JP2007310410A - Waste toner recovery box for color image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color image forming apparatus capable of recovering waste toner from each image forming engine without using a complex conveying mechanism and to reduce the size and cost of the color image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A waste toner recovery box 50 includes: a box main body 51 for storing waste toner ejected from an intermediate transfer belt and a plurality of image forming engines; a plurality of waste toner recovery ports 53 disposed along waste toner ejection parts of the intermediate transfer belt and image forming engines and used to recover ejected toner; and a leveling member disposed along the plurality of waste toner recovery ports and used to level waste toner recovered from each waste toner recovery port. Between the waste toner ejection part of the intermediate transfer belt and the waste toner ejection part of the image forming engine for forming a black toner image, the waste toner ejection parts of the other image forming engines are disposed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a waste toner collection box for collecting and storing used toner in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer, and in particular, a plurality of image forming units such as a color copying machine or a color printer. The present invention relates to an improvement of a waste toner collection box used in an image forming apparatus including an engine.

JP 09-325662 A JP-A-11-305623 JP-A-11-003015 JP-A 64-007088

  In an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer, after a toner image developed on a photosensitive drum is transferred to a recording sheet, residual toner attached to the photosensitive drum is removed by a cleaner. The removed residual toner is collected in a collection box in the image forming apparatus as waste toner. This collection box is a consumable part and is generally replaced with an empty collection box when the waste toner is full.

  On the other hand, in recent years, a so-called tandem type color image in which a multicolor toner image formed by a plurality of image forming engines is primarily transferred to an intermediate transfer belt and then secondarily transferred from the intermediate transfer belt to a recording sheet to obtain a color image. An image forming apparatus has also appeared. In the case of this tandem type color image forming apparatus, a photosensitive drum and a cleaner for cleaning the photosensitive drum exist for each of the yellow, cyan, magenta and black image forming engines. Need to be recovered. Further, after the toner image is secondarily transferred from the intermediate transfer belt to the recording sheet, it is necessary to clean the toner adhering to the intermediate transfer belt, and a cleaner is also provided for the intermediate transfer belt. ing. Therefore, in the case of a tandem type color image forming apparatus, it is necessary to collect waste toner from at least five cleaners. Also, in recent years, so-called replacement of a deteriorated developer in a developing device using a two-component developer composed of a toner and a carrier is omitted, and the deteriorated developer is discarded while supplying a new two-component developer. A trickle development method has appeared. Therefore, when this developing system is adopted, it is necessary to collect the deteriorated developer discharged from the developing devices of the respective colors, and in addition to the above case, the collecting box requires a total of nine collecting ports. .

  As mentioned above, the waste toner collection box is a consumable item and must be replaced when it is full.Therefore, if a collection box was provided for each cleaner, it would take time to replace the waste toner. Since there is a difference in the amount of waste toner collected in each cleaner, the time for replacing the collection box varies, and the replacement work becomes very complicated. For this reason, the conventional color image forming apparatus is provided with one collection box having a certain capacity, and all the cleaners are configured to send waste toner to the collection box.

  However, the conventional waste toner recovery box has only one recovery port, and the waste toner discharged from each cleaner is collected in one transport path and then dropped into the recovery box from the recovery port. It was. When only one recovery port is provided for the recovery box in this way, it is easy to control the state in which waste toner accumulates in the recovery box. Thus, there is an advantage that it is relatively easy to collect the waste toner, and it is easy to grasp by an optical sensor or the like whether or not the collection bottle is full. On the other hand, waste toner discharged from each cleaner must be guided to a single collection port, which complicates the transport mechanism and increases manufacturing costs, and contributes to the spatial layout of each device in the image forming apparatus. There was a drawback of affecting.

  In particular, in recent years, there is an increasing need for a small color laser beam printer that can be installed on a desktop. However, if the mechanism for transporting waste toner from each image forming engine to a collection box becomes complicated, it will be a major obstacle to downsizing the printer. . Further, from the viewpoint of enabling the user of the printer to exchange the collection box, it is desirable that the transport mechanism from each image forming engine to the collection box is simple. Furthermore, in order to reduce the frequency of replacement of the collection box as a consumable item and improve the convenience of the user, it is necessary to be able to use the waste toner storage space in the collection box without leaving any space.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a color image forming apparatus including a plurality of image forming engines from each image forming engine without using a complicated transport mechanism. An object of the present invention is to provide a waste toner collection box that can collect waste toner and can contribute to downsizing and cost reduction of the color image forming apparatus.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a waste toner collection box that can effectively collect the waste toner until it is full by effectively using the collection space and can improve the convenience of the user. It is to provide.

  That is, the present invention relates to an intermediate transfer having a plurality of image forming engines including an image forming engine that forms at least a black toner image, and a belt surface through which the plurality of toner images are sequentially transferred through the plurality of image forming engines. A waste toner collection box for collecting and storing used toner discharged from the plurality of image forming engines and the intermediate transfer belt, and the waste toner collection box includes the intermediate transfer belt and the plurality of waste toner collection boxes. A box body for storing waste toner discharged from the image forming engine, the intermediate transfer belt, and a waste toner discharge portion of each image forming engine are disposed along the intermediate transfer belt and each image forming engine. A plurality of waste toner collection ports for collecting the discharged toner, and the waste toner collection ports disposed along the plurality of waste toner collection ports. And a smoothing member for smoothing the waste toner collected from the mouth, and other components between the waste toner discharge portion of the intermediate transfer belt and the waste toner discharge portion of the image forming engine that forms the black toner image. A waste toner discharge unit of the image engine is arranged.

  According to the present invention, waste toner can be collected from each image forming engine without using a complicated transport mechanism, and the color image forming apparatus using the collection box can be reduced in size and cost. It becomes possible.

  Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to reliably collect the waste toner until it is full by effectively using the collection space of the box body, and it is possible to improve the convenience for the user.

  Hereinafter, a waste toner recovery box according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a tandem type color laser beam printer to which the present invention is applied. The laser beam printer includes four image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk that form toner images for each of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, and the toner images are primarily transferred from the image forming engines. An intermediate transfer belt (IBT) 20 is provided, and a toner image multiple-transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 20 is secondarily transferred to a recording sheet P to form a full color image.

  The intermediate transfer belt 20 is formed in an endless shape and is wound around a pair of belt conveying rollers 21 and 22 and is formed by the color image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk while rotating in the direction of the arrow. It is configured to receive the primary transfer of the toner image. Further, a secondary transfer roller 30 is disposed at a position facing one belt conveying roller 21 with the intermediate transfer belt 20 interposed therebetween, and the recording sheet P is formed between the transfer roller 30 and the intermediate transfer belt 20 that are in pressure contact with each other. The toner image is inserted between them to receive secondary transfer of the toner image from the intermediate transfer belt 20. That is, the belt conveying roller 21 functions as a pack-up roller for the transfer roller 30. On the other hand, a belt cleaner 23 of the intermediate transfer belt 30 is disposed at a position opposite to the belt conveying roller 22 located on the opposite side, and toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 20 after the secondary transfer is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 20. It is configured to be removed from. Further, the residual toner removed by the belt cleaner 23 is conveyed as waste toner to the front side (the front side in FIG. 1) by the auger 23a and dropped into a collection box described later.

  Under the intermediate transfer belt 20, the four image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk described above are arranged in parallel, and a toner image formed according to image information of each color is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt. The primary transfer is performed to 20. These four image forming engines are arranged in the order of yellow 10Y, magenta 10M, cyan 10C, and black 10Bk along the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer belt 20, and the black image forming that is most frequently used is arranged. The image engine 10Bk is disposed closest to the secondary transfer position. Below these image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk, a raster scanning unit 40 that exposes the photosensitive drum 11 provided in each image forming engine in accordance with image information is disposed. The raster scanning unit 40 is shared by all the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk, and four semiconductor lasers (not shown) that emit laser light Bm modulated in accordance with image information of each color. A polygon mirror 41 that rotates at high speed and scans these four laser beams Bm along the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 11. Each laser beam Bm scanned by the polygon mirror 41 travels along a predetermined path while being reflected by a mirror (not shown), and then passes through each scanning engine 42 provided on the upper portion of the raster scanning unit 40. The photosensitive drum 11 of 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk is exposed.

  Each of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk is sensitized by exposure of the photosensitive drum 11, the charging roller 12 that charges the photosensitive drum 11 to a uniform background portion potential, and the laser beam Bm. A developing device 13 that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 11 to form a toner image, and residual toner and paper dust from the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 after the toner image is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 20. A drum cleaner 14 is provided to remove the toner, and a toner image corresponding to the image information of each color can be formed on the photosensitive drum 11. The developer 13 is of a type that uses a two-component developer in which toner and a carrier are mixed, and the toner and the carrier are removed from a replenishment cartridge (not shown) in order to omit maintenance of the developer due to deterioration with time. A so-called trickle development system is used in which the mixed developer is supplied and the deteriorated developer is automatically discharged. Each developing device 13 is configured such that new developer is supplied from the rear side of the auger 13a (the back side in FIG. 1), and the deteriorated developer is discharged to the front side of the auger 13a. The residual toner removed by each drum cleaner 14 is discharged as waste toner to the front side by an auger (not shown). The deteriorated developer discharged from each developing device 13 and the waste toner discharged from the drum cleaner 14 are directly dropped into a collection box described later.

  Primary transfer rollers 15Y, 15M, 15C, and 15Bk are disposed at positions facing the photosensitive drums 11 of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk so as to sandwich the intermediate transfer belt 20, and these transfer rollers. By applying a predetermined transfer bias voltage to 15Y, 15M, 15C, and 15Bk, an electric field is formed between the photosensitive drum 11 and the transfer rollers 15Y, 15M, 15C, and 15Bk. The charged toner image is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 20 by Coulomb force.

  On the other hand, the recording sheet P is supplied from the paper feed cassette 2 stored in the lower part of the printer housing 1 to the inside of the printer, specifically, to the secondary transfer position where the intermediate transfer belt 20 and the secondary transfer roller 30 are in contact. . The paper feed cassette 2 is configured to be pushed into the lower portion of the printer housing 1 from the front side of the printer housing and set, and the upper portion of the set paper feeding cassette 2 is accommodated in the cassette 2. A pickup roller 24 and a paper feed roller 25 for pulling out the recording sheet P are arranged in parallel. A retard roller 26 that prevents double feeding of the recording sheet P is disposed at a position facing the paper feed roller 25.

  The conveyance path 27 of the recording sheet P inside the printer is provided substantially perpendicularly along the left side surface of the printer casing 1, and the recording sheet P pulled out from the sheet feeding cassette 2 located at the bottom of the printer casing 1. Ascends the sheet conveying path 27, receives the transfer of the toner image at the aforementioned secondary transfer position, and then sends it to the fixing device 3 provided immediately above the secondary transfer position. Then, the recording sheet P on which the toner image has been fixed by the fixing device 3 passes through the discharge roller 28 and is discharged face down in a discharge tray 1 a provided on the upper portion of the printer housing 1. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 29 denotes a registration roller for controlling the entry timing of the recording sheet P with respect to the secondary transfer position.

  In forming a full-color image by the color laser beam printer configured as described above, first, the raster scanning unit 40 makes the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk photosensitive drums 11 in accordance with the image information of each color. Are exposed at a predetermined timing, whereby toner images corresponding to the image information are formed on the photoconductive drums 11 of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk. The toner images formed by the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk are sequentially transferred to the rotating intermediate transfer belt 20, and a multiple toner image in which the respective color toner images are overlapped on the intermediate transfer belt 20. It is formed. On the other hand, the recording sheet P is sent out from the paper feed cassette 2 at a predetermined timing, and the timing at which the toner image primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 20 reaches the secondary transfer position is measured, and the secondary transfer roller 30 and the intermediate transfer roller 30 are intermediately transferred. It is inserted between the belt 20. As a result, the multiple toner images on the intermediate transfer belt 20 are secondarily transferred to the recording sheet P. The recording sheet P that has been subjected to the secondary transfer is fixed with a toner image by the fixing device 3, whereby a full-color image is completed on the recording sheet P.

  In the printer of this embodiment configured as described above, the waste toner discharged from the belt cleaner 23 and each drum cleaner 14 and the deteriorated developer discharged from each developer 13 are all dropped in the same collection box. It is configured to be inserted. As shown in FIG. 2, the collection box 50 is provided slightly below the front side of the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk arranged in parallel. Waste toner or deteriorated developer discharged from each drum cleaner 14 and each developing device 13 toward the front side is directly dropped into the collection box 50 without passing through any conveying member. Since the belt cleaner 23 is adjacent to the yellow image forming engine 10Y, waste toner discharged from the belt cleaner 23 is also directly dropped into the collection box 50.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the collection box 50 observed from above the front side, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view observed from below the rear side. The collection box 50 includes a box main body 51 that stores waste toner in an internal space, and a lid member 52 that closes the box main body 51 from above, and is formed in a substantially rectangular shape in appearance. The length is substantially equal to the distance from the drum cleaner 14 to the belt cleaner 23 of the black image forming engine 10Bk, and when the collecting box 50 is mounted on the printer, the collecting box 50 is attached to each image forming engine 10Y, 10M. 10C, 10Bk and the front side of the belt cleaner 23, the waste toner and the deteriorated developer can be directly discharged into the collection box 50. Five recovery ports 53 are formed in the upper portion of the lid member 52 along the longitudinal direction. When the recovery box 50 is mounted on the printer, the drum cleaner 14 and the belt cleaner 23 of each image forming engine are moved to the front side. A protruding connecting pipe (not shown) is connected to these recovery ports 53 so that waste toner discharged from the drum cleaner 14 and the belt cleaner 23 is dropped into the recovery box 50. The five recovery ports respectively correspond to a belt cleaner, a yellow drum cleaner, a magenta drum cleaner, a cyan drum cleaner, and a black drum cleaner from the right side in FIG.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 4, four recovery ports 54 are opened on the rear side wall of the lid member 52. These are recovery ports for the deteriorated developer discharged from the developing devices 13 of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk. When the recovery box 50 is attached to the printer, the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, and 10C are provided. A connecting pipe (not shown) protruding from the 10 Bk developing device 13 to the front side is inserted into these recovery ports 54, and the deteriorated developer discharged from the trickle-type developing device 13 is dropped into the recovery box 50. It is like that. The four collection ports 54 correspond to a black developing unit, a cyan developing unit, a magenta developing unit, and a yellow developing unit from the right side of the sheet of FIG.

  As described above, the collection box 50 of this embodiment is provided so as to be bridged on one side of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, 10Bk and the belt cleaner 23 arranged in parallel. Waste toner discharged from the drum cleaners 14 and belt cleaners 23 of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk, and further to the deteriorated developer discharged from the developing units 13 of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk. However, it can be directly dropped into the collection box 50, and does not require a complicated configuration for transporting waste toner and deteriorated developer to the collection box 50, thereby contributing to downsizing of the printer itself and reduction in manufacturing cost. Be able to.

  On the other hand, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the collection box 50 with the lid member 52 removed is observed from above. Waste toner dropped into the collection box 50 from the collection ports 53 and 54 of the lid member 52 is stored in the internal space of the box body 51. Therefore, the upper limit of waste toner storage is up to the upper opening of the box body 51, and the collection box 51 needs to be replaced when the waste toner is fully stored in the box body 51. An auger 55, which is a conveying member, is provided in the upper part of the box body 51 along the longitudinal direction. The auger 55 is provided so as to straddle the left and right side walls of the box body 51, and the waste toner and the deteriorated developer dropped into the box body 51 become a mountain immediately below the collection ports 53 and 54, and the top is collected. When the accommodation upper limit of the box 50 is exceeded, the auger 55 is configured to break and carry the portion exceeding the accommodation upper limit. In the box body 51 shown in FIG. 5, the front side of the paper surface corresponds to the recovery port 53 of the belt cleaner 23, and the back side of the paper surface corresponds to the recovery port 53 of the black drum cleaner 14.

  FIG. 6 shows the auger 55. The auger 55 is manufactured by injection molding of synthetic resin, and spiral blades 57 and 58 for conveying waste toner and deteriorated developer are formed around the rotation shaft 56. However, in order to facilitate injection molding, the spiral blades 57 and 58 are pseudo ones in which two semicircular plates having different inclination directions are alternately connected. The winding directions of the spiral blades 57 and 58 are different. When the rotating shaft 56 is rotated in a predetermined direction, waste toner is conveyed from both shaft ends toward the center. The spiral blades 57 and 58 are interrupted at a position slightly closer to the magenta M side from immediately below the recovery port 53 corresponding to the cyan C drum cleaner 14. In other words, when the auger 55 is rotated, the waste toner and the deteriorated developer that are crested in the box main body 51 are collapsed toward the position. Further, a plate-like blade 59 parallel to the axial direction is provided on the rotary shaft 56 at a predetermined interval in the middle of the spiral blades 57 and 58, and the same applies to the position where the spiral blades 57 and 58 are interrupted. The plate-like blades 59 are erected, and the plate-like blades 59 are configured to send waste toner in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction as the auger 55 rotates. The auger 55 is provided directly below the collection ports 53 and 54 so that the storage space of the box body 1 can be used up to the end. The depth from the front side to the rear side of the box body 51 is the auger. Since the auger 55 transports waste toner only in the axial direction because it is much larger than the width of the waste 55, the waste toner becomes a mountain only under the auger 55, and the depth of the box body 51 is effectively used. You will not be able to. However, if the plate-like blades 59 parallel to the axial direction are erected on the auger 55 as in this embodiment, no wasteful space is generated in the front-rear direction of the box body 51, and waste toner is removed from the box body 51. It is possible to collect up to the maximum capacity.

  Further, FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a part of the lid member 52 is cut and the inside of the collection box 50 is exposed. As shown in this figure, a resin film 60 is provided in the collection box 50 so as to match the height of the rotating shaft 56 of the auger 55, and one side along the longitudinal direction of the resin film 60 is the auger 55. The spiral blades 57 and 58 and the plate-like blade 59 are interfered with each other. The front end of the resin film 60 that interferes with the auger 55 is cut into strips, and each strip is configured to freely move up and down by interference with the spiral blades 57 and 58 and the plate blades 59. The resin film 60 is fixed to the lid member 52. Since the waste toner in the collection box 50 is accumulated below the auger 55, if the resin film 60 is not present, the plate-like blade 59 of the auger 55 scoops up the waste toner from below and scatters it upward. Such waste toner cannot be sent out effectively. However, when the resin film 60 having the above-described configuration is provided so as to substantially match the height of the rotating shaft 56 of the auger 55, the tip of the resin film 60 cut into strips is scooped up by the plate-like blade 59. Therefore, the waste toner is sent out in the depth direction of the box body 51 along the lower surface of the resin film 60 without being scattered upward. Thereby, the collection space of the box body 51 can be utilized more effectively.

  On the other hand, the collection box 50 is provided with a detection unit for notifying that the box main body 51 is filled with waste toner and deteriorated developer. As shown in FIG. 4, a transparent box-shaped toner container 61 projects from the bottom of the box body 51, and when waste toner accumulates to a predetermined level in the box body 51, the toner container 61 The waste toner enters the part 61. When the collection box 50 is attached to the printer, the toner storage unit 61 is inserted between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit of the light transmission type sensor 62 provided on the printer side. In addition, a pipe 65 is erected from the bottom in the box main body 51 so as to correspond to the toner accommodating portion 61. As long as the waste toner accumulated in the box main body 51 does not exceed the height of the pipe 65, the waste is accumulated. The toner is prevented from entering the toner container 61. Therefore, when the accumulated waste toner exceeds the height of the pipe 65, the waste toner is transferred to the toner container 61 through the pipe 65, and the waste toner is disposed between the light emitting part and the light receiving part of the light transmission type sensor 62. Therefore, the signal of the sensor 62 changes. Thereby, it is possible to grasp whether or not the waste toner has accumulated to a predetermined level in the box body 51.

  The pipe 65 is erected in the vicinity of the middle of the recovery port 53 of the cyan C drum cleaner 14 and the recovery port 53 of the magenta M drum cleaner 14. A little closer to the magenta M side than the cut. The waste toner that has become a mountain in the box main body 51 is collapsed toward the cuts of the spiral blades 57 and 58, and just before the box main body 51 is full, there is a slight space only at the cuts of the spiral blades 57 and 58. Will be left. For this reason, if the pipe 65 is erected with a slight displacement from the breaks of the spiral blades 57 and 58 in the auger 55, the sensor is in a stage just before the collection box 50 is completely filled with waste toner. Thus, the user can have time to prepare for ordering the next collection box 50 in preparation for replacement of the collection box 50.

  FIGS. 8 to 10 show the state in which waste toner and deteriorated developer are accumulated in the collection box 50 over time. Since the belt cleaner 23 cleans the residual toner for the four colors remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 20 after the secondary transfer of the toner image, compared to the drum cleaners 14 of the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk. The amount of waste toner discharged is extremely large, and among the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk, the black image forming engine 10Bk is used most frequently. The amount of drum cleaner (hereinafter referred to as “Bk cleaner”) 14 is increasing. In the printer of this embodiment, the image forming engines are arranged in the order of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, and the belt cleaner 23 is provided adjacent to the yellow image forming engine 10Y. When the waste toner is directly dropped into the collection box 50 from the image forming engines 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10Bk, the collection port 53 (IBT) connected to the belt cleaner 23 with the largest discharge amount is the collection box 50. In addition, the Bk cleaner 14 having the second largest discharge amount is positioned at the other end of the collection box 50.

  Therefore, the amount of waste toner dropped into both ends in the longitudinal direction in the collection box 50 increases, and at the beginning of use of the collection box 50, as shown in FIG. A lot of waste toner accumulates. When a larger amount of waste toner is accumulated, the waste toner exceeds the accommodation upper limit at both ends of the box main body 51. As shown in FIG. 51 is broken toward the center of 51, and the waste toner accumulation level gradually decreases from both ends toward the center. However, as described above, since the discharge amount of the belt cleaner is much larger than the discharge amount of the Bk cleaner, the amount of waste toner accumulated on the belt cleaner side in the box body is larger than the amount on the Bk cleaner side.

  As described above, the waste toner in the collection box 50 is broken down toward the breaks of the spiral blades 57 and 58 of the auger 55. As a result, finally, as shown in FIG. If a space remains only below the cuts of the blades 57 and 58 and this space disappears due to the transport of the waste toner by the auger 55, the box body 51 is full of waste toner. Further, during the transition from the state shown in FIG. 9 to the state shown in FIG. 10, the waste toner accumulation level in the box body 51 exceeds the height of the pipe 65 erected in the box body 51, and the waste toner Enters the pipe 65. As a result, the output signal of the light transmission type sensor 62 changes as described above, and it becomes possible to grasp that the box body 51 is almost full.

  As described above, in the printer of this embodiment, the four-color image forming engine and the belt cleaner are arranged so that the belt cleaner and the Bk cleaner that discharge a large amount of waste toner are located at both ends. The configuration is such that the waste toner is dropped directly into a long and narrow collection box arranged on one side of the cleaner, and the waste toner accumulated in the collection box from the use end in the longitudinal direction of the box body toward the center is broken down. Thus, the waste toner can be deposited without any gap in the storage space in the collection box, and the collection box can be effectively used.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a color laser beam printer to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2A is a schematic view showing the arrangement position of a waste toner collection box in the printer shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a waste toner collection box to which the present invention is applied, observed from above the front side. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a waste toner collection box to which the present invention is applied, observed from below on the rear side. FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a state where a lid member is removed from a waste toner collection box. FIG. 6 is a front view showing an auger mounted in a waste toner collection box. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a waste toner collection box with a part of a lid member cut away. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which waste toner starts to accumulate in the box body. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state where a waste toner accumulation level in a box body reaches an auger. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state immediately before the box body is filled with waste toner.

Explanation of symbols

10Y: Yellow image forming engine, 10M: Magenta image forming engine, 10C: Cyan image forming engine, 10Bk: Black image forming engine, 14 ... Drum cleaner, 23 ... Belt cleaner, 50 ... Waste toner recovery box, 51 ... Box body, 52 ... Lid member, 55 ... Auger (conveying member)

Claims (3)

A plurality of imaging engines including an imaging engine that forms at least a black toner image;
An intermediate transfer belt having a belt surface that sequentially passes through the plurality of image forming engines and onto which a plurality of toner images are transferred.
A waste toner collection box for collecting and storing used toner discharged from the plurality of image forming engines and the intermediate transfer belt;
The waste toner collection box includes:
A box body for storing waste toner discharged from the intermediate transfer belt and the plurality of image forming engines;
A plurality of waste toner collection ports disposed along the intermediate transfer belt and the waste toner discharge portions of the respective image forming engines, and for collecting discharged toner discharged from the intermediate transfer belt and the respective image formation engines;
A leveling member arranged along the plurality of waste toner collection ports, and for smoothing the waste toner collected from each of the waste toner collection ports;
Have
An image forming system comprising: a waste toner discharge portion of another image forming engine disposed between a waste toner discharge portion of the intermediate transfer belt and a waste toner discharge portion of an image forming engine that forms the black toner image. apparatus.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The leveling member is configured to store waste toner collected from a waste toner collection port corresponding to the intermediate transfer belt and waste toner collected from a waste toner collection port corresponding to an image forming engine that forms the black toner image. An image forming apparatus that conveys toward a central portion of a main body.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2.
A detection unit that is disposed between the plurality of waste toner recovery ports and detects fullness in accordance with the amount of waste toner stored in the waste toner recovery box;
The leveling member detects the waste toner collected from the waste toner collection port corresponding to the intermediate transfer belt and the waste toner collected from the waste toner collection port corresponding to the image forming engine that forms the black toner image. An image forming apparatus that conveys the toner toward a part.

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