JP2008216919A - Toner cartridge and cap for hermetically sealing toner filling port - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a toner cartridge from being refilled with non-genuine toner by preventing unauthorized unsealing of a cap. <P>SOLUTION: The cap 33 for hermetically sealing a toner filling port 25 is provided with an actuation part 63 for on/off operating a sensor 62 detecting whether or not a toner cartridge 20 is attached to a cartridge attaching part 51. An easily broken part 40 is formed at a coupling part between the body part 36 of the cap 33 and the actuation part 63. If the actuation part 63 is picked up to forcibly pull out the cap 33 from the filling port 25, the easily broken part 40 at the coupling part is broken, so that the actuation part 63 is separated from the body part 36. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner cartridge that is detachably mounted in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus and supplies toner to a developing unit, and a cap that hermetically seals a toner filling port of the toner cartridge.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a toner supply system called a so-called cartridge replacement system that can supply toner by replacing a toner cartridge has been widely adopted. The toner cartridge housing of this type has a filling port for filling the toner chamber with toner, and when shipped from the factory, by pressing the cap into the filling port after filling the toner, The filling port is hermetically sealed. It is also possible to refill the toner chamber with toner, in which case it is only necessary to remove the cap and then add the toner from the filling port. By attaching the cap again, the filling port is sealed again. It can be in a stopped state.

  In recent years, with the progress of resource saving, collection and reuse of supplies have been actively promoted, and in connection with this, there is a situation in which recycled products by so-called recyclers other than manufacturers are reused. That is, there are cases where the recycler collects the toner cartridge and then refills the collected toner cartridge with the toner, and the user uses it as an inexpensive recycled product.

  However, when the recycler refills the toner different from the regular product, the quality of the image formed by the image forming apparatus tends to deteriorate. In other words, it is desirable that the toner used in this type of image forming apparatus is a genuine toner that is strictly prepared and adjusted by the manufacturer according to the characteristics of the image forming apparatus, and is refilled with a non-genuine toner. In this case, the performance of the image forming apparatus is not sufficiently exhibited, and it is inevitable that the image quality is deteriorated.

  As a known means capable of preventing the non-genuine toner from being filled in this way, for example, Patent Document 1 can be cited. In this case, a cap for hermetically sealing the toner filling port is formed into a two-piece structure having a cap part that engages with the filling port and a separation piece that can be separated by being pushed into the toner chamber from the filling port. When pulled out, the separation piece falls off from the cap portion and remains in the toner chamber, so that the toner agitating operation and the toner supplying operation by the agitator are hindered.

JP 2004-85597 A

  The problem with the toner cartridge described in Patent Document 1 is that if a separation piece can be collected, a recycled toner cartridge can be easily manufactured. In other words, if the separated cartridge can be recovered by disassembling the toner cartridge or the like, the toner cartridge can be reused simply by attaching another cap (for example, a cap having a simple cross-sectional hat shape) to the filling port. Yes, there remains a risk that non-genuine toner will be filled by a recycler or the like.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and its purpose is to devise a cap structure that seals and seals the toner filling port so that the cap can be used illegally by a recycler or the like. An object of the present invention is to prevent the unsealed toner from being refilled by preventing the opening.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner cartridge that is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion formed in the image forming apparatus and that supplies toner to adjacently arranged photoconductors in the mounted state of the cartridge mounting portion. Is targeted. The toner cartridge has a toner chamber in which toner is accommodated in a case body, and a filling port for filling the toner chamber is formed on the outer surface of the case body. It is hermetically sealed with a cap. The cartridge mounting portion is provided with a sensor for detecting whether or not the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion. And the operating part for operating the said sensor is provided in the cap which seals and seals the said filling port, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the cap is a resin molded product formed by integrally molding the main body portion that is fitted inside the filling port and hermetically seals the filling port, and the operating portion. In addition, it is preferable to adopt a form in which an easily breakable portion is formed in a connecting portion between the main body portion and the operating portion.
Specific examples of the easily breakable portion include a method of forming a thin critical cross section in the connecting portion, a method of perforating the connecting portion, and the like.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the sensor can be a switch sensor having a contact mechanism. In this case, when the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion, the operation portion operates the actuator of the contact mechanism.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the sensor may be an optical sensor having a light receiving element as a detection element. In this case, when the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion, the amount of light received by the light receiving element is changed by the operating portion, thereby detecting whether or not the toner cartridge is mounted.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cap for hermetically sealing a toner filling port of a toner cartridge that is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion formed in the image forming apparatus. The cartridge mounting portion is provided with a sensor for detecting whether or not the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion. The cap protrudes from a bottomed cylindrical main body portion formed of a bottom surface and a peripheral side wall formed from a peripheral edge of the bottom surface, and a center portion of the bottom surface for operating the sensor. And an operating part. And the easily breakable part is formed in the connection part of the said bottom face and the said action | operation part, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  In the toner cartridge according to the first aspect of the present invention, the cap for hermetically sealing the filling port performs not only the function of hermetically sealing the filling port but also a sensor for detecting whether or not the cartridge is mounted. The operation function for is given. According to this, when a cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion, the operating portion of the cap operates the sensor, and the image forming apparatus can detect that the cartridge is mounted on the mounting portion and execute the image forming operation. On the other hand, if a cap with a simple cross-sectional shape that does not have an operating part is attached to the filling port, the sensor does not operate normally, and the image forming apparatus cannot detect the mounting state of the cartridge. As a result, the image forming operation cannot be executed.

  Therefore, in order to fabricate a recycled toner cartridge that is refilled with toner, it is necessary to prepare a cap with a special shape that has the two functions of sealing and sealing the filling port and the sensor operating function as described above. There is. For this reason, it is difficult to procure a cap when a manufacturer other than the image forming apparatus or its authorized agent, specifically, a recycler, etc. tries to produce an inappropriately recycled toner cartridge. Therefore, it is not possible to easily produce a recycled product. As a result, unauthorized opening of the cap by a recycler or the like can be prevented, and refilling of non-genuine and inappropriate toner can be effectively prevented.

  In the present invention described in claim 2, since a fragile easily breakable portion is formed in the connecting portion between the main body portion and the operating portion of the cap, for example, when the cap is forcibly pulled out from the filling port by grasping the operating portion. The connecting part is broken and the operating part is easily separated from the main body part. When the operating part is separated in this way, the operating function for the sensor is lost, and it is no longer used as a cap. This makes it difficult to remove the cap by a recycler and effectively prevents unauthorized opening of the cap, thereby effectively preventing refilling of non-genuine improper toner. it can.

  The actuating unit may operate the actuator of the switch sensor as in the present invention described in claim 3, or the amount of light received by the light receiving element of the optical sensor as in the present invention described in claim 4. It may be changed.

  According to the present invention described in claim 5, it is possible to obtain the same effects as those of the preceding claims 1 and 2. In other words, when a recycler tries to create an inappropriate recycle product, it is necessary to procure a cap with a special shape, so it is not possible to easily make a recycle product. Unauthorized opening can be prevented and refilling of non-genuine improper toner can be effectively prevented. In addition, if the operating part is picked and the cap is forcibly pulled out from the filling port, the connecting part is broken and the operating part is separated from the connecting part. Proper toner refilling can be effectively prevented.

(First embodiment)
1 to 7 show a first embodiment in which a toner cartridge and a cap according to the present invention are applied to a toner cartridge of a multifunction machine having a copy function and a facsimile function. In FIG. 2, a multifunction machine 1 (image forming apparatus) includes a paper feed cassette 2 and an image recording unit 3 that forms an image on a recording paper fed from the paper feed cassette 2 through a paper feed path. And an image reading unit 4 disposed above the image recording unit 3. An operation panel 5 having various operation buttons and an automatic document feeder 6 (ADF) are provided on the upper surface of the image reading unit 4.
In the present embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the extending direction of the operation panel 5 is defined as the left-right direction (see FIG. 2). Moreover, the direction orthogonal to the left-right direction and the horizontal direction is defined as the front-back direction (see FIGS. 5 and 1).

  2 and 3, the process unit 7 responsible for forming an image on a recording sheet includes a photoreceptor unit 10 and a toner cartridge 20 that supplies toner to the photoreceptor unit 10. As shown in FIG. 3, a photoconductor unit 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as a unit) is a photoconductor drum (photosensitive drum) that transfers toner in contact with a recording sheet inside a front and rear horizontally long rectangular box-shaped case body 11. Body) 12, a charger 13 for charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 12 to a potential, a static elimination brush 14, and the like. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 15 denotes a transfer roller disposed facing the photosensitive drum 12, and reference numeral 16 denotes an LED head for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 12.

  A toner cartridge 20 (hereinafter simply referred to as a cartridge) includes a toner chamber 22 that contains toner, a developing roller 23 that supplies toner to the photosensitive drum 12, a front and rear horizontally long rectangular box-shaped case body 21, A supply roller 24 that supplies toner in the toner chamber 22 to the developing roller 23 is provided. Then, the agitator 22 a assembled in the toner chamber 22 agitates the toner in the toner chamber 22 and opens the photosensitive member through the supply roller 24 and the developing roller 23 from the opening 22 b opened on the left surface of the toner chamber 22. Toner is applied to the drum 12. As a result, toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 12 to form a toner image, and the toner image is sequentially transferred onto the sheet fed from the sheet feeding cassette 2 to the image recording unit 3.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the unit 10 and the cartridge 20 are detachably mounted and held on a unit mounting part 50 and a cartridge mounting part 51 formed in the image recording unit 3. The mounting portions 50 and 51 are concave portions that are long in the front-rear direction and are formed in accordance with the external shape of the unit 10 and the cartridge 20. The unit 10 and the cartridge 20 are mounted on the mounting portions 50 and 51 from above. . In such a mounted state, the developing roller 23 presses the photosensitive drum 12 to supply toner from the cartridge 20 to the photosensitive drum 12.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the upper surfaces of the front and rear partition walls 52, 52 that define the unit mounting portion 50 receive the support shafts 57 protruding from the front and rear side surfaces of the unit 10, so that the unit 10 can be made immovable. An engaging recess 53 is formed for positioning and holding at the position. Similarly, engaging projections 55 and 55 projecting from the front and rear side surfaces of the cartridge 20 are received on the upper surfaces of the front and rear partition walls 54 that divide the cartridge mounting portion 51, and the cartridge 20 is positioned at an appropriate position so that it cannot move freely. Engaging recesses 56 and 56 for mounting are formed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5, a detection mechanism 60 for detecting whether or not the cartridge 20 is mounted on the mounting portion 51 is provided between the cartridge mounting portion 51 and the cartridge 20. ing. The detection mechanism 60 is provided on the cartridge mounting portion 51 side, and a switch type sensor 62 having a contact mechanism that is turned on / off by the actuator 61, and an operation portion that is provided on the cartridge 20 side and moves the actuator 61. 63. Specifically, an operating portion 63 is formed to project from the front side surface of the cartridge 20, and a concave notch portion 64 that receives the operating portion 63 in the mounted state is cut at the upper edge of the partition wall 54 that defines the cartridge mounting portion 51. It is not formed. The sensor 62 is mounted and fixed below the recessed portion 64.

The actuator 61 is between an upper off posture (see the phantom line in FIG. 1) that turns off the contact mechanism of the sensor 62 and a lower on posture (see the solid line in FIG. 1) that turns on the contact mechanism. It is configured to be able to move in and out in the vertical direction, and is normally biased to an off posture by a spring assembled inside the housing of the sensor 62. When the cartridge 20 is assembled at an appropriate position in the cartridge mounting portion 51 as shown in FIG. 1, the operating portion 63 enters the recessed portion 64 from above and displaces the actuator 61 from the off posture to the on posture. As a result, an ON signal is transmitted from the sensor 62, and the control unit of the image forming apparatus 1 can detect that the cartridge 20 is mounted in the cartridge mounting unit 51.
When the cartridge 20 is lifted from the cartridge mounting portion 51, the pressing force applied to the actuator 61 by the operating portion 63 is released, so that the actuator 61 is displaced from the lower on posture to the upper off posture due to the biasing force of the spring. . As a result, the contact mechanism is turned off, and the control unit of the image forming apparatus 1 can determine that the cartridge 20 is not mounted in the cartridge mounting unit 51.

  1, 5, and 6, reference numeral 26 indicates a partition that partitions the front surface of the toner chamber 22 of the cartridge 20. A filling port 25 that opens to the toner chamber 22 is opened at the center of the partition 26. ing. On the front side of the partition wall 26, a front empty chamber 29 is formed in which a cylindrical opening wall 27 surrounding the filling port 25 and a boss 28 having a screw hole 28 a are accommodated. The cover member 30 is fastened and fixed by screws 31 so as to cover the cover. The partition wall 26 is provided with a previous engagement protrusion 55, and the engagement protrusion 55 is reinforced by ribs 32 arranged in a cross shape.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 5, and 6, a cap 33 is attached to the filling port 25. The cap 33 has a bottomed cylindrical shape constituted by a circular bottom surface 34 located on the rear side and a cylindrical wall (peripheral side wall) 35 raised from the periphery of the bottom surface 34 in the outward direction (forward direction). A main body portion 36, an annular flange portion 37 projecting outward from the free end of the cylindrical wall 35, and a rod-like actuating portion 63 which is long in the front and rear direction and protrudes outward from the center portion of the bottom surface 34. It is a resin molded product formed by integrally molding. That is, in the present embodiment, the operating portion 63 that is a component of the previous detection mechanism 60 is provided on the cap 33 that hermetically seals the filling port 25.

  The operating portion 63 has an opening 38 at the rear, and has a long bottomed cylindrical shape before and after the front end is sealed by the front wall 39. That is, the rear end portion of the operating portion 63 communicates with the opening portion 38 opened at the center portion of the bottom surface 34 of the main body portion 36.

  A fragile easily breakable portion 40 is formed at a connecting portion between the operating portion 63 and the main body portion 36. Here, a thin dangerous cross section with a small thickness dimension is formed on the entire circumference of the rear end portion of the operating portion 63, and this is used as the easily breakable portion 40. In detail, the inner wall surface of the cylindrical wall of the operation part 63 which concerns on a connection part was shaved, the dangerous cross section of the thin wall was formed in the step shape, and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical wall was made into straight shape.

  In the cap 33 configured as described above, when the main body portion 36 is pushed into the filling port 25, the main body portion 36 is fitted into the opening wall 27 so that the filling port 25 is hermetically sealed. Can do. In such a hermetically sealed state, the insertion limit of the cap 33 into the filling port 25 is restricted by the flange portion 37 being received by the protruding end of the opening wall 27.

If the operating part 63 is grasped and the cap 33 is pulled out from the filling port 25, the easily breakable part 40 of the connecting part is broken and the operating part 63 is separated from the bottom surface 34 of the main body part 36.
However, if a finger or the like is put on the flange portion 37 and pulled out to the front, the cap 33 can be removed and the hermetically sealed state of the filling port 25 can be released. Thus, after releasing the hermetically sealed state, the toner can be fed into the toner chamber 22 from the filling port 25.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the cover member 30 that covers the front opening of the front empty chamber 29 has three screw holes 43 corresponding to the screw holes 28a. The cover member 30 is fastened and fixed by screwing the screw 31 inserted in this way into the screw hole 28a. Further, the cover member 30 is provided with through holes 44 and 45 that allow the engaging protrusion 55 and the operating portion 63 to protrude forward and outward. The screw through hole 43 is formed in a stepped shape having a recess 43 a for receiving the head of the screw 31, and the screw 31 does not protrude from the cover member 30 in the fastening and fixing state.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the cap 33 that hermetically seals the filling port 25 is operated to turn on / off the sensor 62 that constitutes the detection mechanism 60 as well as the hermetic sealing function of the filling port 25. Giving function. In other words, the specially-shaped cap 33 having both the hermetic sealing function and the operation function is employed. For this reason, in order to produce a recycled cartridge 20 that is refilled with toner, it is necessary to prepare the cap 33 having the special shape. When a toner cartridge is to be manufactured, it is difficult to procure the cap 33, and a recycled toner cartridge cannot be easily manufactured. This prevents unauthorized opening of the cap 33 by a recycler or the like, and can effectively prevent refilling with non-genuine and inappropriate toner.

  If a fragile easily breakable portion 40 is formed at the connecting portion between the main body portion 36 and the operating portion 63 of the cap 33, if the cap 33 is forcibly pulled out from the filling port 25 by grasping the operating portion 63, the connecting portion The easily breakable portion 40 is broken and the operating portion 63 is easily separated from the main body portion 36. If the operating part 63 is separated in this way, the operating function for the sensor 62 of the detection mechanism 60 is lost, and the cap 33 is no longer used. This makes it difficult for the recycler or the like to pull out the cap 33, and can effectively prevent unauthorized opening of the cap 33. Therefore, it is effective that non-genuine improper toner is refilled. Can be prevented.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the operating portion 63 has a bottomed cylindrical shape and its rear end portion communicates with an opening 38 formed in the center of the bottom surface 34 of the main body portion 36, the easily breakable portion When 40 is broken and the operating part 63 reaches a separated state, the toner leaks from the opening 38. That is, when the operation part 63 is separated from the main body part 36, not only the operation function for the sensor 62 is lost, but also the sealing function for the filling port 25 is lost. This means that it is no longer used as a cap, and in this respect as well, an effect of preventing the cap 33 from being tampered with can be expected.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the inner wall surface of the cylindrical wall of the actuating portion 63 related to the connecting portion is cut to form a thin dangerous cross section in a stepped shape, and the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical wall is made straight. Then, the easily breakable portion 40 does not appear on the appearance, and it is difficult to visually recognize it. For this reason, when a recycler who does not know the presence of the easily breakable portion 40 performs the toner refilling process, it is highly likely that the operating portion 63 is pulled and the operating portion 63 is separated. The effect of preventing the cap 33 from being tampered with can be expected.

(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment of the toner cartridge according to the present invention is shown in FIG. In this case, the sensor 62 constituting the detection mechanism 60 is different from the first embodiment in that an optical sensor using the light receiving element 70 as a detection element is employed instead of the switch type sensor having the previous contact mechanism. To do. Specifically, a light receiving element 70 and a light projecting element 71 that irradiates light toward the light receiving element 70 are arranged at positions facing each other across the recessed portion 64 that receives the operating portion 63.

  When the cartridge 20 is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion 51, the operating portion 63 enters the recessed portion 64, and the operating portion 63 blocks the light emitted from the light projecting element 71. Decrease. Thereby, the image forming apparatus can detect that the cartridge 20 is mounted in the mounting portion 51. When the cartridge 20 is pulled up from the mounting portion 51 in the reverse procedure, the amount of light received by the light receiving element 70 increases, and it can be detected that the cartridge 20 has been removed from the mounting portion 51.

  As a specific example of the easily breakable portion 40, in addition to the method of forming the thin portion as shown in the first embodiment, a method of perforating the connecting portion between the operating portion 63 and the main body portion 36 can be cited. .

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal side view of the toner cartridge according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus to which a toner cartridge and a cap according to the present invention are applied. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a process unit including a toner cartridge and a photosensitive unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a mounting structure of a toner cartridge with respect to a cartridge mounting unit. It is the BB sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view for demonstrating the attachment structure of the cap with respect to a filling port. It is a vertical side view of a cap showing a state in which an easily breakable portion is broken. FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating a main part of a toner cartridge according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming apparatus 12 Photoconductor (photosensitive drum)
20 Toner cartridge 21 Case body 22 Toner chamber 25 Filling port 33 Cap 34 Bottom surface 35 Peripheral side wall (cylinder wall)
36 Main body 40 Easy breakable part 51 Cartridge mounting part 61 Actuator 62 Sensor 63 Actuating part 70 Light receiving element

Claims (5)

A toner cartridge that is detachably mounted in a cartridge mounting portion formed in the image forming apparatus and supplies toner to a photoconductor disposed adjacent to the cartridge mounting portion,
The toner cartridge has a toner chamber in which toner is accommodated in a case body, and a filling port for filling the toner chamber is formed on the outer surface of the case body. It is hermetically sealed with a cap,
The cartridge mounting portion is provided with a sensor for detecting whether or not the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion.
A toner cartridge comprising: a cap that hermetically seals the filling port; and an operating portion for operating the sensor. The cap is a resin molded product formed by integrally molding the main body part that is fitted inside the filling port and hermetically seals the filling port, and the operation part,
The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein an easily breakable portion is formed at a connecting portion between the main body portion and the operating portion. The sensor is a switch sensor having a contact mechanism;
3. The toner cartridge according to claim 1, wherein when the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion, the operating portion operates an actuator of a contact mechanism. The sensor is an optical sensor having a light receiving element as a detection element;
3. The toner according to claim 1, wherein when the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion, whether or not the toner cartridge is mounted is detected by the amount of light received by the light receiving element being changed by the operating portion. cartridge. A cap for hermetically sealing a toner filling port of a toner cartridge that is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion formed in the image forming apparatus,
The cartridge mounting portion is provided with a sensor for detecting whether or not the toner cartridge is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion.
The cap protrudes from a bottomed cylindrical main body portion composed of a bottom surface and a peripheral side wall formed upright from a peripheral edge of the bottom surface, and from the center portion of the bottom surface to turn on the sensor. With a working part of
A cap for sealing and sealing a toner filling port of a toner cartridge, wherein an easily breakable portion is formed at a connecting portion between the bottom surface and the operating portion.

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