JP2005106896A - Developing device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively prevent contamination due to dislodging/scattering of toner during exchanging of a toner container by preventing the adhesion of the toner to an aperture of a toner container case. <P>SOLUTION: When a container shutter 13 is rotationally moved by operating a shutter opening/closing lever not shown in Figure at the time of removing the toner container 5 from a housing 4, the toner sticking to the surroundings of a replenishing port 16 of the container shutter 13 is scraped off by a toner sealing member 21. Even more, the aperture 12 of the toner container case is isolated from the toner by the toner sealing member 21 and therefore, is not attached with the toner. Accordingly, the toner does not leak/scatter to the surroundings of the developing device 1 and the occurrence of the internal and external contamination of the device by the toner does not occur at the time of removing the toner container 5 from the housing 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a developing device that supplies toner to the surface of a photoconductor to visualize an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor as a toner image, an electrophotographic printer, a facsimile machine, and a copier equipped with the developing device. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral.

  Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, a toner container 52 is detachably attached to an upper portion of a housing 51 in which a developing roller 50 is rotatably accommodated, and toner in the toner container 52 is placed in a space (development) in the housing 51. A developing device 54 is known which is supplied to the chamber 53) (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  In the developing device 54 shown in FIG. 5, a container shutter 55 is rotatably accommodated in a toner container 52, and a supply port 56 of the container shutter 55 opens into a toner container case opening 57 of the toner container 52. The toner in the toner container 52 is supplied into the housing 51 through the supply port 56, the toner container case opening 57 and the toner receiving port 58 of the housing 51. The periphery of the toner container case opening 57 and the toner receiving port 58 is sealed with a toner seal member 60 to prevent the toner from leaking around the developing device 54 when the toner is supplied.

  In the developing device 54 shown in FIG. 5, when the toner container 52 is removed from the housing 51, the container shutter 55 is rotated by a shutter opening / closing lever (not shown), and the supply port 56 is shifted from the toner container case opening 57 to The shutter 55 closes the toner container case opening 57.

JP 2001-235933 A JP-A-8-76758

  However, since the developing device 54 as shown in FIG. 5 supplies the toner in the toner container 52 into the developing chamber 53 of the housing 51 by free fall, the toner container case opening 57 and the toner receiving port are provided. The toner adheres easily to the vicinity of the toner container case 58, and the toner adhering to the vicinity of the toner container case opening 57 and the toner receiving port 58 is exposed to the outside of the developing device 54 (images using the developing device 54) due to vibrations when the toner container 52 is replaced. In some cases, the space around the developing device 54 may be contaminated by the scattered toner.

  In particular, in the case of a developing device 54 as shown in FIG. 5 that does not strictly control the amount of toner replenished from the toner container 52 to the developing chamber 53, the replenishing port 56 of the container shutter 55 is connected to the developing chamber. 53 is connected with toner, and a lot of toner is likely to adhere to the toner container case opening 57. As described above, when a large amount of toner is attached to the toner container case opening 57, the used toner container 52 with the toner attached is removed from the housing 51 and replaced with a new toner container 52. The toner adhering to the toner container case opening 57 is dropped and scattered due to vibration or the like when the toner container 52 is removed from the housing 51, and the dropped / scattered toner not only contaminates the periphery of the developing device 54 but also the image. Even when the toner container 52 is taken out of the forming apparatus, the toner adhering to the toner container case opening 57 drops due to vibration or impact when the toner container 52 is moved, thereby contaminating the external environment of the image forming apparatus. was there.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to prevent toner from adhering to the opening of a toner container case, and to effectively prevent contamination due to toner dropping and scattering when the toner container is replaced.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a developing device including a housing accommodating a developing roller and a toner container case opening that is detachably attached to the housing and opens to a toner receiving port of the housing. A toner container that freely drops and replenishes the toner; and a container shutter that is rotatably accommodated in the toner container and that opens and closes the toner container case opening. The container shutter has a replenishing port that opens to the toner container case opening and the toner receiving port when toner is replenished, while the replenishing port is displaced from the toner container case opening and the toner receiving port when toner is not replenished. Accordingly, the toner container case opening is closed. In the developing device of the present invention, when the toner is replenished, an outer opening edge of the replenishing port is located closer to the toner receiving port than an outer opening edge of the toner container case opening, and the replenishing port of the container shutter And a toner seal member in close contact with a portion surrounding the toner receiving port of the housing is disposed inside the toner container case opening.

  An image forming apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a developing device according to the first aspect of the present invention, a photosensitive member on which an electrostatic latent image is developed by toner supplied from the developing device, and a photosensitive member on the photosensitive member. A transfer device for transferring a toner image to a recording material and a fixing device for fixing the toner image transferred to the recording material to the recording material are provided.

  According to the present invention having such a configuration, the toner seal member is disposed inside the toner container case opening, and the toner container case opening contacts the toner that freely falls from the toner container toward the housing by the toner seal member. Therefore, the toner does not adhere to the opening of the toner container case. As a result, when the used toner container is removed from the housing, if the toner container case opening is closed with the container shutter, the toner will not fall off and scatter from the toner container case opening. The environment outside the image forming apparatus (hereinafter abbreviated as “inside the machine”) or outside the image forming apparatus (hereinafter abbreviated as “outside the machine”) is not contaminated with toner, and the operator's hand or clothes are contaminated with toner. There is no.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Developer)
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the developing device 1 of the present invention includes a housing 4 in which a developing roller 3 (see FIG. 4) for supplying toner to a photoreceptor 2 (see FIG. 4) is rotatably accommodated. The toner container 5 is detachably attached to the housing 4.

  A developing roller 3 for supplying toner to the photosensitive member 2 (see FIG. 4) is rotatably accommodated in the developing chamber 6 of the housing 4, and the toner is sent out toward the developing roller 3 while stirring the toner. A plurality of stirring paddles 7 and 8 are arranged in parallel with the developing roller 3.

  A toner container accommodating portion 10 for detachably accommodating and placing the toner container 5 is formed on the upper portion of the housing 4. Further, the housing 4 is formed with a toner receiving port 11 for receiving the toner supplied from the toner container 5 side (freely falling) into the developing chamber 6. The toner receiving port 11 of the housing 4 is opened to correspond to the toner container case opening 12 formed on the toner container 5 side.

  The toner container 5 has a container shutter 13 rotatably accommodated therein, and the toner container case opening 12 is opened and closed by the container shutter 13. In the toner container 5, in addition to the container shutter 13, a stirring paddle 14 that feeds toner to the container shutter 13 side while stirring the toner is rotatably accommodated.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the container shutter 13 has a toner receiving port 15 that opens largely inside the toner container 5, and a replenishment that completely opens into the toner container case opening 12 by rotating when the toner is replenished. A mouth 16 is formed. The replenishing port 16 is a rectangular opening edge similar to the planar shape of the toner container case opening 12, and the outer opening edge 17 is more toner than the outer opening edge 18 of the toner container case opening 12 when toner is replenished. The lower end portion in the drawing projects into the toner receiving port 11, and the outer opening edge 17 and the outer opening edge 20 of the toner receiving port 11 (on the upper end side in the drawing). And the opening edge) are arranged on the same line.

  A toner seal member 21 is disposed inside the toner container case opening 12 so as to straddle a portion surrounding the supply port 16 of the container shutter 13 and a portion surrounding the toner receiving port 11 of the housing 4. The toner seal member 21 has a shape that can surround the periphery of the supply port 16 and the toner receiving port 11 having a rectangular planar shape, and is formed of rubber or a synthetic resin material. The toner seal member 21 is fixed to a portion surrounding the toner receiving port 11 of the housing 4 by adhesion or the like.

  A lever engaging portion 24 that engages with a shutter opening / closing lever (not shown) is formed at the tip of an end portion 23 that protrudes outside from the toner container case 22 of the container shutter 13. When an operator rotates a shutter opening / closing lever (not shown) engaged with the lever engaging portion 24 of the container shutter 13, the container shutter 13 is rotated from the position shown in FIG. The toner container case opening 12 is blocked by the outer peripheral surface 26 of the container shutter 13 slidably contacting the inner wall surface 25 of the toner container case 22 because the toner container case 22 is displaced from the case opening 12. Thereby, the toner inside the toner container 5 does not leak from the toner container case opening 12 and the replenishing port 16. With the container shutter 13 closing the toner container case opening 12, the used toner container 5 can be removed from the toner container housing 10 of the housing 4 and replaced with a new toner container 5. After the new toner container 5 is accommodated and placed in the toner container accommodating portion 10 of the housing 4, a shutter opening / closing lever (not shown) is rotated to rotate the container shutter 13 to the position shown in FIG. When the toner container case opening 12 is opened by the replenishing port 16 of the shutter 13, the toner inside the toner container 5 freely falls into the developing chamber 6 of the housing 4 from the replenishing port 16.

  According to the developing device 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above, the toner that freely falls from the toner container 5 is connected from the inside of the developing chamber 6 to the replenishing port 16 of the container shutter 13, and the replenishing port 16 and its surroundings. When the toner container 5 is removed from the housing 4, the toner seal member 21 is rotated by operating a shutter opening / closing lever (not shown) to rotate the container shutter 13. The toner adhering to the periphery (outer peripheral surface 26) is scraped off. In addition, the toner container case opening 12 is separated from the toner by the toner seal member 21 so that the toner does not adhere. Therefore, according to the present invention, when the toner container 5 is removed from the housing 4, the toner does not leak or scatter around the developing device 1, and the toner does not cause in-machine contamination or out-of-machine contamination. As a result, the operator's hand for exchanging the toner container 5 is not stained with toner, and the clothes of the operator are not stained with toner.

  Further, in the developing device 1 of the present embodiment, during toner replenishment, the toner seal member 21 is in close contact over the portion surrounding the replenishing port 16 of the container shutter 13 and the portion surrounding the toner receiving port 11 of the housing 4. The toner can be reliably prevented from leaking and scattering from the gap between the container 5 and the housing 4.

(Image forming device)
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of the image forming apparatus 30 using the developing device 1 described above. In the image forming apparatus 30 shown in FIG. 4, toner is supplied from the developing device 1 to the surface of the photoreceptor 2, and the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor 2 is visualized as a toner image. The toner image on the photoreceptor 2 is transferred to the transfer device 32 on the recording material 31 conveyed along the recording material conveyance path. Then, the recording material 31 onto which the toner image has been transferred is sent to the fixing device 33 and heated and pressurized by the fixing device 33 to fix the toner image. The recording material 31 on which the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 33 is then sent out to the paper discharge tray 34 and the like.

  By using the developing device 1 described above, such an image forming apparatus 30 can perform high-quality printing without the recording material 31 being contaminated by the leaked and scattered toner.

  The developing device according to the present invention can be used in electrophotographic printers, facsimiles, copiers, and complex machines of these.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating a main part of a developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a partial external perspective view of a toner container showing a supply port of the toner container. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows a container shutter typically. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an image forming apparatus using a developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which expands and shows the principal part of the conventional developing device.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Developing apparatus, 2 ... Photoconductor, 3 ... Developing roller, 4 ... Housing, 5 ... Toner container, 6 ... Developing chamber (internal space), 11 ... Toner inlet, 12 ... Toner Container case opening, 13 ... Container shutter, 16 ... Supply port, 17, 18 ... Outer opening edge, 21 ... Toner seal member, 30 ... Image forming device, 31 ... Recording material, 32 ... Transfer Device, 33 …… Fusing device

Claims (2)

A housing containing a developing roller;
A toner container that is removably attached to the housing and replenishes the toner by freely dropping the toner from the toner container case opening that opens to the toner receiving port of the housing into the internal space of the housing;
A container shutter rotatably accommodated in the toner container and opening and closing the toner container case opening,
The container shutter has a replenishing port that opens to the toner container case opening and the toner receiving port when toner is replenished, and the replenishing port is displaced from the toner container case opening and the toner receiving port when toner is not replenished. In the developing device for closing the toner container case opening,
When the toner is replenished, the outer opening edge of the replenishing port is located closer to the toner receiving port than the outer opening edge of the toner container case opening, and the toner shutter has a portion surrounding the replenishing port and the toner of the housing. A developing device, wherein a toner seal member that is in close contact with a portion surrounding the receiving port is disposed inside the toner container case opening.   2. The developing device according to claim 1, a photosensitive member on which an electrostatic latent image is developed by toner supplied from the developing device, a transfer device for transferring the toner image on the photosensitive member to a recording material, and recording An image forming apparatus comprising: a fixing device that fixes a toner image transferred onto the recording material to the recording material.

Images