JP2002268479A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device which breaks an aggregate of toner to prevent a defective thin layer and breakdown of parts caused by torque rise. SOLUTION: Each developing unit 22 is provided with an ID chip 50, and information such as the brand ID, the region ID, the article type ID, the production ID, the maintenance form ID, the residual quantity of toner, the frequency in recycling, the form number count, the pixel number count, and the toner end count of the developing unit 2 can be recorded there. Data read from these information are stored in a memory 52 provided in a controller 51 in an image forming device main body; and when prescribed operation is performed, the production date of the developing unit 22 is detected to calculates the preservation period, and the toner replenishing part operation time is changed on the basis of the preservation period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a PPC, a PPF, and a printer, and more particularly, to a visible image processing of an electrostatic latent image formed on a latent image carrier by an electrophotographic copying method. The present invention relates to an improved developing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, such as a copying machine or a printer, uses a photosensitive member constituting a latent image carrier. In the electrophotographic method, after the photosensitive member is uniformly charged, optical writing is performed using a laser beam or the like, a latent image corresponding to the original is formed, the latent image is processed with a developer, and then the latent image is processed. An image is obtained by transferring a visible image to a transfer paper or the like.

In recent years, a color image forming apparatus that forms an image of not only a single color but also a plurality of colors including a full color has been proposed and put into practical use. In a color image forming apparatus, a latent image is formed on a photoreceptor by reflected light obtained by performing color separation of reflected light from a document, and in a printer, irradiation images corresponding to color information form latent images. The visible image is processed with a developer of a color that is complementary to the color-separated reflected light or irradiation light, and the process of primary transferring the visible image to the intermediate transfer member is repeated. The corresponding visible images are collectively transferred to a transfer paper or the like by a secondary transfer process.

One of the constructions of a developing device used for visible image processing in such a color image forming apparatus is a developing unit in which developers of different colors are stored at regular intervals along the circumferential direction of a rotating body. There is a configuration in which each developing unit is opposed to a photoconductor by intermittently rotating a rotating body to perform visible image processing of a latent image with a developer of a different color.

The developing unit may use a one-component developer composed of only a magnetic or non-magnetic toner. In this case, the developing unit is carried on a developing sleeve arranged opposite to the photosensitive member. The one-component developer is thinned and supported by a blade or the like.

However, in a developing device mounted on such an image forming apparatus, the degree of aggregation of the toner increases with time, and problems such as a defective thin layer on the developing sleeve and a variation in the amount of adhered toner may occur. Was. JP-A-11-3527
Japanese Patent Publication No. 58 discloses a technique in which a means for detecting the degree of aggregation of toner is provided, and a stable image density can be obtained by a control device that controls a developing bias applied to a developing sleeve based on the change. Have been.

However, generally, a developing device or a toner container filled with toner is first stored in a warehouse or the like after manufacturing, and is delivered to a user at any time. It will be mixed. When the developing device and the toner container are new, a process of supplying toner to the entire developing unit in a new start-up mode and thinning the toner on the developing sleeve is performed. In the new product start-up mode, the aggregates of the toner are not pulverized, and there is a case where a thin layer is defective or parts are damaged due to an increase in torque.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems,
Determining the storage period by detecting the date of manufacture,
An object of the present invention is to change the operation time of the toner replenishing unit based on the storage period, thereby pulverizing the toner aggregates and preventing a thin layer defect, component damage due to an increase in torque, and the like.

Conventionally, a display for recognizing a manufacturing date such as a lot number is read and managed by a bar code reader or the like. However, the number of parts increases for the recognition, and it is difficult to reduce the size. There is.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that can be reduced in size.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus for processing a visible image of a latent image formed on an image carrier by an electrophotographic method. In an image forming apparatus provided with a developing device to be used, a developing device for developing a latent image formed on the image carrier, a toner storing portion storing toner to be supplied to the developing device, and the toner storing device A detection sensor for detecting the amount of toner remaining in the toner storage unit, and a toner supply unit for supplying the toner in the toner storage unit to the developing device; the toner storage unit includes a toner remaining amount, a toner history, An ID chip capable of recording information such as a lot number is provided, and a means for judging the storage time of the toner in the toner container based on the information recorded on the ID chip is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the determining means controls the operation time of the toner replenishing section at the time of starting up a new product based on the storage time. It is characterized by doing.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the second aspect, the means for driving the operation of the toner replenishing unit includes a driving unit for driving the developing unit. Are characterized by having them separately.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a color image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a flexible belt-shaped photoreceptor serving as a belt-shaped image carrier. The photoreceptor belt 1 is hung between rotating rollers 2 and 3, and is driven by the rotation of the rotating roller 2. Arrow A in the figure
Conveyed in the direction (clockwise). In the figure, reference numeral 4 denotes a charging charger as charging means for uniformly charging the surface of the photoreceptor belt 1;
In the figure, reference numeral 5 denotes a laser writing system unit serving as an electrostatic image exposure unit. In the drawing, reference numeral 6 denotes a color developing device in which four developing devices having yellow, magenta, cyan, and black developers (toners) described later are integrally formed.

Further, in the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes an intermediate transfer belt which is an intermediate transfer member.
1 and 12, and is conveyed in the direction of arrow B (counterclockwise) in the figure by the rotation of the rotating roller 11. The photoreceptor belt 1 and the intermediate transfer belt 10 are
Are in contact with each other at three rotation rollers. A bias roller 1 having conductivity is provided on the intermediate transfer belt 10 side of the contact portion.
3 is in contact with the back surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10 under predetermined conditions.

The image forming operation of the color image forming apparatus will be described. In FIG. 1, a photoreceptor belt 1 is uniformly charged by a charging charger 4 and then scanned and exposed by a laser writing system unit 5 based on image information to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface. Here, the image information to be exposed is monochromatic image information obtained by decomposing a desired full-color image into yellow, cyan, magenta, and black color information, and a semiconductor laser (not shown) of the laser writing system unit 5 is obtained based on this information. The laser beam L generated in step (1) has been subjected to scanning and optical path adjustment by an optical device (not shown).

The electrostatic latent image formed here is developed in a single color with predetermined yellow, cyan, magenta and black toners by a rotary developing device 6 to be described later, and each color image is formed on the photosensitive belt 1. Are sequentially formed.

The photosensitive belt 1 rotates in the direction of arrow A in the figure.
Each of the single-color image images formed thereon is applied to the bias roller 13 for each of the single colors of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black on the intermediate transfer belt 10 rotating in the direction of arrow B in FIG. The transfer is sequentially performed by the predetermined transfer bias. The yellow, cyan, magenta, and black images superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 10 are
From a sheet feeding table (sheet feeding cassette) 17 to a sheet feeding roller 18, a pair of conveying rollers 19a, 19b, a pair of registration rollers 20a, 2
The transfer roller 14 collectively transfers the transfer paper 17a onto the transfer paper 17a that has been conveyed to the transfer section through the transfer roller 17b. After the transfer, transfer paper 1
7a, the image is fixed by the fixing device 80 to complete the full-color image, and the print image is discharged to the discharge stack 82 via the pair of discharge rollers 81a and 81b.

In the drawing, reference numeral 15 denotes a cleaning device and a waste toner collecting device including a cleaning blade 15a which is always in contact with the photoreceptor belt 1 and cleans toner on the photoreceptor belt 1, and 16 denotes an intermediate transfer belt. 10
The cleaning blade 16a of the cleaning device 16 is held at a position separated from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 10 during the image forming operation, and the intermediate transfer is performed after the formed image is transferred onto the transfer paper 17a. It comes into contact with the surface of the belt 10.

The waste toner scraped off from the intermediate transfer belt 10 by the cleaning blade 16a is removed by an auger 16b provided in the cleaning device 16.
The sheet is conveyed toward the front of the drawing, and further conveyed to a waste toner collecting unit 15c by a not-shown conveying section provided on the front side of the process cartridge 31. By replacing the process cartridge 31 when a predetermined amount or more of the waste toner is stored in the waste toner collecting device 15c, the life of the process cartridge 31 can be extended.

Also, the photosensitive belt 1, the charging charger 4, the intermediate transfer belt 10, the cleaning devices 15, 16
Are integrally formed as a process cartridge 31, and the waste toner collecting device 15c is incorporated in the process cartridge 31 so as to be exchangeable. The case exterior portion of the process cartridge 31 on the side of the registration roller 20b also has a function as a paper conveyance guide.

In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a toner adhesion amount sensor for detecting the amount of toner adhesion on the intermediate transfer belt. As the toner adhesion amount sensor 100, a type that uses an infrared light emitting diode as a light emitting unit and a photodiode as a diffuse reflection light receiving unit and outputs a voltage according to the amount of received light is often used.

Next, the configuration of the image forming apparatus main body will be described with reference to FIG. The apparatus main body structure includes a main body frame 9 serving as an immovable portion housing, a transfer paper 17
a The transport path is constituted by a front frame 8 that is a releasable front housing, a paper feed cassette 17 is disposed below the main body frame 9, and the color developing device 6 and the process cartridge 31 can be exchanged inside the main body. The fixing device 80 is disposed above the fixing device 80, and a discharge stack portion 82 is formed on the upper portion of the main body.

The front frame 8 is supported so as to be openable and closable about a rotation support shaft 9 a provided on the main body frame 9.
Normally, as shown in FIG. 1, the main body frame 9 is held in a closed state. When the transfer sheet 17a is jammed in the transfer path of the transfer sheet 17a, the lock mechanism of the front frame 8 (not shown) is released, and the front frame 8 is opened as shown in FIG. The front frame 8 includes a transport roller 19a and a registration roller 2 that constitute a part of the transfer paper transport path.
0a, the transfer roller 14 and the like are held, and by opening the front frame 8, the transfer paper transport path is exposed, so that the jam processing can be easily performed. At this time, the other image forming units are stationary, and no problems such as toner scattering and leakage occur.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a developing unit 22 which constitutes the color developing device 6 and is a main part of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The color developing device 6 is provided for each color of yellow, cyan, magenta and black. This developing unit 22 is provided. In the figure, reference numeral 29 denotes a toner container. At the time of development, the toner container 29 and the developing device 25 rotate integrally, and stop sequentially so that the developing roller 23 of each developing device is exposed at the developing position, thereby developing the latent image on the photosensitive belt 1. That is, by the rotation of the developing unit 22, replenishment of the toner from the toner storage unit to the developing device and pulverization of the aggregate of the toner are performed. As means for supplying toner from the toner storage unit 29 to the developing device 25, a rotating means for an agitator (such as a film blade) is mounted.

Further, the developing unit 22 including the toner storage section 29 can be replaced according to the consumption and life of the toner.

As shown in FIG. 4, the developing unit 22 includes all of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black (shown as 22Y, 22C, 22M, and 22K in the figure).
In addition, each ID chip (memory chip) 50 ...
Are provided, and a brand ID, a region ID, a kind ID, a manufacturing ID, a maintenance form ID,
Information such as the remaining amount of toner, the number of recycles, the number of sheets, the number of pixels, and the toner end count are recorded.

Of these information, the number of recycling, brand ID, region ID, product type ID, manufacturing ID, maintenance form I
D is read-only and is written in the manufacturing process, and the machine itself performs only reading. The read data is stored in the memory 52 of the control device 51 in the image forming apparatus main body.

The reading of the information is necessary after the replacement of the developing unit 22 (in the case of a structure that can be easily replaced, it is necessary to read after the power is turned on or after the door is opened) or when the manufacturing ID changes.

Information that changes over time, such as the remaining amount of toner, the number of paper sheets, the number of pixels, and the toner end count, can be read / written by the machine body. It is more reliable to perform writing on the ID chip 50 for each image formation from the viewpoint of numerical reliability.

The sheet count is obtained by counting the number of sheets output by the developing unit in the main body. In the pixel count, the remaining amount of toner in the developing unit can be grasped from the accumulation of the number of pixels of data to be formed, and the toner deterioration state can be more reliably predicted. Here, the number of pixels is, for example, about 34.8M (M indicates one million) dots in A4 in the case of 600 × 600 dots / inch. At this time, if the amount of toner per pixel is 10 ng, when 1,000 sheets of A4 and 5% charts are output, the number of dots becomes 1740 M dots, indicating that 17.4 g of toner has been consumed.

As shown in FIG. 4, if the ID chip 50 is provided in each of the developing units (only the amount of toner stored may be used), it is possible to detect the date of manufacture from a reliable manufacturing ID of the developing unit 22. it can. The current date can be recognized by the memory 52 of the image forming apparatus, and the storage period T of the developing unit 22 can be calculated and displayed based on the difference between the two.

FIG. 5 shows that the power supply is turned off when the controller 51 recognizes the toner near end state in the previous operation.
10 shows an operation flow illustrating a recovery operation when there is a possibility that the developing unit 22 has been replaced, such as -ON or a door open.

When it is detected that a recovery operation has been performed when there is a possibility that the developing unit 22 has been replaced, such as when the power is turned on or off or when the door is opened (step 1), the chip 50 of the developing unit 22 is turned off. ID Manufacturing I
D is read (step 2), and if this is the same as the previous time (step 3), the developing unit 22 is not a new one, so the normal operation mode (however, since the toner is near the end, control corresponding thereto is entered) is taken. (Step 4) If the manufacturing ID is different (Step 5), the developing unit 22 is determined from the difference between the current date and the manufacturing date as described above.
Is calculated (step 6).

Normally, the longer the storage period T, the more the toner in the toner container 29 is agglomerated.
The rotation of the developing unit 22 is performed for a predetermined time according to the value of. That is, if the difference T between the current date and the manufacturing date is equal to or less than the storage period T0 until the toner aggregation starts to proceed, the control for the normal new unit is performed (step 7), and the current date and the manufacturing date are controlled. If the day difference T is larger than the storage period T0, the rotation of the developing unit 22 is controlled in accordance with the value of the storage period T (step 8), and toner replenishment and pulverization of toner aggregates are executed. In a normal new unit control, a process of supplying toner to the entire area of the developing unit 22 and thinning the toner on the developing sleeve is performed.

As described above, the developing unit 2
2, the toner container 29 and the developing device 25 are rotated integrally with each other for each color, and the toner container 2 is rotated by the rotation of the developing unit 22.
From 9, toner supply to the developing device 25 and pulverization of toner aggregates are performed. The agitator rotating means, which is a means for supplying toner from the toner storage unit 29 to the developing device 25, is provided with a driving means different from the means for rotatingly driving the developing unit 22. It is advisable to remove thin layer defects.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as described above, the number of parts is suppressed by judging the lot number and the manufacturing date of the developing device from the information of the ID chip. As a result, there is an effect that the cost can be reduced and the size of the machine can be reduced.

According to the image forming apparatus of the second aspect, as described above, the storage period of the developing device can be determined from the information recorded on the ID chip.
It is possible to take a toner replenishing operation time corresponding to the storage period, and it is possible to prevent an abnormal image or a component from being damaged due to a toner aggregate.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, as described above, the drive is not transmitted to the developing device side at least during the toner supply operation time for pulverizing the toner aggregates. In addition, there is an effect that components can be prevented from being damaged due to toner aggregates.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a structure of a color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a front frame is opened for exchanging a developing unit in the image forming apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a developing unit which is a main part of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a developing unit and a connection form of the image forming apparatus main body.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart showing a recovery operation when there is a possibility that the developing unit has been replaced.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 photoconductor belt 2, 3 rotation roller 4 charging charger 5 laser writing system unit 6 color developing device 8 front frame 9 main frame 10 intermediate transfer belt 11, 12 rotation roller 13 bias roller 14 transfer roller 15 cleaning of photoconductor belt Device 15a Cleaning blade 15c Waste toner collecting device 16 Intermediate transfer belt cleaning device 16a Cleaning blade 16b Auger 17 Paper feed table (paper feed cassette) 17a Transfer paper 18 Paper feed rollers 19a, 19b Transport roller pair 20a, 20b Registration roller pair REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 22 developing unit 23 developing roller 25 developing device 29 toner container 31 process cartridge 50 ID chip (memory chip) 51 control device 52 memory 80 fixing device 81a, 81b paper discharge roller pair 82 Paper ejection stack unit 100 Toner adhesion amount sensor L Laser beam

Claims (3)

[Claims] An image forming apparatus including a developing device used for visible image processing of a latent image formed on an image carrier by an electrophotographic method, wherein the latent image formed on the image carrier is developed. Developing unit, a toner storage unit that stores toner to be supplied to the development unit, a detection sensor that is located in the toner storage unit to detect the remaining amount of toner, and develops the toner in the toner storage unit. A toner replenishing unit for supplying the toner to the container, and the toner storage unit includes an ID chip capable of recording information such as a remaining amount of toner, a toner history, a lot number, and the like. An image forming apparatus comprising: means for determining a storage time of toner in a toner storage unit. 2. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said determining means controls the operation time of the toner replenishing section when starting up a new product based on the storage time. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for driving the operation of the toner replenishing unit, separately from driving means for driving the developing unit.