JP2002268355A - Developer storage container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a developer storage container, where the recovery during recycling can be improved by achieving a compact size. SOLUTION: In the cylindrical developer storage container 32 where spiral grooves 32b are formed on its peripheral surface, storing toner or developer used for image formation and feeding out the toner or the developer along the spiral grooves 32b, the spiral grooves 32b are formed in a range of 2 to 12 rows.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developer accommodating container for accommodating toner or developer supplied to a developing device of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic method, such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile,
A configuration is known in which a toner or a developer used for developing a latent image on an image carrier is accommodated in a toner bottle which is a developer accommodating container, and the toner bottle is detachably attached to an apparatus main body. ing. The toner or developer in the toner bottle is supplied to the developing device of the image forming apparatus via a developer supply system. There is also known a technique in which a toner bottle having a spiral groove therein is used as the above-described toner bottle, and the toner or developer is discharged from the toner bottle along the spiral groove by rotating the toner bottle. .

[0003]

In recent years, the movement toward recycling has been widespread in all industries, and the toner bottles described above have also been positioned as targets for recycling. Several technologies relating to the recycling of this toner bottle are also known.
JP-A-220860 discloses that, as a spirally grooved toner bottle, a shape memory member is used as a material of a spirally grooved portion, thereby eliminating the spirally grooved toner bottle at the time of cleaning and improving work efficiency at the time of cleaning. Techniques are disclosed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-258540 discloses that a toner bottle is configured to be able to expand and contract in the axial direction, thereby reducing the overall length of the toner bottle in actual use as compared to when the toner is filled, thereby achieving compactness and recoverability during recycling. There is disclosed a technology for improving the performance.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a developer container capable of improving the recoverability at the time of recycling by reducing the size, similarly to the above-mentioned technology.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A helical groove is formed on a peripheral surface of the cylindrical developer accommodating container for accommodating a toner or a developer used for image formation and sending out the toner or the developer along the helical groove. The groove is formed in the range of 2 to 12 grooves.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the developer container according to the first aspect, the spiral groove is further turned clockwise or counterclockwise.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the developer container according to the first or second aspect, the turning angle of the spiral groove is further set with respect to a base line perpendicular to the conveying direction of the toner or the developer. 15 to 70 degrees.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus used in an embodiment of the present invention. In this image forming apparatus, a photosensitive drum unit 4 is configured by using a photosensitive drum 1, a charging roller 2 as a charging unit, and a cleaning blade 3 as a cleaning unit as one cartridge. After the photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly charged by the charging roller 2, a latent image is optically formed at a writing position 5 by a writing unit (not shown). The formed latent image is visualized by toner supplied from the developing device 6, and the visualized toner image is transferred to the registration roller pair 7.
Is transferred onto the transfer paper conveyed by the transfer belt 8 as a transfer unit. The toner image transferred to the transfer sheet is fixed on the transfer sheet by passing the transfer sheet through the fixing unit 9, and the transfer sheet on which the image is fixed is discharged to a discharge unit (not shown).

The untransferred toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 without being transferred to the transfer paper is scraped off the photosensitive drum 1 by the cleaning blade 3. The residual charge on the photosensitive drum 1 is neutralized at a neutralization position 10 by a neutralization unit (not shown) to prepare for the next image forming operation. The toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 3 is sent by a toner collecting blade 11 to a collecting coil 12 side which is a toner conveying means.
It is sent to the near side by 2. The untransferred toner sent to the near side is returned to the near side of the developing device 6 via a collected toner conveying path described later, and is reused.

The developing device 6 includes a developing sleeve 13, a paddle 14, and the like. The untransferred toner returned to the near side and the new toner sent from the toner replenishing device 15 to the near side via a conveying path described later. The toner is circulated by a transport screw inside the paddle 14 and a spiral outside the paddle 14.

Next, the toner supply device 15 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, toner bottle 1
6 is filled with toner. Toner bottle 1
6 is locked in a locking member (not shown) by being pushed in the direction of arrow A on the toner replenishing device 15 and is mounted at a predetermined position on the machine main body. Next, by rotating the set lever 17 in the direction of arrow B, the chuck 19 grips the cap 18 press-fitted into the replenishing port of the toner bottle 16, and pulls out the cap 18 from the toner bottle 16 to remove the toner replenishing port. When opened, the toner filled in the toner bottle 16 can be discharged.

During the image forming operation, a toner density sensor (not shown) provided in the developing device 6 detects the toner density in the developing device 6. If the density is lower than the reference value, the toner bottle 16 The bottle drive motor 20 disposed at the rear rotates in the direction of arrow C for a time calculated by a predetermined conversion formula. The bottle drive motor 20 and the rear end of the toner bottle 16 are engaged with each other by a coupling.
Is transmitted to the toner bottle 16, and the toner bottle 16 rotates in the direction of arrow D. A spiral groove 16a is formed on the peripheral surface of the toner bottle 16, and the toner in the toner bottle 16 is conveyed to the toner supply port along the groove 16a by the rotation of the toner bottle 16, and the toner is supplied from the toner supply port. Drop into the unit.

The toner that has fallen into the unit is covered with the cover toner bottle 2 that rotates while meshing with the toner bottle 16.
The toner is conveyed to the replenishing unit toner outlet 23 of the unit by the four toner replenishing mylars 22 attached to the unit 1, and is supplied to the developing device 6 through a toner conveying path located in front of the photosensitive drum unit 4. The toner transport path also serves as a transport path for transporting the collected toner from the photosensitive drum 1 removed by the cleaning blade 3 in the photosensitive drum unit 4.

Next, a longitudinal section of the toner replenishing device 15 will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the bottle drive motor 20 is provided behind the toner bottle 16, and the joint 24 that meshes with the bottom of the toner bottle 16 and the compression spring 25 that presses the same are provided inside the bottle drive motor 20. The joint 24 and the compression spring 25 apply a force so as to push the toner bottle 16 to the front side, which is the right side in the drawing.
The rotational driving force of the bottle driving motor 20 is applied to the toner bottle 1
6.

A chuck 19 for removing the cap 18 from the toner bottle 16 is provided at a position on the front side of the toner replenishing device 15 corresponding to the cap 18 of the toner bottle 16. A slider 26 that supports the chuck 19 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction in the drawing is provided outside the chuck 19, and a shaft chuck 27 is fixed to the rear end of the chuck 19 by screws.

With this configuration, when the shaft chuck 27 is moved rightward in the drawing, the tip of the chuck 19 closes while the force is being applied, and the cap 18 is gripped. The tip of the chuck 19 opens due to the elasticity of the member, and the cap 18 is released. Next, in order to pull out the cap 18 grasped from the toner bottle 16,
By further moving the shaft chuck 27 rightward in the drawing, the chuck 19 moves rightward in the drawing, the cap 18 is separated from the supply port of the toner bottle 16, and the toner in the toner bottle 16 can be supplied. State.

The operation of closing the cap 18 is performed by the chuck 1
9 is performed by a compression spring 28 that applies an urging force toward the left side in the figure. The compression spring 28 is a slider 26
And the supply unit case 29, the spring force of which is set to be larger than the closing force of the cap 18 and smaller than the spring force of the compression spring 25.

The shaft chuck 27 is formed with a round hole 27a. The shaft chuck 27 is connected to a set lever 31 via a shaft slide 30 inserted into the round hole 27a. The length of the shaft slide 30 is set to be slightly longer than the width of the set lever 31 on the cam surfaces on both sides. When the set lever 31 occupies the solid line position in FIG. 5, the chuck 19 opens the cap 18. When the set lever 31 occupies the two-dot chain line position in FIG. 5, the chuck 19 closes the cap 18. ing.

FIG. 6 shows a toner bottle as a developer container adopting an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the toner bottle 32 has a toner discharge port 32a at one end, and a plurality of (six in this example) are provided on the peripheral surface thereof.
Of the spiral groove 32b. This toner bottle 32
7, the entire length of the toner bottle 32 can be reduced as shown in FIG. 7 by twisting both ends in the directions of the arrows E and F which are opposite to each other along the direction of the spiral groove 32b. In addition, it is possible to improve the recoverability at the time of recycling by reducing the size. In addition,
As a result of various experiments, the number of spiral grooves formed on the peripheral surface
It has been found that the best results are obtained in the range of 2 to 12.

The toner bottle 33 as a developer container shown in FIG. 8 has a toner discharge port 33a and a spiral groove 33b.
The twist direction of 3b is opposite to the spiral groove 32b. The direction of the spiral groove is the same as that of the toner replenishing device 1 described above.
The spiral groove is formed in a direction determined by the rotation direction of the toner bottle in FIG. 5 (the direction of arrow D in FIG. 2), and the rotation of the toner bottle transfers the toner inside to the toner discharge port. In the toner bottle 33 shown in FIG. 8, this rotation direction is counterclockwise when viewed from the toner discharge port 33a.
The direction of the spiral groove 33b for guiding to a is counterclockwise as shown in the figure. In order to shrink the toner bottle 33 in the same manner as the toner bottle 32, the twisting direction of the toner bottle 33 is opposite to that of the toner bottle 32.

FIG. 9 shows a case where the rotation direction of the toner bottle is opposite to that of the toner bottle 33 due to the layout of the machine. The rotation direction of the toner bottle 34 as the developer container with respect to the toner discharge port 34a is clockwise, and the direction of the spiral groove 34b is clockwise. To shrink the toner bottle 34, the toner bottle 34 may be twisted in the same direction as the toner bottle 32. As described above, in a toner bottle used horizontally in actual use, by twisting the toner bottle in the same direction as the spiral groove determined by the rotation direction of the toner bottle, the spiral groove rotates clockwise. , Or even counterclockwise, the toner bottle can be made compact.

Next, the angle of the spiral groove formed in the toner bottle will be described with reference to FIG. The spiral groove formed in the toner bottle has an angle θ with respect to a base line G perpendicular to the toner conveying direction which is closely related to the force when the toner bottle is shrunk. In order to find the relationship with the force, an experiment was performed with various angles θ. FIG. 11 shows the results of this experiment.

From the experimental results, it is possible to reduce the toner bottle with a small torque by setting the angle θ of the spiral groove formed in the toner bottle with respect to the base line G perpendicular to the toner conveying direction to 15 to 70 degrees. It turned out to be possible. Also, by setting the angle θ to about 60 degrees,
It has also been found that it is possible to shrink the toner bottle with the smallest torque.

[0024]

According to the present invention, the number of spiral grooves is two to one.
By providing the developer container within the range of two, the overall length of the developer container can be reduced, and by making the developer container compact, the recoverability at the time of recycling can be improved. Further, the total length of the developer container can be reduced irrespective of the direction of the spiral groove determined by the rotation direction of the toner bottle, and the compactness makes it possible to improve the recoverability at the time of recycling. Further, by setting the angle of the spiral groove to 15 to 70 degrees with respect to a base line orthogonal to the toner or developer transport direction, the toner bottle can be contracted with a small torque.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of an image forming apparatus used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a toner replenishing device used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of the toner supply device used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part of a toner replenishing device used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a main part of the toner supply device used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a toner bottle employing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which a toner bottle for explaining one embodiment of the present invention is contracted.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a toner bottle used in another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a toner bottle used in still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining an angle of a spiral groove in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a correlation diagram showing the relationship between the angle of the spiral groove and the contraction torque of the toner bottle in one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 32, 33, 34 Developer container (toner bottle) 32b, 33b, 34b Spiral groove G Base line

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical developer container having a spiral groove formed on a peripheral surface thereof for storing a toner or a developer used for image formation and sending out the toner or the developer along the spiral groove. 3. The developer container according to claim 1, wherein the spiral groove is formed in a range of 2 to 12. 2. The developer container according to claim 1, wherein the spiral groove is turned clockwise or counterclockwise. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the spiral groove has a turning angle of 15 degrees with respect to a base line orthogonal to the conveying direction of the toner or the developer.
The developer container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the angle is in a range of from 70 to 70 degrees.