JP2001077548A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which has a constitution of low environmental load, and also can obtain a high-quality image, even if it is of such a constitution that recycled resin is used for the frame. SOLUTION: In an image forming apparatus which has a chassis (frame) 100 for retaining at least a driver, optical parts, and a photosensor, and a main motor (drive source) 113, the chassis 100 is constituted of a metal and resin, and the main motor 113 is fixed to the sheet metal chassis part (metal part) 101 of the chassis 100, and also the resin chassis part +(resin part) 106 of that chassis 100 is constituted of recycled resin, where the recycled material is mixed in 5% or higher by weight ratio.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An overall configuration of a conventional laser beam printer using an electrophotographic process will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a printer main body; 2, a paper feed roller for separating and taking out sheet materials S one by one from a sheet material loading tray 3; and 4, a transfer roller.

A process cartridge 5 includes at least a photosensitive drum 5a, a developing device 5b, a charging device 5c, a toner container 5d, and a cleaning device 5e for the photosensitive drum 5a.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a fixing device, which comprises a heating means 6a containing a heater and a pressure roller 6b. The developer on the sheet S is heated by a heat applied from the heating means 6a and the pressure roller 6b. Is melted by the pressure and is fixed on the sheet material S.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a paper discharge roller, 8 denotes a scanner unit for scanning the photosensitive drum 5a by reflecting light from a laser oscillator (not shown) by a rotating mirror, and 9 denotes a main motor for driving a paper feed mechanism of the apparatus. It is. The components of the apparatus except the process cartridge 5 are combined with a chassis 10 as a frame to constitute an image forming apparatus.

Next, the printing operation will be described.

[0008] When a print signal is input from a host computer (not shown), the sheet material S is separated from the sheet material tray 3 by the paper feed roller 2 and taken out.
The developed image written by the laser beam on the photosensitive drum 5a is transferred to the sheet material S by the transfer roller 4, and the sheet material S on which the developed image is transferred is subjected to fixing of the developed image by the fixing device 6, The paper is discharged by the paper feed roller 7 and stacked.

[0009]

A chassis, which is a frame used in a conventional image forming apparatus, is made of resin or metal, and a resin chassis made of resin is integrally formed with a complicated shape. Although it is possible to reduce the number of components, there is a disadvantage that the strength is weaker than that of a metal chassis.

On the other hand, a metal chassis is less likely to form a complicated shape than a resin chassis. For this reason, it is necessary to form a chassis with a plurality of metal parts, or to form only a portion having a complicated shape with a resin part, and the number of parts of the metal chassis is increased as compared with the resin chassis.

In addition, since metal has a higher specific gravity than resin,
When comparing a metal chassis and a resin chassis of the same size, the metal chassis becomes heavier. Considering logistics, this increase in weight is an unfavorable condition.

In recent years, environmental problems have become more serious, and it is necessary to promote the use of recycled resin by improving recyclability in product design of image forming apparatuses.
For this reason, it is necessary to improve the decomposability of each component constituting the apparatus, and to design so that a low-strength recycled resin can be used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object the purpose of having a structure with a low environmental load and producing high-quality images even if the frame is made of recycled resin. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can be obtained.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus having at least a driving unit, an optical unit, a frame for holding a photosensitive member, and a driving source. The frame is made of a metal and a resin, and at least one of the driving sources is fixed to the metal part of the frame, and the resin part of the frame is made of a recycled resin in which a recycle material is mixed in a superposition ratio of 5% or more. It is characterized by comprising.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the resin exterior is made of the recycled resin.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one of the drive sources is fixed to the metal part having high rigidity of the frame body. Noise generated due to chatter or the like can be reduced, and a high-quality image can be obtained. In addition, since it is composed of a metal part having high rigidity and a resin part, a recycled resin having low rigidity can be used for the resin part. Therefore, it is possible to construct a frame having both the rigidity, which is an advantage of a metal, and the moldability, which is an advantage of a resin, and the use of a highly recyclable metal and recycled resin reduces the environmental burden. An image forming apparatus can be obtained.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the resin outer casing, which accounts for a large proportion of the total amount of the resin used in the image forming apparatus, is made of recycled resin, an image having a large amount of recycled resin is used. The image forming apparatus becomes an image forming apparatus and has an extremely low environmental load.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a chassis which is a frame for connecting each component of the image forming apparatus (laser printer) according to the present embodiment. Since the components of the laser printer according to the present embodiment are the same as those of the conventional laser printer shown in FIG. 4, a description thereof will be omitted.

The laser printer chassis 100 according to the present embodiment comprises a sheet metal chassis 101 made of sheet metal and a resin chassis 106 made of recycled resin. Note that the resin material in the resin chassis portion 106 is 5
% Of recycled resin.

Here, the configurations of the sheet metal chassis 101 and the resin chassis 106 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are exploded perspective views of the sheet metal chassis 101 and the resin chassis 106. FIG. 3 shows a state in which each component of the apparatus is attached to the sheet metal chassis 101 and the resin chassis 106.

(1) Sheet Metal Chassis 101: The sheet metal chassis 101 has three surfaces formed of sheet metal so as to surround the upper surface and both side surfaces of the resin chassis 106 from the outside of the resin chassis 106. A scanner unit fixing screw hole 102 for fixing the scanner unit 112 shown in FIG. 3 with screws is formed in four places on the upper surface of the sheet metal chassis unit 101, and the laser light from the scanner unit 112 is not blocked. A slit 103 for irradiating the illustrated process cartridge is formed (see FIG. 2).

A main motor fixing screw hole for fixing a main motor 113 (see FIG. 3) as driving means for driving a paper feeding mechanism in the apparatus with a screw on one side surface of the sheet metal chassis portion 101. 104 are formed at two places, and a pinion gear (not shown) provided on an output shaft of the main motor 113 for transmitting the driving force of the main motor 113 projects to the inside of the sheet metal chassis portion 101. A hole 105 is formed (see FIG. 2). (2) Resin chassis 106: The resin chassis 106 is composed of four surfaces, a back surface, a bottom surface, and both side surfaces, and these four surfaces are integrally formed. Is formed. On the inner side of both sides of the resin chassis portion 106, a cartridge guide portion 107 having a groove 107a for introducing the process cartridge to a predetermined position and positioning the same is formed.

A drive transmitting means 117 (see FIG. 3) for transmitting the driving force of the main motor 113 attached to the sheet metal chassis portion 101 to the paper feeding mechanism of the apparatus is provided on the right side outside the resin chassis portion 106. Drive insertion portion 108 for projecting inside resin chassis portion 106
Are formed (see FIG. 2).

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of transport ribs 109, 110, 111 arranged in a direction perpendicular to the sheet material unloading direction are formed on the inner side of the lower surface of the resin chassis portion 106 in this order from the upstream side in the transport direction. Have been.

The transport ribs 109, 110 and 111 are formed integrally on the inner side of the lower surface of the resin chassis 106, and these are transferred from the paper feed mechanism 114 shown in FIG.
A conveyance guide for conveying the sheet material to the fixing mechanism 15 and the fixing mechanism 116 is configured.

As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet metal chassis 101 is provided with a scanner unit 112 having a scanner motor (not shown) and a main motor 113 for driving a paper feed mechanism in the apparatus.

Further, at predetermined positions of the resin chassis section 106, respective components constituting the apparatus of the paper feed mechanism 114, the transfer mechanism 115, the fixing mechanism 116 and the drive transmission means 117 are attached. Here, as described above, the resin chassis 106 is made of recycled resin.

Thus, the chassis 100 according to the present invention, which is formed by combining the sheet metal chassis portion 101 and the resin chassis portion 106, has a structure in which ribs and the like are formed on the lower surface to ensure high rigidity. The overall rigidity is increased by combining the sheet metal chassis portion 101 made of a highly rigid sheet metal surrounding the upper surface and both side surfaces of the resin chassis portion 106.

Also, the sheet metal chassis 101 having high rigidity
By attaching the main unit 113 and the scanner unit 112 having a scanner motor (not shown) as a vibration source, vibrations transmitted to other parts are reduced.

On the other hand, in the resin chassis 106, there are complicated parts such as the cartridge guide part 107 for introducing and positioning a process cartridge (not shown) and the transport ribs 109, 110, 111 constituting a transport guide. Since the shapes are integrally formed, it is not necessary to combine a plurality of parts to obtain these complicated shapes.

The chassis 100 includes a sheet metal chassis 1.
01 ensures high rigidity, so that a low-strength recycled resin can be used as the material of the resin chassis portion 106.

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

In the image forming apparatus using the chassis 100, since the vibration source is attached to the high-strength sheet metal chassis 101, it is possible to prevent deterioration of a printed image due to vibration and reduce noise.

Since a complicated shape is integrally formed on the resin chassis portion 106, the number of parts and the cost can be reduced.

Since the chassis 100 is made of a sheet metal and a recycled resin that are easy to reproduce, an image forming apparatus with a low environmental load can be obtained.

Incidentally, in the chassis 100, the sheet metal chassis portion 101 may be made of a metal material such as an aluminum alloy or titanium having a specific gravity smaller than that of iron. By using a metal plate material having a specific gravity smaller than that of iron for the sheet metal chassis section 101, the weight of the image forming apparatus using the chassis 100 can be reduced, and the load on the distribution of the apparatus can be reduced.

If the resin outer casing, which accounts for a large proportion of the total amount of resin used in the image forming apparatus, is also made of recycled resin, the image forming apparatus uses a large amount of recycled resin, and the environmental load is extremely low. An image forming apparatus can be obtained.

[0040]

As apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus having at least a driving unit, an optical unit and a photosensitive body, and a driving source, the frame is made of metal. And at least one of the drive sources is fixed to the metal part of the frame body, and the resin part of the frame body is made of recycled resin mixed with a recycled material of 5% or more in a superimposed ratio. It is possible to obtain an image forming apparatus having a configuration with low environmental load and capable of obtaining high-quality images even with a configuration using recycled resin for the frame.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a chassis of an image forming apparatus (laser printer) according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a sheet metal chassis portion and a resin chassis portion of a chassis of the image forming apparatus (laser printer) according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a sheet metal chassis portion and a resin chassis portion of a chassis of the image forming apparatus (laser printer) according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a conventional image forming apparatus (laser printer).

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Process Cartridge 5a Photosensitive Drum (Photoconductor) 100 Chassis (Frame) 101 Sheet Metal Chassis (Metal) 106 Resin Chassis (Resin) 112 Scanner Unit (Optical) 113 Main Motor (Drive Source)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having at least a driving unit, an optical unit, and a frame for holding a photoconductor, and a driving source, wherein the frame is made of a metal and a resin, and at least a metal part of the frame is An image forming apparatus, wherein one of the driving sources is fixed, and the resin portion of the frame is made of a recycled resin mixed with a recycled material in an overlapping ratio of 5% or more. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a resin exterior is made of said recycled resin.