JP2007057991A - Developing device and image forming apparatus equipped therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a developing device where excess toner is not leaked by preventing the excess toner from intruding into space between a developing roller and a side surface sealing member, and an image forming apparatus equipped therewith. <P>SOLUTION: The rotary shaft 31a of the developing roller 31 and the rotary shaft 32a of a supply roller 32 are journaled in a body frame 30. The side surface sealing members 36a and 36b made of sponge are held between the shaft-direction end 31b of the developing roller 31 and the body frame 30, and further an intermediate sealing member 37 made of sponge is inserted between the side surface sealing members 36a and 36b in order to enhance press-contact force to the shaft-direction end 31b. Then, the side surface sealing members 36a and 36b are extended between the shaft-direction end 32b of the supply roller 32 and the body frame 30, then a cylindrical sealing member 38 is fit to the rotary shaft 32a of the supply roller 32 as a gap forming member between the shaft-direction end 32b and the side surface sealing members. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a developing device used for forming a visible image by attaching toner to an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of a photosensitive drum in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine.

  In such a developing device, if the toner leaks from the replenishing chamber for replenishing the toner, the leaked toner scatters, causing a problem in the image forming process, and the leaked toner scatters when the developing device is replaced. It is desirable to keep the contained supply chamber as sealed as possible. However, in order to replenish toner from the replenishment chamber to the developing roller, an opening for setting the developing roller must be provided, and toner may leak from a gap formed between the set developing roller and the opening. .

Therefore, a seal member is provided for such a gap to prevent toner leakage. For example, in Patent Document 1, the side seals arranged at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller are constituted by a rubbing seal member that rubs against the surface of the developing roller and a sponge seal member that supports the rubbing seal member, The sponge seal member is not sandwiched between the supply roller and the developing roller from the central portion of the base portion to the inside of the developing roller in the longitudinal direction from the central portion of the base portion to which the rubbing seal member is adhered. The point which comprised from the protrusion part which protrudes in convex shape is described.
JP 2003-195630 A

  In the above-described prior art, a seal member is provided at the end in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller so that the toner does not leak from the gap between the developing roller and the opening, but it has entered between the developing roller and the supply roller. It is difficult to prevent the toner from entering and leaking between the seal member and the developing roller at the shaft support portion as the rollers rotate.

  4A and 4B are a schematic view (FIG. 4A) viewed from the axial direction and a schematic view viewed from above (FIG. 4B) regarding the shaft support portions of the developing roller 101 and the supply roller 102 in the conventional developing device. is there. The main body frame 100 of the developing device pivotally supports the developing roller 101 and the supply roller 102, and a side seal member 103 is disposed on the shaft support portion, and the side seal member 103 is disposed on the end surfaces of the developing roller 101 and the supply roller 102. The toner is prevented from leaking from the end portion in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller 101 by pressure contact. Since this sealing method does not apply a seal member to the outer peripheral surface of the developing roller 101, there is an advantage that the entire area in the longitudinal direction of the developing roller 101 can be used for developing an electrostatic latent image, but as shown in FIG. When the developing roller 101 and the supply roller 102 are rotated, excess toner of the toner supplied from the supply roller 102 moves toward the shaft support portion as indicated by an arrow A as shown in FIG. And stays at the boundary portion B between the developing roller 101 and the supply roller 102. When the amount of the excess toner staying increases, the excess toner gradually enters between the side surface seal member 103 and the developing roller 101 due to the rotation of the supply roller. Gradually, the toner moves to the arrow C, and the excess toner finally leaks to the outside.

  In order to prevent such leakage of excess toner, it is conceivable that the development roller 101 and the side surface seal member 103 are further pressed to prevent excessive toner from entering. However, if the pressure contact is increased, the rotation of the development roller 101 is increased. Will be disturbed.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a developing device that prevents excessive toner from entering between a developing roller and a side seal member and prevents excessive toner from leaking out, and an image forming apparatus including the developing device. It is.

  A developing device according to the present invention includes a developing roller that transfers toner to a photosensitive drum on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a supply roller that supplies toner while being in contact with the developing roller, the developing roller, A main body frame provided with a supply chamber for supplying toner while providing a shaft support portion for the supply roller and a shaft support portion provided for the developing roller and in close contact with the axial end of the developing roller to prevent toner leakage. And a gap forming member that forms a gap between the axial end of the supply roller and the side seal member. Further, the gap forming member is a ring-shaped member that is fitted to the rotation shaft of the supply roller and has an outer diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the supply roller, and is slidably contacted with the surface on the side seal member side Is provided.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the above developing device.

  With the above-described configuration, a gap forming member that forms a gap between the axial end portion of the supply roller and the side seal member is provided, so that it stays between the developing roller and the supply roller. The surplus toner falls from the gap formed by the gap forming member and returns to the replenishing chamber again, so that the surplus toner does not leak from between the developing roller and the side seal member.

  Then, the gap forming member is configured by a ring-shaped member that is fitted to the rotation shaft of the supply roller and has an outer diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the supply roller. Thus, the gap is stably held between them. Further, by providing a sliding contact sheet body on the surface of the gap forming member that is pressed against the side seal member, even if the gap forming member rotates together with the supply roller, the frictional contact with the side seal member is caused by the sliding contact sheet body. It can decrease and rotate without any trouble.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail. The embodiments described below are preferable specific examples for carrying out the present invention, and thus various technical limitations are made. However, the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. Unless otherwise specified, the present invention is not limited to these forms.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an entire image forming apparatus including an embodiment according to the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a recording unit 2 and a paper feeding unit 3.

  In the paper feed unit 3, paper feed cassettes 10a and 10b are arranged in two upper and lower stages, and a plurality of sheets of a predetermined size are stacked on a flapper 11a in the paper feed cassette 10a. A pickup roller 12a is disposed at the right end portion of the paper feed cassette 10a, and is urged upward by a spring member (not shown) so that the upper surface of the paper on which the flapper 11a is stacked is pressed against the pickup roller 12a. . When the pickup roller 12a is rotationally driven in this state, the sheets are fed one by one to the sheet conveyance path by the frictional force. In the paper feed cassette 10b as well, the paper loaded on the flapper 11b is fed by the pickup roller 12b in the same manner as the paper feed cassette 10a.

  The fed paper is first conveyed to the recording unit 2 by the feed roller 13 and the press roller 14. The conveyed sheet is nipped between the registration roller 15 and the press roller 16 and conveyed at a constant conveyance speed. The recording unit 2 includes a developing device 15, a memory removal brush 16, a charging roller 17, a photosensitive drum 18, a transfer roller 19, an exposure head 20, and a fixing roller 21 for recording on paper.

  When recording on paper, the surface of the photosensitive drum 18 is uniformly charged by the charging roller 17, and the charged surface of the photosensitive drum 18 is exposed by the exposure head 20 in accordance with the image recording signal. An electrostatic latent image is formed. Next, toner is supplied to the surface of the photosensitive drum 18 by the developing unit 15 to be transferred to an electrostatic latent image to be visualized, and the toner image visualized by the transfer roller 19 is transferred to a sheet. The transferred toner image is heated and pressed by the fixing roller 21 and the press roller 22 and fixed on the paper.

  In this way, a series of processes such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, and fixing to the photosensitive drum 18 are performed to perform image forming processing. The toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 18 after the transfer is weakened by the memory removing brush 16 and dispersed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 18 to be collected by the developing unit 15.

  In the developing device 15, an opening is formed on the photosensitive drum 18 side of the main body frame 30, and a developing roller 31 is pivotally supported. A supply roller 32 is pivotally supported adjacent to the developing roller 31, and a supply chamber 33 communicates with the supply roller 32. Toner is stored in the replenishing chamber 33, and the toner is agitated by the agitating member 34 provided in the replenishing chamber 33. At the upper part of the replenishing chamber 33, a lid body 35 is tightly fixed to the body frame 30.

  The toner stirred in the replenishing chamber 33 is transferred toward the supply roller 32 and conveyed toward the developing roller 31 by the rotation of the supply roller 32. The toner transferred from the supply roller 32 to the developing roller 31 is leveled to a predetermined layer thickness on the surface of the developing roller 31 by a blade (not shown) and is supplied to the photosensitive drum 18.

  The paper fixed by the fixing roller is nipped between the paper discharge roller 23 and the press roller 24 and carried out. Further, a manual paper feed mechanism is provided on the side surface of the apparatus main body, and the paper inserted into the paper feed port is sandwiched between the feed roller 25 and the press roller 26 and carried into the apparatus. 15 and the press roller 16 to perform the same image forming process as described above.

  FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view in which the shaft support portions of the developing roller 31 and the supply roller 32 are cut along a plane along the rotation axis, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the shaft support portion. As shown in FIG. 2, shaft holes 30 a and 30 b in which the rotating shaft 31 a of the developing roller 31 and the rotating shaft 32 a of the supply roller 32 are supported are formed in the side frame that is a shaft supporting portion of the main body frame 30. ing. Side seal members 36 a and 36 b made of sponge are sandwiched between the axial end 31 b of the developing roller 31 and the side frame of the main body frame 30, and the axial end 31 b of the developing roller 31 is further sandwiched. An intermediate seal member 37 made of sponge is inserted between the side seal members 36a and 36b in order to increase the pressure contact force. The rotating shaft 31a passes through the side seal members 36a and 36b and the intermediate seal member 37 and is pivotally supported by the side frame. The pressure contact surface of the axial end portion 31b of the developing roller 31 may be subjected to Teflon (registered trademark) processing in order to improve slidability.

  Side seal members 36a and 36b extend between the axial end 32b of the supply roller 32 and the side frame of the main body frame 30, and between the side seal member 36b and the axial end 32b. A cylindrical seal member 38 as a gap forming member is fitted on the rotation shaft 32 a of the supply roller 32. The cylindrical seal member 38 is made of a hard sponge material and is formed to have an outer diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the supply roller 32. And the sliding contact sheet body 38a which consists of synthetic resin films, such as PET film, is affixed on the press-contact surface by the side surface sealing member 36b side. The sliding contact sheet body 38a is in close contact with the side seal member 36b, thereby preventing leakage of toner from the shaft hole of the side seal member. The rotation shaft 32a of the supply roller 32 is supported by the side frame through the side seal members 36a and 36b while the cylindrical seal member 38 is fitted therein.

  In order to fit the cylindrical seal member 38, the axial length of the supply roller 32 is set to be shorter than the length of the developing roller 31. By providing the cylindrical seal member 38, a gap S is provided between the developing roller 31 and the developing roller 31. Will be formed. When the developing roller 31 and the supply roller 32 rotate, the surplus toner moves as indicated by an arrow A as in the prior art described with reference to FIG. 4, but reaches the gap S formed by the cylindrical seal member 38. Then, as indicated by an arrow B, the excess toner does not stay and drops into the gap S one after another and returns to the replenishment chamber 33.

  Since the pressure contact force is applied between the axial end portion 31b of the developing roller 31 and the side seal member 36b, excess toner does not enter and is prevented from leaking outside. Further, since the sliding contact sheet body 38a is adhered to the cylindrical seal member 38, the frictional resistance with the side surface seal member 36b is reduced even if the cylindrical seal member 38 rotates together with the supply roller 32. Thus, there is no hindrance to the rotational movement. Further, since the cylindrical seal member 38 is formed to have an outer diameter smaller than that of the supply roller 32, the cylindrical seal member 38 does not come into contact with the developing roller 31 and can supply toner as in the conventional case.

1 is a schematic sectional view of an entire image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the partially expanded sectional view which cut | disconnected the axial support part of the developing roller and the supply roller by the surface along a rotating shaft. It is a disassembled perspective view regarding the axial support part of FIG. It is a partially expanded sectional view regarding the axial support part of the conventional developing roller and supply roller.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Recording part 3 Paper feeding part
15 Developer
30 Body frame
31 Developing roller
32 Supply roller
36 Side seal member
37 Intermediate seal member
38 Cylindrical seal
38a Sliding sheet body

Claims (3)

  A developing roller that transfers toner to the photosensitive drum on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, a supply roller that supplies toner while being in contact with the developing roller, and a shaft support portion of the developing roller and the supply roller are provided. A main body frame having a replenishing chamber for replenishing toner, a side seal member that is provided on a shaft support portion of the developing roller and that is in close contact with an axial end portion of the developing roller to prevent toner leakage, and the supply A developing device comprising a gap forming member for forming a gap between an axial end of the roller and the side seal member.   The gap forming member is a ring-shaped member that is fitted to the rotation shaft of the supply roller and has an outer diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the supply roller, and a sliding contact sheet is provided on the surface on the side seal member side. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the developing device is provided.   An image forming apparatus comprising the developing device according to claim 1.

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