JP2000194243A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the cost of a device by surely vibrating a waste toner container by a simple constitution. SOLUTION: This image forming device is provided with a reversal rotation transmitting means 72 inversely connecting a feeding driving mechanism 70 and a vibration driving mechanism 60, and a waste toner container 50 is vibrated only by reversely rotating by using a common driving source 80 provided at a paper supplying means, so that an exclusive driving source is eliminated and a complicated changeover mechanism and a controlling device are unnecessitated.

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 provided with a waste toner storage container for storing waste toner discharged by cleaning a photosensitive member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in various image forming apparatuses using a toner, such as a printer, a plotter, and a facsimile,
After the toner image on the photoconductor is transferred to recording paper, the toner remaining on the photoconductor is removed by a cleaning device to clean the surface of the photoconductor. After the toner removed by the cleaning is raked in one direction in the cleaning device, it naturally falls into a box-shaped waste toner storage container disposed below, and gradually enters the waste toner storage container. It is stored. At this time, a toner sensor for detecting the amount of waste toner stored inside is provided in the toner introduction section at the entrance of the waste toner storage container, and when the full amount is warned by the toner sensor, An operation such as replacing the waste toner storage container with a new one is performed.

[0003] In the waste toner storage container, the waste toner naturally dropped from the toner introduction portion is piled up in a natural state in a mountain shape. However, even if there is still room, the peak of the mountain shape may be detected by the toner sensor described above, and at that time, a warning is issued considerably earlier than the original full amount.

In order to solve such a problem, the waste toner storage container is swingably attached to the apparatus main body, and the waste toner storage container is vibrated by an action force from a predetermined vibration driving mechanism. As described above, there has been proposed an apparatus in which the waste toner naturally deposited in a mountain shape is broken and leveled so that the space inside the waste toner storage container is effectively used by flattening as much as possible. .

[0005]

However, the vibration drive mechanism attached to the conventional waste toner storage container has a dedicated drive motor and its control means separately, so that the number of parts increases accordingly. And the control system tends to be complicated. On the other hand, in order to omit the dedicated drive motor, there is also a configuration in which the acting force when the paper feed cassette is mounted is transmitted to the waste toner storage container by using a predetermined link mechanism to cause vibration. However, in this case, a complicated link mechanism is provided for each paper feed stage, particularly in a case where a multi-stage paper feed device is provided, so that the entire apparatus becomes large and complicated. There is.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of reliably vibrating a waste toner storage container with a simple configuration.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 comprises a sheet conveying means having a conveying drive mechanism for conveying a recording sheet in accordance with an image forming operation; A waste toner storage container for storing waste toner discharged by cleaning of the photoconductor, wherein the waste toner storage container is swingably attached to the apparatus main body, and the waste toner storage container is provided with the waste toner storage container. Is swung by a vibration drive mechanism to collapse and flatten the waste toner naturally deposited in a mountain shape inside the waste toner storage container. A forward / reverse rotatable common drive source provided so as to also serve as a drive source and a drive source in the vibration drive mechanism of the waste toner storage container; and a forward rotation driving force from the common drive source. Forward / reverse rotation transmission for connecting the transport drive mechanism and the vibration drive mechanism so as to transmit to the sheet supply means side without transmitting to the toner storage container side and to transmit at least the reverse direction driving force to the waste toner storage container side. Means for controlling the common drive source to rotate forward or backward at a predetermined timing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the forward / reverse rotation transmitting mechanism according to the first aspect comprises a one-way clutch.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the control means according to the first aspect of the present invention has a function of reversing the common drive source at regular intervals.

Further, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the control means according to the third aspect has a function of not reversing the common driving source during the image forming operation.

On the other hand, in the invention according to claim 5, the control means according to claim 1 is used when the power is turned on, when the image forming operation reaches a predetermined reference number, or when the recording paper is replenished. It has a function to reverse the drive source.

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
By simply reversing using the common drive source provided in the paper supply means, the waste toner storage container is vibrated, eliminating the need for a dedicated drive source and eliminating the need for complicated switching mechanisms and control devices. become.

Further, according to the second aspect of the invention, the forward / reverse rotation transmitting means is configured very simply.

Further, if the reversing operation in the first aspect of the present invention is executed at the same timing as in the third, fourth or fifth aspect of the present invention, the image forming operation is not hindered. Vibration is performed well.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Prior to this, an outline of an image forming apparatus will be described using an electrophotographic copying machine as an example.
In the electrophotographic copying machine shown in FIG. 1, a document glass table 2 serving as a document table is provided on an upper surface of an apparatus body 1.
Is provided, and a scanner (scanning optical device) 3 constituting image reading means is provided directly below the original glass table 2. The scanner 3 has an illumination lamp 3a for irradiating scanning light to a document (not shown) on the document glass table 2, and reflects light reflected from the document on an image carrier (hereinafter referred to as a photosensitive member). A reflection mirror 3b and a projection lens 3c for guiding the light onto a drum 4).

An original supply device 5 is provided on the original glass table 2 so as to cover the original glass table 2 so as to be openable and closable. The original supply device 5 includes the illumination lamp 3
a is stopped at a predetermined position, and a document feeder (DF) 5a for reading a document (sheet through) for reading while transporting the document, and the illumination lamp 3a is moved after stopping the document at a predetermined position. And an automatic document feeder (AF) 5b for reading while reading.

The lower part of the scanner 3 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the photosensitive drum 4 is provided so as to rotate clockwise in the drawing. Around the photosensitive drum 4, a charger 6 for uniformly charging the photosensitive drum 4, and a toner is formed on the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 4 by exposing the reflected light from the above-described scanner 3 to light. A developing device 7 for supplying and visualizing the toner image, which is arranged in the middle of the paper transport path and transfers the toner image on the photosensitive drum 4 to a sheet material (hereinafter simply referred to as recording paper) such as recording paper. The rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 4 includes a charger 8 and a separation charger 9 for separating the recording paper after the transfer, and a cleaning device 10 for removing, collecting, and discharging the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 4 after the transfer. Are sequentially arranged along.

Further, the toner image on the recording paper is provided at the exit side end of a belt-shaped paper transport path 11 extending from the transfer charger 8 and the separation charger 9 to the exit portion (left side in the figure) of the apparatus main body 1. A fixing device 12 for thermal fixing is provided, and a paper discharge conveyance path 22 extends from an outlet of the fixing device 12 to a paper discharge tray 13 mounted on an outlet of the apparatus main body 1. I have.

A first discharge roller 23 is disposed near the exit of the fixing device 12 in the discharge conveyance path 22, and a second discharge roller 23 is disposed near the exit of the apparatus main body 1. Rollers 24 are arranged, and the recording paper is conveyed toward the discharge tray 13 by the rotational driving force of each of these rollers. Further, a paper discharge sensor 25 for monitoring the recording paper conveyance state is arranged near the first paper discharge roller 23.

Below the belt-shaped paper transport path 11, there is provided a lower transport section 30 which constitutes a main part of the tile stacking device. Below the lower transport section 30, cut recording paper is provided. Is provided so as to form a two-stage paper feed unit.

At the outlet on the right side in the drawing of the paper feed cassette 14, paper feed rollers 15 for feeding out the recording paper placed on the paper feed cassette 14 are arranged, respectively. The transport paths 16 extend from the paper feed roller 15 to the transfer area of the photosensitive drum 4. Each of these transport paths 16 merges into a single transport path 17. Near the transfer area in the merged transport path 17, a registration roller 18 that feeds the recording paper to the transfer area in synchronization with the image forming process Is provided. A registration sensor 26 for monitoring the recording paper conveyance state is disposed upstream of the registration roller 18 in the conveyance direction.

On the side of the apparatus main body 1 opposite to the paper discharge tray 13, a manual feed tray 19 is attached so as to project obliquely upward from the main body 1. At the lower end exit of the manual feed tray 19, a manual feed roller 20 for feeding out recording paper of an arbitrary size placed on the manual feed tray 19 is arranged.
, A manual feed path 21 extends toward the transfer area. The distal end portion of the manual feed path 21 is connected so as to be connected to the above-described convey path 17 to the registration roller 18.

Next, the configuration of the tiled device will be described. The paper discharge transport path 22 branches at a position on the upstream side of the second paper discharge roller 24, and from the branch point toward the above-described left entrance of the lower transport unit 30, the entrance transport path 3.
One is extended. In the vicinity of the exit of the entrance conveyance path 31, a lower conveyance entrance roller 32 for conveying the recording paper to the lower conveyance section 30 is arranged. A lower transport entrance sensor 33 for monitoring the recording paper transport state is disposed downstream of the lower transport entrance roller 32 in the transport direction.

The lower transport section 30 has a lower transport path 36 connected to the entrance transport path 31.
The lower transport path 36 is configured to be sandwiched between the upper transport guide 34 and the lower transport guide 35, as shown in FIG. In the lower transport path 36, first and second setback rollers 37 and 38 for performing a setback operation described below from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction (from left to right in the drawing). Are located.

The first setback roller 37 includes a transport roller 37a driven by a drive source (not shown),
A pressure roller 3 that sandwiches the recording paper between the transport roller 37a and transports the recording paper together with the transport roller 37a.
7b, a plurality of pairs of the transport roller 37a and the pressure roller 37b are arranged in the axial direction. The second setback roller 38 is similar to the first setback roller 37, and includes a plurality of pairs of transport rollers 38a and pressure rollers 38b arranged in the axial direction. At this time, the pressure rollers 37b and 38b are supported by leaf springs, and can apply a predetermined pressure to the plurality of recording sheets even when the plurality of recording sheets are sandwiched between the conveyance rollers. It is configured as follows.

Further, further downstream of the lower set path 36 from the second setback roller 38 in the transfer direction,
A flat lower transport flapper 39 is provided rotatably about a shaft 39a as a fulcrum. This lower transport flapper 39
Extends obliquely downward from the downstream side to the upstream side in the recording paper feed direction (right direction in the drawing), and is swung counterclockwise in the figure around the shaft 39a to thereby lower the front end portion 39b. Is lowered to appear in the lower transport path 36. The lower end portion 39b of the lower transport flapper 39 contacts the upper surface of the lowermost recording paper P1 of the tiled recording paper, and passes the lowermost recording paper P1 along the transport lower guide 35. At the same time, another recording paper P2 laid on the upper side is guided to the upper side of the lower transport flapper 39 to be separated therefrom.

Further, on the upstream side of the lower transport flapper 39 in the transport direction, a lower transport outlet sensor 40 for monitoring the recording paper transport state is disposed. In addition, near the exit of the lower transport path 36, a paper re-feed roller 41 for sending out the recording paper to the above-described transfer area again is arranged. The re-feed roller 41 is provided between a lower re-feed drive roller 41a driven by a drive source (not shown) and the re-feed drive roller 41a. It consists of an upper re-feeding driven roller 41b that conveys the recording paper together with the re-feeding driving roller 41a with the one-sided recording paper sandwiched between the stacked recording papers one by one. The refeed driving roller 41a and the refeed driven roller 41b are arranged in pairs in the axial direction.

Refeeding driven roller 41 disposed on the upper side
b, the rotating shaft protruding from both end portions of the refeeding driven roller 41b is pressed downward by a pressing force of a spring member (not shown), and the refeeding driven roller 41b is pressed by the pressing force. , And is configured to be pressed against the re-feed driving roller 41a.

On the other hand, at the connection portion between the above-described entrance conveyance path 31 and the lower conveyance path 36, the trailing end of the recording paper that has branched off at this position and deviated from the entrance conveyance path 31 during the setback operation is located at the lower left side in the figure. A recording paper rear end guide that guides toward the recording paper is provided. Although the recording paper trailing end guide is provided in the same manner in the related art, in the present embodiment, the recording paper trailing end guide is further extended so that It is connected to a discharge port 45 opened at a lower position, and the recording paper discharge conveyance path 42 is connected to the recording paper rear end guide and the extended portion.
Is configured. In the discharge conveyance path 42, first and second discharge rollers 43 and 44 are arranged from the upstream side to the downstream side in the discharge direction (from the upper right side to the lower left side in the drawing).

The first discharge roller 43 includes a discharge drive roller 43a driven by a drive source (not shown) and a recording paper sandwiched between the discharge drive roller 43a and transporting the recording paper together with the discharge drive roller 43a. And a discharge driven roller 43b. Similarly, the second discharge roller 44
It comprises a discharge drive roller 44a and a discharge driven roller 44b.

Next, the above-described cleaning device 10
In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, a cleaning blade 10a is provided which comes into pressure contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 to scrape off residual toner on the photosensitive drum 4, and a cleaning blade 10a is provided immediately below the cleaning blade 10a. A case 10b formed in a saucer shape is arranged, and a conveying screw 10c for feeding waste toner scraped into the case 10b to one side in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 4 in the case 10b. Is provided. Further, the case 10b is provided with a discharge pipe 10d extending downward from the downstream end of the transport screw 10c in the transport direction, and the lower end of the discharge pipe 10d is as shown in FIG. The waste toner container 50 is connected to a waste toner introduction pipe 51 provided in the waste toner storage container 50. Then, through the waste toner introduction pipe 51,
The waste toner discharged from the cleaning device 10 naturally falls into the waste toner storage container 50, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown by the solid line in FIG.

A connecting portion between the waste toner storage container 50 and the waste toner introduction pipe 51 is provided with a toner amount detecting section 5.
2 are provided. The toner amount detection unit 52 has a transparent detection box interposed at a connection portion between the waste toner storage container 50 and the toner introduction pipe 51, and particularly as shown in FIG. , The transparent detection box 5
The light-emitting element 53 and the light-receiving element 54 that constitute the toner sensor are arranged so as to face each other with the image sensor 2 interposed therebetween.

As shown in FIG. 5, for example, a light emitting diode is used as the light emitting element 53, and a phototransistor or the like is used as the light receiving element 54. Then, as shown in FIG. 6 described above, the waste toner T (see the solid line in FIG. 6) that has naturally fallen and accumulated from the waste toner introduction pipe 51 forms a mountain shape in the waste toner storage container 50. It will be deposited like this,
When the top of the mountain-like waste toner T is exposed in the transparent detection box 52, the light emitting element 53 and the light receiving element
4 is blocked, and the light receiving element 5
4 outputs a detection signal indicating that the container is full. As shown in FIG. 5, this detection signal is sent to display means (not shown) through an amplifier 55 or the like constituting a sensor circuit, and a warning of a full amount of waste toner is displayed. It goes without saying that the above-described optical toner sensor is not limited to the example of FIG.

Returning to FIG. 3 again, the waste toner container 50 is formed of an elongated hollow body, and can be inserted into and removed from the support base frame 57 by interposing a slide frame 56. It is configured. That is,
The support base frame 57 is formed of an elongated frame structure extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the rotation axis direction of the photosensitive drum 4 described above. The waste toner container 50 is slidably mounted in the longitudinal direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 3), and the waste toner storage container 50 is detachably mounted on the slide frame 56. Further, a lever 56 for pull-out operation is provided on the front end (the left end in FIG. 3) of the slide frame 56.
a is provided.

The support base frame 57 has an end portion on the far side (the right side in FIG. 3) in the longitudinal direction rotatably supported on an apparatus main body (not shown). The rotation shaft 57a extends substantially parallel to the rotation shaft of the photosensitive drum 4, and the entire support base frame 57 swings up and down with the waste toner storage container 50 around the rotation shaft 57a. It is configured to be operated. At this time, a torsion coil spring (not shown) is attached around the rotation shaft 57a so as to urge the support base frame 57 downward.

Further, on the lower side of the support base frame 57,
A vibration drive mechanism 60 for swinging the waste toner container 50 up and down is arranged. This vibration drive mechanism 6
The drive source 0 and the drive source of the transport drive mechanism 70 in the paper transport unit as shown in FIG. 7 for performing the various transport operations of the recording paper described above have a common drive source 80. The common drive source 80 in the present embodiment is configured by a stepping motor that can rotate forward and reverse.

More specifically, first, as shown in FIG. 7, the forward rotation direction of the stepping motor 80 (FIG.
The counterclockwise rotation driving force is
Is transmitted from the drive gear 80a fixed to the output shaft to the transport drive mechanism 70 via the shared intermediate gear 80b. The transport driving mechanism 70 includes a plurality of intermediate gears 70a.
To 70d, the various transport rollers 71
And the other intermediate gears 70e, 70
It is connected via f to a gear 72 for rotationally driving a paper feed roller (not shown). The paper feed roller is provided with a clutch (not shown), and the paper feed drive is performed by connecting the clutch at a predetermined paper feed timing.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the rotational driving force in the reverse rotation direction (clockwise direction in FIG. 8) from the stepping motor 80 as the common driving source is fixed to the output shaft of the stepping motor 80. The driving gear 80a is transmitted to the vibration driving mechanism 60 via a shared intermediate gear 80b. The vibration drive mechanism 60 includes a plurality of intermediate gears 6.
0a to 60d, the vibration cam 61
Are configured to rotate.

At this time, a one-way (one-way) clutch 62 as a forward / reverse rotation transmitting means is interposed on the shaft of the intermediate gear 60a, and only the reverse driving force of the stepping motor 80 is applied to the vibration cam 61 side. 7 and 8, the driving force is transmitted as clockwise (clockwise) rotational driving force. The forward driving force of the stepping motor 80 is controlled by the one-way clutch 62.
Is prevented from being transmitted to the vibration cam 61 side by the idling action. Thus, the above-described transport drive mechanism 7
0 and the vibration drive mechanism 60 are switchably connected by forward / reverse rotation transmission means including a one-way clutch 62.

On the other hand, the outer peripheral cam surface 61 of the vibrating cam 61
a is formed in a substantially spiral shape in which the radius from the rotation shaft 61b gradually changes, and the small-diameter working roller 63 contacts the substantially spiral outer peripheral surface 61a of the vibration cam 61 from above. It is arranged in such a way. The radius between the contact point of the operation roller 63 and the rotation center of the vibration cam 61 is changed from the substantially minimum diameter state shown in FIG.
7 gradually increases when clockwise (clockwise), and is formed between the maximum diameter portion and the minimum diameter portion after approximately one rotation to reach the maximum diameter state in FIG. The state becomes the minimum diameter again via the step. Therefore, the operation roller 6
3 is moved up and down so as to repeat an operation of gradually rising and an operation of rapidly descending as the vibration cam 61 rotates. As described above, the vibration cam 6
1 is configured to rotate only clockwise (clockwise) by the action of the one-way clutch 62, and is not rotated counterclockwise (counterclockwise) on the opposite side.

The operating roller 63 is rotatably attached to an upper end portion of a vibration transmission rod 64 disposed immediately below the support base frame 57 of the waste toner container 50 described above. The vibration transmitting rod 64 is vertically movably mounted on a rotating shaft 61b of the vibration cam 61 and a fixed support pin 65 protruding below the rotating shaft 61b with a predetermined distance therebetween. The vibration transmission rod 64 is also moved up and down with the up and down movement of the operation roller 63 described above. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when the largest outer diameter portion of the vibration cam 61 rotates to a position where it comes into contact with the operation roller 63, the operation roller 63 and the vibration transmission rod 64 rise to the uppermost position. The vibration transmission rod 64
Is in contact with the support base frame 57 of the waste toner storage container 50 from below, and the whole is pushed upward. As a result, the waste toner container 50 is held substantially horizontally as shown in FIG. 7 against the weight of the waste toner container 50 and the downward biasing force of the coil spring force. I have.

A pair of small projections 67 are provided on the maximum outer diameter portion of the vibrating cam 61 so as to sandwich the contact point of the operating roller 63 from both sides. When the rotation is attempted, the resistance of the pair of small projections 67, 67 causes the vibration cam 61 to rotate.
Is prevented from rotating naturally.

On the other hand, when the vibration cam 61 rotates slightly clockwise (clockwise) from the state shown in FIG. 7, the operating roller 63 and the vibration transmission rod 64 move to the minimum outer diameter portion of the vibration cam 61 and the minimum. As shown in FIG. 8, the working roller 63 comes into contact with the smallest diameter portion of the vibrating cam 61 so as to drop along the step between the outer diameter portion and the falling portion. . As described above, when the operation roller 63 and the vibration transmission rod 64 suddenly descend to the lowermost position, the waste toner storage container 50 also suddenly descends due to its own weight and the downward urging force of the coil spring force. It is made to be inclined.

A sensor piece 64 projecting in an L-shape in a substantially horizontal plane is provided at an intermediate portion of the vibration transmitting rod 64.
The optical position sensor 66 is disposed at a position where the tip of the sensor piece 64a can be sandwiched from both sides. The vertical movement of the vibration transmission rod 64 causes the sensor piece 64a to shield or release the inside of the position sensor 66. The vertical position of the vibration transmission rod 64 is detected by a change in light reception at that time. It is supposed to be.

The transport drive mechanism 70 of the above-described paper supply means
And a stepping motor 80 as a shared driving source also serving as a driving source for the vibration driving mechanism 60 of the waste toner storage container 50
Is provided with a control device 90 as shown in FIG. The control device 90 has a central processing unit (microcomputer; hereinafter, referred to as a CPU) 91 as a main part, and an input port of the CPU 91 has:
A power switch 92 is connected, configured to detect the presence or absence of power-on, and a position detection signal from the optical position sensor 66 that detects the vertical position of the vibration transmission rod 64 described above, A time signal from a built-in timer 93 and an image formation number signal from a copy number counter 94 are input.

The input port of the CPU 91 is connected to a ROM 95 storing a control program for executing the above-mentioned vibration operation of the waste toner container 50 at a predetermined timing. Is connected to a RAM 96 for temporarily storing various data. The contents of the control program will be described later.

On the other hand, the output port of the CPU 91
A driver 97 for driving the stepping motor 80 is connected, and a predetermined drive command signal is issued from an output port. That is, the CPU 91 described above, based on the output signal of the optical position sensor 66, the aging signal from the timer 93, the image formation number signal from the copy number counter 94, and whether or not the power is turned on by the power switch 92. It is configured to send a drive command to the driver 97.

Next, the contents of the control program stored in the ROM 95 in the control device 90 are as follows.
The vibration operation of the waste toner storage container 50 will be described.

In the control program according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, when the power switch 92 is first turned on from the start of step 1 (Yes in step 2).
s) First, a warm-up operation is started (step 3). Immediately after that, the above-described vibration transmission rod 6
The position detection signal from the optical position sensor 66 for detecting the vertical position of No. 4 is checked (step 4).

When it is confirmed that the position of the vibration transmitting rod 64 is at the raised position and the output of the position sensor 66 is present (Yes in step 4), the waste toner storage container 50 is shown in FIG. Is maintained in a substantially horizontal state as shown in FIG.
Is performed (step 5). As a result, the above-described vibration cam 61 is rotated one clockwise from the state shown in FIG. 7, and the waste toner storage container 50 is suddenly lowered by an amount corresponding to a step corresponding to the step portion of the vibration cam 61 to be in an inclined state. . Thereafter, as the outer diameter of the outer peripheral cam surface 61a of the vibrating cam 61 increases, it gradually rises again to the horizontal state shown in FIG. By vibrating the waste toner container 50 up and down once in this manner, the waste toner T (see the solid line in FIG. 6) naturally piled up in the waste toner container 50 in a mountain shape is broken. As a result, it is smoothed and flattened into a gentle shape (broken line T1 in FIG. 6).
reference).

On the other hand, when the power is turned on in FIG. 10 (step 2).
In the case where it is confirmed that the position of the vibration transmission rod 64 is at the lower position for some reason and there is no output from the position sensor 66 (No in step 4), the waste toner container 50 is moved to the position shown in FIG. As a result, the state is shifted to the inclined state. In that case, the waste toner storage container 50
Is driven in the reverse direction until the position of the stepping motor 80 rises to the horizontal position in FIG. 7 (step 6). Then, when it is confirmed that there is an output from the position sensor 66, that is, when the waste toner container 50 is maintained in a substantially horizontal state as shown in FIG.
s) The vibrating cam 61 is rotated one clockwise from the state of FIG. As a result, the waste toner storage container 50 is vibrated once as described above, and the waste toner T naturally accumulated in the waste toner storage container 50 in a mountain-like manner.
(See the solid line in FIG. 6) is smoothed and flattened (see the broken line T1 in FIG. 6).

When the warm-up operation is completed (Step 7), a predetermined image forming operation is executed (Step 8). And finally, the waste toner storage container 5
The waste toner in the area 0 is accumulated until it reaches, for example, the state shown by the broken line T2 in FIG. 6, and the space efficiency in the waste toner storage container 50 is greatly improved.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the waste toner container 50 is vibrated only by reversely rotating it by using the stepping motor 80 as the common driving source provided in the paper supply means. In addition, a dedicated driving source is omitted, and a complicated switching mechanism and control device are not required.

On the other hand, the vibration operation of the waste toner storage container 50 is performed by the built-in timer 9 as shown in FIG.
The same operation and effect can be obtained by performing reverse rotation of the stepping motor 80 as a common driving source at regular intervals based on the temporal signal from the third.

Further, such a waste toner storage container 50
The vibration operation is performed by rotating the stepping motor 80 as a common driving source in reverse at every predetermined reference number (for example, 500) based on a signal from the copy number counter 94 as shown in FIG. The same operation and effect can be obtained by performing the above operation.

At this time, if the number of continuous images formed by the user (for example, 999) is larger than the above-mentioned reference number (for example, 500), during the continuous image forming operation, the waste toner storage container 50 is removed. It is preferable in use that the vibration operation is not performed.

Further, the vibration operation of the waste toner storage container 50 restarts the image forming operation at the time of replenishment of the recording paper, for example, at the time of automatic change of the paper feed cassette or at the time of paper supply to the paper feed cassette. Immediately after this, the same operation and effect can be obtained by reversing the stepping motor 80 as the shared driving source.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the vibration cam 61 is rotated once, but may be rotated a plurality of times.

Further, in this embodiment, a one-way clutch is used as the forward / reverse rotation transmitting means, but other switching mechanisms can be similarly used. Further, the above embodiment has been described by taking an electrophotographic copying machine as an example. However, the present invention is of course applicable to a facsimile, a printer, and the like, and is not limited to a double-sided copying apparatus.

[0060]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the forward / reverse transmission means for inverting and connecting the transport drive mechanism and the vibration drive mechanism is provided, and the common drive source provided in the paper supply means is used. By oscillating the waste toner storage container by simply rotating it in the reverse direction, a dedicated drive source is omitted and complicated switching mechanisms and control devices are not required. The toner storage container can be reliably vibrated, and the reliability of the image forming apparatus can be improved while reducing the cost of the apparatus.

Further, in the second aspect of the present invention, since the forward / reverse rotation transmitting means has an extremely simple structure by employing a one-way clutch, the above-described effect can be further enhanced.

Further, the invention of claim 3 or 4 or 5 is provided with a control means for executing the reverse rotation operation of the invention of claim 1 at an appropriate timing.
The above-described effects can be reliably obtained without hindering the image forming operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a copying machine as an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged side view showing the photosensitive drum portion shown in FIG. 1 in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective explanatory view showing an enlarged installation portion of a waste toner storage container.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view illustrating the structure of a toner sensor of the waste toner storage container.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of a circuit system of the toner sensor illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional road surface explanatory view showing a toner accumulation state in a waste toner storage container.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing the transport driving mechanism 70 and the vibration driving mechanism 60 when the waste toner storage container is in a horizontal state.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the transport driving mechanism 70 and the vibration driving mechanism 60 when the waste toner storage container is in an inclined state.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a control procedure by the control means according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Cleaning device 4 Photosensitive drum 50 Waste toner storage container 51 Toner introduction pipe 57 Support base frame 60 Vibration drive mechanism 70 Transport drive mechanism 80 Stepping motor (common drive source) 61 Vibration cam 62 One-way (one-way) clutch 63 Operating roller 64 Vibration Transmission rod

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hideki Mori 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 2H027 DA21 DA31 DA41 DD03 DE07 EA09 ED16 ED30 EE02 EE04 EF01 EF09 GB01 HB12 2H034 CA06 CA08 2H071 BA04 CA01 CA05 DA13 DA23 DA27 DA32

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sheet conveying means having a conveying drive mechanism for conveying a recording sheet in accordance with an image forming operation, and a waste toner storage container for storing waste toner discharged by cleaning a photosensitive member after transfer. The waste toner storage container is swingably attached to the apparatus main body side, and the waste toner storage container is swung by a vibration driving mechanism, so that the waste toner storage container is mounted inside the waste toner storage container. An image forming apparatus configured to collapse and flatten waste toner naturally deposited in a shape, wherein a drive source of a transport drive mechanism of the paper supply unit and a drive source of a vibration drive mechanism of the waste toner storage container are also used. A common drive source that is provided so as to be able to rotate forward and backward, and transmits the driving force in the normal rotation direction from this common drive source to the paper supply means side without transmitting it to the waste toner storage container side; Forward and reverse rotation transmitting means for connecting the transport drive mechanism and the vibration drive mechanism so as to transmit the driving force in the reverse rotation direction to at least the waste toner storage container side; and the common drive source is rotated forward or backward at a predetermined timing. An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the forward / reverse rotation transmission mechanism includes a one-way clutch. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit has a function of reversing the common driving source at predetermined time intervals. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control unit has a function of preventing the common driving source from being reversed during the image forming operation. 5. The control means according to claim 1, further comprising a function of reversing the common drive source when the power is turned on, when the image forming operation reaches a predetermined reference number, or when recording paper is replenished. An image forming apparatus.