JP2000221840A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably maintain the level of the image quality of developed image from the start of the use of a developing device to the end of its life by detecting a quantity of toner remaining in a toner holding chamber, and controlling the speed of revolution of a developing roller or the number of sheets, of recording media, on which printing is carried out. SOLUTION: The initial speed R of revolution of a toner carrier is set, and the toner carrier 31 is rotated to print. Then, according to the number of printed sheets, a quantity of toner remaining in a holding chamber 42, that is, the output of the detection of the quantity of toner from a photo-sensor 38 is measured. In the case the level of the output of the detection of the measured quantity of toner is above a CorBor A level, the speed of revolution of the toner carrier is increased according to each level, and a fresh speed R+r of revolution of the toner carrier is reset, again and the toner carrier 31 is rotated to continue printing. When the level of the output of the detection of the quantity of toner is equal to or below A, a user is informed of the state of being nearly empty that means the toner is running out, the allowable number of sheets on which printing is carried out is set, and the number of the sheets is decreased after each printing. At a point of time that the number of the sheets reaches zero, the user is informed of the state of being empty that means the toner has run out.

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 using an electrophotographic method, such as a printer and a copying machine, and more particularly, to controlling an amount of toner supplied on a toner carrier to thereby always provide a stable image. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a one-component developing device to be formed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image forming apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-157, there is a means for correcting using an optical adhesion amount sensor or the like. As a correcting means, a method of variably controlling the speed of development or variably controlling the laser power is known.

It seems that a counter may be attached to the developing device to control the number of prints. However, since the amount of toner consumed varies depending on the blackening rate (printing rate) of printing, the life of the developing device is increased. However, it becomes irrelevant to the number of prints.

Further, as described in JP-A-6-35312, by changing the linear speed of the developing roller based on the remaining amount of toner in the developing section, fluctuations in image density are suppressed and deterioration in image quality is suppressed. A method is disclosed.

[0005]

According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 6-175452, dummy printing such as solid printing to halftone printing is performed by using an adhesion amount sensor disposed on a toner image carrier or an intermediate transfer member. It measures the difference from the color and performs the color correction. In principle, the feedback control is extremely correct, which is an ideal form. However, even if the attached amount sensor is expensive and attached, only one sensor must be used to determine whether the image is dark or light by looking at only one point (one straight line because it is a rotating body). In addition, various countermeasures are required in order to cope with the degree of contamination of the sensor and changes with time, which makes the sensor expensive.

In addition, the toner is wastefully consumed as a result of the dummy printing at the time of detecting the attached amount each time. For this reason, since the detection timing is extended as much as possible, perfect feedback control cannot be performed, and the control becomes a standard.

Further, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-35312 only changes the speed of the developing roller in accordance with the remaining amount of toner in the developing unit. Even if the speed of the roller is increased, there is a problem that the toner required for development is not transferred and the image quality level becomes unstable.

Further, it has been found that in the one-component developing device, the toner particle diameter on the toner carrier changes along with the number of prints. In the early stage of the use of a new product, the toner becomes a group of small-grained toner particles, and the particle size gradually increases.

That is, it has been found that in the early stage of use, a uniform image quality level is maintained with fine toner, but near the end of its life, a coarse toner image has a coarse image quality level. From the place pressed by the toner layer thickness regulating member, which is a feature of the one-component developing device, selective development is performed in which particles are conveyed in order from small particles, and as the service life approaches, the image quality becomes coarse. .

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus which stably maintains the image quality level of an image to be developed from the initial use of the developing device to the end of its life.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that the remaining amount of toner in a toner holding chamber of a developing device is detected.
The object is to control the number of rotations of the developing roller or the number of prints on the recording medium based on the detection result.

Specifically, the present invention provides the following devices.

A developing device having a photoreceptor for forming an electrostatic latent image, a developing roller for developing the formed electrostatic latent image with toner to form a toner image, and a toner holding chamber for holding the toner; In an image forming apparatus including an intermediate transfer body on which a formed toner image is transferred and an image is formed, and a transfer roller for transferring the formed image to a recording medium surface and performing printing, the toner in the toner holding chamber is An image forming apparatus comprising: a detecting unit that detects a remaining amount of the developing roller; and a control device that controls a rotation speed of the developing roller or a number of printed sheets of the recording medium based on a detection result of the detecting unit. provide.

Further, the present invention provides a photoreceptor for forming an electrostatic latent image, a developing roller for developing the formed electrostatic latent image with toner to form a toner image, and a toner holding chamber for holding the toner. A developing device, an intermediate transfer body on which the formed toner image is transferred and an image is formed, and an image forming apparatus having a transfer roller for transferring the formed image to a recording medium surface for printing. Detecting means for irradiating the toner in the toner holding chamber with light to detect the remaining amount of toner; and a control device for controlling the number of rotations of the developing roller or the number of printed sheets of the recording medium based on a detection result of the detecting means. An image forming apparatus comprising:

Preferably, the control device controls the number of prints on the recording medium when the remaining amount of toner detected by the detection means reaches a predetermined level, and when the remaining amount does not reach the predetermined level. Controls the number of rotations of the developing roller.

[0016] Preferably, the detecting means includes: a luminous body for emitting the light; and a first lens provided on one side of the toner holding chamber for condensing the emitted light and applying the light to the toner. A second lens provided on the other side surface of the toner holding chamber for passing the applied light, and a light receiving element for receiving the passed light.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 7 shows a longitudinal section of a color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the color image forming apparatus, a photosensitive belt 2 serving as a latent image holding means is installed vertically long in a main body constituted by a machine frame 1, and intermediate transfer is performed on the left side of the drawing with the photosensitive belt 2 as a boundary. Transfer drum 6, transfer device 12,
A developing device in which a recording medium supply device 10 and a fixing device 14 are disposed, and the right side in the figure is filled with toner of four different colors.
30Y, 30M, 30C and 30K are arranged.

An exposure device 4 for forming a latent image on the photosensitive belt 2 is disposed below the developing device 30Y, and a paper feed cassette 9 for storing a recording medium is disposed below the exposure device 4. A transfer device 12, a recording medium peeling device 13, and an intermediate transfer body cleaning device 16 are arranged around the transfer drum 6, and a charging device 3, a residual image removing device 7, and a photoconductor cleaning device 8 are arranged around the photosensitive belt 2. I have.

Further, a control device 100 for controlling the photosensitive belt 2, the developing device 30, the transfer drum 6, the transfer device 12, the recording medium supply device 10, and the like is provided. The photosensitive belt 2 serving as a latent image holding unit is driven in a direction indicated by an arrow Q by a driving device (not shown). First, the photosensitive layer on the surface of the driven photosensitive belt 2 is uniformly charged by the charging device 3. Next, the exposure device 4 exposes the image and character information by a personal computer, an image scanner or the like in dot units to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive belt 2.

Thereafter, the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive belt 2 is visualized as a toner image by being developed by any of the developing devices 30Y, 30M, 30C and 30K, and is sent to the first transfer position 22a. . The photosensitive belt 2 is supplied with a potential by a power supply (not shown), and the transfer drum 6 is connected to the ground. Therefore, at the first transfer position 22a, the transfer of the toner image from the photosensitive belt 2 to the transfer drum 6 is performed by the potential difference.

After passing through the first transfer position 22a, the photosensitive belt 2 is erased from the electrostatic latent image by light irradiation by the afterimage elimination device 7, and the surface potential of the photosensitive belt 2 is reduced to a certain level or less. After that, the residual toner on the photosensitive belt 2 remaining without being transferred by the first transfer is cleaned by the photosensitive member cleaning device 8, and a state in which the next toner image can be formed is obtained.

The operation of one cycle described above is performed in synchronization with the timing of one rotation of the transfer drum 6, and the developing devices 30Y, 30M,
By sequentially performing the transfer on 30C and 30K, the transfer drum 6
A multi-color toner image is formed by superimposing a single-color toner image thereon.

On the other hand, a recording medium such as a sheet, an OHP sheet, or the like is supplied from the supply device 10 at a timing, and is transferred to the second transfer position 22.
b, and a single or multiple color toner image formed on the transfer drum 6 is transferred to a recording medium by the operation of the transfer device 12.

After the transfer of the toner image to the recording medium, the recording medium is peeled off from the transfer drum 6 by the recording medium peeling device 13, the toner is melted and fixed by the fixing device 14, and the paper is discharged onto the upper surface of the main body by the paper discharging device 15. You. On the other hand, after the transfer to the recording medium is completed, the remaining toner remaining on the transfer drum 6 without being transferred is cleaned by the intermediate transfer body cleaning device 16, and the next toner image can be superimposed.

By simplifying the transport path from the supply of the recording medium to the discharge of the recording medium as much as possible and increasing the radius of curvature of the transport path, paper jams during transport can be prevented, and reliability can be improved. Further, the processing at the time of paper jam can be easily performed. Further, it can correspond to various types of recording media such as cardboard.

In this embodiment, the recording medium transport path is arranged in a substantially arc shape, and the transfer drum 6, the photosensitive belt 2, the developing device 30Y,
By arranging the 30M, 30C, 30K, the exposure device 4 and the like inside the recording medium transport path, space is effectively used to reduce the size of the main body, simplify the transport path, and discharge the print surface downward when discharging the recording medium. Configuration.

With the above arrangement, the transport path can be simplified, and most of the units are disposed inside the main body relative to the transport path. Therefore, the transport path is closer to the machine frame 1 and the transport path is easily opened. Therefore, the processing at the time of paper jam can be easily performed. In addition, discharging the printing surface downward at the time of discharging has an advantage that the printing surface is discharged in a printing order from the printing surface side.

By forming the photosensitive member in a belt-like configuration, the developing devices 30 of a plurality of colors can be formed in substantially the same shape by using the photosensitive belt 2.
Can be arranged on the same plane, and there is no need to change the developing device 30 according to the color to be developed or to change the shape of the developing device for each color. Can be. Further, by arranging the photosensitive belt 2 vertically long, the space occupied by the photosensitive belt having the same circumference can be reduced, so that the main body can be downsized.

When the recording medium is conveyed from the lower portion to the upper portion of the main body, the transfer drum 6 rotates in the direction of arrow U, and the photosensitive belt 2 rotates in the direction of arrow Q, thereby operating in the forward direction at each contact point. As a result, it is possible to obtain a configuration with good development efficiency and less problems such as vibration. Further, the transfer drum 6 can be driven with respect to the photosensitive belt 2 so that a configuration with less color shift can be achieved.

At this time, the toner carrier 3 which is a developing roller
1 is a reverse rotation developing method (a method in which the photosensitive belt 2 rotates upward from the lower side on the photosensitive belt side) so that the photosensitive belt 2 and the toner carrier 31 can be operated in the forward direction. It is possible to obtain a configuration that is good and has few problems such as vibration.

FIG. 8 shows a longitudinal section of one of the developing devices 30 in FIG. The photosensitive belt 2 is driven upward from below in the direction of arrow Q. The toner carrier 31 of the developing device 30 contacts the photosensitive belt 2 or maintains a gap of about 0.1 to 0.3, and is driven as indicated by an arrow V.

The material of the toner carrier 31 is made of a conductive material such as aluminum or stainless steel whose surface is maintained at an appropriate roughness by sandblasting or a conductive rubber material. The toner supply roller 3 is provided around the toner carrier 31.
2. Rubber plate (urethane rubber, silicon rubber, etc.) for leaf spring material
Is attached.

A sealing member 40 such as a sponge is provided in contact with the lower portion of the toner layer thickness regulating member 33, and a toner scraping member 41 is disposed on a side of the sealing member 40. Further, the toner supply roller 3
In order to supply the toner to the toner 2, a toner feed shaft 36 is rotatably disposed in a holding chamber 42 that holds the toner T.

A transparent, light-collectable toner sensor lens 35 is press-fitted and held in the housing 34. An LED 37 of a light emitting body is disposed on one side of the main body, and a photosensor 38 of a light receiving element is disposed on the other side, in accordance with the left and right positions of the toner sensor lens 35. Then, a lens cleaner 39 is provided on the toner feed shaft 36 to clean the toner sensor lens 35 every time the toner feed shaft 36 rotates.

The operation of the developing device 30 having the above configuration is as follows.
A toner supply roller 32 that is rotatably contacted to the side of the toner carrier 31 is provided in contact with the toner carrier 31, and the toner T adhered to the toner supply roller 32 adheres to the toner carrier 31 to supply toner. Is done.

The toner T is formed into a thin layer by the toner layer thickness regulating member 33 pressed to the toner carrier 31 on the downstream side of the toner supply so that the contact pressure with the toner carrier 31 becomes a constant pressure. Is done. Here, the toner layer thickness regulating member 3
The toner T ′ (supply surplus) remaining after the layer thickness is regulated by 3 falls below the layer thickness regulating member 33.

Thereafter, the excessively supplied toner T 'that has dropped
Is scraped out by the rotatable toner scraping member 41, so that excess toner T ′ does not accumulate around the toner layer thickness regulating member 33. For this reason, it is possible to always stably form a thin toner layer and appropriately charge the toner.

On the other hand, when the number of printed sheets is increased, the toner T decreases. As a detecting means for detecting a decreasing state, a toner sensor lens 35 capable of condensing light with a transparent body
Are press-fitted and held on both sides of a housing 34, and an LED 37 of a light emitting body is disposed on one side of the main body side and a photosensor 38 of a light receiving element is disposed on the other side of the main body side in accordance with the left and right positions of the two toner sensor lenses 35. A lens cleaner 39 is provided on the feed shaft 36 to clean the toner sensor lens 35 every time the toner feed shaft 36 rotates.

By monitoring the output of the photo sensor 38 of the light receiving element at each printing by the detecting means configured as described above, it is possible to monitor how the toner gradually runs out.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the toner amount detection output from the photo sensor 38 of the light receiving element and the number of printed sheets. As shown in FIG. 3, it can be seen that the toner amount detection output decreases as the number of printed sheets increases. A, B, and C in the figure are:
The toner level detection output indicates a level at which the toner amount detection output decreases, the C level indicates a state in which the toner amount detection output is 4 (V) and the toner amount is slightly reduced, and the B level indicates a toner amount detection output in which the toner amount detection output is 3 (V). The A level indicates a state in which the toner amount detection output is 2 (V) and the remaining toner amount is almost empty.

Here, the proposition of the image forming apparatus is to stably print beautiful prints.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the number of printed sheets of the developing device 30 is increased as the fate of the one-component developing device as shown in FIG. Can be seen. The image quality level indicates a change in image density, density uniformity (image unevenness), and resolution.

As a cause of the lowering of the image quality level, the friction regulation of the toner supply roller 32 and the pressurized toner layer thickness regulating member 33 which is rotatably contacted with the toner carrier 31 which is a feature of the one-component developing device 30 is performed. It can be considered that the temporal contact of the toner carrier 31 is involved due to the pressure contact of the material or the like.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the number of prints and the image density. The image density tends to decrease as the number of printed sheets increases. This tendency is due to the fact that the toner carrier 31 is made of a material such as aluminum or stainless steel subjected to a sand blasting surface treatment or is made of conductive rubber. It closely resembles the change with time due to dirt and sticking on the surface.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the image density and the rotation speed of the toner carrier. New developing device 48 without printing any one character
7 shows the relationship between the image density and the number of rotations of the toner carrier in the developing device 49 in the middle of the life when printing 3000p and the developing device 50 near the life when printing 6000p. It can be seen that the image density decreases as the new product is used. It can also be seen that the image density changes as the number of rotations is increased. For example, image density 1.
In order to obtain 5, the rotational speed of the toner carrier may be set to 150 r / s in the new developing device 48, and 170 r / s in the developing device 49 in the middle of life, and the developing device 50 Then 1
It is necessary to set the rotation speed to 90 r / s.

FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the number of prints and the toner particle size. In the developing device 30 described above, very interesting data was confirmed with good reproducibility. It was found that the size of the toner particle diameter on the toner carrier 31 clearly changed with an increase in the number of printed sheets.

Initially, a group 5 of small-sized toner
2, the particle diameter gradually increased, and near the life, increased by about 2 μm from the initial state, forming a group 53 of large-grain toner. That is, it has been found that a uniform toner image quality level is maintained in the initial stage with fine toner, but a coarse toner image level is obtained with large toner particles during the service life.

It is shown that the toner particles are conveyed in order from the smaller one after being pressed by the toner layer thickness regulating member 33 which is a feature of the one-component developing device. This is called selective development. As a countermeasure against image quality deterioration near the life of the selective development, there is a method of increasing the number of rotations of the toner carrier. When the number of rotations of the toner carrier is increased, the thickness of the toner layer is increased, and the thick layer 54 can be formed, thereby improving the image quality level.

That is, by properly combining the above-mentioned characteristics, the image quality level can be stably maintained without lowering the image quality level from the initial use of the developing device 30 to the end of its life.

The means for stably maintaining the image quality level is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of a control processing operation for stably maintaining the image quality level. First, at step 60, the initial toner carrier rotation speed
R, and then the toner carrier 31 at the set rotation speed R.
Is rotated to perform printing (step 61). Next, the remaining amount of toner in the holding chamber 42, that is, the toner amount detection output from the photo sensor 38 is measured in accordance with the number of printed sheets (step 6).
2).

Next, the level of the measured toner amount detection output is determined (step 63). If the output level is equal to or higher than the CorBorA level, in step 64, the number of rotations of the toner carrier is increased corresponding to each level. Returning again to step 60, a new toner carrier rotation speed R + r is set, and the toner carrier 31 is rotated at the new rotation speed R + r to continue printing.

If the level of the toner amount detection output is equal to or lower than the A level in the determination of step 63, the toner has run out: the near empty is notified (step 65), the allowable number of prints is set (step 66), and printing is performed. Each time the number of sheets is reduced (step 67), when the number of sheets becomes zero, the toner runs out: an empty notification is issued (step 68). The toner CG (toner cartridge) of the developing device 30 is regarded as the life of the developing device 30.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 2, when the image quality improvement control is performed, the image quality level is longer and more stable as shown by a solid line 70 than when the image quality improvement control is not performed. This is maintained, and the image quality level does not decrease until the toner CG is replaced.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, it is clear that the toner amount decreases as the developing device 30 approaches the end of its life and the image quality level decreases. The level of the toner amount detection output may be detected several times, and the rotation speed of the toner carrier shown in FIG. 5 may be increased according to the level. For the sake of simplicity, the levels were set to three levels, A, B, and C. However, it is clear that the finer the level, the more the stepwise control differences do not appear and the better the image quality level is maintained. It is.

Further, as a detecting means for detecting the amount of toner according to the present embodiment, a conventional sensor for detecting only a state where the toner is exhausted is used, and the level can be determined by this sensor. There is no need to add an apparatus, and it is possible to maintain a stable image quality level with a small structure and at low cost.

[0056]

According to the present invention, it is possible to stably maintain the image quality level of an image to be developed from the initial use of the developing apparatus to the end of its life, thereby providing a high-quality and highly reliable image forming apparatus. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of image quality improvement control of image formation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a correlation diagram between the number of prints and an image quality level according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a correlation diagram between the number of printed sheets and a toner amount detection output according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a correlation diagram between the number of printed sheets and the image density according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a correlation diagram between the number of rotations of the toner carrier and the image density according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a correlation diagram between the number of printed sheets and the toner particle size according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the developing device of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Machine frame, 2 ... Photosensitive belt, 3 ... Charging device, 4 ... Exposure device, 6 ... Transfer drum, 7 ... Afterimage removing device, 8 ... Photoconductor cleaning device, 9 ... Paper cassette, 10 ... Paper feeding device , 12 ...
Transfer device, 13: recording medium peeling device, 14: fixing device, 1
5: paper discharge device, 16: intermediate transfer body cleaning device, 30Y, 3
0M, 30C, 30K: developing device, 31: toner carrier, 32 toner supply roller, 33: toner layer thickness regulating member,
34 ... housing, 35 ... toner sensor lens, 37 ...
LED of luminous body, 38 ... Photosensor of light receiving element, 39 ...
Lens cleaner, 42: holding chamber, 48: new developing device,
49: Developing device with half life, 50: Developing device near life, 1
00 ... Control device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tetsuro Akasaki 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Electrification Equipment Division of Hitachi, Ltd. 1-1 Electrification Equipment Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Shoji Takeya 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Electrification Equipment Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Katsumasa Mikami, Inventor 1-1-1 Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Electrification Equipment Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Shinichi Hosaka 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture F Electricity Equipment Division, Hitachi, Ltd. Terms (reference) 2H027 DA42 DD02 DE02 DE10 EA04 EC10 ED08 ED16 ED24 EE03 EE04 EH04 GB03 GB05 GB19 HB01 HB05 HB13 2H077 AC04 AD06 AD13 AD1 8 AD23 BA03 CA12 DA16 DA42 DA64 DA93 DB10 DB14 DB16 EA11 FA03 FA13 FA25 GA13

Claims (4)

[Claims] A developing device having a photosensitive member for forming an electrostatic latent image, a developing roller for developing the formed electrostatic latent image with toner to form a toner image, and a toner holding chamber for holding the toner; An image forming apparatus comprising: an intermediate transfer body on which the formed toner image is transferred to form an image; and a transfer roller for transferring the formed image to a recording medium surface for printing. Image forming apparatus, comprising: detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the toner, and a control device for controlling the number of rotations of the developing roller or the number of printed sheets of the recording medium based on the detection result of the detecting means. apparatus. A developing device having a photoreceptor for forming an electrostatic latent image, a developing roller for developing the formed electrostatic latent image with toner to form a toner image, and a toner holding chamber for holding the toner; An image forming apparatus comprising: an intermediate transfer body on which the formed toner image is transferred to form an image; and a transfer roller for transferring the formed image to a recording medium surface for printing. Detecting means for irradiating the toner with light to detect the remaining amount of toner, and a control device for controlling the number of rotations of the developing roller or the number of printed sheets of the recording medium based on the detection result of the detecting means. Characteristic image forming apparatus. 3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control device controls the number of prints on the recording medium when the remaining amount of toner detected by the detection means reaches a predetermined level. The image forming apparatus controls the number of rotations of the developing roller when the predetermined level is not reached. 4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said detecting means includes a luminous body for emitting said light, and a light-emitting body provided on one side surface of said toner holding chamber for condensing said emitted light to impinge on said toner. An image, comprising: a first lens, a second lens provided on the other side surface of the toner holding chamber, for passing the applied light, and a light receiving element for receiving the passed light. Forming equipment.