JP2000003082A - Front cover for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain sufficient strength by using a comparatively thin material by setting a hollow part inside a front cover as an air duct for guiding air from the inside of a device main body to the outside of the main body or from the outside of the main body to the inside of the main body. SOLUTION: The front cover 15 is constituted of a front cover material 15a and a duct material 15b fixed and arranged to be superposed on the material 15a. The cover body 21 of a container is attachably/detachably attached to the material 15b through a machine screw. Hinge parts 22 and 23 for turnably mounting the material 15b in the device main body are integrally formed at the edge part of the material 15b. Furthermore, 1st and 2nd apertures 24 and 25 for supplying sucked outside air to a specified position in an image forming part are provided on the material 15b. Also, an aperture part through which the outside air communicates with space is provided on the material 15a, and a space inside which things are housed is formed at the position of the cover body 21 inside the material 15b. Thus, the desired strength is obtained by using a comparatively thin material and the number of parts is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier and a printer, and more particularly to a front cover which can be freely opened and closed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An exterior cover which is provided on a side surface of an image forming apparatus and is rotated and opened and closed by a user when necessary is generally made of a synthetic resin having a thickness of about 5 mm as shown by reference numeral 81 in FIG. Normally, only a duct end 82 connected to an air path for cooling and cleaning a predetermined portion in the apparatus main body by sucking outside air and being formed of a single plate is provided on the cover.

[0003] With such a structure, when the size becomes large, it is necessary to increase the wall thickness in order to maintain the torsional strength so as not to hinder the opening and closing operation, or to provide a back portion to maintain strength of the hinge portion. It was necessary to increase the rigidity by adding metal fasteners, and the cost was inevitable.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to cope with such a situation, and the front cover of an image forming apparatus or the like is formed as a hollow monocoque structure using a relatively thin material. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a front cover that can obtain high strength and that can configure a cooling air path, a cleaning air path, a storage box, and the like by utilizing an internal hollow portion.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a front cover which is rotatable and openable and closable for an image forming apparatus, wherein the front cover has a hollow inside. A front cover (1) of the image forming apparatus, wherein the hollow portion is configured as an air path for guiding air from inside the apparatus main body to outside the main body, or from outside the main body to the inside of the main body. A front cover (2) for an image forming apparatus according to the above (1), wherein a container is formed in the hollow portion.

[0006] With this configuration, a front cover having a sufficient strength can be obtained with a relatively small amount of a thin material, and the front cover can be simplified in cost and advantageous in cost.

[0007]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, wherein reference numeral 14 denotes an image forming apparatus main body, 15 denotes a front cover, 16, 17 denotes a sheet feeding deck,
19 is a paper feed cassette.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view schematically showing the configuration of an image forming portion mounted in the image forming apparatus 14, which is briefly described in the apparatus main body and in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. The surface photosensitive layer of the rotating cylindrical image carrier 1 extended to the surface is uniformly charged by the charger 2, and the surface of the image carrier 1 is statically charged by an image signal projected from the optical unit 3 onto the charged surface. An electrostatic latent image is formed.

When the latent image reaches the developing site where the developing device 4 is located as the image carrier 1 rotates, the latent image is visualized by toner supplied from the developing device to the latent image. This becomes a toner image, and with further rotation of the image carrier, this toner image arrives at a transfer site where the image carrier 1 and the transfer charger 5 face each other.

At the same time, a transfer material is supplied to the transfer portion via a registration roller 11 at the same timing as the toner image, a transfer bias is applied to a transfer charger, and the toner image on the image carrier is transferred to the transfer material. Transfer (transfer). After the transfer is completed, the transfer material is separated from the image carrier, reaches the fixing device 13 via the transport path 12, and is fixed and fixed on the transfer material, and is then discharged outside the machine.

At the time of transfer, a small amount of residual toner remaining on the image carrier without transferring to the transfer material proceeds as it is, reaches the position of the cleaning device, is removed by the cleaning blade 9, and is further removed by the pre-exposure lamp 10. Is erased, and the image carrier 1 is ready for the next image forming step.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional side view showing the vicinity of the primary charger 2 in the image forming apparatus as described above.
The back side of the charger 2 (the side opposite to the image carrier when viewed from the charging wire 20) is open, and the inside of the apparatus main body is passed through the duct of the front cover of the apparatus (the part corresponding to reference numeral 82 in FIG. 8). The outside air is sucked by the fan and supplied from the back side of the charger to remove floating toner, dust and the like adhering to the charging wire 20 in the charger. Although not shown, similar measures are taken for the optical unit in the apparatus as a measure for preventing temperature rise.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a front cover of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, which comprises a front cover member 15a and a duct member 15b which is fixedly disposed so as to overlap with the front cover member. A lid member 21 for a container is detachably attached to the duct member 15b by a hiss. Hinge portions 22 and 23 for rotatably attaching the duct member 15b to the apparatus main body are integrally formed at the edge of the duct member 15b.

Further, the duct member 15b is provided with a first air supply unit for supplying the sucked outside air to a predetermined position of an image forming site.
And second openings 24 and 25 are provided. In the drawing, two openings are shown assuming that air is blown to the primary charger portion and the optical unit portion in the image forming apparatus main body, but the number of openings is not limited to two. Of course.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a connection state between the front cover member 15a and the duct member 15b. A duct material 15b, which is slightly smaller than this and has a rising rim, is fitted into the front cover material 15a having a rising rim around the periphery. The duct material 15b is provided on the front cover material 15a. Each of the plurality of projections 15c rides and is fixed by a screw to form a space therebetween.

The front cover member 15a is provided with an opening 28 connecting the outside air and the space, and the inside of the duct member 15b and the position of the lid member 21 are used to store objects therein. A space 26 is formed.

FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory view showing a state where air is blown to a predetermined portion of the image forming apparatus main body. When the front cover 15 is brought to a position where the apparatus main body is closed, the opening 24 on the front cover side is opened. Fan 27 for primary charger on main unit side
Shall come to a position opposite to.

When the fan is driven in this state, the outside air entering the space from the opening 28 enters the primary charger through the opening 24 as shown in FIG. 3 described above. The cleaning of the charging wire 20 can be performed.

To cool the optical unit, the front cover 15 is brought to the position shown in FIG.
The opening 25 on the side of the apparatus may be driven to face the optical unit cooling fan (not shown) on the apparatus main body side.

In the above, the front cover 15 has been described in which the separately formed front cover material 15a and the duct material 15b are integrally formed by connecting means such as screws, but the front cover is formed by blow molding. A portion corresponding to the position of the screw in the above embodiment may be blow molded to connect the front surface 29 and the rear surface as shown in FIG. 7 to form an air passage between the front and rear surfaces.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Forming a front cover that can rotate and open and close the image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, in a monocoque structure having a space therein,
A portion to be cooled in the image forming apparatus main body using the space,
Since the air path and storage for supplying outside air to the parts to be cleaned, etc. are formed, the desired strength can be obtained with a relatively thin material, and the number of parts can be reduced, which is a remarkable effect on cost reduction. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an image forming apparatus suitable for applying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing an image forming mode in the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side sectional view illustrating an external air supply mode in the vicinity of a primary charger of the above device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a front cover according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an upper sectional view of the same.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a mode in which outside air is supplied into the image forming apparatus main body by the front cover according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged side sectional view showing the configuration of another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a front cover of a known image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image carrier 2 Primary charging device 3 Optical unit 4 Developing device 5 Transfer charging device 9 Cleaning blade 10 Pre-exposure lamp 11 Registration roller 12 Conveying path 13 Fixing device 14 Image forming apparatus main body 15 Front cover 16, 17 Feeding deck 18, 19 paper feed cassette 21 lid 24, 25 opening 26 space for storing 28 opening

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A front cover which is rotatable and openable and closable of an image forming apparatus, wherein the front cover has a monocoque structure in which the inside is formed in a hollow part, and the hollow part is moved from inside the apparatus main body to outside the main body or outside the main body. A front cover of the image forming apparatus, wherein the front cover is configured as an air path for guiding air from inside to a main body. 2. The front cover of an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a storage space is formed in the hollow portion.