JP2002287595A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus whose cost is reduced by reducing the number of expensive components. SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus has a waste toner recovery bottle 5 to be mounted at a lower position of a toner ejection port 1 of the image forming apparatus and to store waste toner, a movable shutter 18 to prevent leakage of the waste toner from the toner ejection port 1 by moving to the lower position of the toner ejecting port 1 when the waste toner recovery bottle 5 is not mounted, a bottle detecting means to detect presence/absence of the waste toner recovery bottle 5 and a toner fill-up detecting means 16 to detect that the waste toner in the waste toner recovery bottle 5 is filled up, and the apparatus is constituted so that the bottle detecting means is also used at the toner fill-up detecting means 16 by forming a projected part 18b which can be detected by the toner fill-up detecting means 16 at a lower part of the movable shutter 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a printer and a copying machine, and more particularly to the handling of waste toner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional image forming apparatus, unnecessary toner remaining on the circumferential surface (drum surface) of a photosensitive drum after transferring a toner image from the photosensitive drum to recording paper is removed from the drum surface. It is scraped off from above and transported by a screw transporter to a toner discharge port 1 shown in FIG. 3, and is stored in a waste toner recovery bottle (omitted in FIG. 3) from the toner discharge port 1, and the waste toner recovery bottle When the waste toner becomes full, the bottle is replaced with a new empty waste toner collection bottle.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the waste toner collecting bottle is not mounted in the bottle mounting portion 10 below the toner discharge port 1, the waste toner leaks from the toner discharge port 1 and the lower part of the toner discharge port 1 To prevent the bottle mounting part 10 and its surroundings from being soiled, the movable shutter
And closes the toner discharge port 1.

In such a conventional image forming apparatus, when the waste toner collecting bottle is not mounted and the movable shutter closes the toner discharge port 1, the image forming apparatus is operated in this state. If it is continued, the waste toner conveyed by the screw conveyor cannot be discharged from the toner discharge port 1 and accumulates there and is clogged. There is a possibility that it cannot be transported.

Therefore, the conventional image forming apparatus has a bottle detecting sensor 7 for detecting the presence or absence of a waste toner collecting bottle.
(See FIG. 3), if there is no waste toner collection bottle, the bottle detection sensor 7 detects that fact and causes the warning device to perform a warning operation so that the user can take the above measures. Such a situation can be prevented from occurring.

Even if the waste toner collecting bottle is mounted on the bottle mounting portion 10, the waste toner is gradually stored in the bottle, and eventually the bottle is full of waste toner. If the operation of the image forming apparatus is continued in this state, the conveyed waste toner cannot be discharged from the toner discharge port 1 and becomes clogged. It may disappear.

For this reason, the toner discharge port 1 of the image forming apparatus
In the vicinity, a toner full detection sensor 8 (FIG. 3) detects that the waste toner in the waste toner collection bottle is full.
Is provided, and when the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle is full, the toner full detection sensor 8 detects that fact and causes the warning device to perform a warning operation, and the user takes a countermeasure. Thus, it is possible to prevent the above situation from occurring.

[0008]

However, in such a conventional image forming apparatus, the bottle detection sensor 7 for detecting the presence or absence of the waste toner collecting bottle and the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle are full. Since two sets of sensors, that is, the toner fullness detection sensor 8 for detecting this, are provided, there is a problem that the number of expensive parts increases and the cost of the image forming apparatus increases.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of reducing the number of expensive components and reducing costs.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a waste toner collecting bottle which is mounted below a toner discharge port of an image forming apparatus and stores waste toner. A movable shutter that moves to a position below the toner outlet when the waste toner collection bottle is not mounted to prevent leakage of waste toner from the toner outlet, and a bottle detection that detects the presence or absence of the waste toner collection bottle Means and a toner full detecting means for detecting that the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle is full, wherein the toner full detecting means protrudes below the movable shutter and is detectable. A convex portion is formed, and the bottle detecting means is also used as the toner full detecting means.

According to the image forming apparatus having such a configuration,
Since the toner full detecting means can detect the presence or absence of the waste toner collecting bottle by detecting the presence or absence of the convex portion of the movable shutter, the bottle detecting means can be configured to also be used as the toner full detecting means. The cost of the image forming apparatus can be reduced by reducing the number of expensive components.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are views referred to for describing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, one end of a screw transporter 3 is disposed below a cleaning device (not shown), has a spiral groove on a peripheral surface, and rotates to transfer a toner image to a transfer sheet. The waste toner scraped off from the photosensitive drum (not shown) after the transfer operation is transported to the toner discharge port 1 at the other end.

A waste toner recovery bottle 5 is mounted below the toner discharge port 1. The waste toner recovery bottle 5 has an opening 5 a for mounting the waste toner recovery bottle 5 on the component unit body 12. Is mounted. The mounting device 14 is made of a transparent material and can transmit light.

A set of photosensors 16 (corresponding to toner full detecting means and bottle detecting means) is provided in the vicinity of a part of the component unit body 12 where the mounting tool 14 mounted on the waste toner collecting bottle 5 is mounted. The photosensor 16 has a light emitting element 16a and a light receiving element 16b. The light from the light emitting element 16a is shielded, and the light receiving element 16b does not receive light.

As shown in FIG. 2, a movable shutter 18 is disposed below the toner discharge port 1. The movable shutter 18 is formed at both ends of the movable shutter 18 and slides on the guide surface of the component unit body 12. It is provided movably in a direction perpendicular to the drawing surface via a guide portion 18a.
A light-shielding portion 18b (corresponding to a convex portion) is formed below the movable shutter 18 so as to protrude downward.

In FIG. 2, an elastic body such as a spring is disposed between the movable shutter 18 and the part unit body 12 on the other side of the movable shutter 18, and this elastic body is used to collect waste toner. When the bottle 5 is not mounted, the movable shutter 18 is pressed to the near side in the figure to close the toner discharge port 1 and the light shielding portion 18b
Are the light emitting element 16a and the light receiving element 16b of the photo sensor 16.
It is located between.

Regarding the operation of such an image forming apparatus,
This will be described below. As shown in FIG. 2, when the waste toner collecting bottle 5 is not mounted below the toner discharge port 1 of the component unit body 12, the movable shutter 18 is pressed by the elastic body to close the toner discharge port 1. In addition, the light emitting element 16a and the light receiving element 16 of the photo sensor 16
b of the movable shutter 18 so as to block between
Is located.

For this reason, the light emitting element 1 of the photo sensor 16
The light emitted from the light-shielding portion 6a
8b, the light receiving portion 16b cannot receive light, so that the photo sensor 16 has a movable shutter 18 at a position below the toner discharge port 1 and is in a light shielding state. It can detect that it is not mounted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the component unit body 1
When the waste toner collection bottle 5 is mounted below the toner discharge port 1 of the second and the waste toner collection bottle 5 is not full of waste toner, the light emitted from the light emitting element 16a of the photo sensor 16 is The light can pass through the transparent mounting tool 14 and be received by the light receiving element 16b.

When the toner in the waste toner collecting bottle 5 gradually increases and becomes full at the end, the toner also accumulates in the mounting device 14. Therefore, the waste toner accumulates between the light emitting element 16a and the light receiving element 16b, so that the light emitted from the light emitting element 16a is blocked by the waste toner, and the light receiving element 16b cannot receive light. The photo sensor 16 can detect that the waste toner in the waste toner collection bottle 5 is full due to the light shielding state.

When the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle 5 is full, it is removed from the component unit body 12. Then, the movable shutter 18 is pressed by the elastic body and moves to the near side in FIG.
Is closed. Then, the photo sensor 16 is in a light shielding state by the light shielding portion 18b, and the photo sensor 16 detects that the waste toner collecting bottle 5 is not mounted.

And a new empty waste toner collection bottle 5
Is mounted below the toner outlet 1 of the component unit body 12 via the mounting device 14, the movable shutter 18
When the mounting tool 14 is attached, it is pushed to move to the other side in FIG. 1 and retracts, so that the photo sensor 16 is in a light receiving state. Further, the waste toner gradually accumulates in the waste toner collecting bottle 5 by the operation of the image forming apparatus.

As described above, the light-shielding state of the photosensor 16 is caused by the light-emitting element 16a and the light-receiving element 16b.
The photosensor 16 is in a light-shielding state because the light-shielding portion 18b of the movable shutter 18 is located between the above-mentioned positions and when the full waste toner is located in the waste-toner recovery bottle 5 (mounting tool 14). In this case, it is possible to detect that the waste toner collecting bottle 5 is not mounted on the component unit body 12 or that the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle 5 is full.

Therefore, when the photo sensor 16 is in the light-shielded state, the warning device is caused to perform a warning operation to urge the user to check the position below the toner discharge port 1 so that the user can discard the waste toner collection bottle 5. Is not installed or whether the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle 5 is full or not, and a countermeasure corresponding to each can be taken immediately.

The image forming apparatus is a photo sensor 1
The light 6 detects that the waste toner collection bottle 5 is not mounted and that the waste toner collection bottle 5 is full. However, other than light, other means such as magnetism and pressure are used. May be used to perform the above detection operation.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been specifically described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various other embodiments are possible based on the technical idea of the present invention. Can be changed.

[0028]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, since the bottle detecting means and the toner full detecting means are constituted by a single combined detecting means, the number of expensive parts can be reduced. The cost of the image forming apparatus can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a waste toner collecting bottle 5 of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a mounting portion thereof.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing a mounting portion of the waste toner collecting bottle 5 when the bottle is not mounted.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a portion related to the present invention of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toner discharge port 3 Screw transporter 5 Waste toner collection bottle 5a Opening 12 Parts unit body 14 Mounting tool 16 Photosensor 16a Light emitting element 16b Light receiving element 18 Movable shutter 18a Guide section 18b Light shielding section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A waste toner collection bottle mounted below a toner discharge port of an image forming apparatus and containing waste toner, and moved to a position below the toner discharge port when the waste toner collection bottle is not mounted. A movable shutter for preventing leakage of waste toner from the toner discharge port, a bottle detecting unit for detecting the presence or absence of the waste toner collection bottle, and detecting that the waste toner in the waste toner collection bottle is full. An image forming apparatus provided with a toner full detecting means, wherein a convex portion protruding below the movable shutter and detectable by the toner full detecting means is formed, and the bottle full detecting means is also used by the toner full detecting means. An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. When the waste toner collecting bottle is not mounted, the convex portion of the movable shutter covering the toner discharge port is detected by the toner full detecting means, and when the waste toner collecting bottle is mounted. The movable shutter is pushed by the waste toner collecting bottle and retracts to another position. When the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle is not full, the toner full detecting means does not detect the waste toner, 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the waste toner in the toner collection bottle becomes full, the toner full detecting unit detects the waste toner. 3. The image according to claim 1, wherein said toner full detecting means is constituted by a photo sensor, and at least the vicinity of said toner full detecting means of said waste toner collecting bottle or a member connected thereto is transparent. Forming equipment. 4. An alarm operation is performed when the toner full detecting means detects the convex portion of the movable shutter or when it detects that the waste toner in the waste toner collecting bottle is full. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.