JP2003043884A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that a working efficiency is reduced in the case of performing a work of collecting waste toner and used developer for every printing unit, as for a color recording electrophotographic device using several printing units. SOLUTION: As for the color electrophotographic device wherein several printing units are vertically arranged in an overlaid state, the work of collecting the waste toner discharged from a cleaning means and the used waste developer is performed by using a common discharge duct and one recovering container which are arranged in a vertical direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus using a two-component developer, and more particularly, to an electronic apparatus suitable for collecting waste toner removed by cleaners of a plurality of printing units and used developer. The present invention relates to a photographic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a magnetic brush developing method using a so-called two-component developer, in which a toner and a magnetic carrier are mixed and frictionally charged to be used, is often used in an electrophotographic apparatus for high-speed printing. . Since the charging performance of the toner and the carrier deteriorates and the life of the two-component developer deteriorates with use time, the deteriorated developer, that is, the waste developer is discharged from the developing device and replaced with a new developer. It is common to manually remove the developing device from the electrophotographic device and discharge the waste developer until the weight of the developer in the developing device is about 1 or 2 kg. Since the weight of the apparatus itself becomes considerably heavy, it becomes difficult to manually remove the developing apparatus. Further, the full-color recording device requires four printing units for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black toners, and if each developing device has a waste developer collecting container, four collecting containers are mounted. It has the disadvantage of requiring space.

Further, after the toner image formed on the photoconductor is transferred onto a recording sheet, it is necessary to clean and collect the toner remaining on the photoconductor by a cleaning means. In a full-color recording device, cyan, magenta, and If the cleaning means of each of the four printing units corresponding to the yellow and black toners is provided with a waste toner recovery container, there is a drawback that a location for mounting the four recovery containers is required. Also, because each collection container does not fill up at the same time,
Replacing the collection container by interrupting the printing operation each time the collection container is full has a problem that the operating efficiency of the printing apparatus is significantly reduced.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and in particular, in a color recording electrophotographic apparatus using a plurality of printing units, the electrophotographic apparatus can be made compact and abolished. An object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic apparatus capable of collectively collecting toner and used waste developer at one place.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a waste toner discharged from a cleaning means in a color electrophotographic apparatus in which a plurality of printing units each having a developing device are vertically stacked. The used waste developer is collected in a common waste duct provided in the vertical direction.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows a printing unit used in the electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention. In the printing unit 2, the photoconductor 21 rotates clockwise. The photoconductor 21 is charged by a corona charger that is a charging unit 22, and then an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoconductor 21 by a light beam including image information that is emitted from an LED array optical system that is an exposure unit 23. . The developing device 24 contains a so-called two-component developer 241 composed of a magnetic carrier and toner, and the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 21 is developed by the two-component developer 241 carried by the developing roll 242, so that the photoconductor 21 A toner image 25 is formed on the surface of the. The toner image 25 is electrostatically transferred onto the recording paper 3 by a corona transfer device which is a transfer means 26. The residual charge on the surface of the photoconductor 21 is removed by an eraser, which is a charge removing unit 27, and the residual toner is removed by a cleaner, which is a cleaning unit 28. The recording sheet 3 after transfer is conveyed upward and sent to the fixing device. Developing device 2
A developer discharge duct 243 is provided at the bottom of No. 4. By the rotating spiral screw which is the discharging means 244 in the developer discharging duct 243, the developer is sent from the front side to the back side and discharged from the outlet portion. Further, in the cleaning means 28, the waste toner 281 is sent from the front side to the back side by the rotating spiral screw which is the toner discharging means 282 and is discharged from the outlet portion. The cleaning means 28 does not depend on a so-called bias cleaning method, a blade cleaning method, or the like for applying a voltage to the conductive fiber.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A shows a printing station 1 for full-color printing in which four printing units 2 each having cyan, magenta, yellow, and black toners are arranged in a vertical direction. For simplicity, only the photoconductor 21, the developing device 24, the transfer unit 26, and the cleaning unit 28 are shown in each printing unit 2 in FIG.

The photoconductor 21 rotates clockwise, and the continuous paper, which is the recording paper 3, is conveyed from the bottom to the top along each printing unit, and cyan, magenta, yellow, and black formed on the photoconductor 21 are conveyed. The toner images are sequentially transferred and transferred to form a full-color image 251. Next, the recording paper 3 is sent to the fixing means. FIG. 3B shows the waste toner discharged from the cleaning unit 28 of the printing station 1 shown in FIG. 3A and the discharge system of the waste developer discharged from the developing device 24 in an easy-to-see manner. For simplicity, the photoconductor 21 is shown by a dotted line. Toner outlet 283 of each printing unit
And the developer discharge port 245 are connected to the common waste duct 5 provided in the vertical direction. The waste toner and the waste developer falling through the common waste duct 5 are stored in the recovery container 51. The waste developer is collected by an operator or a service person stopping the printing device when the developer reaches the end of its life. Therefore, the waste toner is always collected during a normal printing operation.
In the collection container 51, a weight scale, which is a waste toner sensor 52 for measuring the amount of the waste toner stored in the collection container 51, that is, the weight or volume, is installed. The waste toner sensor 52 may be either a weight meter or a level sensor for measuring the height and clogging of the waste toner in the collection container 51, and emits a signal when the collection container 51 is almost full due to the waste toner. . Further, when the developer reaches the end of its life, it is preferable in terms of operation to collect the waste developer by changing the container for each of the types of cyan, magenta, yellow and black because the weight of the waste developer is small.
The waste developer collecting container may be the collecting container 51 itself used at the time of printing operation, or another container.

According to this embodiment, since the four printing units are not provided with the waste toner container and the waste developer container but are integrated in one place, the entire electrophotographic apparatus for full-color printing is provided. There is an effect that can be made small. Further, since the waste toner is not discarded for each toner, there is an effect that the operation efficiency is improved. Further, since the waste developer can be treated near the floor surface, the waste developer can be easily treated in the printing unit at a high place.

FIG. 1 shows an example of application of the present invention to a printing apparatus. For simplification, in FIG. 1, only the photoconductor 21 and the developing device 24 indicated by a rectangle are shown in each printing unit 2. Recording paper 3 pulled out from paper storage means 31
Moves the side of the printing station 1 from bottom to top,
Toner images are sequentially transferred from each printing unit 2 to form a full-color image 251. Next, the recording paper 3 is sent to the fixing means 4, and after being fixed, it is wound by the paper collecting means 33. The print station 1 is provided with a common waste duct 5 and a recovery container 51, which are shown by thick lines, and collects waste toner during printing operation and waste developer during replacement of the developer.

A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows double-sided printing using two sets of printing stations 1 in which four printing units having cyan, magenta, yellow, and black toners are vertically stacked. In FIG. 4 (1), the printing station 1 and the printing station 1 are reversed 180 degrees, that is, the back surface printing station 11 which is moved in line symmetry are arranged side by side so that the photoconductors 21 face each other in a staggered manner. The recording paper 3 is conveyed vertically upward between the printing stations, and the toner image is transferred from the printing stations. Full color image 25
The recording paper 3 on which both 1 and the back full-color image 252 are formed is conveyed to the fixing unit 4 and fixed on both surfaces simultaneously. Printing station 1, backside printing station 1
1 is a common waste duct 5 and a collection container 5 which are shown by thick lines respectively.
1 is installed. If each printing unit has a waste toner collection container, eight containers will be required.
According to this embodiment, there is an effect that only two collection containers are needed. Further, the same common waste duct 5 can be used to collect the waste developer. Further, FIG. 4B shows that the common waste duct 5 of each printing station is integrated into one in the lower part. According to this embodiment, there is an effect that the waste toner and the waste developer can be collected by one collecting container 51.

A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The waste toner 281 drops and collects in the collection container 51 installed below the common waste duct 5 indicated by the thick line in FIG. Since the waste toner 281 is a mixture of different types of toners of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, it has a property of easily aggregating and is deposited in the central portion of the recovery container 51. The collection container 51 is sometimes vibrated by the vibrating means composed of the spring 53 and the eccentric cam 54 to flatten the accumulated waste toner 281. According to this embodiment, there is an effect that the waste toner 281 can be filled almost completely in the recovery container 51.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a full-color electrophotographic apparatus in which a plurality of printing units are arranged in the vertical direction, the waste toner and the waste developer are collected at one place. Since the collection container can be used, there is an effect that the entire recording apparatus can be downsized, collection work can be facilitated, and the operation efficiency of the printing apparatus can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a full-color printing device to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a printing unit used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a common duct showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a common duct showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a recovery container showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing station, 2 ... Printing unit, 3 ... Recording paper, 5 ... Common disposal duct, 11 ... Backside printing station, 21 ... Photoconductor, 24 ... Developing device, 28 ... Cleaning means,
51 ... Collection container, 52 ... Waste toner sensor, 241 ... Two-component developer, 281 ... Waste toner.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing station in which a plurality of printing units for forming a toner image by developing a charge latent image formed on a photoreceptor with a developing device having a two-component developer consisting of toner and carrier are arranged in a vertical direction. In the electrophotographic apparatus, a common waste for dropping the waste toner discharged from the cleaning means for removing the toner remaining on the photoconductor and the waste developer discharged from the developing device and storing them in a recovery container. An electrophotographic apparatus having a duct. 2. The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a waste toner sensor for measuring the amount of the waste toner stored in the recovery container. 3. The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising vibrating means for shaking the recovery container. 4. The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing station comprises four printing units corresponding to cyan, magenta, yellow and black toners.