JP2006053477A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a low cost, small sized and compact image forming apparatus without deteriorating reception sensitivity for radio communication. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is provided with a receiving means, an image control part processing image information received by the receiving means, an image forming part forming a toner image on an image carrier, a transfer means transferring a toner image on the image carrier to recording paper, a fixing means fixing the unfixed toner image carried by the recording paper by heating and pressurizing, a paper feeding means feeding the recording paper to the transfer means, two pieces of conductive side plates installed facing each other, a rotating force producing means producing the rotating force of various means, a rotating force transmission means transmitting the force from the rotating force producing means to each means and an image forming control part controlling image fixing from the series of image formations to the recording paper. The rotating force transmission means is installed on the conductive side plate and the receiving means is installed in a portion which is made available by cutting and removing a portion where the rotating force transmission means is not installed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium. Here, examples of the image forming apparatus include an electrophotographic copying machine, a printer, a word processor, and a facsimile machine.

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer and a copying machine that employs an electrophotographic system and other recording systems. Hereinafter, a laser beam printer will be described as an example of the image forming apparatus.

  An example of a conventional laser beam printer will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional image forming apparatus.

  In FIG. 4, image information wirelessly transmitted from an image signal generation device such as an image device or a computer (not shown) is received by the antenna 133, and the received image information is transmitted to the image control unit 131.

  A photosensitive drum 104 is composed of an organic photosensitive member or an amorphous silicon photosensitive member, and is driven to rotate clockwise with a predetermined peripheral speed (process speed). By this rotation, the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 104 is uniformly charged to a predetermined polarity and potential by the charging roller 105. Then, the charging surface is modulated in accordance with the time-series electric digital pixel signal of the target image information output from the laser optical box 108 and input from an image signal generator (not shown) such as an image device or a computer. The laser light that has been (on / off converted) is changed and irradiated by the laser light reflecting mirror 109, whereby scanning exposure is performed, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to image information is formed.

  The electrostatic latent image thus formed corresponding to the target image is developed by the developing device 106.

  A series of these electrophotographic controls are performed by the image formation control unit 130. Further, the image formation control unit 130 performs various controls according to the value of the nonvolatile memory 120 built in the toner cartridge 121.

  Next, one sheet of recording material is fed from the sheet feeding cassette 103 to the photosensitive drum 104 by the sheet feeding roller 102, so that a mirror image toner image on the photosensitive drum 104 side is formed on the recording material. It is formed. The transfer roller 107 transfers a toner image from the photosensitive drum 104 to the recording material by supplying a charge having a polarity opposite to that of the toner from the back surface of the recording material. The recording material that has received the transfer of the toner image in this manner is separated from the photosensitive drum 104 and sent to the heat fixing device 110, and the toner image is heat fixed by the heater 111.

  The recording material that has undergone thermal fixing is conveyed by an FD roller 113 driven by a DC brushless motor 132 and discharged to a discharge tray 114.

  The radio receiving antenna 133 has been arranged at the position shown in FIG.

  The upper surface front of A part, the side of B part and the opposite side, the front of C part, E part and F part.

  However, in the above conventional example, in order to improve the reception sensitivity from all directions (front and rear, left and right), the receiving unit protrudes from the image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. For this reason, the design was very bad.

  Since the position of the antenna shown in FIG. 4 (E portion in FIG. 5) is directly above the fixing device, it is affected by heat and reduces the life of the electronic component.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, the receiving unit and the image control unit are connected in front of the upper surface like the A part and the D part in FIG. 5A, as shown in FIG. 5B. In addition to restricting the scooping route of the bundled wire 134 to the D part, the D part is not damaged even if it is opened and closed, resulting in an increase in cost.

  When it is arranged on the front side as in part C of FIG. 5 (a), the reception sensitivity is lowered with respect to the radio from behind.

  When it is arranged on the side as shown in part B of FIG. 5A, the reception sensitivity from the opposite side is lowered.

  When placed on the upper surface as in section F of FIG. 5A, the hot print paper P that has passed through the fixing device 110 is stacked on the antenna 133. For this reason, the lifetime of an electronic component is reduced under the influence of heat.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost, small, and compact image forming apparatus without reducing the reception sensitivity of wireless communication.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a receiving means for receiving wireless image information from a host computer, an image control unit for processing image information received by the receiving means, and a light corresponding to the image information from the exposure means. The image bearing member to form a latent image by developing the latent image, and developing the latent image by a developing means to form a toner image on the image bearing member, and a transfer for transferring the toner image on the image bearing member to a recording material Means, fixing means for fixing a recording material carrying an unfixed toner image by heating and pressurization, paper feeding means for feeding the recording material toward the transfer means, and two conductive side plates disposed opposite to each other A rotation power generation unit that generates rotation power of various units, a rotation power transmission unit that transmits power from the rotation power generation unit to each unit, and an image that controls image fixing from a series of image formation to a recording material Image having a formation control unit In forming apparatus, the rotation power transmission means is disposed on a side plate of conductive, receiving means cut side plate that does not place a rotational power transmission means, characterized in that disposed in the cut portion.

  According to the present invention, the front upper surface of the sheet metal is cut out, and the receiving unit is disposed at that portion, so that the heat of the fixing device and the discharged printing paper is reduced without deteriorating the quality of the printed image and without increasing the cost. Therefore, it is possible to realize highly reliable wireless communication with the image signal generator without reducing the reliability of the electronic components.

  Further, it is possible to provide a compact and compact image forming apparatus that does not have a protruding portion of the image forming apparatus.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking a laser beam printer as an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic system as an example.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 104 denotes a photosensitive drum composed of an organic photosensitive member or an amorphous silicon photosensitive member, which is driven to rotate clockwise with a predetermined peripheral speed (process speed). The peripheral surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 104 is uniformly charged to a predetermined polarity and potential by the charging roller 105. Then, the charged surface is modulated (ON) corresponding to the time-series electrical digital pixel signal of the target image information input from the laser optical box 108 from the image signal generator (not shown) such as an image reading device or a computer. The laser light that has been converted (off / converted) is changed by the laser light reflecting mirror 109 and irradiated, whereby scanning exposure is performed and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image information is formed.

  The electrostatic latent image thus formed corresponding to the target image is developed by the developing device 106.

  A series of these electrophotographic controls are performed by the image formation control unit 130. Further, the image forming control unit 130 performs various controls according to the value of the nonvolatile memory 120 built in the toner cartridge 121.

  Next, one sheet of recording material is fed from the sheet feeding cassette 103 to the photosensitive drum 104 by the sheet feeding roller 102, so that a mirror image toner image on the photosensitive drum 104 side is formed on the recording material. It is formed. The transfer roller 107 transfers a toner image from the photosensitive drum 104 to the recording material by supplying a charge having a polarity opposite to that of the toner from the back surface of the recording material. The recording material that has received the transfer of the toner image in this manner is separated from the photosensitive drum 104 and sent to the heat fixing device 110, and the toner image is heat fixed by the heater 111.

  The recording material that has undergone thermal fixing is conveyed by an FD roller 113 driven by a DC brushless motor 132 and discharged to a discharge tray 114.

  Image data is wirelessly sent to the receiving unit 133 from an image signal generator (not shown). The image data received by the receiving unit 133 is sent to the image control unit 131, converted into a signal subjected to image processing by the image control unit 131, and sent to the laser optical box 108. The laser optical box 108 generates an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an image by irradiating the photosensitive drum 104 with laser light modulated according to this signal.

  The toner cartridge 121 can be detached from the image forming apparatus. When the toner cartridge 121 is inserted into the image forming apparatus, the connection unit 122 and the non-volatile memory 120 are connected, and the image forming control unit 130 and the non-volatile memory 120 communicate with each other. .

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  U-shaped sheet metals 140 and 141 are arranged on both sides, and both the sheet metals 140 and 141 are bridged by the image forming control unit 130 and the scanner sheet metal 143. The strength of the sheet metal is increased by making the sheet metal on both sides into a U-shape. On the scanner sheet metal 143, a connection part 122 between the laser optical stage 108 and the nonvolatile memory 120 on the toner cartridge 121 is disposed. The sheet metal 140 is cut out at a position corresponding to the front upper surface portion of the image forming apparatus for the receiving portion, and the receiving portion 133 is held by a plastic holding member 135 in that portion. The holding member 135 is made of plastic so that radio waves are not shielded.

  The sheet metal 140 is also provided with an image control unit 131. The sheet metal 141 is provided with a drive transmission unit 142 composed of a plurality of gears that transmit the driving force from the brushless motor and the DC brushless motor 132.

  Here, the DC brushless motor 132 will be described, but the type of the motor is not limited. For example, a stepping motor may be used.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the present invention.

  The reception unit 133 receives image data transmitted from the image control unit 131 and an image signal generation device (not shown) wirelessly by the reception unit 133. The image data received by the receiving unit 133 is sent to the image control unit 131, converted into a signal subjected to image processing by the image control unit 131, and sent to the laser optical box 108.

  Here, the receiving unit 133 is described separately from the image control unit 131, but the image control unit 131 may include the receiving unit 133.

  By arranging the receiving unit 133 at the position of the present embodiment, the receiving unit 133 does not protrude from the image forming apparatus.

  Since the receiving unit 133 is not directly above the fixing device 110 and is far away, the receiving unit 133 is not affected by the heat of the fixing device 110.

  Furthermore, the receiving unit 133 is not affected by the heat of the fixing unit 110 because the hot printing paper P that has passed through the fixing unit 110 does not come directly above.

  Therefore, it does not affect the life of the electrical component.

  Since the receiving unit 133 is not disposed in the opening / closing unit when the CRG 121 is mounted, the route of the bundled wire is not limited, and no treatment for preventing the bundled wire from being damaged when opened / closed does not increase the cost.

  The reception sensitivity from the front, both sides, and the rear direction will be described below.

  On the front side, the sheet metal 140 is cut out and there is no sheet metal that interferes with radio waves in the vicinity of the front of the receiving unit 133, so the reception sensitivity is good.

  The left side has no sheet metal that interferes with radio waves, so the reception sensitivity is good.

  The right side surface has good reception sensitivity because there is no sheet metal in the vicinity of the right part of the reception unit 133 by cutting out the sheet metal 140 and causing radio wave interference.

  In the rear side, the sheet metal 140 is cut out and there is no sheet metal that interferes with radio waves in the vicinity of the upper part of the receiving unit 133, so that the reception sensitivity is good.

  Next, a case where the receiving unit 133 is arranged on the sheet metal 141 will be described.

  The sheet metal 141 is provided with a drive transmission unit 142 composed of a DC brushless motor and a plurality of gears that transmit the driving force from the DC brushless motor 132. The drive transmission unit 142 is attached to a metal plate 141 having a U-shape and increased strength, thereby preventing the drive transmission unit 142 from being bent or twisted. When this twisting, bending, or the like occurs, unevenness occurs in the rotation of the conveyance roller of each printing paper that transmits power and the photosensitive drum 104, which adversely affects the printed image. For this reason, if the receiving unit 133 is arranged by cutting out the same position in the sheet metal 141, the strength of the sheet metal 141 is lowered, and the printed image is adversely affected. Therefore, the receiving unit 133 cannot be arranged by cutting out the sheet metal 141. If the receiving unit 133 is arranged without cutting out the sheet metal 141, the receiving sensitivity from the left side is lowered.

  As described above, when the receiving unit 133 is arranged at the position of the present embodiment, the receiving sensitivity can be improved without protruding from the image forming apparatus and without adversely affecting the printed image.

It is sectional drawing from the side surface which shows the structure of embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing from the side surface which shows the structure of a prior art example. It is the perspective view and side view which show the structure of the Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 102 Feed roller 104 Photosensitive drum 105 Charging roller 106 Developing device 107 Transfer roller 108 Laser optical box 109 Laser light reflecting mirror 110 Heat fixing device 111 Heater 113 FD roller 120 Non-volatile memory 121 Toner cartridge 122 Connection portion 123 High-voltage contact portion 124 Toner Cartridge ground 130 Image formation control unit 131 Image control unit 132 Motor 133 Reception unit 134 Bundling wire 135 Holding member 140 U-shaped sheet metal 141 U-shaped sheet metal 142 Drive transmission unit 143 Scanner sheet metal

Claims (4)

Receiving means for receiving image information wirelessly from the host computer, an image control unit for processing the image information received by the receiving means, and exposing the image carrier to light corresponding to the image information from the exposing means to form a latent image An image forming unit that forms a toner image on the image carrier by forming a latent image by a developing unit, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image on the image carrier to a recording material, and a recording that carries an unfixed toner image Fixing means for fixing the material by heat and pressure, paper feeding means for feeding the recording material toward the transfer means, two conductive side plates arranged opposite to each other, and rotation for generating rotational power of various means In an image forming apparatus having a power generation unit, a rotation power transmission unit that transmits power from the rotation power generation unit to each unit, and an image formation control unit that controls image fixing from a series of image formation to a recording material.
An image forming apparatus characterized in that the rotational power transmission means is disposed on a conductive side plate, and the reception means cuts out the side plate on which the rotational power transmission means is not disposed, and places it in the cut portion.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the two conductive side plates arranged opposite to each other have a U-shape.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position of the receiving unit is an upper surface on the front side.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image control unit includes a receiving unit.

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