JP2009069587A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To keep the cost of the apparatus low by enabling a single detecting part to detect the presence or absence of a sealing member, which seals the discharge opening of a toner bottle, and whether or not the toner bottle has been set in a normal position. <P>SOLUTION: A developer supply container includes: the discharge opening for discharging developer; a conductive member disposed near the discharge opening; and the sealing member that is insulative, seals the discharge opening and covers the conductive member. The process unit has the detecting part, which detects whether the sealing member has been removed when the developer supply container is attached to the process unit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a replenishing type developer replenishing container having a seal member for sealing an opening of a developer replenishing container used in a copying machine, a printer, or the like.

  In an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic copying machine or printer, a developer is supplied from an image carrier that forms a latent image, a developing unit that develops the latent image with a developer, and a removable developer supply container. And a developer storage unit for receiving and storing the process unit.

  By the way, in order to prevent leakage of toner from a toner bottle (developer supply container) that contains toner that is a developer for developing a latent image formed on an image carrier during transportation, The toner bottle is sealed with a sealing member such as a film seal, and the toner bottle is packaged separately from the main body.

  Here, when the toner bottle is sealed with a sealing member, if the toner bottle or the process unit is incorporated in the main body and transported in the same package, a wider space or a larger number of transport means such as a car can be used for transport and storage. Efficient without need.

  However, when the same package is transported in this way, after the transport is completed, the user performs an image forming operation without removing the sealing member that seals the toner bottle, and the toner is not replenished, resulting in an image defect and transfer. There is a possibility of wasting paper.

  Further, even if the seal member is removed, if the discharge opening for discharging the toner in the toner bottle is not located at a predetermined location, the toner cannot be supplied well, and an image defect occurs.

  At that time, the toner does not spread accurately from the toner bottle to the toner storage part (developer storage part) of the developing device and is scattered in the developing device. As a result, the user when the toner bottle is soiled and taken out. My hands get dirty. In the worst case, the scattered toner wraps around the drive gear portion of the developing device, making the slidability of the gear worse and making it difficult to remove the toner bottle.

To solve this problem, whether the seal member is a conducting member, an electrode is provided on the image forming and developing apparatus main body side, a voltage is applied to detect the presence or absence of the seal member, and another sensor is attached, and the process unit is installed at the proper position. A method for detecting the above has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-231757).

As another method (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-267424), an invention has been proposed in which opening of the tear tape is detected from the amount of toner in the developing device by detecting the remaining amount of toner.

JP-A-11-231757 JP 2000-267424 A

  Whether the seal unit that seals the discharge opening of the toner bottle is a conductive member, an electrode is provided on the developing device side, voltage is applied to detect the presence or absence of the seal member, and another sensor is attached and the process unit is installed in the proper position. In the method for detecting, two detection members are required, which is expensive.

  Further, in the invention of detecting the opening of the tear tape from the toner amount in the developing device by detecting the remaining amount of toner, it takes time until the toner is sent from the toner bottle into the developing device, and as a result, the tear tape is also detected. It takes time.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to reduce costs by detecting the presence or absence of a seal member that seals a discharge opening of a toner bottle and whether a toner bottle is installed at a proper position by a single detection unit.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an image carrier for forming a latent image, a developing unit for developing the latent image with a developer, and a developer supplied from a detachable developer supply container for receiving and storing the developer. In a process unit having a developer storage section,
The developer supply container has a discharge opening for discharging the developer, a conductive member in the vicinity of the discharge opening, and an insulating seal member that seals the discharge opening and covers the conductive member. And
The process unit includes a detection unit that detects that the seal member has been removed from the developer supply container when the developer supply container is attached to the process unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the process unit according to the first aspect, the detection unit is configured by a contact member.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the process unit according to the second aspect, the detection unit causes the contact member to contact the seal member or the conductive member, and the presence or absence of the seal member by conduction when a voltage is applied. It is characterized by detecting.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the process unit according to the first, second, or third aspect, the detection unit detects the position of the discharge opening of the developer supply container by conduction to the conductive member. It is characterized by.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising the process unit according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein an image is formed on a recording material.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to detect the presence / absence of a tear tape (seal member) that seals the toner discharge opening of the toner bottle and the displacement of the discharge opening at a low cost.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  An electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying apparatus, electrostatic recording apparatus, and laser beam printer to which the present invention is applied, and a process unit attached to the electrophotographic image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. .

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus with the process unit mounted on the image forming apparatus main body. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the process unit.

  In the right direction of FIG. 1, a manual feed tray 1 and a paper feed roller 2 are arranged on the left side of each, a process unit 4 having a toner bottle 3a mounted therein is located inside the developing device 3, and a transfer roller is below it. 5 is disposed, a conveyance roller 6 and a fixing unit 7 are disposed on the left side of the transfer roller 5, and a discharge tray 8 and a discharge roller 9 are disposed on the left side of the fixing unit 7. .

  Further, the image forming apparatus A according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is capable of cassette feeding, and a sheet feeding cassette 10 for feeding the cassette in the downward direction in FIG. It is arranged.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the process unit 4 includes a photosensitive drum 12 as a rotationally driven image carrier, a charging roller 13 disposed around the photosensitive drum 12, a developing sleeve 3b as a developer carrier, The developing device 3, the cleaning blade 14 and the like are integrally incorporated to constitute a unit.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus A will be briefly described with reference to FIGS.
When the surface of the photosensitive drum 12 provided in the process unit 4 is uniformly charged by the charging roller 13, and the laser is irradiated from the optical means 15 to the surface of the photosensitive drum 12 so as to correspond to the original image. Then, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 12.

  The electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 12 is developed using toner as a developer conveyed by the developing sleeve 3b of the developing device 3, and is visualized as a toner image.

  On the other hand, paper can be fed from either the manual feed tray 1 or the cassette 10 as described above, and the recording medium 16 such as transfer paper is taken out one by one by the paper feed roller 11 or 2, respectively. The recording medium 16 passes between the photosensitive drum 12 and the transfer roller 5. Then, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 12 is transferred onto the recording medium 16.

  Then, the recording medium 16 onto which the toner has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing unit 7, and the toner image is fixed by heat and pressure by the fixing unit 7, and then discharged out of the image forming apparatus A by the discharge roller 9. Then, it is stacked on the paper discharge tray 8.

  The process unit 4 includes a toner bottle 3a as a toner bottle in which an opening 21 (FIG. 4) is sealed with a tear tape 17 (FIG. 3) as an insulating seal member, and a developing device that supports a developing portion such as a developing sleeve 3b. 3 is built-in.

  The mechanism used in this embodiment is mounted so that the discharge opening 18 of the toner bottle 3a is on the upper side, and then the tear tape 17 is pulled.

  Then, in order to send the toner to the developing unit, the discharge opening 18 is rotated to the developing unit side. However, if the toner bottle 3a is rotated in a state where the tear tape 17 is forgotten to be pulled and the image forming apparatus is started up, the toner cannot be supplied due to a long idle rotation without the tear tape 17 being pulled out. In addition, the recording medium 16 is not only wasted, but also causes a failure of the developing device due to deterioration of the sleeve 3b or the like.

  As a mechanism in the present invention, a conductive member 19 having a length of about 2 cm and a width of about 0.5 cm (as in this embodiment) is pasted immediately below the discharge opening 18 of the toner bottle 3a, and the tear tape 17 is heated from above. Weld.

  On the other hand, in the developing unit inside the image forming apparatus main body, a detection unit that detects the presence or absence of the tear tape 17 is configured by two contact members 20. In order to apply a voltage to the contact member 20, a 3V power source small board (not shown) is attached to the main body substrate.

  When the tear bottle 17 is peeled off from the toner bottle 3a when the toner bottle 3a is rotated and the discharge opening 18 on the bottle side is disposed at the regular position, the conductive member 19 of the toner bottle 3a is connected to the image forming apparatus. This is a mechanism that allows contact with the contact portion 20 in the developing portion inside the main body to establish conduction.

  When the image forming apparatus main body is activated to perform printing, when the power is turned on, a pre-multiple rotation is performed to detect the remaining amount of toner and to check the presence or absence of the cleaner container.

  A voltage is applied to the contact member on the main body side immediately before the previous multiple rotation. If continuity is obtained, it is determined that there is no tear tape 17 and printing is continued.

However, if the electrical connection is not established, it is displayed that the tear tape 17 has not been removed.
If the voltage is applied to the contact member 20 on the image forming apparatus main body only during the previous multiple rotations, the toner bottle 3a is replaced while the power is on, and a new toner bottle 3a with no new tear tape 17 is pulled. When it is installed in the main body and printing is attempted without pulling the tear tape 17, the main body side determines that there is no tear tape 17.

  Therefore, the voltage is applied to the contact member 20 on the image forming apparatus main body side at the time of multiple rotations before the power is turned on and at the time of the previous rotation during the image forming operation.

  Next, a series of flows will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the toner bottle 3a is attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus so that the opening 21 faces upward, and the toner bottle 3a is rotated.

Turn on the main unit (S1). Normally, since the front cover is opened when the toner bottle 3a is replaced, it is confirmed here that the front cover is closed (S2). Here, when the front cover is open, a message to that effect is displayed.

  Next, if the bias is applied from the small base to the contact member 20 on the developing device side before the pre-multi-rotation, and it is detected that the contact member and the conductive member of the toner bottle are connected (S3), the pre-multi-rotation Waiting until receiving (S4) and print job (S5).

When it is detected that the tape has not been removed, the display section indicates that the tape has not been removed without entering the previous multiple revolutions (Fig. 5) or that the toner bottle 3a has not been set to the correct position (Fig. 6). indicate.

When a print job is received, continuity is confirmed again (S6). As with S3, a warning is displayed on the display if the continuity is not achieved.

  The reason for confirming the continuity also during the pre-rotation (S7) is that when a warning is issued once, the user or serviceman removes the tear tape 17 and sets the toner bottle again to the correct position. Is already on.

  For this reason, the power must be turned off once to perform the pre-multiple rotation. However, if a voltage is applied to the contact member on the developing device side even during the pre-rotation, the conductive member on the toner bottle 3a side and the contact member on the developing device side can be connected to enable printing. Of course, there is no problem even if the power is turned off once and the previous multiple revolutions are turned on.

Image forming and developing apparatus sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention Process unit sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention Toner bottle with heat-sealed tear tape according to an embodiment of the present invention Toner bottle from which tear tape according to an embodiment of the present invention is removed Toner bottle and developer-side detection member on which tear tape of embodiment example of the present invention is thermally welded The toner bottle and the developer side detection member (phase shift) from which the tear tape of the embodiment of the present invention has been removed Flowchart when a toner bottle is mounted according to an embodiment of the present invention

Explanation of symbols

1 Bypass tray
2 Feed roller
3 Developer
3a Toner bottle
4 Process unit
5 Transfer roller
6 Transport roller
7 Fixing part
8 Output tray
9 Paper discharge roller
10 Paper cassette
11 Feed roller
12 Photosensitive drum (image carrier)
13 Charging roller
14 Cleaning blade
15 Optical means
16 Recording media
17 Tear tape
18 Discharge opening
19 Conductive member
20 Contact material

Claims (5)

An image carrier that forms a latent image, a developing unit that develops the latent image with a developer, and a developer storage unit that receives and stores developer from a detachable developer supply container. Process unit
The developer supply container has a discharge opening for discharging the developer, a conductive member in the vicinity of the discharge opening, and an insulating seal member that seals the discharge opening and covers the conductive member. And
The process unit includes a detection unit that detects that the seal member has been removed from the developer supply container when the developer supply container is attached to the process unit.   The process unit according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit includes a contact member.   The process unit according to claim 2, wherein the detection unit detects the presence or absence of the seal member by bringing the contact member into contact with the seal member or the conductive member and conducting when a voltage is applied.   The process unit according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects a position of the discharge opening of the developer supply container by conduction to the conductive member.   An image forming apparatus comprising the process unit according to claim 1 and forming an image on a recording material.

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