JP2004264487A - Toner conveyance mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toner conveyance mechanism which effectively uses limited areas in an image forming apparatus and achieves the large capacity of a recovery bottle without increasing the size of the image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The toner conveyance mechanism includes: a development device which forms toner images on an image carrier; an intermediate transfer body in the form of an endless belt which carries the toner images transferred from the image carrier; a transfer device which transfers the toner images formed on the intermediate transfer body to a transfer receiving material; a cleaning member which scrapes transfer residual toner on the surface of the intermediate transfer body; a residual toner container for storing the transfer residual toner scraped; a first conveying means which horizontally conveys the transfer residual toner; a second conveying means which upwards conveys the transfer residual toner conveyed by the first conveying means; a recovery bottle in which the transfer residual toner conveyed by the second conveying means accumulates. In the toner conveyance mechanism, the first conveying means is a conveying member in the form of a belt and has a drive transmission function for the first conveying means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a toner conveying mechanism in a color image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, such as a computer printer and a copying machine.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method, an image is formed by electrostatically adsorbing a powdery toner. Among them, in the image forming method using the intermediate transfer member, first, a toner image is transferred from the developing device to the intermediate transfer member. Next, the toner image is transferred from the intermediate transfer member to a transfer material such as paper or a plastic sheet, and finally an image is formed on the transfer material.
[0003]
Hereinafter, a conventional toner conveying mechanism in an image forming apparatus using an intermediate transfer member will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
[0004]
First, the configuration of a conventional toner transport mechanism will be described. An image carrier 102a that carries an electrostatic latent image is provided in the developing device 102, and a toner image 111 adheres to the surface of the image carrier 102a according to the electrostatic latent image. The image carrier 102a is arranged adjacent to the intermediate transfer body 103, and the image carrier 102a rotates in the direction A in the figure and the intermediate transfer body 103 rotates in the direction B in the figure. A transfer device 104 is disposed adjacent to the intermediate transfer member 103 in the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer member 103 as viewed from the image carrier 102a, and the transfer device 104 rotates in the direction C in the drawing. A cleaning member 105 is arranged between the developing device 102 and the transfer device 104 in contact with the intermediate transfer member 103. The cleaning member 105 scrapes off the transfer residual toner 112 attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer member 103 and cleans the surface of the intermediate transfer member 103. The transfer residual toner 112 scraped off by the cleaning member 105 is collected in a collection bottle 106 provided near the cleaning member 105. A transport device is provided in a path between the cleaning member 105 and the collection bottle 106. This transport device includes a first transport unit 101a that transports the transfer residual toner 112 in a horizontal direction. When the motor 8 rotates, a screw or the like disposed immediately below the cleaning member 105 rotates, and the collection bottle is rotated. The toner 112 is transported to the entrance 106a of the 106.
[0005]
Next, the operation of the conventional toner transport mechanism configured as described above will be described. In the toner image 111 formed on the surface of the image carrier 102a in the developing device 102, a potential difference is provided between the image carrier 102a and the intermediate transfer body 103, and a magnitude difference is provided in the electrostatic attraction force. It is transferred to the body 103. Thereafter, the intermediate transfer member 103 rotates in the direction B, and the formed toner image 111 is transported to a point of contact with the transfer device 104. Here, when a material to be transferred 110 such as paper or a plastic sheet is sandwiched and transported between the intermediate transfer body 103 and the transfer device 104, a potential difference is provided between the intermediate transfer body 103 and the transfer device 104, and an electrostatic Due to the difference in the attraction force, the toner image 111 is transferred to the surface of the transfer material 110, and the toner image 111 is formed on the transfer material 110.
[0006]
At this time, the toner images 111 forming an image on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 103 do not always have the same level of electrostatic attraction force, and the toner 111 is transferred from the intermediate transfer member 103 to the transfer material 110. At the time of transfer, there is a case where the transfer residual toner 112 is not transferred and remains adsorbed on the intermediate transfer body 103. Since the intermediate transfer member 103 sequentially repeats the steps of image transfer from the developing device 102 and image transfer to the transfer material 110, the image transfer process to the transfer material 110 and the image transfer from the developing device 102 It is necessary to remove the transfer residual toner 112 from the surface of the intermediate transfer body 103 before the process. Therefore, the transfer residual toner 112 on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 103 is scraped by the cleaning member 105, and the intermediate transfer member 103 is cleaned. The scraped transfer residual toner 112 is sequentially conveyed horizontally by the first conveying means 101a to the entrance 6a of the collection bottle 6, and is accumulated in the collection bottle 6 by free fall.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described toner transport mechanism, when the transfer residual toner 112 is full in the collection bottle 106, the collection bottle 106 itself is replaced or the transfer residual toner is discharged from the collection bottle 106. It is necessary to increase the capacity of the collection bottle 106 for the purpose of reducing the operation frequency.
[0008]
However, as described above, the conventional recovery bottle 106 is provided in the vicinity of the cleaning member 105, and in consideration of increasing the capacity of the recovery bottle 106, the cleaning bottle 105, a component such as the transfer device 104, or It must be provided so as not to interfere with the traveling route of the material to be transferred 104, and there are restrictions. For this reason, it is difficult to increase the capacity at the place where the conventional collection bottle 106 is installed, and it is necessary to provide the collection bottle 106 in another area where the installation area can be secured.
[0009]
Further, the area in the image forming apparatus is limited, and a place where the installation area can be secured in the image forming apparatus includes a side opposite to the developing apparatus 102 when viewed from the intermediate transfer body 103. , The capacity of the collection bottle 106 can be increased. However, the transfer residual toner 112 is deposited by free fall, and the entrance 106a of the recovery bottle 106 must be provided on the upper side of the recovery bottle 106 to be deposited on the entire area of the recovery bottle 106. Therefore, when the location of the transfer bottle 106 is changed, after the step of horizontally transferring the transfer residual toner 112 by the first transport unit 101a, the transfer residual toner 112 is moved upward to the entrance 106a of the recovery bottle 106. It is necessary to provide a second transporting means for transporting the sheet to the second place.
[0010]
However, providing a drive source for the second transport unit in addition to the drive source for the first transport unit 101a leads to an increase in size and cost of the image forming apparatus, which is not appropriate.
[0011]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can effectively utilize a limited area in an image forming apparatus, and can increase the capacity of a collection bottle without increasing the size of the image forming apparatus. It is a technical object to provide a toner transport mechanism.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is a toner conveying mechanism of an image forming apparatus, and is configured as described below to solve the above-mentioned problem.
[0013]
A plurality of developing devices that form toner images on the image carrier, and an unsupported belt-shaped intermediate transfer body that is adjacent to the image carrier and simultaneously carries a plurality of toner images transferred from the image carrier; A transfer device for transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer member to a transfer-receiving material; and a transfer residual toner on the surface of the intermediate transfer member, which is located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer member when viewed from the transfer device. A cleaning member that scrapes off the toner, a residual toner container that stores the transfer residual toner scraped by the cleaning member, a first transport unit that horizontally transports the transfer residual toner stored in the residual toner container, The toner transport mechanism includes: a second transport unit that transports the transfer residual toner transported in the horizontal direction by the one transport unit in an upward direction; and a collection bottle that accumulates the transfer residual toner transported by the second transport unit. There are, the second conveying means is a conveying member of a belt-shaped, having a drive transmitting function of said first conveying means.
[0014]
According to the above configuration, since the second transport unit has the function of transmitting the drive of the first transport unit, the collection bottle for depositing the residual toner can be arranged at an appropriate position without providing a new drive unit. It becomes. Therefore, it is possible to increase the capacity of the collection bottle without increasing the size of the image forming apparatus.
[0015]
Further, the second transport means has convex portions on both sides, and transmits drive to the first transport means by an inner convex portion, and the residual transported from the first transport device by an outer convex portion. It is desirable to transport the toner upward. With this configuration, by driving the belt-shaped second transport unit, it is possible to transport the toner on the outer surface side of the second transport unit and to drive the first transport unit on the inner surface side.
[0016]
Further, it is desirable that the second transport means is made of resin. The first transport device may require a large torque for rotational driving depending on the amount of transfer residual toner to be transported. In such a case, the second conveying means for driving the first conveying means needs to have a certain strength so as to obtain a large transmission torque. By making the second transport means made of resin, the strength of the second transport means is increased, power is reliably transmitted to the first transport means, and the first transport means can perform stable horizontal transport.
[0017]
Further, the second transport means may be an elastic body. An elastic body is a substance that has the property of elasticity such that when force is applied, the shape or the like changes due to the action of the force, and when the force is removed, it recovers its original shape, etc. , Rubber. By using an elastic body for the second transporting unit, for example, the second transporting unit can be easily installed even between fixed shafts, so that the toner transporting mechanism can have a simple configuration.
[0018]
In addition, it is desirable that the second transport unit has a reinforcing member. According to the above configuration, for example, even when the second transporting unit is an elastic body, it is possible to maintain a constant strength and obtain a high transmission torque. Examples of the reinforcing member include aramid fiber and glass fiber.
[0019]
That is, the toner transport mechanism according to the present invention is based on the above configuration, but is not limited to only the above configuration, and includes a combination of these configurations as much as possible.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
[0021]
First, the configuration of the toner transport mechanism according to the present embodiment will be described. An image carrier 2a for carrying an electrostatic latent image is provided in the developing device 2, and a toner image 11 adheres to the surface of the image carrier 2a according to the electrostatic latent image. The image carrier 2a is arranged adjacent to the intermediate transfer body 3, and the image carrier 2a rotates in the direction A in the figure and the intermediate transfer body 3 rotates in the direction B in the figure. As viewed from the image carrier 2a, a transfer device 4 is disposed downstream of the intermediate transfer member 3 in the rotation direction and adjacent to the intermediate transfer member 3, and the transfer device 4 rotates in the direction C in the drawing.
[0022]
Between the developing device 2 and the transfer device 4, a cleaning member 5 such as a rubber blade is disposed in contact with the intermediate transfer member 3, and the transfer residual toner 12 attached to the surface of the intermediate transfer member 3 is removed. Scraping and cleaning of the surface of the intermediate transfer member 3 are performed. Immediately below the cleaning member 5, there is disposed a residual toner container 7 on which the scraped transfer residual toner 12 is deposited. In the residual toner container 7, for example, a screw rotates to transfer the residual toner to the horizontal direction E. The first transport unit 1a for transporting the second transport unit 12 is provided. At the end of the first transport means 1a, a belt-shaped second transport means 1b having a convex shape on both sides is provided. The second conveying means 1b obtains a driving force of, for example, the motor 8 and rotates in the direction D in the drawing. By this rotation, the outer convex shape continuously pumps up the transfer residual toner 12 transported by the first transporting means 1a, and transports the toner 12 upward from the portion E. The transported untransferred toner 12 is transported to an entrance 6 a provided above the recovery bottle 6 disposed on the side opposite to the developing device 2 when viewed from the intermediate transfer body 3. Further, the second transporting means 1b drives the first transporting means 1a to rotate by the inner convex shape engaging with the pulley 9 connected to the first transporting means 1a and rotating. Thus, the first transport unit 1a transports the transfer residual toner 12 in the horizontal direction.
[0023]
Next, the operation of the toner transport mechanism will be described. The toner image 11 formed on the surface of the image carrier 2a in the developing device 2 has a potential difference between the image carrier 2a and the intermediate transfer body 3 and a large or small difference in electrostatic attraction force. Transfer to body 3. Thereafter, the intermediate transfer member 3 rotates in the direction B, and the formed toner image 11 is transported to a point of contact with the transfer device 4. Here, when a material to be transferred 10 such as paper or a plastic sheet is nipped and conveyed between the intermediate transfer body 3 and the transfer device 4, a potential difference is provided between the intermediate transfer body 3 and the transfer device 4, The toner 11 is transferred to the surface of the material to be transferred 10 due to the difference in the suction force, so that the toner image 11 is formed on the material to be transferred 10. At this time, the toner images 11 forming an image on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 3 do not always have the same level of electrostatic attraction, and the toner image 11 is transferred from the intermediate transfer member 3 to the transfer material 10. At the time of transfer, there is a case where the transfer residual toner 12 is not transferred and is adsorbed to the intermediate transfer body 3 and remains.
[0024]
Further, since the intermediate transfer member 3 sequentially repeats the steps of image transfer from the developing device 2 and image transfer to the transfer material 10, the image transfer process to the transfer material 10 and the image transfer process from the developing device 2 are repeated. It is necessary to remove the transfer residual toner 12 from the surface of the intermediate transfer member 3 between the image transfer step. Therefore, the residual toner 12 on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 3 is scraped off by the cleaning member 5, and the intermediate transfer member 3 is cleaned. The transfer residual toner 12 scraped off by the cleaning member 5 accumulates in the residual toner container 7. When the motor 8 is driven, the belt of the second conveying means 1b rotates to convey the untransferred toner 12 upward, and the pulley 9 connected to the first conveying means 1a rotates to rotate the belt. One transport unit 1a also rotates. The transfer residual toner 12 deposited in the residual toner container 7 is transported by the first transport unit 1a to the portion E in the horizontal direction, and then transported upward by the second transport unit 1b to the entrance 6a of the collection bottle 6. Are collected and collected in the entire collection bottle 6 by free fall.
[0025]
Here, if an elastic belt such as rubber is used for the second transport unit 1b, the second transport unit 1b itself can be relatively freely expanded and contracted. Therefore, the motor 8 axis and the pulley 9 axis in the present embodiment are used. It is possible to easily assemble the fixed shafts without adjusting mechanisms such as driven rollers. Therefore, a simple configuration can be adopted. However, when the transfer residual toner 12 is transported to the horizontal direction E by the first transport unit 1a, when the amount of the transfer residual toner 12 accumulated in the residual toner container 7 is large, compared with the rotation driving of the first transport unit 1a. In some cases, a large torque is required. In such a case, it is conceivable that the engagement between the inner convex shape and the pulley 9 is disengaged because the elastic belt is easily stretched, and the drive transmission to the first transporting means 1a cannot be performed.
[0026]
In such a case, the material of the second conveying means 1b is made of resin, or a reinforcing member such as aramid fiber or glass fiber is used. The torque can be obtained. As described above, by changing the material or adding a reinforcing member as necessary, power is transmitted from the second transporting means 1b to the first transporting means 1a, thereby enabling stable transport in the horizontal direction. It becomes.
[0027]
Embodiments of the present invention include the following embodiments 2 to 5 in addition to embodiment 1.
[0028]
(Embodiment 1)
A plurality of developing devices that form toner images on the image carrier, and an unsupported belt-shaped intermediate transfer body that is adjacent to the image carrier and simultaneously carries a plurality of toner images transferred from the image carrier; A transfer device for transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer member to a transfer-receiving material; and a transfer residual toner on the surface of the intermediate transfer member, which is located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer member when viewed from the transfer device. A cleaning member that scrapes off the remaining toner, a residual toner container that stores the residual transfer toner scraped by the cleaning member, a first transport unit that horizontally transports the residual transfer toner stored in the residual toner container, The toner transport mechanism includes: a second transport unit that transports the transfer residual toner transported in the horizontal direction by the one transport unit in an upward direction; and a collection bottle that accumulates the transfer residual toner transported by the second transport unit. There are, the second conveying means is a conveying member of the belt-shaped toner conveying mechanism and having a drive transmitting function of said first conveying means.
[0029]
(Embodiment 2)
The second transporting means has convex portions on both surfaces, and the drive is transmitted to the first transporting means by the convex portion on the inner surface side, and the transfer residual toner is transported by the convex portion on the outer surface side. 2. The toner conveying mechanism according to claim 1, wherein
[0030]
(Embodiment 3)
The toner conveying mechanism according to the first or second embodiment, wherein the second conveying unit is made of resin.
[0031]
(Embodiment 4)
The toner conveying mechanism according to the first or second embodiment, wherein the second conveying unit is an elastic body.
[0032]
(Embodiment 5)
The toner conveying mechanism according to claim 4, wherein the second conveying unit has a reinforcing member.
[0033]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively utilize a limited area in the image forming apparatus and increase the capacity of the collection bottle without increasing the size of the image forming apparatus. That is, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can extend the life of the collection bottle and improve usability. Further, by making the second transport means a resin or an elastic body and adding a reinforcing member as necessary, it is possible to suitably use the second transport means in various image forming apparatuses.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a main part of a toner conveying mechanism according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view as viewed in the direction of the arrow G in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a main part of a toner conveying mechanism and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a front view showing a main part of a conventional toner transport mechanism.
FIG. 5 is a side view showing a main part of a conventional toner conveying mechanism and an image forming apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
1a First Conveying Means 1b Second Conveying Means 2 Developing Device 2a Image Carrier 3 Intermediate Transfer Body 4 Transferring Device 5 Cleaning Member 6 Collection Bottle 6a Inlet 7 Remaining Toner Container 8 Motor 9 Pulley 10 Transfer Material 11 Toner Image (Toner) )
12 Transfer residual toner (toner)
101a First transporting means 102 Developing device 102a Image carrier 103 Intermediate transfer member 104 Transfer device 105 Cleaning member 106 Collection bottle 106a Inlet 108 Motor 110 Transfer receiving member 111 Toner image 112 Transfer remaining toner

Claims (1)

A plurality of developing devices for forming a toner image on the image carrier,
An untransferred belt-shaped intermediate transfer member that is adjacent to the image carrier and simultaneously carries a plurality of toner images transferred from the image carrier;
A transfer device that transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer member to a transfer target material,
A cleaning member that is located on the downstream side in the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer member as viewed from the transfer device and scrapes off transfer residual toner on the surface of the intermediate transfer member;
A residual toner container for storing transfer residual toner scraped by the cleaning member,
First transport means for transporting the transfer residual toner stored in the residual toner container in a horizontal direction;
A second conveying means for conveying the transfer residual toner conveyed in the horizontal direction by the first conveying means in an upward direction;
A collection bottle on which the transfer residual toner conveyed by the second conveyance unit is deposited.
The toner conveying mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the second conveying unit is a belt-shaped conveying member, and has a drive transmission function of the first conveying unit.

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