JP2004004367A - Frame structure and processing apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure rigidity with simple constitution and to suppress a height dimension. <P>SOLUTION: A frame structure 1 is supported by a plurality of supports 2 and equipped with a base frame 3 provided with the plurality of supports 2 and a main frame 4 structured on the base frame 3, and the base frame 3 is constituted by connecting a frame material 5 whose outer-shape section is nearly rectangular at least in a curb shape and fixing the supports 2 to an upper-side frame material 5a disposed on an upper side. Also, disclosed is a processing apparatus having the frame structure 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a frame structure used for a processing device such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to an improvement in a frame structure supported by a plurality of supports and a processing device using the same.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, processing apparatuses such as image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers, sheet feeding apparatuses, and sheet post-processing apparatuses have an image forming engine and a sheet conveying system mounted in a housing. In general, the housing is provided with a predetermined frame structure in order to ensure the above.
This type of frame structure is movably supported by, for example, a plurality of casters as a support, and includes a base frame provided with casters, and a main body frame constructed on the base frame.
[0003]
By the way, in this type of frame structure, since the weight of the entire apparatus acts on the base frame, a method of using a frame material having a substantially rectangular cross section to secure a certain degree of rigidity is adopted.
In this case, the base frame is formed by joining a plurality of frame members to each other and constructing a substantially rectangular plane frame. However, when a caster is fixed to the lower surface of the frame member, inevitably, at least the caster is fixed. The dimension increases the height of the frame structure (or the housing).
[0004]
In such a technical background, if there is a restriction on the height of the processing device, it is naturally indispensable to reduce the height of the frame structure. There has already been proposed a device in which the height of the frame structure is reduced by devising the base frame (for example, see JP-A-2000-269669 and JP-A-9-50158).
Here, the former is a technique in which a caster mounting recess is formed in a square pipe-shaped frame material, and a caster is mounted in this recess, thereby suppressing the height of the frame structure by the recess. is there.
On the other hand, in the latter, a separate part (bracket) having a substantially hat-shaped cross section is attached to a part of the frame, and a caster is attached to a recess recessed from the lower surface of the frame of the bracket, so that the frame structure has an amount corresponding to the recess. This is a technique that suppresses the height.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In such a frame structure, for example, in the former prior art, when forming a recess in the frame material, for example, drawing work becomes inseparable, so that the base frame manufacturing process becomes troublesome, It leads to cost increase.
Also, since the recess of the frame material is drawn, the flatness of the bottom surface of the recess of the frame material is low, so it is difficult to maintain good caster mounting accuracy, and the drawing position of the frame material is drawn. Therefore, the degree of freedom of the mounting position of the caster is limited.
[0006]
On the other hand, in the latter prior art, a separate component (bracket) and its fastening component are required in addition to the frame material, so that an increase in the number of components leads to an increase in cost.
In addition, since the bracket is provided in the frame, the mounting position of the caster is necessarily inside the span of the frame, and it becomes difficult to stably support the frame structure.
Furthermore, if a structure in which the casters are attached to the brackets is adopted, the grounding properties of the frame structure (EME: abbreviation for noise terminal voltage, VCCI: abbreviation of the Voluntary Control Council for Interference by Information Processing Equipment, etc.) are deteriorated. A large number of fastening parts or welding is required to attach the bracket.
Furthermore, even if the rigidity of the frame is increased, it is difficult to increase the rigidity of the bracket itself, and it is difficult to secure the supporting rigidity of the entire frame structure.
[0007]
The present invention has been made to solve the above technical problems, and a frame structure capable of securing rigidity with a simple configuration and suppressing a height dimension, and a processing apparatus using the same Is provided.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
That is, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the present invention provides a frame structure 1 supported by a plurality of supports 2, a base frame 3 provided with a plurality of supports 2, And a body frame 4 constructed on a base frame 3. The base frame 3 connects a frame member 5 having a substantially rectangular outer cross section in at least a cross-girder shape, and attaches the support 2 to an upper frame member 5 a located on the upper side. It is characterized by being fixed.
[0009]
In such technical means, the plurality of supports 2 are typically casters, but are not limited thereto, and include a wide range of support members that can be adjusted up and down. Further, it is necessary to provide a plurality of supports 2 from the viewpoint of stably supporting the frame structure 1.
Further, the frame structure 1 may include the base frame 3 and the main body frame 4.
Here, as the base frame 3, it is sufficient that the frame members 5 having a substantially rectangular outer cross section are connected in at least a cross-girder shape. Of course, a frame material can be added.
[0010]
In this case, the “outer cross-section substantially rectangular shape” means that the frame material may be solid or hollow as long as the outer shape is substantially rectangular. Therefore, it is preferable to use the hollow frame member 5.
Further, the main body frame 4 is not limited as in the case of the base frame 3, and a frame material having a substantially rectangular outer cross section may be used, or a frame material having a plate shape may be appropriately selected.
Furthermore, the mounting position of the support 2 is usually the lower surface of the upper frame member 5a, but is not limited to this, and may be set at an arbitrary position.
[0011]
The height of the frame members 5 (upper frame member 5a and lower frame member 5b) constituting the base frame 3 may be set arbitrarily.
However, the height dimension m of the lower frame member 5b needs to be set at least smaller than the height dimension of the support body 2 in view of the size relationship of the support body 2.
In this case, from the viewpoint of securing the supporting rigidity of the base frame 3, the section modulus is increased by increasing the height dimension of the upper frame member 5a, so that the supporting rigidity (bending rigidity) of the base frame 3 is increased. It can be easily increased.
In addition, by increasing the width dimension of the lower frame member 5b, the section modulus is increased, whereby it is possible to secure the supporting rigidity.
[0012]
Further, the present invention is not limited to the frame structure 1 but also applies to a processing device having the frame structure 1.
Here, the processing apparatus broadly includes an apparatus that performs various processes such as an image forming apparatus, a sheet feeding apparatus, and a post-processing apparatus.
[0013]
Further, from the viewpoint of setting the height dimension to a short dimension in the processing apparatus, a subunit (not shown) provided near the base frame 3 is fitted between the upper frame members 5a of the base frame 3. The arrangement in which they are arranged is preferred.
Here, the height of the subunit mounted on the processing apparatus depends on the height of the entire apparatus, but the height of the entire apparatus is set by setting the position of the subunit closer to the base frame 3 to a low position. The size can be reduced.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 2 shows an outline of an embodiment of a processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied and a main part of a frame structure thereof.
In the present embodiment, as the processing apparatus 10, an image forming apparatus in which an image forming engine (not shown) of, for example, an electrophotographic method and a plurality of sub-units such as a plurality of paper feed cassettes 12 are mounted in a housing 11 is provided. It is shown. In this example, the image reading unit 13 is disposed above the housing 11 via a space, and a recording paper discharge unit 14 is provided between the housing 11 and the image reading unit 13.
[0015]
Here, the housing 11 has a predetermined frame structure 20 for securing its rigidity. The frame structure 20 is supported by a plurality of casters 21 and an outer cover is provided around the frame structure 20. It is covered.
As shown in FIG. 2, the frame structure 20 includes a base frame 30 on which the casters 21 are provided, and a main body frame 40 built on the base frame 30.
[0016]
In particular, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A and 3B, the base frame 30 is configured to weld four pipes (corresponding to frame materials) 31 to 34 having a rectangular outer cross section to welding. A pair of front and rear pipes 31 and 32 and a pair of right and left pipes 33 and 34 orthogonal to the front and rear pipes are connected in a grid pattern.
In this example, the pair of pipes 31 and 32 are lower frame members located on the lower side, and the pair of pipes 33 and 34 are upper frame members located on the upper side. The pipe 32 is connected to the lower surface of the pair of right and left pipes 33 and 34, and is connected to the lower surface of the pair of left and right pipes 33 and 34.
[0017]
Further, in the present embodiment, the caster 21 is configured such that the caster main body 23 is rotatably supported on the support bracket 22, and the support bracket 22 is attached to the fasteners 24 on the lower surfaces of the pipes 33 and 34 which are the upper frame members. It is fixed by fastening.
Here, the mounting positions of the casters 21 are set before and after the pipes 33 and 34, respectively. In this example, the front and rear casters 21 are attached to the front and rear pipes 31 to secure a wide front and rear span of the casters 21. It is attached immediately after each of the 32.
[0018]
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the main body frame 40 is divided into, for example, a main body lower frame 40a and a main body upper frame (not shown), and, for example, the main body lower frame 40a is formed by the left and right pipes 33 of the base frame 30. For example, columns (frame members) 41 and 42 are erected on the upper surfaces corresponding to the front end positions of the right and left pipes 33 and 34, and rear plates (frame members) 43 are erected on the upper surfaces corresponding to the rear end positions of the left and right pipes 33 and 34. Further, the support columns 41 and 42 are appropriately connected by left and right connection frame members 44 extending in the left-right direction, and the front and rear connection frame members 45 extending between the support columns 41 and 42 and the back plate 43 in the front-rear direction. They are connected appropriately.
In the present embodiment, the main body lower frame 40a corresponds to a portion of the housing 11 that accommodates the paper feed cassette 12, and the main body lower frame 40a is provided with a guide rail on which the paper feed cassette 12 can be pulled out. 46 (partially omitted from illustration) are provided as appropriate.
[0019]
Next, the operation of the frame structure according to the present embodiment and the processing device using the same will be described.
In the present embodiment, since the base frame 30 is formed by connecting pipes 31 to 34 in a cross-girder shape, the supporting rigidity (bending rigidity) of the base frame 30 is set to be sufficiently large.
That is, in order to ensure that the support rigidity of the base frame 30 is sufficiently large, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3C, the height k of the upper frame material, for example, a pair of left and right pipes 33 and 34 is set. Is set to be large to increase the bending rigidity by increasing the section modulus of the pipes 33 and 34, or the width dimension d of at least one of the lower frame members, for example, the pipes 31 and 32 is set to be large. Then, the bending rigidity may be increased by increasing the section modulus of the pipes 31 and 32, or both may be appropriately selected.
[0020]
Further, since the casters 21 are fixed to the lower surfaces of the pair of left and right pipes 33 and 34 as the upper frame members, the dimensional difference between the ground surface of the casters 21 and the pair of front and rear pipes 31 and 32 as the lower frame members is reduced. can do.
Specifically, assuming that the height of the caster 21 is h and the height of the pipes 31 and 32 is m, the dimensional difference between the ground surface of the caster 21 and the pair of front and rear pipes 31 and 32 as the lower frame material. Is hm. However, it is necessary that h> m.
For this reason, the base frame 30 is disposed at a low position, and accordingly, the height of the frame structure 20 (or the housing 11) is set small.
[0021]
Further, the paper cassette 12 near the base frame 30, that is, the lowermost paper cassette 12 is mounted along the guide rail so as to be able to be pulled out from the front opening of the main body lower frame 40a. The paper cassette 12 is preferably fitted and arranged between a pair of left and right pipes 33 and 34 which are upper frame members of the base frame 30.
In such an embodiment, the disposition position of the lowermost sheet feeding cassette 12 is set to a low position without being affected by the height dimension k of the pair of left and right pipes 33 and 34 as the upper frame material. That is, there is no concern that the height dimension of the housing 11 is unnecessarily increased.
[0022]
Here, the superiority of the frame structure according to the present embodiment will be described in comparison with Comparative Embodiments 1 and 2.
FIGS. 4A and 4B show a frame structure according to a first comparative example, in which a pipe frame in which four pipes 301 to 304 each having a rectangular outer cross section are connected by welding on the same plane is used as a base frame 300. The casters 21 are fixed to the lower surfaces of the pipes 303 and 304 (the lower surfaces of the pipes 301 and 302).
According to the first comparative example, the dimensional difference between the ground surface of the caster 21 and the lower surface of the base frame 300 is the height h of the caster 21 itself. The sum of the heights of the frame 300 and the casters 21) is added to the height h of the casters 21 as it is, and the height of the frame structure increases.
In particular, when the height m of the pipes 301 to 304 is increased in order to increase the rigidity of the base frame 300, the height H of the frame structure increases accordingly.
[0023]
5 (a) and 5 (b) show a frame structure according to a second comparative example, in which a plurality of pipes 311 to 316 having a rectangular outer cross section are connected by welding on the same surface by a pipe frame (frame). The frame) is a base frame 310, and a bracket 317 having a hat-shaped cross section is mounted in the base frame 310, and the casters 21 are fixed to recesses 318 recessed from the lower surface of the pipe frame of the bracket 317. According to the second comparative example, the dimensional difference (h−c) between the ground surface of the caster 21 and the base frame 310 is set to be small by the depth dimension c of the recess 318 of the bracket 317. The height of the frame structure can be set small.
However, according to the second comparative example, since the casters 21 are attached via the brackets 317 in the base frame 310, the span between the casters 21 with respect to the base frame 310 is inevitably shortened. As a result, there is a concern that the stability of the frame structure is poor and the processing device is likely to fall. In addition, when using the bracket 317, it is necessary to pay attention when securing the grounding property.
[0024]
In this regard, according to the frame structure according to the present embodiment, since the casters are attached to the upper frame material (the pipes 33 and 34 in this example) constituting the base frame 30, the bracket 317 is not added. As a result, the cost can be reduced, and the caster 21 mounting portion can be formed with high precision because there is no accumulation due to the mounting error of another component.
In addition, since the mounting position of the casters 21 can be set to an arbitrary position on the upper frame material of the base frame 30, the span between the casters 21 can be sufficiently separated, and the stability of the frame structure can be improved. Can be secured.
Furthermore, since there is no additional component, grounding of the frame structure can be easily ensured.
Incidentally, as in the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-269669, a recess is provided in the frame material itself constituting the base frame, and a caster is attached to this recess to form the recess. Although the drawing process is required above, in the present embodiment, the drawing process is not required, so that the cost can be reduced correspondingly, and the processing accuracy is not reduced by the drawing process. Therefore, the caster mounting portion can be formed with high precision.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the frame structure of the present invention, at least the frame material (upper frame material, lower frame material) constituting the base frame has the double-girder structure, so that the supporting rigidity (bending rigidity) of the base frame is improved. ) Can be increased, the rigidity of the frame structure itself can be easily secured, and the support is fixed to the upper frame, so that the distance between the grounding surface of the support and the lower frame can be improved. Can be reduced, and the height of the frame structure can be reduced accordingly.
Further, in a processing apparatus using such a frame structure, it is possible to easily provide a processing apparatus having high support rigidity and a reduced height dimension.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 (a) is an explanatory view showing an outline of a frame structure according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 (b) is an arrow view as viewed from a direction B in (a).
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of a frame structure used in the processing device according to the embodiment;
3A is an explanatory plan view of a frame structure according to the embodiment, FIG. 3B is an arrow view as viewed from the direction B in FIG. 3A, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the aspect which made supporting rigidity higher.
4A is an explanatory plan view of a frame structure according to Comparative Embodiment 1, and FIG. 4B is an arrow view as viewed from a direction B in FIG. 4A.
5A is an explanatory plan view of a frame structure according to Comparative Embodiment 2, and FIG. 5B is an arrow view as viewed from a direction B in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Frame structure, 2 ... Support body, 3 ... Base frame, 4 ... Body frame, 5 ... Frame material, 5a ... Upper frame material, 5b ... Lower frame material

Claims (4)

A frame structure supported by a plurality of supports,
A base frame provided with a plurality of supports, and a main body frame built on the base frame,
The frame structure is characterized in that the base frame is formed by connecting frame members having a substantially rectangular outer cross section in at least a cross-girder shape, and a support is fixed to the upper frame member located on the upper side. The frame structure according to claim 1,
A frame structure, wherein a height dimension of an upper frame material constituting a base frame is set to be larger than a height dimension of a lower frame material. A processing device comprising the frame structure according to claim 2. The processing device according to claim 3,
A processing unit, wherein a subunit provided near a base frame is fitted and arranged between upper frame members of the base frame.

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