JP2003287946A - Toner bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the constitution of a toner bottle by summarizing the rotary drive of the toner bottle and a function of suppressing toner-sticking (residue) in the toner bottle. <P>SOLUTION: A hopper part 26 is integrally formed with a development device, the screw type toner bottle 28 is loaded to the hopper part 26. A bottle gear 28d is formed on the bottom side of the toner bottle 28, and a driving gear 44 is arranged on the device main body side corresponding to the bottle gear 28d. The driving gear 44 is connected to a gear train on the device main body side through a relay gear 48 so as to unify a driving source. The toner bottle 28 is vibrated by a fitting backlash (backlash) between the bottle gear 28d and the driving gear 44, and the toner residue is suppressed by the vibration of the toner bottle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device and a toner bottle in an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a screw type toner bottle and a developing device of a type in which the screw type toner bottle is mounted on a hopper to replenish toner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus,
A developing device for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier is provided with a toner replenishing device for supplying toner to the developing section. The toner replenishing device of the most general developing device has a structure as shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 80 is a photosensitive drum, 82 is a developing device, 84 is a developing roller, and 86 is a paddle roller. The developing device 82 has a toner cartridge 88 for containing toner and a toner hopper for supplying toner. A section 90 is provided, and the toner in the toner cartridge 88 is replenished to the toner hopper section 90 by the agitator 92. The toner is once replenished to the toner hopper unit 90 in order to keep the toner replenishing amount of the toner replenishing roller 94 to the developing unit 82a as constant as possible and to keep the toner density in the developing unit 82a constant. In recent years, a small and small space structure has been developed in which a screw type toner bottle is horizontally mounted on a hopper portion provided in a developing device to supply toner. An image forming apparatus that uses a screw type toner bottle generally has its own drive source that rotates the toner bottle.The rotation input method from the drive source to the toner bottle is the opening of the hopper and the toner bottle. Rotation is input to a "front flange" as a joint member that connects the parts and the rotation is transmitted to the toner bottle. As another input form, there is a method in which a gear is formed on the outer surface of the opening side of the toner bottle having the entire diameter of the bottle opened, and the gear is meshed with a drive gear on the developing device main body side. Further, from the viewpoint of preventing the toner in the toner bottle from accumulating due to adhesion, a mechanism for striking the toner bottle is separately provided in order to apply vibration to the toner bottle.

Further, in this type of toner bottle, a gear of another member is attached to the bottom side of the bottle, and this gear is rotatably driven by meshing with the drive gear of the developing device side. The gear is press-fitted through a retaining projection integrally formed on the outer peripheral surface on the bottom side.

[0004]

By the way, in the screw type toner bottle, since the toner is conveyed in one direction, the toner tends to stay in the bottle, and the replenishment amount varies depending on the toner amount in the bottle. Occurs. In order to eliminate this, the structure for hitting the toner bottle is provided as described above. However, it is not desirable to provide a mechanism for hitting the toner bottle separately, which is desired today for downsizing and simplification of the image forming apparatus, and also to provide a unique drive source for rotating the toner bottle. From the perspective of.

In order to improve recyclability, it is necessary to disassemble the toner bottle and the gear (= bottle gear, hereinafter the same), but when removing the gear from the toner bottle,
If you pull the gear, the teeth of the gear may touch your hands and you may feel pain, so disassembling work is not easy. In this case, it is conceivable to lower the height of the retaining protrusion to make it easier to remove the gear.However, in this case, it is the portion that the user directly touches during replacement, so if the mounting strength is reduced, it will be easier during replacement work. There is a problem that it comes off.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a developing device which does not require a mechanism for hitting a toner bottle and an original drive source, and therefore can simplify the structure and reduce the size thereof. Further, the present invention provides a developing device capable of improving the hitting function of a toner bottle and more stably replenishing toner even if the simplification of the structure is not promoted by providing an original drive source for rotating the toner bottle. Is the purpose.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a toner bottle which can be easily disassembled after use while maintaining the same mounting strength as conventional ones.

[0008]

According to the consideration of the present inventors, the toner bottle can be vibrated also by the meshing roughness of the gear for rotating the toner bottle,
In addition, the portion to which vibration is applied is effective on the upstream side in the toner conveying direction from the viewpoint of effectively exerting the influence of vibration on the entire bottle. Further, it is also possible to rotate the toner bottle by the drive source originally provided in the developing device, and thereby the drive source can be unified and the configuration can be simplified. This is one of the purposes of the present invention. When the gear is dismounted from the toner bottle, a large dismounting force can be obtained by an operation with less hand pain on the gear by utilizing the fitting shape of the bottom side of the toner bottle and the gear. This is the other purpose of the present invention. Specifically, in the invention according to claim 1, in a developing device in which a screw type toner bottle is attached to a hopper portion formed on the apparatus main body side, and the toner bottle is rotationally driven to replenish the toner, A bottle gear is formed on the bottom side outer surface of the bottle opposite to the hopper side, and correspondingly, a drive gear that meshes with the bottle gear when the toner bottle is mounted is provided on the apparatus main body side. I am collecting.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first aspect, the drive gear is connected to a drive source of an apparatus main body for driving a developing sleeve or the like via a relay gear. ing. According to the invention of claim 3, in the structure of claim 1 or 2, the module of the bottle gear and the module of the drive gear are each set to 1.25 or more. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first aspect, an independent drive source that rotationally drives the toner bottle is provided, and the drive source is controlled by a control unit that reversely rotates the drive gear at a predetermined timing. Is adopted.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner bottle, wherein a gear, which is a separate member that meshes with a drive gear on the developing device side, is attached to the bottom side and has a retaining projection for preventing the gear from falling off. , A rotation-stop projection is formed at the mounting portion of the gear for stopping the rotation of the gear,
The surface of the anti-rotation protrusion that does not receive the rotational driving force is inclined in the gear removal direction. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner bottle, in which a gear of a separate member that meshes with a drive gear of the developing device is attached to the bottom side, and a retaining protrusion for preventing the gear from coming off. A rotation stop projection for stopping rotation of the gear is formed at the mounting portion of the rotation prevention gear, and the rotation stop projection has a taper that gradually becomes thinner in the rotation direction of the bottle. In the invention according to claim 7, in the structure according to claim 5 or 6, the rotation preventing projection is formed at one location on the circumference of the bottle.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the image forming apparatus 2 is roughly provided with a photosensitive drum 4 and a developing device 6. Around the photosensitive drum 4, a charging charger 8, an eraser 10, A transfer device 12, a cleaning blade 14, and a toner carrying coil 16 are provided respectively. In the developing device 6, a developing sleeve 18 for supplying toner to the photoconductor drum 4 and a developing sleeve 18 are arranged horizontally with the developing sleeve 18, and the developer in the developing casing 24 is stirred, mixed, and conveyed in different directions. Two stirring screws 20 and 22, a hopper portion 26 formed integrally with the developing casing 24, and a screw type toner bottle 28 attached to the hopper portion 26 are provided. Is doctor blade 3
0 is placed. A partition member 32 extending along the stirring screws 20 and 22 is provided between the stirring screws 20 and 22, and a developer G (indicated by dots in FIG. 2) is provided through a communication passage formed at the front and rear ends of the partition member 32. Are circulated. Further, a magnetic permeability measuring sensor 34 for measuring the magnetic permeability of the developer G is provided in the lower part of the stirring screw 22 near the hopper portion 26, and the toner concentration in the developing casing 24 is controlled based on this detection data. It is supposed to do. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 36 indicates a toner recycling carrying path.

Next, the outline of the image forming process in the image forming apparatus 2 will be described. First, the photoconductor drum 4 is neutralized by the neutralization light, and the surface potential is averaged to the reference potential of 0 to -150V. Next, it is charged by the charger 8 and the surface potential becomes about -900V. Next, it is exposed in the exposure section. The surface potential of the part not irradiated with light (image part) is -5.
Since it is maintained at 00 to -850V, the developing sleeve 18
Even if a bias voltage of about -200V is applied to
The toner on the developing sleeve 18 adheres to the image portion. The photoconductor drum 4 on which the toner image is formed is rotationally moved, and the leading end of the sheet and the leading end of the image are transferred from the sheet feeding unit (not shown) to the transfer device 12.
The transfer paper is fed at a timing such that the two coincide with each other, and the transfer device 12 transfers the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 to the transfer paper. The transfer paper is sent to a fixing unit (not shown), and the toner is fused to the transfer paper by heat and pressure and discharged as a copy. On the other hand, the residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 4 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 14.
After that, the residual charges on the photoconductor drum 4 are eliminated by the elimination light, and the toner-free state is obtained, and the process proceeds to the next image forming step again.

The above-described photosensitive drum 4, charge eliminating device, developing device 6, and cleaning device are housed in an integral photosensitive member case 38 (including the developing casing 24 as a part). Among them, the residual toner collected by the cleaning device is conveyed by the toner conveying coil 16, is sent to the recycled toner conveying section, and then passes through the toner recycling conveying path 36, and then the stirring screw 22 near the hopper section 26.
Sent to. This allows the toner to be recycled.

Next, the developing device 6 will be described in detail. The developing sleeve 18 has a fixed shaft in which a magnet with five poles is arranged, and the outer peripheral surface of the developing sleeve 18 is covered with a non-magnetic pipe material. Moving. The developer is a two-component type composed of small iron balls called carrier and toner. The toner is charged by the circulation movement of the stirring screws 20 and 22, and is attached to the carrier to be carried to the surface of the photoconductor drum 4, and can be attached to the photoconductor drum 4 by the action of electrostatic force. Of the developer, the carrier circulates, but the toner adheres to the image portion of the photosensitive drum 4 and is consumed. Therefore, the supply is appropriately performed. Further, if the amount of the developer supplied to the photosensitive drum 4 is not constant, image density defects and density unevenness occur. Therefore, from this viewpoint, the doctor blade 30 is arranged to regulate the inflow amount of the developer.

As shown in FIG. 4, the developing casing 24 is integrally formed with a mounting recess 40 for mounting the toner bottle 28 in a shape along the outer surface of the toner bottle 28. Development sleeve 1
8 and the stirring screws 20 and 22 are horizontally arranged.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the hopper portion 26
The toner in the toner bottle 28 to the developing casing 2
4 is provided with a handle 42 as an operating means for communicating with the inside of the toner container 4, and the toner bottle 28 is mounted with the handle 42 raised. The toner bottle 28 serving as a toner container has a spiral protrusion 28a on its inner wall surface.
Are formed, and the toner is ejected from the toner ejection port 28b by rotating. This toner discharge port 28b
A cap 28 for preventing the toner from being discharged to the outside
c is inserted. Further, a bottle gear 28d for rotating the toner bottle 28 is provided at the rear end (bottom side) of the toner bottle 28, while the mounting recess 40 is provided with a bottle gear 28d when the toner bottle 28 is mounted. The meshing drive gear 44 is provided so as to be partially exposed on the outer surface. The drive gear 44 is connected to a main body side gear train 46 that drives the stirring screws 20, 22 and the like via a relay gear 48. That is, the setting direction of the toner bottle 28 is substantially parallel to the photosensitive drum 4 and the like, and the toner bottle 28 is horizontally arranged, and the toner bottle 28 is driven by the drive source on the main body side to unify the drive source. We are working to reduce the size and space of the product.

Further, the bottle gear 28d in this example
The drive gear 44 is set to have a module of 1.25 or more, and when the toner bottle 28 is rotationally driven, a rough meshing state is exhibited. For this reason,
During rotation, the toner bottle 28 vibrates, toner adhesion (stagnation) in the bottle is prevented, toner transportability is improved, and stable toner replenishment is performed regardless of the amount of toner in the bottle. be able to. Further, since the vibration source is located on the upstream side in the toner conveying direction, the toner retention suppressing function is enhanced. In this way, if the vibration is imparted by the meshing roughness of the gears, the toner bottle 2
The rotation and vibration (striking) of 8 can be performed with one configuration, and the configuration can be simplified. It should be noted that if the module is smaller than 1.25, transportability can be obtained, but vibration due to meshing is small, and it is difficult to prevent toner retention.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 (partially omitted sectional view), the hopper portion 26 is engaged with the base 50 integrally formed with the developing casing 24 and the toner bottle 28 side of the base 50. Front flange 52, shaft member 54,
A cylindrical case 56 provided integrally with the shaft member 54,
A collet chuck 58 built in the cylindrical case 56 and integrally provided with the shaft member 54, and a coil spring 60 that constantly presses a series of members such as the shaft member 54, the cylindrical case 56, and the collet chuck 58 toward the toner bottle 28 side. It is mainly composed of and. The collet chuck 58 has a function of picking and separating the cap 28c, and the opening / closing plug of the cap 28c is performed by operating the handle 42. This will be specifically described with reference to FIG.
As shown in the schematic cross-sectional view seen from the arrow R side in FIG.
A cam portion 62 is formed in the handle 42, and a hole is formed in the shaft member 54, and the cam portion 62 is formed in the hole.
A slide shaft 64 that is in contact with is supported, and a series of assembled parts such as the collet chuck 58 can be slid in a direction away from the toner bottle 28 by rotating the handle 42.

As shown in FIG. 4, the base 50 of the hopper portion 26 is formed with an opening for communicating the toner discharged from the toner discharge port 28b of the toner bottle 28 with the toner introduction portion of the developing device 6. And this opening has
PET (polyethylene terephthalate, the same applies hereinafter),
Or a slit hole 66a made of an elastic material such as rubber
An elastic member 66 having (long and narrow square holes) is attached with double-sided tape or the like. The width of the slit hole 66a optimizes the toner supply amount.

As shown in FIG. 6, the front flange 52 has a mounting guide portion 52a that expands in a tapered shape on the bottle insertion port side, so that the toner bottle 28 can be mounted easily. A rib 52b is formed on the smaller diameter side of the mounting guide portion 52a, while the toner bottle 28
As shown in FIG. 5, a head projection 28e that is hooked on the rib 52b is formed on the mounting head of FIG. As a result, the front flange 52 and the toner bottle 28 rotate integrally. A rib 52c is provided on the side of the front flange 52 opposite to the toner bottle 28, and a paddle 68 for sending toner to the developing portion is attached to the rib 52c. The paddle 68 is an extruding member made of an elastic material such as PET or rubber, and is attached to the rib 52c with a double-sided tape or the like. In this embodiment, three paddles 68 are provided. Also, as shown in FIG.
The inside of the mounting recess 40 of the developing casing 24 is reinforced by a plurality of ribs 24a.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment corresponding to claim 4. Unlike the above embodiment, the toner during rotation is sacrificed at the expense of the simplification of the configuration by utilizing the drive source on the apparatus main body side. The vibration of the bottle 28 is increased to further improve the retention suppressing function. The configurations of the toner bottle 28 and the like are the same as those in the above-described embodiment, and therefore will be omitted. The image forming apparatus 2 is provided with a control means 70 as a microcomputer. The control means 70, for example, takes in a signal from the image formation end detection sensor 72 and judges the end of image formation on the apparatus main body side. It has become. Further, a drive source 74 dedicated to rotationally driving the toner bottle 28 is provided, and the drive gear 44 is the drive source 7.
4 is connected. When the control means 70 determines that the image formation is completed, the control means 70 outputs an operation signal to the drive source 74 so that the drive gear 44 rotates in the reverse direction at a predetermined timing for a certain period of time. In this way, when the toner bottle 28 is rotated in the reverse direction, the meshing is reversed, so that the bottle gear 28d and the drive gear 44 are difficult to mesh with each other, and the toner bottle 28 moves upward.
As a result, the vibration of the toner bottle 28 is increased, and the toner retention suppressing function is further improved.

Next, the gear mounting structure of the toner bottle 28 will be described. The toner bottle 28 in this embodiment is formed by blow molding polyethylene resin. As shown in FIG. 8, a mounting portion 28f for mounting a gear 28d as a separate member is formed on the bottom side of the toner bottle 28 (the rotating direction is the arrow R direction), and the outer peripheral surface of the mounting portion 28f is formed. A detent protrusion 76 is formed to stop the rotation of the gear 28d at the radially opposed positions. Further, the attachment portion 28f is formed with an annular retaining projection 77 for preventing the gear 28d from falling off. As is apparent from FIG. 8C, the rotation preventing protrusion 76 has an abutment surface 76a that is substantially perpendicular to the rotation direction and an inclined surface 76b that is inclined with respect to the removal direction (arrow T direction) of the gear 28d.
And is formed into a substantially trapezoidal planar shape. Correspondingly to this, the gear 28d is formed with two engaging recesses 78 that closely engage with the anti-rotation projections 76 (claim 5).

The retaining projection 77, as shown in FIG.
The toner bottle 28 is integrally formed with the same material as the toner bottle 28, and has an inclined surface 77a on the bottom side of the bottle and a locking surface 77b perpendicular to the head side of the bottle. Therefore, when the gear 28d is pushed in from the inclined surface 77a side, the gear 2 is elastically deformed by the retaining projection 77.
8d rides over the retaining projection 77, and then the locking surface 7
It is prevented from falling out by 7b. FIG. 10 shows a state in which the gear 28d is attached to the attachment portion 28f, and the gear 28d contacts the contact surface 76a in the rotation direction (R direction).
Is completely blocked by the surroundings. In this state, when the gear 28d is rotated in the direction opposite to the rotation direction (arrow N direction), the thrust F is generated by the component force of the drag force of the inclined surface 76b,
Due to this thrust F, the gear 28d rides over the retaining projection 77 and is disengaged from the mounting portion 28f. If the gear 28d is pulled in the removing direction, the hand hurts, but since there is no biting of the tooth in the turning direction, it can be easily removed in a less painful state.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment corresponding to claim 6, and a rotation preventing projection 79 is integrally formed on the mounting portion 28f at a position opposed to the radial direction. The rotation preventing protrusion 79 is formed in a shape including a contact surface 79a and an inclined surface 79b having a taper that gradually becomes thinner in the rotation direction of the toner bottle 28. Corresponding to this, the gear 2 is formed.
8d includes an engagement recess 7 that is closely engaged with the rotation stop projection 79.
1 is made in two corresponding places. In the case of this embodiment,
When the gear 28d is rotated in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the toner bottle 28, the inner surface of the gear 28d rides over the rotation-stop projection 79, so that the bottom side of the toner bottle 28 is deformed by pressure as shown in FIG. The gear 28d is easily removed.

FIG. 13 shows an embodiment corresponding to claim 7, in which the substantially trapezoidal planar anti-rotation projection 76 shown in FIG. 8 is formed only at one location on the circumference of the mounting portion 28f. There is. Of course, the fitting recess 78 of the gear 28d is also formed at one place. In the case of forming at one location as described above, the detaching force concentrates at one location of the annular retaining projection 77 as compared with the case of providing at two locations facing each other in the radial direction, so that the retaining projection 77 is overcome. This has the advantage that the trigger for this easily occurs. In addition, in this embodiment, the anti-rotation protrusion 76 is targeted, but the anti-rotation protrusion 79 may also be configured in one place.

[0026]

According to the invention described in claim 1, since the gear for rotation is provided on the bottom side of the toner bottle, the rotation of the toner bottle can be obtained, and
Toner adhesion in the bottle can be efficiently suppressed by the play (bottom side vibration) of the gear meshing play. Further, since the gear for rotating the toner bottle also has a function of hitting the toner bottle, the structure can be simplified. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the drive gear is connected to the drive source of the apparatus main body for driving the developing sleeve and the like via the relay gear. Therefore, the drive source can be unified, and thus It is possible to further simplify the configuration. According to the invention described in claim 3, since the gear module is 1.25 or more, high vibration due to meshing roughness can be obtained, and the function of preventing toner adhesion in the bottle can be reliably obtained. Claim 4
According to the invention described above, since the configuration is such that the toner is rotated in the reverse direction at a predetermined timing, it is possible to further improve the vibration of the toner bottle and further improve the toner adhesion preventing function.

According to the invention of claim 5, the rotational force of the gear can be converted into a detaching force, so that it can be easily removed without damaging the hand while maintaining the conventional retaining strength. It is possible to improve recyclability related to disassembly after use. According to the invention described in claim 6, since the rotational force of the gear can be converted into the deformation force of the bottom portion of the toner bottle, it can be easily removed without damaging the hand while maintaining the conventional retaining strength. Therefore, it is possible to improve the recyclability associated with disassembly after use. According to the invention of claim 7, since the rotation preventing projection is provided at one place, a cut end (trigger) overcoming the slip-off preventing projection is easily generated, and therefore the removal is further facilitated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a developing device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention before a toner bottle is attached.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus with a cover and the like removed.

FIG. 5 is an overall side view of a hopper portion of the developing device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic vertical sectional view with a part of a hopper portion omitted.

FIG. 7 is a control block diagram of claim 4.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a toner bottle corresponding to claim 5,
(A) is a side view, (b) is a partially omitted bottom view, (c) is a side view rotated 90 degrees from the state of (a), and (d) is a side view of the gear in a detached state.

FIG. 9 is a schematic enlarged cross-sectional view of a retaining protrusion.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged side view of an essential part showing a gear removing operation.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of a toner bottle corresponding to claim 6,
(A) is a side view of a main part, (b) is a partially omitted bottom view,
(C) is a side view of a main part rotated 90 degrees from the state of (a), and (d) is a side view of the gear in a detached state.

FIG. 12 is a bottom view showing a deformed state of the toner bottle according to claim 6 when the gear is removed.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of a toner bottle corresponding to claim 7,
(A) is a side view of a main part, and (b) is a partially omitted bottom view.

FIG. 14 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

26 Hopper part 28 Toner Bottle 28d bottle gear 44 drive gear 48 relay gears 70 Control means 77 Lock-out projection 76, 79 Non-rotating protrusion

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A toner bottle in which a gear, which is a separate member that meshes with a drive gear on the developing device side, is mounted on the bottom side, and which has a retaining projection for preventing the gear from slipping off. A toner bottle, wherein a detent protrusion for stopping rotation of the gear is formed on a surface of the detent protrusion and a surface of the detent protrusion that is not subjected to a rotational driving force is inclined in a removing direction of the gear. 2. A toner bottle having a gear, which is a separate member that meshes with a drive gear on the side of the developing device, on the bottom side and has a retaining projection for preventing the gear from falling off. A toner bottle, wherein a detent protrusion for stopping the rotation of the gear is formed on the detent, and the detent protrusion has a taper that gradually becomes thinner in the rotation direction of the bottle. 3. The toner bottle according to claim 1, wherein the anti-rotation protrusion is formed at one location on the circumference of the bottle.