JP2003150012A - Waste toner bag mechanism for electrophotographic printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a misdetection occurs in an optical sensor system of one system of a conventional toner bag mechanism, and the mounting and removal of a toner receptacle cup become so difficult to break a magnetic sensor in a magnetic sensor system being another system. SOLUTION: A metal operating plate held by a spring is installed at the bottom of the toner receptacle cup so that it descends under the weight of toner. A metal bottom plate is installed below the metal operating plate. Each of the metal operating plate and the metal bottom plate is connected to the electrode plate of the toner receptacle cup with a cable. The electrode plates of the toner receptacle cup are installed at positions to the electrode spring connected to a circuit installed in a frame. A bellows paper bag to be expanded and contracted under the weight of the toner is installed on the metal operating plate.

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a waste toner bag mechanism for an electrophotographic printing apparatus. 2. Description of the Related Art An outline of processing of waste toner in a drum cleaning mechanism of an electrophotographic printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. Clean the toner remaining on the drum 20 with the cleaner brush 2
Rotate 1 and scrape. To collect and discard the toner scraped by the cleaner brush 21, a cleaner housing 22 is provided.
The air is drawn by a blower 28 through a hose 22, a cyclone 24, a hose 25, a cyclone filter 26, and a hose 27. A toner bag 30 is provided below the cyclone 24. Due to the characteristics of the cyclone 24, the toner scraped off by the cleaner brush 21 drops and accumulates in the toner bag 30. When the waste toner 1 has accumulated, the toner bag 30 is removed, and the waste toner 1 inside is discarded. The toner bag 30 needs to be hermetically closed because it has a negative pressure. [0003] Two conventional general structures of the toner bag 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. First, there is a method of FIG. 3 in which the waste toner 1 is directly stored in the toner receiving cup 9. When the waste toner 1 has accumulated in the toner receiving cup 9 to some extent, the signal of the toner bag full must be detected. In this method, the toner receiving cup 9 is made of transparent plastic, and the light emitting sensor 40 and the light receiving sensor 41 are installed. Then, when the waste toner 1 accumulates, the detection is performed by blocking the light of the sensor. Another method is shown in FIG. 4 in which a paper bag 50 is installed in the toner receiving cup 9 for easy disposal. Since the paper bag 50 allows air to pass through, the paper bag 50 does not collapse even when a negative pressure is applied. Since the paper bag 50 is not transparent and the optical sensor cannot be used, the magnetic sensor 42 needs to be installed at a position where the waste toner 1 can be detected when the waste toner 1 has accumulated to some extent. [0005] The above configuration has the following problems. In the case of the system shown in FIG. 3 in which the waste toner 1 is directly stored in the toner receiving cup 9, the transparency decreases as the toner receiving cup 9 gradually becomes dirty, and the light is blocked. The sensor 41 may erroneously detect that there is toner. In the case of the system shown in FIG. 4 in which the paper bag 50 is installed in the toner receiving cup 9, the magnetic sensor 42 enters the inside of the toner receiving cup 9, so that it is very difficult to attach and remove the toner receiving cup 9, and the The sensor 42 may be broken. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a waste toner bag mechanism which is not erroneously detected and is easily attached and detached so as to prevent erroneous detection of the above-mentioned sensor and to facilitate the attaching and detaching operation. [0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a metal working plate which is held by a spring so as to be lowered by the weight of toner at the bottom of a toner receiving cup, and further provided below the metal working plate. A metal bottom plate is installed, each of the metal operation plate and the metal bottom plate is connected to an electrode plate of the toner receiving cup by a cable, and the electrode plate of the toner receiving cup is connected to a circuit installed on a frame. This is achieved by installing a bellows paper bag which is installed at a position facing the electrode spring and expands and contracts by the weight of the toner on the metal operation plate. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The toner receiving cup 9 is provided with a guide 11 and a cover lock 10 for sealing the frame 15 with the frame 15. A sponge 13 is attached to the frame 15 to which the cyclone 24 is attached in order to seal the toner receiving cup 9. A handle is provided on the toner receiving cup 9 so that the toner receiving cup 9 can be easily attached and detached. A metal operating plate 3 held by a spring 4 is provided at the bottom of the toner receiving cup 9, and is connected to the electrode plate 7 via a cable 17. At the bottom of the toner receiving cup 9, a metal bottom plate 5 is installed so as to conduct when the metal operation plate 3 comes down, and a cable 17 is connected to the electrode plate 7.
Connected through. The bellows paper bag 2 is installed on the metal operation plate 3. Since the bellows paper bag 2 has air permeability, it does not collapse under negative pressure. The electrode plate spring 8 is connected to the frame 15 via a circuit 19 and a cable 18. The electrode plate spring 8 has a spring property and is installed so as to face the electrode plate 7 installed in the toner receiving cup 9. In the above configuration, when the waste toner 1 accumulates, the weight of the waste toner 1 causes the bellows paper bag 2 to expand and the metal operation plate 3 to move down. When it further lowers, the metal operation plate 3 and the metal bottom plate 5 are brought into contact and conduction, and a signal is sent to the circuit 19 to detect that the toner bag is full. 3 and 4, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts. According to the present invention, since the waste toner can be discarded together with the bellows paper bag, the operability is good. Further, since the toner receiving cup can be attached and removed in parallel with the bellows paper bag, operability is good. Furthermore, since the toner bag full is detected by the weight of the waste toner without using an optical sensor or a magnetic sensor whose operation is unstable, there is no malfunction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of processing of waste toner by a drum cleaning mechanism. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the related art. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the related art. [Description of References] 2 is a bellows paper bag, 3 is a metal operation plate, 4 is a spring, 5 is a metal bottom plate, 7 is an electrode plate, 8 is an electrode plate spring, and 9 is a toner receiving cup.

Claims (1)

1. A waste toner bag mechanism for an electrophotographic printing apparatus having a detachable waste toner plastic cup and a disposable toner paper bag therein. A metal operating plate held by a spring so as to be lowered by the weight of the toner is installed at the bottom of the metal operating plate, and a metal bottom plate is installed below the metal operating plate, and each of the operating plate and the bottom plate is connected to the toner by a cable. Connected to an electrode plate of a receiving cup, the electrode plate of the toner receiving cup is installed facing an electrode spring connected to a circuit installed on a frame, and the weight of toner is placed on the metal operation plate. A waste toner bag mechanism for an electrophotographic printing apparatus, comprising a bellows paper bag that expands and contracts.