JP2001038982A - Image-forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To electrically connect a transfer unit constituted to be freely separable from a body part with the body part by a connecting mechanism of a high reliability which does not require a large installation space. SOLUTION: The image-forming apparatus includes a body control substrate 110 having a control means set to a body part for controlling each part of the image-forming apparatus, and a transfer unit 60 constituted to be freely separable from the body part for transferring transfer papers. The transfer unit 60 has a serial communication means 610 for serially communicating with the control means on the body control substrate. The serial communication means of the transfer unit 60 and the body control substrate 110 are connected by a bundle of leads 700.

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, and more particularly, to an improvement in electrical connection between a transport unit configured to be freely inserted into and removed from an image forming apparatus main body and the image forming apparatus main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An original is read by an optical system, image data obtained by reading the original is transferred to a recording medium by an electrophotographic method to form an image, and the image-formed recording medium is fixed and discharged to the outside of the apparatus. A forming device is present.

Further, image data from an external image processing apparatus is received, the image data is transferred to a recording medium by an electrophotographic method to form an image, and the recording medium on which the image is formed is fixed and discharged outside the apparatus. Image forming apparatuses exist.

In this type of image forming apparatus, an operation for removing a jammed transfer sheet in the event of a paper jam or the like is required.
There is an image forming apparatus configured to be able to pull out a transfer path including a transfer path for transferring a transfer sheet and various rollers for the transfer path from the image forming apparatus main body.

In this transport unit, several transport rollers, a stepping motor therefor, and various sensors are arranged. Therefore, a large number of connections are required between the main board of the image forming apparatus main body and the board of the transport unit.

In order to realize the drawer of the transport unit as described above, the main board of the image forming apparatus main body and the transport unit board are connected by a connector for connecting the boards called a drawer connector. Through this drawer connector, drive pulses for stepping motors, drive signals for clutches and solenoids, and signals for various sensors such as a paper passing sensor are connected in parallel. Therefore, when the transport unit is pulled out, the connector is automatically pulled out.

[0007]

The drawer connector described above requires a large number of signal pins. That is, since there are two to six for one load such as a stepping motor, a clutch and a solenoid, and three for one sensor, the number of stepping motors, solenoids, clutches and sensors in the transport unit depends on the number of sensors. In practice, however, it requires a significant number of signal pins. For this reason, the drawer connector occupies a large area on the board.

Each time the transport unit is returned to the original position, a large force is applied to the drawer connector so that the connector is connected to the drawer connector, resulting in a severe use condition for a connector having a large number of signal pins. In addition, since the number of signal pins increases as described above, the probability of contact failure increases accordingly.

Further, even when the drawer connector is not used, a bundled lead wire using a parallel multi-core cable is required, and the space for the bundled lead wire and the mounting area of the board are increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and has a highly reliable connection mechanism which does not require a large installation space. And an image forming apparatus capable of electrically connecting the image forming apparatus and the image forming apparatus.

[0011]

That is, the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is as follows. (1) The invention according to claim 1 is configured such that a main body control board having a control means provided in the main body for controlling each part of the image forming apparatus, and is configured to be insertable and removable from the main body, and to convey the transfer paper. And a transport unit for performing serial communication with a control unit on a main body control board, and a drive unit that drives each load. An image forming apparatus, wherein the serial communication means of the transport unit and the main body control board are connected by a lead bundle.

The transport unit of the present invention includes serial communication means for performing serial communication with control means on the main body control board, and the serial communication means of the transport unit and the main body control board are connected by a lead bundle. As a result, high reliability can be maintained. Also, by employing serial communication, the number of core wires of the lead bundle can be reduced, and a large installation space is not required.

(2) In the invention described in claim 2, the transport unit includes a stepping motor for transporting the transfer paper, and a drive unit for generating a drive signal for driving the stepping motor. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

According to the present invention, since the transfer unit includes the stepping motor for transferring the transfer paper and the driving means for generating a drive signal for the stepping motor, the stepping motor is driven by a serial communication command. Becomes possible. When a plurality of stepping motors are used, only a single set of instructions is required for serial communication, so that the number of core wires of the lead bundle can be extremely reduced.

(3) The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the driving means includes a driving frequency signal generating means for the stepping motor and a driving means for driving the stepping motor. 2. The image forming apparatus according to item 2.

According to the present invention, since the drive frequency signal of the stepping motor is generated and the drive signal is generated in the transport unit, the stepping motor can be driven by a serial communication command. Note that even when a plurality of stepping motors are driven at different speeds, the number of core wires of the drawn bundled wires can be extremely reduced because commands by serial communication are sufficient.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an electrical configuration of a portion related to an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, reference numeral 100 denotes a main unit that belongs to the main body of the image forming apparatus, and includes a main control unit 110 that performs various controls and a power supply unit 120 that supplies power to each unit of the apparatus. The main control unit 110 is also a main body control board having a serial communication function.

A transfer unit 60 is configured to be freely inserted into and removed from the main body 100 of the image forming apparatus.
0, a sensor 640, and a load 650.

The transport unit substrate 600 includes a serial communication unit 610 for performing serial communication with the main control unit 110, a load control unit 620 for controlling the load 650, and a driver unit 630 for driving the load. It is provided with. In addition, as the sensor 640,
Three sensors 641 to 643 are illustrated. Further, as the load 650, a clutch 651, a solenoid 652, a motor 653, and a motor 654 are illustrated.

Here, in order to remove the transfer paper jammed in the event of a paper jam or the like, a transport unit 60 including a transport path for transporting the transfer paper and various rollers therefor is provided from the image forming apparatus main body. It is configured to be insertable and removable.

The transport unit 60 and the main body 100 are electrically connected to each other by a lead bundle 700 so that serial communication and power supply are performed. The lead bundle 700 is configured to have a sufficient length so that electrical connection is maintained.

The pull-out bundle means a bundle composed of a communication bundle between the main body control board and the transport unit board, and a bundle of power supplies supplied to electric components inside the transport unit. .

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a cross-sectional configuration of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. Image data from an image processing device (not shown) is stored in an image memory (not shown) of the image processing unit.

On the other hand, the transfer paper p is fed out from the paper feed cassette 30 on which the transfer paper is loaded, and is fed to the image forming section 50. The transfer paper p fed to the image forming unit 50 is synchronized by a registration roller 57 at the entrance thereof, and then comes closer to the photosensitive drum 51 as an image carrier.

Image data from the image processing unit and the like is input to the image writing unit 40, and a laser diode in the image writing unit 40 irradiates a laser beam corresponding to the image data onto the photosensitive drum 51, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image. To form The electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing unit 53 to form a toner image on the photosensitive drum 51.

This toner image is transferred onto a transfer sheet p by a transfer section 54 below the photosensitive drum 51. Then, the transfer paper p pressed to the photosensitive drum 51 is separated by the separation unit 55. The transfer paper p separated from the photosensitive drum 51 enters the fixing unit 59 via the transport mechanism 58, and the toner image is fixed by heat and pressure. Thus, an image is formed on the transfer paper p.

In the case of single-sided image formation, the transfer paper p is discharged outside the apparatus by a discharge roller 65 via a guide 61. When the transfer paper p is hung on both sides of the transfer paper p, the transfer paper p having the toner image fixed on one side is conveyed downward through the guide 61 and enters the reversing unit 63. Next, the transfer paper p contained in the reversing unit 63 is
The sheet is fed out again by 2 and is sent again to the image forming section 50 via the reverse conveyance path 64. In the image forming section 50 where the image formation on the back side of the document d is completed, the photosensitive drum 51
The toner adhering to is removed by the cleaning unit 56 and charged by the subsequent charging unit 52 to prepare for the next image formation.

In this state, the surface of the transfer paper p (the surface on which no image is formed) is carried into the image forming section 50, and the image on the other surface is formed. In the separation unit 55, the photosensitive drum 51
The transfer paper p separated from the fixing unit 59 again enters the fixing unit 59 via the transport mechanism 58 and is fixed.

The transfer paper p on which the image formation on the back surface and the front surface is completed is discharged out of the apparatus by the discharge roller 65. In the above case, a motor 653 for driving various rollers at a constant speed for image formation, and a motor 654 for driving the reverse transport roller at high speed for reverse transport.
Are driven at different speeds.

In this case, the command transmitted as serial data from the main control unit 110 is received by the serial communication unit 610. In this case, the command includes the timing of turning on / off the clutch or the timing and driving speed of the stepping motor.

Then, the load control section 620 creates a drive frequency signal according to the drive pattern of the stepping motor, and the driver section 630 drives the stepping motor based on the drive frequency signal. The load of the clutch, the solenoid, the motor, and the like is driven by the driver unit 630 according to an ON / OFF signal from the load control unit 620.

Sensors 641 to 643 are used for detecting the timing of the transfer of the transfer paper p, and the detection results from the sensors are supplied to the serial communication unit 610. Based on the detection result of this sensor, the main control unit 11
Those that need to be sent to 0 are communicated by serial communication.

In the specific example shown in FIG. 1, there are three sensors and four loads (clutch, solenoid, motor). Here, if it is assumed that three signal lines are required for each sensor and two signal lines are required for each load, and if a conventional parallel connection is made between the main body 100 and the transport unit 60, 17 signal lines are required. You need a line. In other words, it was necessary to connect with 17 parallel cables or a 17-pin drawer connector.

On the other hand, according to the connection method using serial communication of the present embodiment, two signal lines (TxD, RxD) are used for serial communication, and four signal lines (for driving the circuit) are used for supplying power. + 5V, 5V ground, power + 24V,
A total of 6 wires (24V ground) is sufficient. In the figure, 5V
And the ground for 24 V are shown as GND.

If there is only one power supply voltage, a total of 4
Only signal lines are needed. For this reason, in the present embodiment, it is desirable to connect several signal lines, which are extremely small and do not increase even when the number of sensors and loads increases, as the lead bundle 700.

When the number of sensors and loads in the transport unit 60 further increases, the number of signal lines increases in the conventional connection method, but increases in the connection method of the present embodiment. Never.

As described above, the transport unit 60 includes the serial communication unit 610 for performing serial communication with the main control unit 110 on the main body control board.
In addition, since the serial communication unit 610 of the transport unit 60 and the main control unit 110 are connected by a lead bundle, high reliability can be maintained. In addition, the adoption of serial communication makes it possible to reduce the number of core wires of the lead bundle, and does not require a large installation space for connection.

Further, in this embodiment, since the load control section 620 and the driver section 630 as drive means for generating a drive signal of the stepping motor are provided in the transport unit 60, the stepping motor is connected to the serial communication. It can be driven by an instruction. When a plurality of stepping motors are used, only a single set of instructions is required for serial communication, so that the number of core wires of the lead bundle can be extremely reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, the drive frequency signal of the stepping motor is generated in the transport unit 60 to generate the drive signal. Therefore, the stepping motor can be driven by a serial communication command. Will be possible. Note that even when a plurality of stepping motors are driven at different speeds, the number of core wires of the drawn bundled wires can be extremely reduced because commands by serial communication are sufficient.

In the above description, an image forming apparatus such as a printer has been described as an example. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to an image forming apparatus having a reading mechanism such as a copying machine.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) According to the first aspect of the invention, the transport unit includes serial communication means for performing serial communication with the control means on the main body control board, and the serial communication means of the transport unit and the main body control means. Since it is connected to the substrate by a lead wire, high reliability can be maintained. In addition, the adoption of serial communication makes it possible to reduce the number of core wires of the bundle
Does not require a large installation space.

(2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, the stepping motor for transferring the transfer paper is provided in the transfer unit and the driving means for generating a drive signal for the stepping motor is provided. It can be driven by a communication command. When a plurality of stepping motors are used, only a single set of instructions is required for serial communication, so that the number of core wires of the lead bundle can be extremely reduced.

(3) According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the drive frequency signal of the stepping motor is generated and the drive signal is generated in the transport unit, the stepping motor is driven by a serial communication command. It becomes possible to do. Note that even when a plurality of stepping motors are driven at different speeds, the number of core wires of the drawn bundled wires can be extremely reduced because commands by serial communication are sufficient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a mechanical configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 50 Image forming unit 60 Transport unit 100 Main unit 110 Main control unit 120 Power supply unit 600 Transport unit board 610 Serial communication unit 620 Load control unit 630 Driver unit 640 Sensor 650 Load

Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Tokuo Shiroichi 2970 Ishikawacho, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo F-term in Konica Corporation (reference) 2C061 AQ06 CG01 CG05 HJ02 HQ20 2H027 DA20 ED16 EE04 ZA09 2H071 BA04 BA05 BA13 BA20 BA27 CA01 CA05 DA23 DA26 DA34

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A main body control board having control means provided in a main body for controlling each part of an image forming apparatus; and a conveyance unit configured to be insertable into and removable from the main body, for conveying transfer paper. Wherein the transport unit includes: serial communication means for performing serial communication with control means on a main body control board; and drive means for driving each load. An image forming apparatus, wherein the serial communication unit and the main body control board are connected by a lead bundle. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit includes: a stepping motor for transporting the transfer paper; and a driving unit that generates a drive signal for driving the stepping motor. Image forming apparatus. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the driving unit includes a driving frequency signal generating unit for driving the stepping motor, and a driving unit for driving the stepping motor.