JP2001134061A - Toner cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toner cartridge capable of preventing toner from being leaked and easily recycled. SOLUTION: In this toner cartridge, a container main body storing the toner is constituted by bonding at least two members. The cross-sectional shape of the bonding part of the members in the container main body is made non- circular and both members are fixed by winding a pressure sensitive adhesive tape 17 round the outer periphery of the bonding part of the members at least once or more, and the winding start part 18 of the tape 17 is positioned at the apex of an angle part or a curve part where rounding is the smallest out of the cross section of the bonding part of the members. Thus, a gap is not formed in the winding start part 18 of the tape 17, and the toner is prevented from being leaked from the gap, also the toner cartridge is easily disassembled and recycled. Then, the toner storing space of the toner cartridge is prevented from getting unnecessary.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toner cartridge for supplying powder toner to an image forming apparatus for forming an image using powder toner, and more particularly to a method for fixing a container body to a flange and preventing toner leakage. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer forms a latent image on a photosensitive drum that is uniformly charged by selectively exposing the photosensitive drum.
The latent image is developed with a powder toner as a developer to form a developed image, and the developed image is transferred to a recording medium to perform image recording. In such an image forming apparatus, most of the toner cartridges for supplying the powder toner have a completely sealed type except for a toner filling port or a toner discharging port in order to prevent toner leakage from the toner cartridge itself. , And many of the sealed toner cartridges are molded of a thermoplastic resin. In this case, since the toner cartridge is often divided and molded in terms of structure, joining by ultrasonic welding has been performed as a means for sealing.

In recent years, in a toner cartridge having a circular cross-sectional shape, a method of preventing toner leakage by press-fitting and auxiliaryly fixing with an adhesive tape for the purpose of preventing detachment has been adopted.

[0004]

However, there is a problem that the conventional toner cartridge joined by ultrasonic welding is difficult to reuse.

Further, in the case of a toner cartridge having a circular cross section fixed by press-fitting and an adhesive tape, there is a problem that a space on the device side is increased because it is necessary to provide a useless space on the device side.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a toner cartridge which can prevent toner leakage and can be easily reproduced.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner cartridge in which a container body for storing toner is formed by joining at least two members. The cross-sectional shape of the portion is non-circular, the outer periphery of the member joint is wound at least one or more rounds with an adhesive tape to fix both members, and the winding start portion of the adhesive tape is formed at the corner of the corner in the member joint section. Vertex or R
Is characterized by being positioned at the smallest curve portion of

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the cross section of the member joining portion of the container body has a shape having no concave portion over the entire circumference. Item 7. The toner cartridge according to Item 1.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the size of the curved portion having the smallest R in the cross section of the member joining portion is from R0.1 to R15. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape has an elongation of 10 to 300%.
It is characterized by being.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a polypropylene (PP) film or a polyester (PET) film is used as a base material of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape has a thickness of 30 to 300 μm.
It is characterized by having.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the toner has a volume average particle diameter (D ₄ ) of 10%.
It is characterized in that one having a size of not more than μm is used.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the seventh aspect, the toner has a sphericity (Ψ _W ) of 0.9.
It is characterized by using the above spherical toner.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, no gap is formed at the winding start portion of the adhesive tape, so that toner can be prevented from leaking from the gap, and the toner cartridge can be easily disassembled and reproduced. The toner storage space of the toner cartridge is not wasted.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the operation of winding the adhesive tape when assembling the toner cartridge can be easily performed, and the toner cartridge can be more easily assembled.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, no gap is formed in the winding start portion of the adhesive tape, and toner leakage from the gap can be prevented.

According to the invention described in claim 4, 5, or 6,
It is possible to absorb minute irregularities and steps generated at the joint part of the container body by the elongation of the adhesive tape, prevent the occurrence of wrinkles due to pressure bonding of the adhesive tape by the roller, and easily wind the adhesive tape. Can be.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent leakage of toner to the outside while obtaining a high-quality image using fine toner.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent leakage of the toner to the outside while obtaining a high quality image using a fine and highly fluid toner.

[0021]

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

First, the configuration of an electrophotographic copying machine as an example of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus equipped with a toner cartridge according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an electrophotographic copying machine.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes an electrophotographic copying machine main body (hereinafter, referred to as an apparatus main body);
Is placed on a platen glass 102, and a plurality of mirrors M and lenses Ln of an optical unit 103 are used to expose a photosensitive drum 104.
It is configured so that development information is imaged thereon.

Reference numerals 105 to 108 denote cassettes. Of the sheets P stacked in the cassettes 105 to 108, an optimum sheet is selected from information input by a user from an operation unit (not shown) or the size of the original 101. P to cassette 10
Select from 5 to 108 pieces of paper size information.

The paper feed / separation devices 105A-108
A transports one sheet of paper P transported by A to the registration roller 110 via the transport unit 109, and the photosensitive drum 1
The paper P is conveyed by synchronizing the rotation of the optical disc 04 with the scan timing of the optical unit 103. Then, the photosensitive drum 104
The toner image formed on the sheet P is transferred onto the sheet P by the operation of the transfer charger 111, and the sheet P on which the toner image has been transferred.
Is separated from the photosensitive drum 104 by the action of the separation charger 112.

Thereafter, the sheet P is conveyed to the fixing section 114 by the sheet conveying section 113, where the sheet P is heated and pressurized to receive the fixation of the toner image. The paper P on which the toner image has been fixed in this way passes through the paper discharge reversing unit 115 in the case of one-sided copying, and
6, the paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray 117. In the case of double-sided copying, the sheet P is conveyed to the registration rollers 110 via the re-feeding conveyance paths 119 and 120 under the control of the flapper 118 of the sheet reversing unit 115, and then the same as in the case of single-sided copying. The paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray 117 through the path of.

In the case of multiplex copying, the paper P passes through the paper discharge reversing unit 115 and is partially discharged outside the apparatus by the paper discharge rollers 116 once. Then, after the end of the sheet P passes through the flapper 118, the flapper 118 is controlled at a timing when the sheet P is still nipped by the sheet discharging roller 116, and the sheet P is again rotated by rotating the sheet discharging roller 116 in the apparatus. Transported to Thereafter, the sheet P is transferred to the registration rollers 11 via the re-feeding conveyance paths 119 and 120.
After the sheet is conveyed to 0, the sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 117 via the same path as in the case of one-sided copy.

By the way, the apparatus main body 10 having the above configuration
0, the developing device 20 is provided around the photosensitive drum 104.
1, a cleaner unit 202 and a primary charger 203 are arranged. Here, the developing device 201 applies a toner to the photosensitive drum 1 in order to make information obtained by forming information of the document 101 on the photosensitive drum 104 as an electrostatic latent image by the optical unit 103 visible.
The toner cartridge 1 according to the present invention, which is a toner supply container for replenishing toner to the developing device 201, is detachably provided to the apparatus main body 100.

FIG. 2 shows a toner cartridge 1 according to the present invention.
The toner cartridge 1 is a so-called stationary type (built-in type) which is mounted on the apparatus main body 100, and is supplied as it is to the developing unit 201, which is a portion to be supplied, until the toner cartridge is completely used up. is there.

Here, as shown in the perspective views of FIGS. 2 to 4 and the exploded perspective view of FIG.
A container main body 11 serving as a toner container, a flange 13, a stirring member (not shown) and a handle member 15 are provided, and the container main body 11 and the flange 13 are fixed by an adhesive tape 17.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the flange 13. The adhesive tape 17 is wound at least once around the winding start portion 18 of the flange 13. When winding the adhesive tape 17, the adhesive tape 17 is pressed with a roller (not shown) having an elastic member adhered to the surface of the adhesive tape 17 by applying an appropriate tension in the longitudinal direction of the adhesive tape 17 and simultaneously pressing the adhesive tape 17 to the flange 13. . Here, the winding tension is desirably 100 gf to 1000 gf. If the winding tension is smaller than 100 gf, wrinkles are likely to be generated on the adhesive tape 17, wrinkles remain at the joints, and toner may leak from the wrinkles. is there. The winding tension is 10
If it is larger than 00 gf, the end of winding of the adhesive tape 17 shifts with time, which is not preferable in appearance.

It is desirable that the pressure applied by the roller be 500 gf or more and 2000 gf or less. Crimp load is 500gf
If it is smaller, the partial lifting of the adhesive tape 17 caused by the step at the joint cannot be eliminated, and 20
If it is larger than 00 gf, the container body 11 is deformed by the load, and wrinkles are likely to be generated on the adhesive tape 17, and the wrinkles may cause toner to leak out. In addition, the winding direction of the adhesive tape 17 may be either clockwise or counterclockwise.

The adhesive tape 17 preferably uses a polypropylene (PP) or polyester (PET) film as a base material, and these base materials do not react with the toner.

Further, the thickness of the adhesive tape 17 is 30
３００300 μm is desirable. In particular, 50 to 100 μm is preferable. When the thickness of the adhesive tape 17 is 30 μm or less, it is difficult to wind the adhesive tape 17 around the flange 13 because the strength of the adhesive tape 17 is insufficient, and when it is thicker than 300 μm, the adhesive tape 17 itself becomes hard and the flange 13
Cannot be crushed, and toner may leak.

The elongation of the adhesive tape 17 is preferably 10 to 300%. Especially 30-2
Those with an elongation of 00% are preferred. When the elongation percentage of the adhesive tape 17 is smaller than 10%, a partial lift is generated in the adhesive tape 17 due to a step generated at a joint portion.
If the elongation is greater than 300%, wrinkles may occur on the adhesive tape 17 during pressure bonding, and there is a possibility of toner leakage.

It is important that the winding start portion 18 of the adhesive tape 17 of the flange 13 is a corner portion or a curved portion having the smallest R (radius of curvature) in FIG. And in the case of a corner, it is essential to start winding from that vertex,
In the case of the R portion, the size of R should be set to R0.1 or more and R15 or less, more preferably, R0.1 or more and R10 or less.

In this embodiment, the size of R in the R portion is R
Although toner cartridges having a cross-sectional shape having curved portions of 1 and R10 are used, good sealability is obtained in any case.

In the present embodiment, the adhesive tape 17 using a polypropylene (PP) film as a base material has a thickness of 60 μm and an elongation of 160% (a back seal tape # manufactured by Nitto Denko Corporation). 3700).

An adhesive tape using a polyester (PET) film as a base material has a thickness of 70 μm,
The one having an elongation of 40% (Photographic Tape # 8422B manufactured by Sumitomo 3M Limited) is used.

Here, the reason for limiting the position of the winding start portion 18 of the adhesive tape 17 on the flange 13 and the reason for limiting the size of R will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the adhesive tape 1 on the flange 13
7 is a flat surface as shown in FIG. 7 (a) or a curved surface position having a large R as shown in FIG. 7 (b), a gap is formed in the overlapping portion of the adhesive tape 17 at the winding start portion 18. 18a1 occurs. The gap 18a1 can be slightly crushed by the pressure roller, but cannot be completely eliminated.

Therefore, the sphericity of the powder toner used Ψ _W
Are spherical particles having a particle diameter of 0.9 or more, and a volume average particle diameter D
₄ is a fine particle of 10 μm or less, since the fluidity of the powder toner itself is very good, when the toner leaks to the joint between the container body 11 and the flange 13, the toner is discharged from the gap 18 a 1. May leak out and the toner may adhere to the user's hand or clothes.

[0043] Powder sphericity [psi _W of the toner is 0.9 or less, or even when the volume average particle diameter D ₄ was used toner over 10 [mu] m, to come configured out toner leakage according to the present invention However, in the case of these toners, the toner does not leak out of the toner cartridge 1 even without employing the configuration of the present invention.

[0044] Here, as the sphericity [psi _W are used sphericity of Wadell defined by the following equation (practical sphericity).

[0045] Therefore, when the winding start portion 18 is a curved portion having a small R as shown in FIG. 8A, the gap 18a2 in the winding start portion 18 is reduced by the winding tension and the force of the pressure roller because the curvature of the curved portion is small. Crushed by the beginning of winding 18
Gaps are less likely to occur. The winding start portion 18 is shown in FIG.
In the case of a corner as shown in (b), the gap 18a2 itself does not occur. The sectional view of FIG. 9 shows the flange 13 having the winding start portion 18 as a corner.

As a result, the container body 11 and the flange 13
When the toner leaks from the joint surface of the above, the leaked toner does not leak out through the gap 18a2, and the problem that the toner adheres to the user's hand or clothes does not occur.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in a toner cartridge in which a container main body for accommodating a toner is formed by bonding at least two members, a cross-sectional shape of a member connecting portion of the container main body Is non-circular, the outer periphery of the member joining portion is wrapped with at least one turn with an adhesive tape to fix both members, and the winding start portion of the adhesive tape is a vertex of a corner or R Since the toner cartridge is located at the smallest curved portion, toner leakage from the toner cartridge can be prevented, and the effect that the toner cartridge can be easily reproduced can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an electrophotographic copying machine.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toner cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the toner cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the toner cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the toner cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a flange of the toner cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a start portion of a conventional toner cartridge where an adhesive tape is wound.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the start of winding of the adhesive tape of the toner cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a flange according to another embodiment of the toner cartridge according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner cartridge 11 Container main body (member) 13 Flange (member) 17 Adhesive tape 18 Adhesive tape winding start part

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A toner cartridge comprising a container body for accommodating toner and at least two members joined to each other, wherein a cross-sectional shape of a member joining portion of the container body is non-circular, and an outer periphery of the member joining portion is adhered to an adhesive tape. At least one or more turns to fix both members, and the winding start portion of the adhesive tape is positioned at a vertex of a corner or a curved portion having the smallest R in the cross section of the member joining portion. . 2. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a cross section of the member joining portion of the container body has a shape having no concave portion over the entire circumference. 3. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the magnitude of R in the curved portion having the smallest R in the cross section of the member joint is from R0.1 to R15. 4. The elongation percentage of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is 10 to 300.
The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein 5. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a polypropylene (PP) film or a polyester (PET) film is used as a base material of the adhesive tape. 6. The adhesive tape has a thickness of 30 to 300 μm.
2. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein m is set to m. 7. A toner having a volume average particle diameter (D ₄ ) of 1
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the material having a thickness of 0 μm or less is used.
The toner cartridge as described in the above. 8. The toner having a sphericity (Ψ _W ) of 0.
9. The method according to claim 7, wherein at least nine spherical toners are used.
The toner cartridge as described in the above.