force, the driving element 22 being driven by the power receiving part 21.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of an internal structure of an end cap of a counting end in the developing cartridge according to the present invention.

The counting device 30 comprises a rotatable counting member 31, a guiding member for guiding the counting member 31 and a pushing member 33 for forcing the counting member 31 to translate, wherein the counting member 31 is combined with the driving member 22 and used for receiving the driving force of the driving member 22 to rotate, the guiding member is used for guiding the counting member 31, the pushing member 33 is used for pushing the counting member 31 when the counting is completed, so that the counting member can be guided to a position far away from the driving member 22 after the counting device 30 completes the counting, and at the moment, the counting member 31 cannot receive the driving force of the driving member 22 and keeps still.

Usually, the counting member 31 is a counting gear, the driving member 22 is a driving gear, when the counting device 30 counts, the counting gear 31 is engaged with the driving gear 22, and when the counting device 30 finishes counting, the counting gear 31 is disengaged from the driving gear 22; the counting member 31 and the driving member 22 may be configured such that one of them is a gear and the other is a rubber wheel, or both the counting member 31 and the driving member 22 are configured as rubber wheels, or the counting member 31 and the driving member 22 are not directly coupled but coupled by a driving force transmitting member such as a belt or a wire which interrupts the transmission of the driving force between the driving member 22 and the counting member 31 when the counting device 30 completes counting.

Hereinafter, the counter 31 is a counter gear, the driving member 22 is a driving gear, the counter gear 31 includes a gear body/main body 311, the gear body 311 is a full-tooth gear, at least one guide rod protrudes from the gear body 311 along a rotation axis L2 (shown in fig. 4A) of the counter 31, and a shift lever 312 connected to the gear body 311, preferably, the guide rod passes through a rotation axis L2 of the counter 31, or, the rotation axis of the guide rod coincides with the rotation axis L2, and the shift lever 312 is formed to extend from the gear body 311 in a direction parallel to the rotation axis L2, that is, the shift lever 312 does not intersect with the guide rod when the guide rod passes through the rotation axis L2. Of course, the guide lever may not pass through the rotation axis L2, and in this case, the guide lever only performs a guiding function, and a member that passes through the rotation axis L2 and supports the rotation of the gear body/main body 311 may be formed separately from the guide lever.

As shown in fig. 2, the two guide rods are provided, that is, the first guide rod 313 and the second guide rod 314 extending in opposite directions from the gear body 311 along the rotation axis L2 of the counter 31, the first guide rod 313 is guided by the first guide member 32, the second guide rod 314 is guided by the second guide member 34, and the counter 31 can be more smoothly urged by the urging member 33 by being guided in the axial direction of the gear body 311.

The first guide member 32 is disposed on the housing 11 and includes a base 320 and a first translation groove 321 and a second translation groove 322 disposed in the base 320 and communicating with each other, the first guide rod 313 is reciprocally movable between the first translation groove 321 and the second translation groove 322, the counting member 31 may receive the driving force of the driving member 22 when the first guide rod 313 is located in the first translation groove 321, and the counting member 31 may not receive the driving force of the driving member 22 when the first guide rod 313 is located in the second translation groove 322. Preferably, the first guide 32 is formed integrally with the housing 11, and further, the first guide 32 protrudes from the side surface 14 of the housing 11.

As shown in fig. 3, the end cover 13 includes an end cover body 130, and a first through hole 131 and a second through hole 132 provided on the end cover body 130, the power receiving element 21 is exposed from the first through hole 131, the counting device 30 is exposed from the second through hole 132, and at the same time, the end cover 13 further includes an extension 133 extending from the end cover body 131 into the second through hole 132, and a stopper plate 134 extending from the extension 133 into the second through hole 132, and when the end cover 13 is mounted, the lever 312 protrudes from a space between the stopper plate 134 and the end cover body 131. The second guide member 34 is disposed on a side of the limit plate 134 facing the housing 11, and similarly, the second guide member 34 includes a base 340 and a third translational groove 341 and a fourth translational groove 342 disposed in the base 340 and communicating with each other, the second guide rod 314 is reciprocally movable between the third translational groove 341 and the fourth translational groove 342, the counter member 31 may receive the driving force of the driving member 22 when the second guide rod 314 is located in the third translational groove 341, and the counter member 31 may not receive the driving force of the driving member 22 when the second guide rod 314 is located in the fourth translational groove 342.

It can be seen that when the end cap 13 is installed, the first and third translational grooves 321 and 341 are opposed, and the second and fourth translational grooves 322 and 342 are opposed; the first translational groove 321 and the second translational groove 322 have an intersection point M and an intersection point N (as shown in fig. 4C), and the size of a connecting line between the intersection point M and the intersection point N is smaller than the maximum size of the first guide rod 313; similarly, there are two intersections between the third and fourth translational grooves 341 and 342, and the line connecting the two intersections is smaller than the maximum dimension of the second guide rod 314, so that the counter 31 can be stably held at the first position capable of receiving the driving force of the driving member 22 under the supporting action of the first and second guide rods 313 and 314. It is realized that the counting member 31 is provided with only one guide rod, and correspondingly, only one guide member capable of guiding the guide rod is provided in the developing cartridge, and the counting member 31 can be maintained at the first position.

Further, the guide 32/34 includes a notch 323/343 disposed therein and in communication with the translation slot, the notch 323/343 being configured to allow the portion of the base 320/340 to elastically deform as the guide rod reciprocates in the translation slot, thereby reducing resistance to movement of the guide rod between the two translation slots.

Fig. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams illustrating relative positions of the counting member and the driving member before the counting device of the present invention starts counting; FIG. 4C is a schematic view of the position of the rotation axis of the counting member in the translation slot when the counting device of the present invention is cut along a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the counting member before starting counting; fig. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating relative positions of the counting member and the driving member after the counting of the counting device according to the present invention is completed; fig. 5C is a schematic view of the position of the rotation axis of the counting member in the translation groove when the counting device of the present invention is cut along a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the counting member before starting counting.

For the sake of clarity, the end cap 13 is hidden in the drawing, and the movement process of the counting member 31 will be described by taking the reciprocating movement of the first guide rod 313 between the first translation groove 321 and the second translation groove 322 as an example. The counting device 30, before counting, or before the developing cartridge C is mounted to a predetermined position of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus in the mounting direction a, the driving member 22 is combined with the counting member 31, the first guide rod 313 is located in the first translation groove 321, and the shift lever 312 abuts against one side of the extension 133. When the driving member 22 rotates in the direction indicated by r1 about the rotation axis L1 and further the counter 31 rotates in the direction indicated by r2 about the rotation axis L2 after the power receiving member 21 receives the driving force, the shift lever 312 interacts with the counted member in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and as shown in fig. 4C, since the dimension of the line connecting the intersection point M and the intersection point N is smaller than the maximum dimension (diameter) of the first guide bar 313, the first guide bar 313 can be stably held in the first translation groove 321 while the second guide bar 314 is stably held in the third translation groove 341 and finally the rotation axis L2 of the counter 31 is stably held.

In the present invention, the urging member 33 is an urging piece provided on the driving member 22, so that the urging member 33 can rotate with the rotation of the driving member 22, and preferably, the urging member 33 is integrally formed with the driving member 22, and the urging member 33 protrudes radially outward from the driving member 22.

When the counter 31 finishes the interaction with the counted piece, the pushing block 33 reaches between the driving piece 22 and the counter 31 along with the rotation of the driving piece 22, so that the pushing block 33 starts to push the counter 31, the first guide rod 313 moves/translates from the first translation groove 321 to the second translation groove 322 against the resistance of the intersection point M and the intersection point N, and simultaneously, the second guide rod 314 also starts to move/translate from the third translation groove 341 to the fourth translation groove 342, the counter 31 is gradually disengaged from the driving piece 22, when the first guide rod 313 reaches the second translation groove 322 and the second guide rod 314 reaches the fourth translation groove 341, the counter 31 is completely disengaged from the driving piece 22, at this time, the driving force of the driving piece 22 cannot be transmitted to the counter 31, the counter 31 stops rotating, and the shift lever 312 abuts against the other side of the extending portion 133.

As described above, after the counting device 30 finishes counting, the counting element 31 is completely disengaged from the driving element 22, at this time, the counting element 31 is supported by the translation slot farther from the driving element 22, and when the counting device 30 needs to be reset, the user only needs to toggle the counting element 31 in the reverse direction of r2, so that the toggle lever 312 returns to the position abutting against one side of the extending portion 133, and pushes the counting element 31, so that the first guide rod 313 returns to the first translation slot 321 from the second translation slot 322 against the resistance of the intersection point M and the intersection point N, the second guide rod 314 returns to the third translation slot 341 from the fourth translation slot 342, and the counting element 31 is again engaged with the driving element 22. When the counter 31 is rotated in the reverse direction of r2 during the reset process, the counter 31 and the driving member 22 are disengaged from each other, and the counter 31 is not subjected to external resistance during the rotation process, so that the reset process can be performed smoothly.

Preferably, the first and second translation grooves 321 and 322, and the third and fourth translation grooves 341 and 342 are arranged in a direction parallel to the mounting direction a, that is, the trajectory of the reciprocating motion of the first and second guide rods 313 and 314 is parallel to the mounting direction a, which helps to keep the relative position of the shift lever 312 and the developing cartridge housing 11 stable, thereby ensuring good contact between the shift lever 312 and the members to be counted during the counting process of the counting device 30; furthermore, in the process of resetting the counting element 31, after the counter element 31 is rotated reversely, the user only needs to push the counting element 31 in the direction parallel to the mounting direction a, and the operation is simple and convenient; it is to be realized that the counting member 31 may be configured such that the counting member 31 is automatically reset as the developing cartridge C is mounted, for example, the second guide rod 314 is extended out of the end cap 13, and the second guide rod 314 is forced to reset by an external force during the mounting of the developing cartridge C by an external component, and at this time, the second guide rod 314 moves from the fourth translational groove 342 to the third translational groove 341, and at the same time, the first guide rod 313 moves from the second translational groove 322 to the first translational groove 321, and the translational grooves are oriented as described above, which obviously helps to achieve the automatic resetting of the counting member 31.

To sum up, the counting device 30 of the present invention at least includes the first translation groove 321 and the second translation groove 322 which are communicated with each other, wherein the first translation groove 321 is closer to the driving member 22 than the second translation groove 322, at the same time, at least the first guide rod 313 which can reciprocate between the first translation groove 321 and the second translation groove 322 is provided on the counting member 31, when the counting device 30 counts, the first guide rod 313 is located in the first translation groove 321, the counting member 31 is located in the first position which can receive the driving force of the driving member 22, when the counting device 30 finishes counting, as the first guide rod 313 moves to the second translation groove 322, the counting member 31 is wholly translated and completely separated from the driving member 22, the counting member 32 is located in the second position which cannot receive the driving force of the driving member 22, and in the second position, the counting member 31 can be reversely rotated without interference, and resets the counter 31 by urging the first guide rod 313 from the second translation groove 322 back to the first translation groove 321 after the reverse rotation; during the translation of the counter 31, the notches 323/343 expand and the guide rods are more easily able to overcome the resistance of the points M and N.

In the resetting process of the counting device 30, the end cover does not need to be disassembled, the resetting of the counting device 30 can be easily realized by a tester or an end user in a factory, and the possibility that the parts of the developing box are damaged is greatly reduced.

Claims (10)

1. Counting device for receiving the driving force of the driving member and interacting with an external counted piece to realize counting, the counting device comprises a rotatable counting piece, a guide piece for guiding the counting piece and a pushing piece for forcing the counting piece to translate, the guide piece guides the counting piece, and the counting device is characterized in that,

the counting piece comprises a main body, at least one guide rod and a shifting rod connected with the main body, the main body can receive the driving force of the driving piece to rotate, and the guide rod protrudes from the main body;

when the counting device counts, the main body is combined with the driving piece, and the deflector rod interacts with the counted piece along with the rotation of the main body;

when the counting device finishes counting, the guide rod is guided by the guide piece under the urging action of the urging piece, and the counting piece is integrally separated from the driving piece.

2. Counting device according to claim 1, wherein the urging member is formed integrally with the drive member.

3. Counting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the axis of rotation of the guide rod coincides with the axis of rotation of the counting member.

4. The counting device according to claim 1, wherein the guide member includes a first translational groove and a second translational groove which are communicated with each other, wherein the second translational groove is farther from the driving member than the first translational groove, the guide rod is located in the first translational groove when the counting device counts, and the guide rod is translated from the first translational groove to the second translational groove by the urging member when the counting device finishes counting.

5. The counting device of claim 4, wherein there are two intersections between the first translational slot and the second translational slot, and the dimension of the line between the two intersections is smaller than the maximum dimension of the guide rod.

6. A developing cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, said developing cartridge comprising a housing for accommodating toner and a power receiving member at a longitudinal end of the housing for receiving a driving force from the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, wherein said developing cartridge further comprises a counting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the driving member is driven by the power receiving member, and the guide member is provided on the housing.

7. A developing cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, said developing cartridge comprising a housing for accommodating toner and a power receiving member at a longitudinal end of the housing for receiving a driving force from the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, wherein said developing cartridge further comprises a counting device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the driving member is driven by the power receiving member, and the first and second shift grooves are provided on the housing.

8. A developing cartridge according to claim 7, wherein the first and second translation grooves are arranged in a direction parallel to a mounting direction of the developing cartridge.

9. A developing cartridge according to claim 7, wherein the developing cartridge further comprises an end cap covering a part of the counting device, the end cap being provided with a third translational groove and a fourth translational groove communicating with each other, the counting member including a first guide rod guided by the first translational groove and the second translational groove and a second guide rod guided by the third translational groove and the fourth translational groove.

10. A cartridge according to claim 9, wherein the third translational groove is opposed to the first translational groove, and the fourth translational groove is opposed to the second translational groove.

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