JP2001265188A - Recovered toner transport device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recovered toner transport device adopting a transport belt with which recovered toner is surely transported and vested, with the minimum quantity of the toner remaining on a transport belt. SOLUTION: Since this recovered toner transport device is not provided with a driven hole 35a, on at least one position, where boss parts 31a for driving a belt body 35 is abutted on the belt body, the elastic belt is pushed by the fours boss for driving provided around a roller at a fixed period, the stuck toner is shaken off due to vibration caused by the release of the pushing-up. The waste toner stuck to and remaining on the belt, therefore, is surely reduced, and transported into a waste toner bottle or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copying machine, a printer,
The present invention relates to an improvement in a collected toner conveying device used in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly to a collected toner conveying device capable of efficiently conveying collected toner removed from a photoreceptor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrophotographic image forming apparatus forms an image by transferring and fixing a toner image formed on a photoreceptor onto transfer paper, and a cleaning device removes toner remaining on the photoreceptor after transfer. And then conveyed to a waste toner bottle or the like for disposal. As a means for conveying the collected toner removed by the cleaning device to a waste toner bottle or the like, a conveyance belt is generally used.
JP-A-61-186980 discloses that an endless elastic belt is used as a transport belt for transporting the collected toner, which is stretched by rollers and driven to rotate.
Since the collected toner dropped on the upper surface of the elastic belt is simply dropped using the gravity at the reversing portion of the elastic belt, the toner easily adheres and remains on the elastic belt surface after the reversal,
Further, there is no means for forcibly dropping the attached toner. Next, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-104371 discloses that the collected toner removed from the photoreceptor is not received directly on the belt surface, but is received by a toner receiving member arranged on the upper surface of the belt at a predetermined pitch. There is disclosed a technique in which toner is attracted and conveyed onto a toner receiving member by a magnetic force of a provided magnet, and the toner is dropped from the toner receiving member at a reversing portion of the belt. However, the toner conveying device described in this publication relies on magnetic force to attract and convey toner, and thus the toner conveying force has low reliability.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a toner conveying apparatus using a conveying belt, which surely conveys and discards the collected toner and reduces the amount of toner remaining on the conveying belt. An object of the present invention is to provide a toner conveying device which can be reduced as much as possible.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image carrier for supporting a toner image, and a method for transferring the toner image on the image carrier onto a recording medium. A cleaning device for removing the toner remaining on the image carrier, a collected toner conveying device for collecting the toner removed by the cleaning device and conveying the collected toner to a required location;
Wherein the recovered toner conveying device includes an elastic belt that is stretched endlessly by at least two rollers and driven to rotate, the elastic belt includes a belt-shaped belt main body, and an outer periphery of the belt main body. And a blade portion protruding at a required interval on the surface, and at least one driving boss portion is protruded along the circumferential direction on an outer peripheral surface of one of the at least two rollers, At least one driven hole into which the driving boss is fitted is formed in the belt main body along the longitudinal direction of the belt main body, and at least one position where the driving boss of the belt main body abuts. And wherein the driven hole is not provided. The invention according to claim 2 is an image carrier that carries a toner image, a cleaning device that removes toner remaining on the image carrier after transferring the toner image on the image carrier onto a recording medium, A collected toner conveying device for collecting the toner removed by the cleaning device and conveying the collected toner to a required location, wherein the collected toner conveying device is endlessly stretched by at least two rollers and is rotationally driven. An elastic belt, wherein the elastic belt includes a belt-shaped belt main body, and a blade portion protruding from an outer peripheral surface of the belt main body at a required interval, and one of the at least two rollers is provided. At least one driving boss is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the belt main body, and a driven hole into which the driving boss is fitted is provided on the belt main body at a predetermined pitch along the longitudinal direction of the belt main body. A plurality formed in Ji, characterized in that the circumferential pitch of the holes for the driving was different from the circumferential pitch of the driving boss. The invention of claim 3 is
A scraper portion capable of contacting the blade portion protrudes from an inner wall of the case surrounding the elastic belt.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the collected toner conveying device of the present invention is applied. This image forming apparatus includes a reading unit 1 for forming an image using a well-known electrophotographic process,
A writing unit 2, an image forming unit 3, a paper feed unit 4, an automatic document feeder 5, and the like are provided. Image information obtained by reading the original 7 on the contact glass 6 by the reading unit 1 undergoes necessary processing by an image processing unit (not shown) or the like, and is supplied from the writing unit 2 to the image forming unit 3 as laser light. . The image forming unit includes a photosensitive drum (image carrier) 11, a charging unit 12, a developing unit 13, a transfer unit 14, and a fixing unit 15, and a cleaning device 1 is provided downstream of the transfer unit 14.
6 are arranged. The cleaning device 16 is configured to remove the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 11 by a cleaning blade or the like, and to convey the removed toner toward the collected toner conveying device 21 by a discharge screw 20 or the like. Figure 2 shows the discharge screw 2
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a configuration of a connecting portion between the toner conveying device 25 and the collected toner conveying device 25, and FIG.
Is an enlarged view of a main part. The discharge screw 20 is a pipe 21
The toner T is conveyed in the direction shown by the arrow by being disposed inside and rotated, and is sent to the collected toner conveying device 25.
The collected toner conveying device 25 includes an endless elastic belt 30 disposed in a casing 26 communicating with the pipe 21.
And at least two rollers 31 and 32 that stretch and support the elastic belt 30 and rotate in the direction of the arrow, and a waste port 33 formed at an appropriate position below the casing 26. A bottle 34 is provided in communication. The elastic belt 30 includes a belt-shaped belt main body 35 made of a material that can be elastically deformed, and elastically deformable wings 36 projecting from the outer peripheral surface of the belt main body 35 at a predetermined interval. When the elastic belt 30 is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow, the blades 36
Then, the toner T is elastically deformed and moved while the tip portion is in contact with the bottom surface 26b, and the held toner T is conveyed to the waste port 33 without leaking. At least one of the two rollers 31, 32, for example, a driving boss 31a is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the driving roller 31 so as to protrude at least one along the circumferential direction of the roller.

As shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), a driven hole 3 into which a driving boss 31a is fitted is formed in the belt body 35.
One or more belts 5a are formed at a predetermined pitch along the longitudinal direction of the belt body. The characteristic configuration of the present invention is that the formation position of at least one of the driven holes 35 a formed in the belt main body 35 is set at a position where the driving boss portion 31 a provided on the driving roller 31 cannot be fitted. This is the point that is formed. That is, as shown in claim 1, this embodiment is characterized in that the driven hole 35a is not provided at at least one position where the driving boss 31a of the belt main body abuts. In particular,
For example, when forming a plurality of driven holes 35a at a predetermined pitch so as to fit with the driving boss 31a, without forming at least one driven hole at a position where it should be formed,
It shall be a holeless part. Therefore, when the driving boss 31a and the portion where the driven hole 35a is not formed coincide with each other as shown in FIG. 4B, the elastic belt 30 rides on the driving boss 31a and is elastically deformed. While turning downward.
When the belt body 35 that has been pushed out is released as the rotational movement of the driving boss portion 31a progresses, the toner T attached to the blade portion 36 is reliably shaken off by the vibration at the time of release. As described above, in this embodiment, at least one driven hole 35a to be formed at a position to be fitted with the driving boss portion 31a is not provided. Since the portion 31a deforms the elastic belt and then releases the deformed state, the shock generated when the deformation is released,
The toner attached to the belt can be shaken off by the vibration. Therefore, the waste toner bottle is reliably disposed of. At this time, the running of the belt
Since it occurs at a constant cycle, the toner shake-off effect is enhanced. The number, pitch, position, and the like of the driven holes 35a, as well as the number and pitch of the driving bosses 31a, can be variously changed.

Next, in the embodiment corresponding to claim 2, the circumferential pitch of the driving boss portion 31a provided on the driving roller 31 and the driven hole 35a provided in the belt body 35 are provided.
Is characterized by having a different circumferential pitch. That is, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the pitch of the driving bosses and the pitch of the driven holes in the embodiment corresponding to claim 2, wherein the pitch L1 of the driven holes 35a is It is set shorter than the pitch L2 of the boss portion 31a by a predetermined length α. The circumferential length L of each driven hole 35a
Numeral 3 is set to be longer than the circumferential length (diameter) L4 of the driving boss portion 31a fitted to this. Therefore, in the process of rotating the roller 31, the driving boss 31a
Are not always fitted in the driven holes 35a. In FIG. 5, the driven holes 35a-1 to 35a-3 are provided.
Up to 5a-3, the driving boss 31a is fitted because the circumferential length L3 of the driven hole 35a is longer than the circumferential length of the driving boss 31a. Regarding the hole 35a-4, the driving boss cannot be fitted, and the belt body 35 is pushed up. Also, the driving bosses cannot be fitted into the following driven holes 35a-5, 35a-6,.
Push up. Then, for example, the driven hole 35a-10
It fits into this hole only when the drive boss can be fitted inside. Note that, contrary to the above, the pitch L1 of the driven hole 35a is changed to the pitch L of the driving boss portion 31a.
It may be set to be longer than 2 by a predetermined length α. That is, in this embodiment, when forming a plurality of driven holes 35a at a predetermined pitch L1 on the belt body 35 in correspondence with the circumferential pitch L2 of the driving bosses 31a, L1 <L.
2, or L1> L2. For this reason, similarly to the case of the first aspect, a driven hole that cannot be fitted with a driven hole into which the driving boss portion 31a can be fitted occurs, and the driving boss portion pushes up and deforms the holeless portion. Therefore, the toner is shaken off the belt by the impact or vibration when the deformation is eliminated after the reversal, and the toner can be reliably discarded when the toner reaches the discarding port 33 thereafter. Moreover, in this embodiment, the position at which the belt rides moves in accordance with the amount of deviation of the pitch of the driven hole with respect to the driving boss portion, so that the belt travels without being fixed, and The toner on the belt can be evenly shaken off.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a modified embodiment of the present invention corresponding to claim 3. In the recovered toner conveying device of this embodiment, the blade 36 can be brought into contact with the inner wall of the casing surrounding the elastic belt 30. The configuration is characterized by a protruding scraper section 40. That is, the scraper part (projection piece) 40
Only when the elastic belt 30 rides on the driving boss 31a, the elastic belt 30 is provided so as to protrude at a position where the elastic belt 30 can slide on the blade 36, and the scraper 40 is used to scrape off the toner attached to the surface of the blade 36. ing. In this manner, the position of the scraper portion 40 and the amount of protrusion are determined by the blade portion 3 of the elastic belt pushed up by the driving boss portion 31a.
6, the blade does not come into contact with the scraper in a state in which the elastic belt does not run over, so that extra vibration is given to the blade 36 during toner conveyance to improve the conveyance performance. The problem of lowering is eliminated.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a toner conveying device using a conveying belt, the collected toner is surely conveyed and discarded, and the amount of toner remaining on the conveying belt is minimized. Can be. That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the driven hole is not provided at at least one position where the driving boss of the belt body contacts.
The driving boss provided on the roller at a constant cycle pushes up the elastic belt, and the attached toner can be shaken off by the vibration generated when the pushing up is canceled. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of toner remaining on the belt and to reliably transport the waste toner to the waste toner bottle or the like. In the invention of claim 2, a plurality of driven holes into which the driving boss portions are fitted are formed in the belt body at a predetermined pitch along the longitudinal direction of the belt body, and the circumferential pitch of the driven holes is reduced. Different from the circumferential pitch of the driving boss.
For this reason, the portion where the belt rides on the driving boss moves according to the amount of deviation of the pitch of the driven hole,
The toner attached to the elastic belt can be evenly shaken off. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the scraper portion capable of contacting the blade portion protrudes from the inner wall of the case surrounding the elastic belt, the scraper portion surely removes the toner adhering to the belt portion at the place where the running has occurred. Since the toner is scraped off, the amount of toner remaining on the belt can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view of an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an example of a collected toner conveying device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side vertical sectional view of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating the configuration and operation of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a main part configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 reading unit, 2 writing unit, 3 image forming unit, 4 paper feeding unit, 5 automatic document feeder, 6 contact glass,
7 Original, 11 Photoconductor drum (image carrier), 12 Charging unit, 13 Developing unit, 14 Transfer unit, 15 Fixing unit, 1
6 cleaning device, 20 discharge screw, 21
Pipe, 25 collected toner conveying device, 26 casing,
30 elastic belt, 3,321 rollers, 33 waste port, 34 waste toner bottle, 35 belt body, 36 blades.

Claims (3)

[Claims] An image carrier that carries a toner image; a cleaning device that removes toner remaining on the image carrier after transferring the toner image on the image carrier onto a recording medium;
A recovery toner transport device that recovers the toner removed by the cleaning device and transports the toner to a required location. The recovery toner transport device is stretched endlessly by at least two rollers and rotated. An elastic belt to be driven, the elastic belt includes a belt-shaped belt main body, and a blade portion protruding from an outer peripheral surface of the belt main body at a required interval, and one of the at least two rollers is provided. At least one driving boss is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the roller along the circumferential direction, and a driven hole into which the driving boss is fitted is formed in the belt main body along the longitudinal direction of the belt main body. At least one of the belt main bodies, wherein the driven hole is not provided at at least one position where the driving boss portion abuts; Place. 2. An image carrier for carrying a toner image, a cleaning device for removing a toner remaining on the image carrier after transferring the toner image on the image carrier onto a recording medium, and
A recovery toner transport device that recovers the toner removed by the cleaning device and transports the toner to a required location. The recovery toner transport device is stretched endlessly by at least two rollers and rotated. An elastic belt to be driven, the elastic belt includes a belt-shaped belt main body, and a blade portion protruding from an outer peripheral surface of the belt main body at a required interval, and one of the at least two rollers is provided. At least one driving boss is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the roller, and the belt main body has a plurality of driven holes into which the driving boss is fitted at a predetermined pitch along the longitudinal direction of the belt main body. 2. The collected toner conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral pitch of the driven hole is formed different from the peripheral pitch of the driving boss. 3. The recovered toner conveying device according to claim 1, wherein a scraper portion capable of contacting the blade portion protrudes from an inner wall of a case surrounding the elastic belt.