CN218974787U - Processing box - Google Patents

Abstract

A process cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus having a power output member, the process cartridge includes: a housing extending in an axial direction and accommodating a developer; a developing roller supported on the housing; a photosensitive drum supported on the housing; a coupling member disposed at an end in an axial direction of the photosensitive drum, including a coupling member projection configured to receive a driving force of the power output member for rotating the photosensitive drum; a power receiving member provided at an end of the developing roller in an axial direction; the power receiving member includes a non-gear portion configured to receive a driving force, independent of the coupling member receiving the driving force of the power output member, the non-gear portion being engageable with the power output member to urge the power output member to move in an axial direction.

Description

Processing box

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of electrophotographic imaging, in particular to a processing box.

Background

The process cartridge is a cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and includes at least members such as a developing roller, a photosensitive drum, and the like as an integral unit. An electrophotographic image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic image forming manner is operated as follows: the electrophotographic image forming apparatus irradiates light onto a photosensitive drum which has been uniformly charged by a charging roller and performs selective exposure to form an electrostatic latent image, which is developed into a developer image by a developer covered on a developing roller, and the formed developer image is transferred onto a recording medium by a transfer unit, and finally a visualized image is formed on the recording medium.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus and a process cartridge mounted in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus are disclosed in the prior art, as shown in fig. 1-2, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a pair of side plates 20 arranged in a left-right direction and a power output member 10 connected to one of the side plates 20 and capable of outputting power, the power output member including a skewed tooth portion and a power output member recess portion, and the power output member 10 is movable with respect to the side plates 20, having a retracted position and an extended position, the power output member 10 in the retracted position being further apart from the other side plate 20 in the left-right direction with respect to the power output member 10 in the extended position; while a process cartridge including a gear member having a skewed tooth portion and a coupling member having a coupling protrusion is known, in the process cartridge mounted in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus drives the power take-off member 10 to rotate, the skewed tooth portion of the rotating power take-off member 10 is rotated by engagement with the skewed tooth portion of the gear member to generate an axial force which urges the power take-off member 10 to move from the retracted position to the extended position, thereby allowing the power take-off member recess of the power take-off member 10 to be coupled with the coupling protrusion of the coupling member, the coupling member receives a driving force of the power take-off member 10 to drive the photosensitive drum to rotate, and the gear member during rotation also drives the developing roller to rotate, thereby achieving power transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The utility model further develops the prior art and provides a novel processing box which is mainly realized by the following technical scheme:

a process cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus having a power output member, said process cartridge comprising:

a housing extending in an axial direction and accommodating a developer;

a developing roller supported on the housing;

a photosensitive drum supported on the housing;

a coupling member disposed at an end in an axial direction of the photosensitive drum, including a coupling member projection configured to receive a driving force of the power output member for rotating the photosensitive drum;

the power receiving piece is arranged at one side end of the shell;

the power receiving member includes a non-gear portion configured to receive a driving force, independent of the coupling member receiving the driving force of the power output member, the non-gear portion being engageable with the power output member to urge the power output member to move in an axial direction.

Further, the non-gear portion is configured as a plurality of power receiving piece protrusions formed to extend outwardly on the outer surface of the power receiving piece, the power receiving piece protrusions gradually becoming smaller in outer contour size in a radial direction of the power receiving piece in a direction gradually away from the outer surface of the power receiving piece.

Further, the device further comprises a developing roller gear capable of driving the developing roller to rotate, and the developing roller gear and the power receiving piece are coaxially arranged and can rotate relatively.

Further, the device further comprises a first protecting cover arranged at one end of the shell in the axial direction, and a developing roller gear capable of driving the developing roller to rotate, and the power receiving piece is arranged between the first protecting cover and the developing roller gear in the axial direction.

Further, the developing roller further includes a first protection cover provided at one end of the housing in the axial direction, and the one end of the developing roller in the axial direction and the power receiving member are mounted on the first protection cover.

Further, a positioning hole and a positioning column are arranged on the first protecting cover, the positioning hole and the positioning column are concentrically arranged, the developing roller is installed in the positioning hole, and the power receiving piece is installed on the positioning column.

Further, the power receiving member is held stationary with respect to the housing in the axial direction.

Further, the coupling member further includes a photosensitive drum gear integrally formed with the coupling member projection, and the process cartridge further includes a developing roller gear provided at one end of the developing roller, the photosensitive drum gear being engaged with the developing roller gear and being capable of driving the developing roller to rotate.

The process cartridge of the present utility model further develops the prior art and provides a new power connection mode in which the process cartridge is rotated by engagement of a power receiving member provided with a non-gear portion with a power output member of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, thereby being capable of pulling out the power output member to an extended position coupled with the coupling member, and finally being capable of driving each rotating member in the process cartridge to rotate only by a driving force received by the coupling member; and besides, the power receiving piece is meshed with the power output piece, and other loads are not needed, so that the power receiving piece is driven to rotate by the power output piece more easily, and the power output piece can be pulled out more easily.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a process cartridge of the present utility model mounted to a prior art electrophotographic image forming apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a power take-off of the present utility model;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a process cartridge of the present utility model;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a process cartridge according to the present utility model;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the power receiving unit and power take-off of the present utility model;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the power receiving unit of the process cartridge of the present utility model with the first cover removed;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the power receiving unit of the process cartridge of the present utility model with the first cover removed;

FIG. 8 is another angular exploded view of the power receiving unit of the process cartridge of the present utility model with the first cover removed;

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the first cover, the power receiving member, the developer roller gear, and the developer roller of the present utility model engaged with one another;

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of the first cover, the power receiving member, the developer roller gear, and the developer roller of the present utility model;

FIG. 11 is an exploded view of a detachable developer roller attachment portion of the present utility model;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a power receiving element according to the present utility model;

fig. 13 is a schematic view of the present utility model with the power receiving member engaged with the power take-off member.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical solution and the technical effects of the embodiments of the present utility model more clear, the technical solution of the process cartridge of the present utility model will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is apparent that the described embodiment is only one preferred embodiment of the present utility model, but not all embodiments, and that other embodiments, which are obtained by those skilled in the art without inventive effort, are within the scope of the present utility model based on the embodiments of the present utility model.

In the following description, the process cartridge B is mounted into the electrophotographic image forming apparatus in a backward-to-forward direction, and the longitudinal direction of the process cartridge B is an axial direction, which is also the arrangement direction of the pair of side plates 20 of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

[ overall structure of electrophotographic image forming apparatus ]

As shown in fig. 1-2, fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a process cartridge B of the present utility model mounted to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus of the related art, and fig. 2 shows a schematic view of a power take-off; the electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a mounting port 50, a door cover (not shown) having an open position not covering the mounting port 50 and a closed position covering the mounting port 50, and a pair of side plates 20 provided at both ends in an axial direction of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, respectively, with a housing portion 30 formed therebetween, which is capable of housing a process cartridge B, in which the process cartridge B is mountable along the mounting port 50 into the housing portion 30 in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus in a predetermined track in a back-to-front direction; the electrophotographic image forming apparatus further includes a power take-off member 10 provided on the side plate 20 and capable of taking off power, the power take-off member 10 including a power take-off gear portion 11 configured as a helical gear and a power take-off gear recess 13 configured as a recess, the power take-off gear portion 11 having a plurality of power take-off gear teeth with an inner contour surface formed between every two adjacent power take-off gear teeth, the inner contour surface having a basic configuration of a spiral groove; it is worth mentioning that the power take-off 10 is movable, having a first position and a second position, the power take-off 10 in the first position having a retracted position and an inclined position, the power take-off 10 in the second position having an extended position and a righting position, the power take-off 10 in the retracted position being further away from the process cartridge B in the axial direction with respect to the extended position, the direction of extension of the axis of rotation of the power take-off 10 in the inclined position being inclined with respect to the axial direction, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus further having a locking portion (not shown) which keeps the power take-off 10 in the inclined position when the door is in the open position, the locking portion being unlocked during closing of the door and no longer keeping the power take-off 10 in the inclined position, and subsequently, the control member 139 of the process cartridge B (to be described in detail later) forcing the power take-off 10 to move from the inclined position to the righting position, it being worth mentioning that in the case that the process cartridge B is mounted in the present utility model to the image forming apparatus, the power take-off 10 is coupled with the power take-off 111 only when the power take-off 111 is in the upright position when the image forming apparatus is in the upright position.

[ overall structure of Process Cartridge ]

As shown in fig. 1 to 11, a process cartridge B in the present utility model, detachably mountable to the above-described electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the process cartridge B comprising: a housing 130 extending in an axial direction and accommodating a developer; a photosensitive drum 140 rotatably supported on the housing 130 and forming an electrostatic latent image; a developing roller 141 rotatably supported on the housing 130 and capable of carrying a developer, the developer carried on the developing roller 141 being used to develop an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 140, the developing roller 141 including a middle portion capable of carrying a developer and a connecting portion 145 at one end in an axial direction, wherein the middle portion and the connecting portion 145 are integrally formed as shown in fig. 10, alternatively, may be separately provided as shown in fig. 11; the process cartridge B further includes a pair of jackets 146, the pair of jackets 146 being respectively installed at both ends of the developing roller 141 in the axial direction for stably maintaining the spaced distance between the developing roller 141 and the photosensitive drum 140; a stirring frame 143 rotatably provided in the housing 130, the stirring frame 143 for stirring the developer accommodated in the housing 130, the stirred developer being capable of being conveyed onto the developing roller 141 through the developer conveying opening 142; a control part 139 swingably provided at one end of the housing 130 in the axial direction, and the control part 139 is provided with a torsion spring to hold the control part 139 at a position where the movement of the power output member 10 toward the righting position is possible, the control part 139 being configured to be able to urge the power output member 10 from the tilted position to the righting position after closing the door to allow the coupling of the power output member 10 with the process cartridge B, that is, the control part 139 may control the tilt angle of the power output member 10, it is worth mentioning that the control part 139 may not be provided on the process cartridge B, that is, the control part 139 does not belong to a part of the process cartridge B but exists as a separate part independent of the process cartridge B; the process cartridge B further includes a power receiving unit 110 provided at one end of the casing 130 in the axial direction, one side of the power receiving unit 110 being adapted to receive the power output from the power output member 10, and the other side being adapted to transmit the received power to the rotating members such as the photosensitive drum 140, the developing roller 141, the agitating frame 143, etc., to thereby drive the rotating members to rotate; the same end of the process cartridge B in the axial direction is provided with a first protecting cover 135 and a second protecting cover 136, the first protecting cover 135 covers at least a portion of the mounting power receiving unit 110, the first protecting cover 135 includes an inner surface facing the housing 130 and an outer surface opposite to the inner surface, the inner surface of the first protecting cover 135 is provided with a bearing portion including a positioning post 135a and a positioning hole 135B, the positioning post 135a and the positioning hole 135B are concentrically arranged, a connection portion 145 of the developing roller 141 is insertable into the positioning hole 135B to allow the developing roller 141 to be positioned, and the second protecting cover 136 is operable to support and position the photosensitive drum 140, the developing roller 141 is positioned by the first protecting cover 135, and the second protecting cover 136 positions the photosensitive drum 140 so that the developing roller 141 and the photosensitive drum 140 can be maintained in a relatively fixed position in the radial direction, preventing shaking from occurring when the developing roller 141 and the photosensitive drum 140 rotate to affect the effect of developing image formation; and the bearing part is arranged on the first protecting cover 135, the bearing part is not required to be additionally arranged in the processing box as a single part, the number of parts is reduced, the integration level of the parts is improved, the production cost is reduced, the processing box is more compact, and the bearing part can be additionally arranged in the processing box B to position the power receiving part 111 and the developing roller 141, and the positioning is not required to be limited to the first protecting cover 135.

[ overall structure of Power receiving Unit, matching relationship ]

The specific structure and the fitting relation of the power receiving unit 110 of the process cartridge B will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 13. The power receiving unit 110 includes a power receiving member 111 having a non-gear portion, the power receiving member 111 being rotatably fitted over the positioning post 135a of the first cover 135 to be positioned, the power receiving member 111 including a power receiving member main body portion 111a, the power receiving member main body portion 111a having a basic configuration in a cylindrical shape, a plurality of power receiving member protrusions 111b being formed to extend outwardly on an outer circumferential surface of the power receiving member main body portion 111a, the power receiving member protrusions 111b being gradually smaller in outer contour size in a radial direction of the power receiving member 111 in a direction gradually away from an outer surface of the power receiving member 111, the configuration being effective to further improve strength of the power receiving member protrusions 111b and to improve a service life of the power receiving member protrusions 111b on the premise of being capable of being engaged with the power outputting member gear portion 11; further, the power receiving piece protrusion 111b has an outer contour surface, and the outer contour surface of the power receiving piece protrusion 111b is identical in configuration to the inner contour surface of the power output piece gear tooth, that is, when the power receiving piece protrusion 111b is engaged to the power output piece gear portion 11, the power receiving piece protrusion 111b can be engaged with the spiral groove of the power output piece gear portion 11 in a matching manner, so that the contact area between the two is increased, and the engagement stability is improved. When the process cartridge B is mounted in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus and the power take-off member 10 is driven to rotate, the plurality of power take-off member protrusions 111B may be engaged with and rotated by the power take-off member gear portion 11, and both may generate an axial force F approaching the power take-off member 111 in the axial direction as shown in fig. 13 during the engagement rotation, under the effect of which the power take-off member 10 is pulled out from the retracted position to the extended position by the power take-off member 111, so that the coupling member 112 (to be described later) may be coupled with the power take-off member recess 13.

The power receiving unit 110 further includes a coupling member 112 fixedly mounted at one end of the photosensitive drum 140 in the axial direction, the coupling member 112 including a coupling member protrusion 113 and a photosensitive drum gear 114 coaxially disposed and integrally formed, and when the power receiving member 111 forces the power output member 10 to move from the retracted position to the extended position, the coupling member protrusion 113 is matingly coupled with the power output member recess 13 to receive the power transmitted from the power output member 10 and to rotate the photosensitive drum 140.

The power receiving unit 110 is further provided with a developing roller gear 115 engaged with the photosensitive drum gear 114, which is mounted on a connection portion 145 at one end of the developing roller 141 in the axial direction and can drive the developing roller 141 to rotate, wherein the developing roller gear 115 is coaxially disposed with the power receiving member 111 and can relatively rotate, which makes the structure of the process cartridge more compact, facilitating miniaturization of the process cartridge; specifically, the developing roller gear 115 is disposed at a position closer to the housing 130 in the axial direction with respect to the power receiving member 111, and preferably, the power receiving member 111 is mounted between the first protecting cover 135 and the developing roller gear 115 and is mounted on a bearing portion between the first protecting cover 135 and the developing roller gear 115 in a non-movable manner in the axial direction, so that it becomes easier to achieve that the power receiving member 111 pulls out the power output member 10 from the retracted position to the extended position, avoiding the problem that the power receiving member cannot pull out the power output member 10 due to play occurring in the axial direction; the power receiving unit 110 further includes at least one intermediate transfer gear (not shown) engaged with the developing roller gear 115, a stirring frame gear 116 engaged with the intermediate transfer gear, and the stirring frame gear 116 is installed at one end of the stirring frame 143 in the axial direction to be capable of rotating the stirring frame 143. It should be noted that the intermediate transfer gear may also be meshed with the photosensitive drum gear 114, not necessarily with the developing roller gear 115, which can achieve the technical effect of transferring power to the agitator gear 116 as well.

In general, the process cartridge B in the present utility model includes the power receiving member 111 having a non-gear portion, and the power receiving member 111 is capable of pulling out the power output member 10 from a retracted position not coupled with the coupling member 112 to an extended position couplable with the coupling member 112 by engagement of the non-gear portion with the power output member 10, and the coupling member 112 is capable of driving the developing roller 141 and the photosensitive drum 140 to rotate.

[ Power receiving Process of Power receiving Unit ]

How the power receiving unit 110 is coupled to the power take-off 10 to receive and transmit power is described in detail below with reference to fig. 1-13. When the process cartridge B is pushed into the electrophotographic image forming apparatus in accordance with a predetermined trajectory in the position shown in fig. 1 with the door cover in the open position, the control member 139 is abutted against the power take-off member 10 in the inclined position by being locked by the locking portion against the elastic force of the torsion spring, with the door cover closed, the locking portion of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus is unlocked, the elastic force of the torsion spring provided on the control member 139 is released so that the control member 139 abutted against the power take-off member 10 urges the power take-off member 10 to move from the inclined position to the righting position, and then the electrophotographic image forming apparatus starts and drives the power take-off member 10 to start rotating, and the power take-off member protrusion 111B of the power take-off member 111 is rotated in engagement with the power take-off member gear portion 11 of the power take-off member 10, and an axial force F is generated, under the action of the axial force F, the power receiving member 111 forces the power output member 10 to move from the retracted position to the extended position, and finally, the coupling member protrusion 113 of the coupling member 112 is coupled with the power output member recess 13 located at the extended position so as to be able to receive the power transmitted from the power output member 10, then, the coupling member 112 starts rotating, the rotating coupling member 112 drives the photosensitive drum 140 to rotate, then, the photosensitive drum gear 114 further transmits the power to the developing roller gear 115 engaged with the photosensitive drum gear 114, the developing roller gear 115 starts rotating drives the developing roller 141 to rotate, further, the developing roller gear 115 transmits the power to the intermediate transmission gear engaged with the developing roller gear 115, the intermediate transmission gear transmits the power to the stirring frame gear 116 engaged with the intermediate transmission gear, and finally the stirring frame gear 116 drives the stirring frame 143 to rotate, and finally, the whole power transmission process is completed. That is, the process cartridge B can drive the rotation members such as the photosensitive drum 140, the developing roller 141, the agitating frame 143, etc., to rotate only by the power received by the coupling member 112, and the power receiving member 111 has no load other than the engagement with the power output member 10 to pull out the power output member 10 from the retracted position to the extended position, which makes it easier for the power receiving member 111 to be driven to rotate by the power output member 10, so that the pulling out of the power output member 10 becomes easier to achieve.

The process of detaching the process cartridge B is substantially opposite to the above-described mounting process, and will not be described here again.

Advantageous effects

The process cartridge of the present utility model further develops the prior art and provides a new power connection mode in which the process cartridge is rotated by engagement of a power receiving member provided with a non-gear portion with a power output member of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, thereby being capable of pulling out the power output member to an extended position coupled with the coupling member, and finally being capable of driving each rotating member in the process cartridge to rotate only by a driving force received by the coupling member; and besides, the power receiving piece is meshed with the power output piece, and other loads are not needed, so that the power receiving piece is driven to rotate by the power output piece more easily, and the power output piece can be pulled out more easily.

The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present utility model, and are not limiting; although the utility model has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present utility model.

Claims (8)

1. A process cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus having a power output member, said process cartridge comprising:

a housing extending in an axial direction and accommodating a developer;

a developing roller supported on the housing;

a photosensitive drum supported on the housing;

a coupling member disposed at an end in an axial direction of the photosensitive drum, including a coupling member projection configured to receive a driving force of the power output member for rotating the photosensitive drum;

the power receiving piece is arranged at one side end of the shell;

wherein the power receiving member includes a non-gear portion configured to receive a driving force, independent of the coupling member receiving the driving force of the power output member, the non-gear portion being engageable with the power output member to urge the power output member to move in an axial direction.

2. A process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said non-gear portion is configured as a plurality of power receiving piece protrusions formed extending outwardly on an outer surface of said power receiving piece, an outer contour size of said power receiving piece protrusions gradually becoming smaller in a radial direction of said power receiving piece in a direction gradually away from the outer surface of said power receiving piece.

3. A process cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a developing roller gear rotatable to drive said developing roller, said developing roller gear being disposed coaxially with said power receiving member and rotatable relatively.

4. A process cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a first protecting cover provided at one end in an axial direction of said housing, and a developing roller gear rotatable to drive said developing roller, said power receiving member being provided between said first protecting cover and said developing roller gear in the axial direction.

5. A process cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a first protecting cover provided at one end of said housing in the axial direction, said one end of said developing roller in the axial direction and said power receiving member being mounted on said first protecting cover.

6. A process cartridge according to claim 5, wherein said first protective cover is provided with a positioning hole and a positioning post, said positioning hole and said positioning post being arranged concentrically, said developing roller being mounted in said positioning hole, said power receiving member being mounted on said positioning post.

7. A process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said power receiving member is held stationary with respect to said housing in an axial direction.

8. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the coupling member further comprises a photosensitive drum gear integrally formed with the coupling member projection, the process cartridge further comprising a developing roller gear provided at one end of the developing roller, the photosensitive drum gear being engaged with the developing roller gear and being capable of driving the developing roller to rotate.

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