JP2003316237A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which has a back side attached to a wall while various positions necessary for cooling in the apparatus are cooled in the apparatus (e.g. a printer). <P>SOLUTION: An intake port 85 is provided only at a left side face 80 of the printer 10, and exhaust ports 91, 91 are provided only at a left side face 90. A duct 60 is arranged continuously to the port 85. Wind intake ports 601 to 604 are provided in the duct 60. The air sucked from the port 85 by a fan 66 is branched by the ports 601 to 504 to cool the circumferences of a CPU 702, a polygon motor 313 and a fixing part 400, and is exhausted from the ports 91, 92. Since the intake port and the exhaust ports are not provided at the back side, the back side can be attached to the wall. <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 an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, and a printer, which uses an electrophotographic process, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus which can be installed so that its back surface is closely attached to a wall. It is a thing.
In the following, a printer will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a printer,
Image printing on paper is performed by first forming a predetermined toner image on the paper conveyed from the paper feed unit by an electrophotographic process (image forming unit), then applying heat and pressure to the toner image to fix it. (Fixing unit) and the sheet is discharged onto the sheet discharge tray.

In such a printing operation, the heating roller of the fixing section has a high temperature of about 200 ° C.,
Since the influence of this heat may cause malfunctions in the peripheral equipment, the structure around the fuser is surrounded by a heat shield, and a fan is installed near the fuser to cool the inside of the machine. It is carried out.

The laser scanning unit (exposure device) of the image forming section irradiates laser light toward the photosensitive drum by means of a polygon mirror and various lenses and a reflection mirror. The polygon mirror is rotated at high speed. Therefore, the polygon motor that drives this becomes hot, and the influence of this heat affects various lenses and reflection mirrors in the laser scan unit, and the dimensional accuracy is disturbed.
There is a concern that the focus of the laser and the writing timing may be misaligned. Therefore, there is also a fan provided with a fan near the polygon motor to cool the polygon motor.

Further, since the central processing unit (CPU) mounted on the image forming apparatus also has a very high operating speed, it is apt to become hot, and there is a risk of malfunction at high temperatures. A fan is installed for air cooling.

As described above, there are various places in the image forming apparatus that require cooling, and a fan is provided in the vicinity of each of the places to cool the outside air by taking air.

[0007]

However, since the position and direction of each fan are various, and the intake and exhaust ports provided in the outer housing of the image forming apparatus are also formed at various positions and directions, In order not to block the intake / exhaust ports, it is necessary to dispose the image forming apparatus away from the wall, which causes a problem that the installation place is wide. In particular, it is desired that the back side of the device can be installed so as to be fitted closely to the wall, but the back side is also a part that cannot be seen by the user, and at present the intake and exhaust ports are widely provided. is there.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of cooling various cooling-requiring points, eliminating the back-side intake and exhaust ports, and attaching the back side to a wall. .

[0009]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a plurality of cooling-required points, and an air intake port formed on one side surface of an outer housing of the image forming apparatus. An exhaust port formed on another side surface, a cooling fan for causing a flow of air from the intake port to the exhaust port, and a duct continuous from the intake port, wherein the plurality of cooling points are required. Is arranged along the duct, and a wind inlet is formed in the duct toward each of the cooling required points.

According to the present invention, by using a duct, the air taken in is rectified, and the air is taken in through the air intake port while successively cooling the air-cooled portions to the discharge side. By arranging the parts, it becomes possible to air-cool a plurality of cooling-required parts, and it is only necessary to arrange the intake port and the exhaust port on one side surface.
Therefore, it is not necessary to provide an intake / exhaust port on the back side of the image forming apparatus, and the back side can be attached to the wall exactly.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable that the air intake port is provided with a guide for taking in air.

As described above, the present invention takes in air (wind) from the air intake and guides it to a cooling required area for air cooling. However, the air intake simply makes a hole in the duct. With this structure, it may be difficult for wind to enter through the holes.
With respect to this point, in the case where the guide is provided as described above, the air is guided to the cooling-needed portion by the guide, so that the cooling-destined portion can be sufficiently air-cooled.

The guide may be, for example, a plate member protruding inside the duct, and the plate member is provided at the downstream side edge of the air intake port. As a result, the wind passing through the duct hits the plate member, changes its direction, and travels toward the cooling required point.

In addition, in the present invention, it is preferable that the air intake port is formed toward the charger in the image forming apparatus.

Although the charger does not need to be cooled, high-voltage discharge is performed in the charger, so that discharge products such as ozone and nitrogen oxides are generated. If this discharge product stays in the charger, discharge unevenness may occur, and it may adhere to the photoconductor drum to cause a problem. However, by providing the air intake port toward the charger as described above, the discharge product can be blown off by the air taken in from the air intake port, and the above-mentioned problems are hardly caused.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable that the image forming apparatus is a vertical conveying type, and the air intake port is formed toward an image transfer surface of a sheet conveyed in a vertical direction.

The vertical transport type is a type in which the paper is literally transported in the vertical direction. In the horizontal transport type, the lower surface of the paper is always supported by the paper transport path surface by gravity, whereas the vertical transport type is Only supported by the transport rollers,
Paper behavior tends to be unstable. In particular, since the toner is only on the paper between the image forming portion and the fixing portion, there is a problem that the image is disturbed when the conveying path surface comes into contact with the toner. In this respect, if the air intake port is provided to blow the air toward the image transfer surface of the paper as described above, the paper will be pushed to the conveyance path surface opposite to the image transfer surface. As a result, there is almost no fear of the conveyance road surface coming into contact with the image transfer surface, and therefore image distortion is almost eliminated. Since the wind blown toward the image transfer surface is gentle, the toner will not be disturbed by the wind.

In addition, in the present invention, all of the wirings and connection terminals (hereinafter sometimes referred to as wirings) from the image forming apparatus to the outside are provided on the one side surface or the other side surface. It is preferable.

As the wirings and the like led out from the image forming apparatus, there are printer wirings, LAs, in addition to wirings for power supply.
N cable, FAX modular cable, etc. are available. Conventionally, these wirings and the like have been derived from various locations, but in the present invention, these are all derived from one side surface (or another side surface). Since the intake and exhaust ports are formed on this one side surface and the other side surface,
In the first place, these side surfaces cannot be attached exactly to the wall. Therefore, if all the wirings and the like are led out from this surface, the wirings and the like are not led out from the back surface and can be attached to the wall.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable that a board for access to the outside of the image forming apparatus and a power supply board are arranged in the vicinity of the side surface on which the wiring and the connection terminal are provided. By arranging in this way, the wiring from the access substrate and the power supply substrate to the outside can be led out to the outside of the image forming apparatus without long crawl, and the internal structure of the apparatus is simplified.

[0021]

1 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of a printer (image forming apparatus) 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the printer 10.

The printer 10 includes a paper feeding section 100 for accommodating a paper 115 and a paper 1 by an electrophotographic process.
An image forming unit 300 that forms a predetermined toner image on
The fixing unit 4 that fixes the toner image formed on the paper 115.
00, a paper transport unit 200 from the paper feed unit 100 through the image forming unit 300 and the fixing unit 400 to discharge the paper, and an arithmetic unit 700 for controlling the drive of these units and the control of image information. There is.

The printer 10 is of a vertical conveyance type, and its paper feed section 100 is arranged at the lower part of the printer body, and paper 115 is placed in a paper feed cassette 111 which can be pulled out.
Are stacked and placed. In FIG. 1, the sheet feeding cassettes 111 have one stage, but they may be arranged in a plurality of stages, or may have a bypass tray.

The calculation unit 700 includes a power supply board 701 and a CPU.
(Access board to outside) 702, the power supply board 7
Reference numeral 01 is disposed on the right side of the printer main body on the upper side of the paper feeding unit 100, in proximity to the printer right side surface 80, and CPU 702 is disposed on the power supply board 701, also in proximity to the right side surface 80. A wiring 704 for accessing the outside is led from the CPU 702, and the wiring 704 is led to the outside from a lead-out hole 802 provided in the printer right side surface 80. Also CP
The U 702 is provided with a connection terminal 705 to the outside, and this connection terminal 705 is exposed from a lead-out hole 802 also provided in the right side surface 80 and is connectable.
Further, wiring 703 for introducing power to the power board 701.
Is drawn out from a lead-out hole 801 provided on the right side surface 80 of the printer.

The image forming section 300 includes a photosensitive drum 301 rotatably supported, and the photosensitive drum 301.
Charger 302, exposure device 303, developing device 304, transfer device 305, cleaner 30 around the periphery of the device along its rotation direction.
6 is provided, and each of the devices except the exposure device 303 is provided on the left side of the printer main body above the paper feeding unit 100. Further, the exposure device 303 is the CPU 70.
It is provided on the left side of 2 in a position facing the photosensitive drum 301. The exposure unit 303 irradiates the photoconductor drum 301 with laser light based on the image data of the original sent from the CPU 702, whereby the photoconductor drum 30 is irradiated.
The electrostatic potential of the surface of the photosensitive drum 301 is selectively attenuated to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 301. The charger 302 applies a predetermined potential to the surface of the photosensitive drum 301 by corona discharge. It is a thing. Further, the toner cartridge 314 connected to the developing device 304 is the exposing device 303.
It is located underneath.

The fixing unit 400 is the photosensitive drum 30.
1, etc., and is arranged above the heating roller 401 and a pressure roller 402 pressed against the heating roller 401,
And heat shield plate 403 surrounding these rollers 401, 402
It is composed of. In the fixing unit 400, the image forming unit 3
At 00, the paper 115 to which the toner image has been transferred is sandwiched between the heating roller 401 and the pressure roller 402 and heated to fix the toner image on the paper 115.

The sheet conveying section 200 conveys the sheet 115 fed from the sheet feeding section 100 toward the image forming section 300 by the registration roller pair 203, and then conveys it from the image forming section 300 to the fixing section 400. Further, the paper 115 on which the image is formed is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 204 or 207 by the discharge roller pair 205 or 206. The paper transport section 200 includes a return transport path 210.
Is also provided, and the paper 115 after passing through the fixing unit 400
Is conveyed again to the image forming unit 300 via the return conveyance path 210, so that the back surface of the paper 115 can be printed.

Further, the CPU 70 is provided in the printer 10.
2 from above to the charger 302 via the above exposure device 303,
A duct 60 is provided to reach the vicinity of the fixing unit 400. The duct 60 is connected to an intake port 85 formed on the right side surface (right side surface of the outer housing) 80 of the printer. Inside the intake port 85, a cooling fan (for example, two axial fans having a diameter of 60 mm) 66. Is attached. In addition, the duct 60 has air intakes 601 and 60 in places.
2, 603 and 604 are formed. First, the first air inlet 601 is opened from the upstream side toward the CPU 702, and the second air inlet 602 is directed toward the polygon motor 313 of the exposure unit 303. It is open. Further, on the downstream side, a third air intake port 603 that opens toward the charger 302 and a fourth air intake port 604 that opens toward the fixing unit 400 are formed, and serve as the end of the duct. In addition, the lower sheet ejection tray 20
The plate member 4 also serves as the ceiling of the duct 60.

A guide 610 protruding inside the duct is attached to the downstream side edges of the first and second air intake ports 601 and 602. This guide 610 is slightly inclined toward the upstream. In addition, the first and second wind inlets 601 and 6
On 02, short branch ducts 611 and 612 directed to the CPU 702 and the polygon motor 313 are attached.

On the left side surface (left side surface of the outer housing) 90 of the printer 10, two exhaust ports 91 and 92 are formed so that the air inside the printer 10 can be discharged. The exhaust ports 91 and 92 and the intake port 85 have slit-like openings.

3 and 4 are perspective views showing the internal housing 810 of the printer 10 (FIG. 3 is a perspective view seen from the downstream side, FIG. 4 is a perspective view seen from the upstream side), and the duct 60 is shown.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement state of the air conditioner and the wind inlet. By removing the paper discharge tray 204, the inside of the duct 60 appears as shown in FIGS. This internal housing 81
0, an intake hole 815 is formed at a position corresponding to the intake port 85 of the outer housing. Further, in this internal housing 810, the CPU installation base 722, the exposure device installation base 3
22, fixing section storage location 420, image forming section storage location 32
0 (to store the photosensitive drum and the devices around it) and toner cartridge storage locations 324 are formed so that the equipment can be installed at each location.

Next, a method of cooling the inside of the printer 10 will be described.

When the cooling fan 66 is driven, the intake port 8
Outside air is sucked into the duct 60 from 5 (arrow A shown in FIG. 1). A part of the sucked air (wind) is first taken into the first air intake port 601 (arrow B) and the CPU
702 is air-cooled, and then a part of it is the second air intake port 602.
Is taken in (arrow C) and the polygon motor 313 is air-cooled. At this time, since the guides 610 are provided in the first and second air intake ports 601, 602, part of the wind in the duct 60 is along the inclination of the guide 610, and the air intake ports 601,
602 smoothly flows into the branch ducts 611, 61
2 is provided, it is surely guided toward the CPU 702 and the polygon motor 313.

Next, a part of the wind in the duct 60 is directed from the third air intake port 603 toward the charger 302 (arrow D) to blow off the discharge product generated by the charger 302 and
The vicinity of the photoconductor drum 301 is swung toward the image transfer surface of the paper 115 being conveyed.

The remaining air in the duct 60 is supplied from the fourth air intake 604 to the surroundings of the fixing unit 400 and the image forming unit 300.
The flow toward the sheet 115 conveyed between the fixing units 400 (arrow E), the periphery of the fixing unit 400 is air-cooled, and the image is transferred toward the image transfer surface of the conveyed sheet 115;
The paper 115 is pushed to the side opposite to the image transfer surface side along with the wind from the air intake port 603 so that the conveyance path surface does not contact the image transfer surface of the paper 115.

After that, the air (wind) is exhausted from the exhaust ports 91, 92.
Is discharged from the device (arrows F, G).

As described above, in the printer 10 described above, the flow of the air from the intake port 85 is controlled in one direction from right to left while branching in the middle, and cooling-required points are arranged along this flow. Therefore, while allowing the air to be cooled at the respective cooling points by the branched air, the intake port 85 is provided only on the right side surface of the printer 10, and the exhaust ports 91, 92 are provided.
Can be disposed only on the left side surface to eliminate the intake and exhaust ports on the back surface of the printer 10. In addition, wiring 703 for power source
And the external access wiring 704 is the right side 8 of the printer.
0 is drawn out only, and the connection terminal 705 is also provided on the right side surface 80, and no wiring is led out from the back side. Therefore, the back side of the printer 10 can be attached to the wall exactly.

When the back surface can be attached to the wall in this way,
Not only can the installation space be reduced, but it also has the following advantages. That is, for example, office equipment such as a cabinet is almost the same as the depth width of the printer in relation to the size of the paper to be stored, but when a space needs to be opened on the back side like a conventional printer, When placed side by side with a cabinet etc., the printer will protrude to the front side. However, the printer 10 of the present embodiment
Since the back can be attached to the wall, it does not project to the front, improving the aesthetics of the office layout.

If the rear surface of the printer 10 is attached to the wall and installed, the decorative coating on the rear surface can be omitted, and the product cost can be reduced.

As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention has been specifically described with reference to the drawings showing examples.
The present invention is not limited to the illustrated examples as a matter of course, and it is also possible to make appropriate modifications and implement them within a range that is compatible with the above gist, and they are all included in the technical scope of the present invention. It

For example, in the above embodiment, the intake port is on the right side,
Although the exhaust port is arranged on the left side surface and the in-apparatus layout in this case is shown, the intake port and the exhaust port may be arranged in the left-right direction. Further, although the cooling fan is arranged near the intake port in the above embodiment, a cooling fan may be arranged at the exhaust port side, or a cooling fan may be provided at both the intake port side and the exhaust port side. It may be provided.

Further, although the vertical transfer type printer is shown in the above embodiment, the present invention can be applied to a horizontal transfer type printer, and in this case also, ducts extending from one surface to the other surface are arranged. It is advisable to arrange each cooling point along this duct. Further, the image forming apparatus is not limited to the printer and may be another image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0043]

In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the air (wind) sucked from one side is rectified by the duct to cool each cooling point neatly and the air is taken out neatly from the other side. The exhaust port does not have to be provided on the back side. Therefore, the back surface of the image forming apparatus can be placed so as to be fitted closely to the wall, the installation space can be reduced, and even when it is placed side by side with a cabinet or the like, it does not protrude.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a printer (image forming apparatus) according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the printer shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the downstream side showing the internal housing of the printer according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view from the upstream side showing the internal housing of the printer according to the embodiment of the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 printers 60 ducts 66 Cooling fan 80 Printer right side 85 air intake 90 Left side of printer 91,92 Exhaust port 115 sheets 200 Paper transport section 300 Image forming unit 301 photoconductor drum 302 charger 303 Exposing device 313 polygon motor 400 fixing unit 601 First air intake 602 Second air intake 603 Third air intake 604 Fourth wind inlet 610 Guide 611,612 Branch duct 702 CPU 801, 802 Outlet hole

Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C061 AP03 AP04 AQ06 CG03 CG12                       CN02 CN08 CN13                 2H027 EF01 JA02 JA11 JB14 JB15                       JB16 JC02 JC04 JC08 JC18                       ZA07 ZA09 ZA10                 2H171 FA05 FA06 FA11 FA22 FA28                       GA03 GA23 HA02 HA19 HA22                       HA24 HA25 JA07 JA15 JA16                       JA21 KA05 MA02 MA03 MA12                       NA03 NA04 NA05 QA02 QA08                       QB02 QB15 QB19 QB32 QC03                       QC23 QC36 SA08 SA14 SA15                       SA18 SA19 SA22 SA26 SA31                       TA15 WA12 WA13 WA17 WA21                 5C062 AA02 AA05 AB00 AD06 BA07

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having a plurality of cooling points, wherein an inlet port formed on one side surface and an exhaust port formed on the other side surface of an outer housing of the image forming apparatus,
A cooling fan that causes a flow of air from the intake port to the exhaust port, and a duct that is continuous from the intake port, the plurality of cooling points are arranged along the duct, An image forming apparatus, wherein an air intake port is formed in the duct toward each of the cooling points. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a guide for taking in air is provided at the air intake. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air intake port is formed toward a charger in the image forming apparatus. 4. The image forming apparatus is a vertical conveyance type,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air intake port is formed toward an image transfer surface of a sheet conveyed in a vertical direction. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein all wirings and connection terminals from the image forming apparatus to the outside are provided on the one side surface or the other side surface. Image forming device. 6. The image according to claim 5, wherein a board for access to the outside and a power supply board in the image forming apparatus are arranged in the vicinity of the side surface where the wiring and the connection terminal are provided. Forming equipment.