JP2003228218A - Developing device and image forming apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To write or read toner exchange information to/from an information recording medium by providing a developing device with the information recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: The developing device 21 used for a positionally moving type developing system is provided with the information recording medium 22, and the toner exchange information can be written to or read from the medium 22, and also terminals are arranged in a plurality of lines R1 and R2 in parallel with the moving direction of the developing device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer and a fax machine which uses an electrophotographic method, and more particularly, a plurality of developing devices are selectively moved to face an image carrier. The present invention relates to a position moving type developing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, a toner replenishing container provided corresponding to a developing device is made into a cartridge, or a developing means and a toner accommodating container are integrally made into a cartridge. In addition, there is a system in which the photosensitive drums are integrated into a cartridge, and maintenance can be easily performed by replacing the cartridge, and a system is also constructed in which used cartridges are recycled for reuse. .

By the way, when the cartridge is replaced,
The print quality and the image quality may differ depending on the components of the new toner and the charge amount, and it is necessary to make adjustments to cope with the difference. Also, it would be very convenient if information on how much toner was used and how many times it was recycled could be transmitted.

Therefore, conventionally, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-23457 has been used.
No. 8 discloses an electrophotographic recording apparatus having a toner cartridge that accommodates new toner and is detachably attached to the apparatus main body. The toner cartridge is provided with an information recording medium (magnetic medium). Write or read the date of manufacture of the toner cartridge, the life, the number of times of recording operation, the start time of use, the number of times of attachment / detachment to / from the device body, the component information of the stored toner, or the unique information of the device body on the information recording medium. A method has been proposed in which a means (magnetic head) for enabling the apparatus is provided in the main body of the apparatus.

[0005]

By the way, as an image forming apparatus, electrostatic latent images of a plurality of colors are sequentially formed on a photoreceptor,
This electrostatic latent image is sequentially developed into a toner image of each color by a rotary developing device, and then the toner images of each color are superimposed and transferred onto an intermediate transfer medium, and the full-color toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer medium is transferred onto a transfer material. After that, there is a method of fixing.

Also in this rotary developing device, each color developing means and each color toner accommodating container are integrated into a cartridge, and maintenance can be easily performed by replacing the cartridge of each color, and used cartridges can be recycled. There is a method to rotate and reuse.

When the method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-234578 is applied to each color cartridge of this rotary developing device, the magnetic head can be moved and scanned between each rotating color cartridge and the frame supporting each color cartridge. There is a problem in that it is necessary to provide the device, the configuration becomes complicated, and the device becomes large.

Further, when the toner is a magnetic material or a magnetic roller is used as the developing roller, the magnetic medium is affected by an external magnetic field and adverse effects such as garbled data and erasing occur, and the influence of the surrounding magnetic field. Since it is easily received, it is not possible to dispose a board (for example, a power supply board) on which a coil is mounted on the periphery, and since the magnetic medium and the magnetic head come into contact with each other when reading / writing data, the life is longer than that of reading / writing data by IC. However, the cartridge is short and is not suitable for recycling the cartridge.

Therefore, a method is conceivable in which the information recording medium on the cartridge side and the main body side of the apparatus can be written or read via a connector which can be separated and contacted. However, it is not possible to position the connectors on the fitting axis. Difficult,
In that case, the distance between the plurality of terminals becomes long, and the terminal at the end is particularly twisted at the time of fitting to damage the terminal, resulting in a connection failure.

The above problems are common not only to the rotary developing device but also to the developing device for moving each color developing device horizontally with respect to the image carrier.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. In a position-moving type developing device in which a plurality of developing devices are selectively moved to face the image carrier, information is recorded in each developing device. Provided is a developing device capable of providing a medium, writing or reading toner replacement information to or from the information recording medium via a connector, and improving reliability of the connector, and an image forming apparatus using the developing device. The purpose is to do.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a developing device of the present invention is a developing device used in a position-moving type developing system, in which the reading / writing is performed via a connector having a plurality of terminals. An information recording medium to be used is provided, and the terminals of the connector are arranged in a plurality of rows. According to the invention of claim 1, toner exchange information is recorded on the information recording medium. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that
Or 2, the grounding terminals are arranged in a row on the outer side in the axial direction of the developing device, and the invention according to claim 4 is the image using the developing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The forming device is characterized in that a separating / connecting device is provided outside the developing device and electrically connected to the connector.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 8 show an embodiment of a developing device of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus. In addition, the same numbers may be given to the same configurations between the drawings, and the description thereof may be omitted.

An image carrier 3 made up of a photosensitive drum is arranged in the main body 2 of the image forming apparatus 1, and is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow shown by a driving means (not shown). A charging device 4 for uniformly charging the image carrier 3 around the image carrier 3 along the rotation direction thereof, and an exposure device for forming an electrostatic latent image on the image carrier 3. 5, a rotary developing device 6 for developing the electrostatic latent image, and an intermediate transfer device 7 for primarily transferring the monochromatic toner image formed on the image carrier 3 are provided.

In the rotary developing device 6, a yellow developing device 6Y, a magenta developing device 6M, a cyan developing device 6C and a black developing device 6K are mounted on a supporting frame 8, and the supporting frame 8 is rotated by a drive motor (not shown). It is configured to be driven. Each of the plurality of developing devices 6Y, 6C, 6M, and 6K is selectively rotated and rotated so that the developing roller 6a of one developing device faces the image carrier 3 every one rotation of the image carrier 3. Has been done.
Each developing device is provided with a toner storage portion that stores toner of each color.

The intermediate transfer device 7 is provided with a driving roller 9 and a driven roller 10, an intermediate transfer belt belt 11 driven by both rollers in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and a back surface of the belt 11 facing the image carrier 3. Primary transfer roller 12
A transfer belt cleaner (not shown) for removing the residual toner on the belt 11, and a four-color full-color image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 11 which is disposed so as to face the driving roller 9 and which is a transfer material (paper or the like). ) Secondary transfer roller 1 for transfer onto
It consists of 4.

A paper feed cassette 15 is arranged at the bottom of the apparatus main body 2, and the transfer material in the paper feed cassette 15 includes a pickup roller 16, a transfer material conveying path 17, and a secondary transfer roller 1.
4. It is configured to be conveyed to the paper discharge tray 20 via the fixing device 19.

The operation of the image forming apparatus having the above structure will be described. When an image forming signal is input from a computer (not shown), the image carrier 3, the developing roller 6a of the developing device 6 and the intermediate transfer belt 11 are rotationally driven, and the outer peripheral surface of the image carrier 3 is first driven by the charging device 4. The outer peripheral surface of the image carrier 3 which is uniformly charged and uniformly charged is selectively exposed by the exposure device 5 according to the image information of the first color (for example, yellow), and the electrostatic latent image of yellow is obtained. An image is formed.

At the latent image position formed on the image carrier 3,
The developing device 6Y for yellow rotates to rotate its developing roller 6a.
Contact each other, whereby a toner image of a yellow electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier 3 and then the toner image formed on the image carrier 3 is transferred by the primary transfer roller 12 to the intermediate transfer belt 11 Transcribed on. At this time, the secondary transfer roller 14 is separated from the intermediate transfer belt 11.

In the above processing, latent image formation, development, and transfer by one rotation of the image carrier 3 and the intermediate transfer belt 11 are repeated corresponding to the second color, the third color, and the fourth color of the image forming signal. The toner images of four colors corresponding to the contents of the image forming signal are superimposed and transferred on the intermediate transfer belt 11. Then, at the timing when this full-color image reaches the secondary transfer roller 14, the transfer material is supplied from the transport path 17 to the secondary transfer roller 14, and at this time, the secondary transfer roller 14 is pressed against the intermediate transfer belt 11. The secondary transfer voltage is applied, and the full-color toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 11 is transferred onto the transfer material. Then, the toner image transferred onto the transfer material is heated and pressed by the fixing device 19 to be fixed. The toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 11 is removed by a transfer belt cleaner (not shown).

Next, details of the developing device in the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, each color developing device 6Y, 6
The cartridges 21 constituting the C, 6M, and 6K housing containers are mounted between the substantially cross-shaped boundary plates 8 so that the used cartridges 21 can be replaced with new ones. A male connector 22 having an information recording medium 37 is mounted on each cartridge (developing device) 21.

On the other hand, a separating / connecting device 23 is arranged below the outer side of the rotary developing device 6. Separation device 23
Has a built-in drive motor and a sliding mechanism (not shown), and a female connector 24 is provided at the tip of the sliding mechanism. In the state of FIG. 1, the female connector 24 is retracted below the rotary developing device 6. For example, when the magenta developing device 6M is stopped at the position shown and the separating / connecting device 23 is driven, The connector 24 moves upward and is fitted into the male connector 22 to make an electrical connection, and the information recording medium 3 is read by the read / write means 41 in the control device 40.
It is possible to read and write the toner replacement information with respect to No. 7.

FIG. 2 shows the rotary developing device 6 of FIG.
It is the figure seen from the direction. FIG. 2 illustrates the developing roller 6a, the boundary plate 8, the cartridge 21, and the male connector 22 described in FIG. In the following explanation, left,
The right side is viewed from the X direction in FIG.

The cartridge 21 is mounted between the boundary plates 8 having a substantially cross shape. One end of the boundary plate 8 is fixed to the disc frame 25, and the disc frame 2
5 is rotatably supported by a left side plate 27 via a shaft 26. The disc frame 25 is provided with a fitting pin 29,
A hole for fitting the fitting pin 29 is formed on the cartridge 21, and the fitting of the fitting pin 29 fixes the cartridge 21.

A recess is formed at the right end of the cartridge 21, and the male connector 22 is fitted into the recess, and the holes of the connector 22 are formed in the two protrusions 30 formed on the bottom surface of the recess. It is fitted and fixed by welding. In addition,
Reference numeral 31 is a recess for a handle formed in the cartridge 21, 3
Reference numeral 2 is a right side plate, and 33 is a home position sensor provided on the left side plate.

FIG. 3 shows the connectors 22 and 24 shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a contact / separation position and a replacement position of the cartridge 21. FIG. 3A shows the image carrier 3 and the color developing devices 6Y and 6Y described with reference to FIGS.
C, 6M, 6K, developing roller 6a, boundary plate 8, disk frame 25, shaft 26, home position sensor 3
3, a male side connector 22 and a female side connector 24 are shown.

FIG. 3A shows the developing position. A detection plate 34 having a notch 34a is fixed to the shaft 26, and the home position sensor 33 optically detects the position of the notch 34a to set the developing position of the yellow developing device 6Y, thereby developing the roller 6a. Are brought into contact with the image carrier 3. The developing positions of the other developing devices 6C, 6M and 6K are set by calculation.

In this embodiment, this developing position is used as a contact / separation position between the male side connector 22 and the female side connector 24. 32a indicated by the one-dot chain line in the figure
Is an opening for attaching and detaching the cartridge formed in the right side plate 32 (FIG. 2). At the developing position, the cartridge 21 is obstructed by the opening 32a and cannot be attached or detached. Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the rotary developing device 6 is rotated so that the cartridge 21 can be attached and detached at a position where the cartridge 21 and the opening 32a overlap each other.

FIG. 4 shows the connectors 22 and 24 shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the contact / separation operation of FIG. Male connector 2
2 is fixed to the cartridge 21 by a screw 35, and the female connector 24 is fixed to the separating / connecting device 23 by a screw 36. At the bottom of the male connector 22, the circuit board 3
9 is provided with the information recording medium 37 according to the present invention. Then, when the connectors 22 and 24 shown in FIG. 4A are separated from each other, the female connector 24 is fitted into the male connector 22 by driving the connecting / disconnecting device 23 as shown in FIG. 4B. Connected.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the information recording medium 37 of FIG. 4 and the control system of the controller. The information recording medium 37 is
It is a readable / writable memory such as an EEPROM, an EPROM, an IC, and a non-volatile memory. The control device 40 is a CPU
(Reading / writing means) 41, RAM 42, ROM 43, I /
It is composed of an O port 44, and between the I / O port 44 and the information recording medium 37 is 5V (power source), GND (ground), C
S (chip select: access signal), CLK (clock signal), R / W (signal for distinguishing between read and write),
DATA (data) is connected via the above-mentioned connectors 22 and 24.

The information recording medium 37 and the CPU 41 have a DAT
Exchange (reading and writing) of toner replacement information is performed via A. This toner replacement information and its usage example will be described.

As one example, when the manufacturing date is written on the information recording medium 37 at the shipping stage of the cartridge 21 and the cartridge 21 is mounted on the rotary developing device 6, the CPU 41 on the main body 2 side writes the written date. By reading the embedded information, when a cartridge that is extremely out of the warranty period is inserted, the operation of the apparatus is stopped or a warning is output to the user, whereby deterioration of the image quality can be prevented in advance.

As another example, when the cartridge 21 is shipped, the number of printable sheets is written on the information recording medium 37, and when the cartridge 21 is mounted on the rotary developing device 6, the CPU 41 reads the written information and thereafter By calculating the remaining amount of toner in comparison with the number of recorded sheets, the user can be warned of the cartridge replacement time.

Further, by writing the use start time of the cartridge 21 on the CPU 41 side, even if the number of printable sheets has not been reached, if the warranty period is extremely exceeded, a warning is output to the user to notify the user of the image quality. It is possible to prevent the decrease.

When component information of toner is written on the information recording medium 37 at the shipping stage of the cartridge 21 and the cartridge 21 is mounted on the rotary developing device 6,
The CPU 41 reads the written information and sets the image forming condition according to the toner, so that the image quality utilizing the characteristics of the toner can be obtained.

Further, at the shipping stage of the cartridge 21, whether or not the cartridge is new or the number of times of replacement is written in the information recording medium 37, and when the cartridge 21 is mounted in the rotary developing device 6, the CPU 41 writes the information. When the new information is read, the rotary developing device 6 can be rotated to loosen the toner when the product is new, and the number of times of replacement can warn the recycler of the limit of the number of times of recycling.

6 and 7 show an embodiment of a male connector according to the present invention, FIG. 6 (A) is a plan view, and FIG.
6B is a side view seen from the direction B in FIG.
FIG. 7C is a side view seen from the direction C in FIG.
7A is a rear view of FIG. 6A, and FIG. 7B is FIG. 7A.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

In FIG. 6, the male connector 22 includes a base portion 45 and a terminal support portion 46 provided upright above the base portion 45.
And a recording medium fixing portion 47 which is erected below the base portion 45.
And a guide member 49 having a conical tip and a rod shape formed on both sides of the terminal support portion 46 so as to further project from the terminal support portion 46, and two fixing holes 50 formed in the base portion 45. I have it.

As shown in FIG. 6B, the terminal support portion 46
The data terminal 51 and the power terminal 5 are provided on one side surface.
2, four terminals, that is, a chip select terminal 53 and an R / W (read / write signal) terminal 54 are provided. As shown in FIG. 6C, the other side surface of the terminal support portion 46 is provided. , Clock (CLK) terminal 55, ground terminals 56 and 57 3
Two terminals are provided. The number of terminals is not limited to this, and can be increased or decreased as needed.

In FIG. 7B, the ground terminal 57 and the chip select terminal 53 are shown, but each terminal is
A portion of the terminal support portion 46 has a curved portion 59 that curves outward, and the curved portion 59 is configured to elastically contact the terminal of the female connector. A substrate 39 having the information recording medium 37 is fixed to the recording medium fixing portion 47. A circuit pattern (not shown) is formed on the back surface of the substrate 39, and each terminal 51 is formed on the circuit pattern.
The ends of .about.57 are in elastic contact with each other.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the female connector 24. A pair of guide holes 60 is formed in the female connector 24, and the guide member 49 of the male connector 22 is fitted into the guide holes 60. In addition, I / O port 44
Connection terminals 61 to 67 are provided for connection to the terminals 51 to 57 of the male connector 22, respectively. Incidentally, 69 is a fixing hole.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the terminals 51 to 54 and the terminals 55 to 5 of the male connector 22 are connected.
7 are arranged in parallel with the moving direction Z of the rotary developing device 6 in two rows R1 and R2. Of course,
The terminals 61 to 64 and the terminals 65 to 67 of the female connector 24 are also arranged in two rows parallel to the moving direction Z of the rotary developing device 6. The number of rows is not limited to two, and the rows may be arranged in a plurality of rows of three or more.

When the male connector 22 is moved to the separating / connecting position, the fitting axis lines of the male connector 22 and the female connector 24 cannot be completely aligned, and the female connector 24 is attached to the male connector 22. On the other hand, they are fitted and connected in an oblique direction. At this time, when the terminals 51 to 57 are arranged in one row, the distance between the terminals at both ends becomes long,
At the time of fitting, especially the terminal at the end is twisted and the terminal is damaged, resulting in poor connection.

However, in this embodiment, since the plurality of rows R1 and R2 are arranged in parallel to the moving direction Z of the rotary developing device 6, the distance between the terminals of each row becomes short. Moreover, the terminals are not easily twisted, the terminals are not damaged, and the connection failure does not occur, and the reliability as a contact can be improved.

Further, since the grounding terminals 56 and 57 are arranged in the axially inner row R2 of the cartridge 21 (developing device), the grounding terminals 56 and 57 and the metal side plate 3 are arranged.
2, an electromagnetic shield space is formed, and other signal terminals can be electromagnetically shielded.

FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the developing device of the present invention, and is a partial plan view of the rotary developing device 6 similar to FIG. In the present embodiment, the terminals 51 to 54 and the terminals 55 to 57 of the male connector 22 are arranged in two rows R1 and R2 in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction Z of the rotary developing device 6. Of course, the terminals 61 to 64 and the terminals 65 to 67 of the female connector 24 are also arranged in two rows in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction Z of the rotary developing device 6. The number of rows is not limited to two, and the rows may be arranged in a plurality of rows of three or more.

In this embodiment, a plurality of rows R1 and R are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction Z of the rotary developing device 6.
Since the distance between the terminals in the moving direction Z is further shorter than that in the embodiment of FIG.
Further, it is hard to be twisted, the terminal is not damaged and the connection failure does not occur, and the reliability as a contact can be improved.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various changes can be made. You may make it combine well-known technology.

For example, in the above embodiment, the developing method is applied to the rotary developing method, but it is also applicable to the developing method in which each color developing device is selectively moved horizontally or diagonally so as to face the image carrier. Well, in the present invention,
These are defined as a position moving type developing system.

In the above embodiment, the male connector 22 is provided on the cartridge 21 side and the female connector 24 is provided on the apparatus main body 2 side. However, the male connector 22 is provided on the apparatus main body 2 side. 21 side female connector 2
4 may be provided, and in the present invention, the male connector 22 is simply defined as a connector.

[0051]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in the developing device used in the position-moving type developing system, the developing device can read and write information through a connector having a plurality of terminals. Since the connector is provided with the medium and the terminals of the connector are arranged in a plurality of rows, the distance between the terminals in each row becomes short, so that it is difficult to twist and the reliability as a contact can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of a developing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view of the rotary developing device 6 of FIG. 1 viewed from a direction A.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a separating / connecting position of connectors 22 and 24 and a replacement position of a cartridge 21 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a separating / connecting operation of the connectors 22 and 24 in FIG.

5 is a block diagram of an information recording medium 37 of FIG. 4 and a control system of a control device.

6A and 6B show one embodiment of a male connector according to the present invention, FIG. 6A is a plan view, and FIG. 6B is B of FIG. 6A.
6C is a side view seen from the direction, and FIG. 6C is a side view seen from the direction C of FIG. 6A.

7A is a rear view of FIG. 6A, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 7A and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the female connector 24 of FIG.

9 shows another embodiment of the developing device of the present invention, and FIG.
6 is a partial plan view of a rotary developing device 6 similar to FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

21 ... Cartridge (developing device) 22 ... Male side connector (connector) 23 ... Separation device 37 ... Information recording medium 51-57 ... terminals 56, 57 ... Grounding terminal R1, R2 ... columns Z ... moving direction

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takeshi Aoki             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation F term (reference) 2H030 AD07 AD17 BB24 BB33 BB63                 2H077 AD06 BA01 BA08 BA09 DA24                       DB10 DB14 GA04 GA13

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A developing device used in a position-moving type developing system, wherein the developing device comprises an information recording medium for reading and writing via a connector having a plurality of terminals, and the terminals of the connector are arranged in a plurality of rows. A developing device characterized in that 2. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein toner replacement information is recorded on the information recording medium. 3. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein a grounding terminal is arranged in an axially inner row of the developing device. 4. An image forming apparatus using the developing device according to claim 1, wherein the connecting / disconnecting device is located outside the developing device and is electrically connectable to the connector. An image forming apparatus comprising: