JP2001080132A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the scaling-up of an image forming apparatus as a whole even if a recording means of an ink jet system and a recording means of an electrophotographic system are mounted and to sufficiently develop the characteristics of both systems by eliminating such a phenomenon that the constituent member, for example, the photosensitive member of the electrophotographic system receives the effect of ink or ink receives adverse effect by the generation of heat of the electrophotographic system. SOLUTION: A changeover member 20 is provided in the branch part 21 of a first recording paper feed passage 16 having an ink jet means 1 arranged thereto and a second recording paper feed passage 18 having an electrophotographic recording part 2 arranged thereto and, at a time of the printing of a color image, recording paper is fed to the first recording paper feed passage 16 and, at a time of the printing of a black and white image, recording paper is fed to the second recording paper feed passage 18. By this constitution, even if the ink jet means 1 and the electrophotographic recording part 2 being different recording systems are employed, independent feed states are used.

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 an electrophotographic recording means and an ink discharge (inkjet) recording means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, as a recording means mounted on a printer, an electrophotographic system or an ink discharge system is employed for many devices. With the current technology, when performing color printing, printing by the ink discharge method is lower in cost, the image quality is more beautiful, and it is widely used in the market. On the other hand, when performing black and white printing, electrophotographic printing is superior to other methods in cost, speed, and image quality.

Therefore, there are many inventions which attempt to mount both an electrophotographic system and an ink discharge system in an image forming apparatus. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-36252 discloses
There is a description of a configuration in which a recording unit of an ink discharge system is provided between a transfer unit and a fixing unit in an electrophotographic recording unit. Further, JP-A-6-114248 and JP-A-9-49235 describe that an ink discharge type recording unit is installed downstream of a fixing unit in an electrophotographic recording unit in a recording paper conveying direction. is there.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned prior art, in the configuration described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-36252, the conveying speed of the recording paper is governed by the printing performance of the recording means of the ink discharge system. The advantage of a high printing speed, which is a major feature of the electrophotographic recording means, is lost. (Currently, the printing speed of the ink ejection system is about 6 PPM for A4 plain paper, whereas the electrophotographic system has a printing speed of 20 PPM. Or more).
Also, JP-A-6-114248, JP-A-9-49
Similarly, in the configuration described in JP-A-235-235, the printing speed is determined by the printing speed of the ink ejection unit.

In order to avoid such a problem,
It is necessary to provide a place to temporarily store the recording paper or to switch the speed at which the recording paper is sent in each system at the timing when the recording system changes. Occurs.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and does not increase the size of the apparatus as a whole even if it is equipped with an ink discharge type recording means and an electrophotographic type recording means. The ink used does not affect the components of the electrophotographic method, for example, the photoreceptor, or the ink is not adversely affected by the heat generating member of the electrophotographic method, so that good images can be obtained in both types of recording means. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a charging means for applying a constant charge on a photoreceptor, and an optical writing means for applying light energy to the photoreceptor to form a latent image. Electrophotographic recording means and ink comprising: developing means for supplying a predetermined amount of toner to the latent image to form a visible image; and transfer means for transferring the visible image to recording paper. In an image forming apparatus having a recording unit of a discharge type, in the image forming apparatus having a recording paper of an electrophotographic type, on a more upstream side of a recording paper transport path than a registration roller for transporting a recording paper to a nip portion between the photoconductor and the transfer unit A transport path switching means for transporting the recording paper by switching between a recording paper transport path and a recording paper transport path to the recording means of the ink discharge system; The transport route is German Therefore, when recording on recording paper, the ink does not adhere to the photoreceptor, or there is no problem such as deterioration of the ink due to, for example, a heating / pressing type fixing unit. Even if both recording units are mounted, the characteristics of both recording units can be fully exhibited, such as eliminating the need to reduce the printing speed.

Further, in the present invention, the recording paper transport speed at the time of operation of the electrophotographic recording means and the recording paper transport speed at the time of operation of the ink discharge recording means are set differently. With this configuration, even if both recording units are mounted, the characteristics of both recording units can be sufficiently exhibited without lowering the printing speed of the electrophotographic system.

Further, according to the present invention, the recording paper transport speed on the downstream side of the recording paper transport path is set higher than the transport speed of the recording paper on the upstream side of the recording paper transport path from the registration rollers. With this configuration, the recording paper transport speed does not reduce the printing speed of the electrophotographic system even when both recording units are mounted, and does not affect the characteristics of the recording unit of the ink ejection system. , It is possible to sufficiently exhibit the characteristics of both recording means.

According to the present invention, the use of either the electrophotographic recording means or the ink discharge recording means can be set outside the apparatus. Accordingly, a recording unit that forms an image in accordance with the user's intention can be selected and used from the outside.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a printer device for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an ink jet type ink discharging unit which is a recording unit capable of performing color printing; Charging means 4 for giving a constant charge to
An optical writing unit 5 for applying a light energy to the photoreceptor 3 with a laser beam or the like to form a latent image, a developing unit 6 for supplying a predetermined amount of toner to the latent image to form a visible image, An electrophotographic recording unit including a transfer unit 7 for transferring the visible image to recording paper; a fixing heating unit 8 for fixing an image on the recording paper onto which the toner visible image of the photoconductor 3 has been transferred; Reference numeral 9 denotes a fixing pressure unit that presses the recording paper to be fixed to the fixing heating unit 8.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a paper feed cassette on which recording papers are stacked, 11 denotes a manual paper feed cassette, 12 and 13 denote paper feed rollers provided in both cassettes 10 and 11, respectively,
Is a transport roller; 15 is a registration roller for feeding recording paper at a nip portion N between the photosensitive member 3 and the transfer means 7;
A first recording paper transport path 18 for transporting the recording paper from the paper feeding portions 0 and 11 through the ink discharge means 1 to the first discharge roller 17 is formed by a guide plate or the like. , 11 to the registration rollers 15,
Nip portion N between photoconductor 3 and transfer means 7, fixing heating means 8
And a second recording paper transport path for transporting and guiding the recording paper to the second paper discharge roller 19 through the space between the fixing and pressurizing means 9.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a recording paper transporting path which is installed at a branch 21 between the first recording paper transporting path 16 and the second recording paper transporting path 18. A switching member composed of a lever-shaped member for selectively switching to the paths 16 and 18, wherein the switching member 20 and the branch portion 21 are installed upstream of the registration rollers 15 in the recording paper conveyance direction.

At present, there is a considerable difference between the printable speeds of the ink discharge method and the electrophotographic method, and is about 6 PPM in the ink discharge method and 2 in the electrophotographic method.
Generally, about 0 PPM is used. In order to cope with this, in the present embodiment, the recording paper transport speed (Vi) when the ink discharge unit 1 is selected and operated, and the electrophotographic recording unit 2
Is different from the recording paper conveyance speed (Vp) when the operation is selected and the recording paper conveyance speed can be set and controlled so that Vi <Vp.

In this embodiment, in order to switch the transport speed as described above, means (including components around the photosensitive member) for transporting the recording paper downstream of the registration rollers 15 in the recording paper transport direction is provided. And the means for transporting the recording paper on the upstream side (including the portion of the ink discharging means 1), the respective driving sources are independently provided. Specifically, for example, adopting a DC motor as the drive source on the downstream side and employing a stepping motor as the drive source on the upstream side is the most common drive source configuration and is effective.

In the present embodiment, the switching member 20 is moved and rotated by a solenoid device (not shown), so that the first recording paper conveying path 1
One of the recording paper transport path 6 and the second recording paper transport path 18 is closed and the other is opened to allow paper to pass through the opened recording paper transport path.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart relating to the printing operation of this embodiment. This printing operation is controlled by a CP (not shown).
This is performed by a control unit centered on U.

In FIG. 2, when a print command signal is received, it is determined whether the received image information is color image information or monochrome image information (S1). If the received image information is color image information (YES in S1). Then, the recording sheet can be conveyed to the first recording sheet conveying path 16 so that the switching member 20 can be driven to use the ink ejection unit 1 (S
2). At this time, the driving of the fixing unit including the fixing heating unit 8 and the fixing pressing unit 9 is turned off, the voltage bias for the components such as the photoconductor 3 is not turned on, and the photoconductor 3 is not rotated. Further, the recording paper conveyance speed is set to the above Vi (S3). In such a state, the recording paper is transported from one of the cassettes 10 and 11 to the first recording paper transport path 16 and printing is performed by the ink discharge means 1 (S4). Paper roller 17
To discharge the recording paper (S5).

When the ink discharging means 1 is used as described above, the recording paper to which the ink has adhered is not conveyed to the electrophotographic recording unit 2, so that the ink adheres to the photosensitive member,
For example, there is no problem that the ink is deteriorated when the ink is conveyed to a heat generating portion such as the fixing heating unit 8.

If the received image information is monochrome image information (NO in S1), the switching member 20 is driven to use the electrophotographic recording section 2 so that the second recording paper transport path 18 can be used. To transport the recording paper to the
6). At this time, the driving of the fixing unit constituted by the fixing heating unit 8 and the fixing pressurizing unit 9 is turned on, the voltage bias for all the components such as the photoconductor 3 is turned on, and the photoconductor 3 is rotated. The photo preprocessing is started, and the recording paper conveyance speed is set to Vp (S
7). In such a state, the recording paper is transported from one of the cassettes 10 and 11 to the second recording paper transport path 18 and printing is performed by the electrophotographic recording unit 2 mainly including the photoconductor 3 (S8). After the printing is completed, post-processing is performed on the photoconductor 3 and the recording paper is discharged by the second discharge roller 19 (S9).

As described above, when the electrophotographic recording section 2 is used, recording is performed in a second recording paper transport path 18 independent of the first recording paper transport path 16 in which the ink discharging means 1 is installed. In order to convey the paper, even if it is faster than the recording paper conveyance speed in the first recording paper conveyance path 16 in which the ink discharge means 1 is installed, no problem occurs.
In the case of printing based on monochrome image information, the electrophotographic recording unit 2
Can be used to increase the printing speed.

The user can arbitrarily set the use of either the electrophotographic recording means or the ink discharge recording means outside the apparatus to meet the user's intention. It is possible to form a suitable image. For example, it is possible to select monochrome image formation by an electrophotographic method based on color image information.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the recording paper transport path to both the electrophotographic recording device and the ink ejection recording device is independent,
When recording on recording paper, there are no problems such as the ink adhering to the electrophotographic photosensitive member or the ink contacting high-temperature parts in the components of the electrophotographic system and deteriorating. Even when both recording units are mounted, the characteristics of both recording units can be fully exhibited, such as eliminating the need to lower the printing speed when used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer device for describing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart according to a printing operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink discharge means 2 Electrophotographic recording part 3 Photoconductor 4 Charging means 6 Developing means 7 Transfer means 8 Fixing heating means 9 Fixing pressure means 15 Registration roller 16 First recording paper transport path 18 Second recording paper transport path 20 Switching member 21 Branch

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masahiro Kawabe 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Kawashima 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Share Inside the Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Akio Kutta 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in the Ricoh Company (reference) 2C055 KK00 KK03 KK05 KK06 2C056 EA01 EB03 EB12 EC03 EC12 2H071 BA43 DA15 DA21 DA23 EA04 EA18 2H78 AA29 BB01 BB08 DD78 EE04

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A charging unit for applying a constant charge to a photoreceptor, an optical writing unit for applying a light energy to the photoreceptor to form a latent image, and supplying a predetermined amount of toner to the latent image. An electrophotographic recording device and an ink discharge recording device, comprising: a developing unit that converts the visible image to recording paper; and a transfer unit that transfers the visible image to recording paper. A recording paper conveyance path to the electrophotographic recording means and an ink ejection type recording means to the recording paper conveyance path on the upstream side of the recording paper conveyance path from the registration roller for conveying the recording paper to the nip portion between the recording medium and the transfer means. An image forming apparatus comprising: a conveyance path switching unit that conveys recording paper by switching to a recording paper conveyance path. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a recording paper transport speed during operation of said electrophotographic recording means is different from a recording paper transport speed during operation of said ink discharge recording means. Item 2. The image forming apparatus according to Item 1. 3. The recording paper transport speed in a downstream recording paper transport path is set to be higher than the recording paper transport speed in a recording paper transport path upstream of the registration roller in the recording paper transport path. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the use of one of the electrophotographic recording unit and the ink ejection recording unit can be set outside the apparatus. apparatus.