JP2009180956A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus in which even where photoreceptor drums are disposed above cartridges, the cartridges can be easily detached from a drawable support member. <P>SOLUTION: A color printer 1 includes: the plurality of photoreceptor drums 71 disposed in the direction extending toward the front and the back; the plurality of developing cartridges 73, each of which is disposed below the corresponding photoreceptor drum 71 and includes a toner storage chamber 76 for storing toner and a developing roller 74 disposed opposite the photoreceptor drum 71; and a support frame 10 which supports the arrangement of the photoreceptor drums 71 and developing cartridges 73 and can be drawn out from a body housing 2 in the direction extending toward the front and the back. Each developing cartridge 73 is configured so as to be detachable from the right panel 10D side of the support frame 10, with the support frame 10 drawn out from the body housing 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus configured such that a cartridge can be attached to and detached from a support member pulled out from an apparatus main body.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image forming apparatus in which a developing member can be replaced by pulling a supporting member that supports a plurality of developing devices arranged in a horizontal direction from the main body of the apparatus, and detaching the developing device vertically from the supporting member. (For example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2). Compared to a configuration in which a heavy support member that supports a plurality of developing devices is moved in parallel in the vertical direction, or a configuration in which the developing devices are individually attached to and detached from the device main body, such an image forming apparatus is more Excellent workability.

JP 2003-15378 A JP 2003-287992 A

  By the way, the above-described configuration for replacing the developing device is such that the photosensitive drum provided separately from the developing device is arranged at the upper side in the developing device, specifically, in the image forming apparatus arranged above the developing cartridge or the developer cartridge. It cannot be used because the photosensitive drum is an obstacle.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus capable of easily attaching and detaching a cartridge from a support member that can be pulled out even when a photosensitive drum is disposed above the cartridge.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, an image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of photosensitive drums arranged in parallel, and a developer storage chamber that is disposed below the photosensitive drum and that stores at least a developer. A plurality of cartridges, and a support member that supports the photosensitive drums and the cartridges in an array, and that can be pulled out from the apparatus main body in the arrangement direction of the photosensitive drums. In the pulled-out state, the support member is configured to be detachable in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum.

  According to the image forming apparatus configured as described above, in the configuration in which the photosensitive drum is disposed above the cartridge, the cartridge is arranged in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum from the support member in a state where the support member is pulled out from the apparatus main body. Can be removed.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, even when the photosensitive drum is disposed above the cartridge, the cartridge can be easily attached and detached from the support member that can be pulled out without being obstructed by the photosensitive drum. .

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate. In the drawings to be referred to, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a color printer as an example of an image forming apparatus.
Here, in the following description, the direction will be described with reference to the user when using the color printer. That is, in FIG. 1, the left side toward the paper surface is “front side”, the right side toward the paper surface is “rear side”, the rear side toward the paper surface is “left side”, and the front side toward the paper surface is “right side”. To do. In addition, the vertical direction toward the page is defined as the “vertical direction”.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the color printer 1 includes a paper feed unit 3 that supplies paper P (recording sheet) in a main body housing 2 that forms a part of the apparatus main body, and an image on the fed paper P. Are mainly provided with an image forming unit 4 for forming the paper and a paper discharge unit 5 for discharging the paper P on which the image is formed.

  A front cover 21 that can be opened and closed is provided on the front side of the main body housing 2 so as to be able to rotate back and forth about a lower rotation shaft (see FIG. 3). A paper discharge tray 22 in which the paper P discharged from 2 is accumulated is provided.

  In the main body housing 2, the position of each developing cartridge 73 to be described later, specifically, the position of the developing roller 74, is separated from the photosensitive drum 71 from a contact position (see FIG. 1) in contact with the photosensitive drum 71. A switching member 23 for switching to the retracted position (see FIG. 3) is provided. Further, a side frame 24 that supports a support frame 10 to be described later so that it can be pulled out from the main body housing 2 is provided in the main body housing 2. Detailed configurations of the switching member 23 and the side frame 24 will be described later.

  The paper feed unit 3 is disposed in the lower part of the main body housing 2, and feeds the paper P from the paper feed tray 31 to the image forming unit 4. The sheet supply mechanism 32 is configured to include a registration roller 33 provided on the front side of the support frame 10, and a registration roller 34 provided on the front cover 21 and paired with the registration roller 33. The paper supply mechanism 32 includes a paper feed roller, a separation roller, a separation pad, a paper dust removal roller (reference numeral omitted), and the like, and separates the paper P in the paper feed tray 31 one by one to register the upper registration rollers 33 and 34. To supply. The paper P supplied to the registration rollers 33 and 34 is conveyed to the upper image forming unit 4 after the leading ends thereof are aligned by the registration rollers 33 and 34.

  The image forming unit 4 mainly includes a scanner unit 6 as an example of an exposure apparatus, a process unit 7, a transfer unit 8, and a fixing unit 9.

  The scanner unit 6 is disposed at the bottom of the main body housing 2, specifically between the paper feed tray 31 and the process unit 7, and includes a laser light emitting unit, a polygon mirror, a plurality of lenses, and a plurality of reflecting mirrors (reference numerals omitted). ) Etc. In the scanner unit 6, each photosensitive drum 71 of the process unit 7 is irradiated with laser light emitted from the laser light emitting unit corresponding to each color of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

  The process unit 7 is disposed above the scanner unit 6, specifically, between the scanner unit 6 and the transfer unit 8, and includes a support frame 10 as an example of a support member, four photosensitive drums 71, and each photosensitive member. The apparatus mainly includes four chargers 72 arranged to face the body drum 71 and four developing cartridges 73 as an example of a plurality of cartridges.

  The support frame 10 supports the photosensitive drum 71, the charger 72, and the developing cartridge 73 arranged in the front-rear direction, and is attached to the main body housing 2 so that it can be pulled out in the front-rear direction, which is the arrangement direction of the photosensitive drum 71. Has been. The detailed configuration of the support frame 10 will be described later.

  The developing cartridge 73 is disposed below each photosensitive drum 71. The developing cartridge 73 includes a developing case 73A constituting an outer frame, a developing roller 73 that is rotatably supported by the developing case 73A, and a supply roller 75 that is rotatably supported by the developing case 73A. And a toner storage chamber 76 as an example of a developer storage chamber. Each developing cartridge 73 has the same configuration except for the color of the toner (developer) stored in the toner storage chamber 76.

  The transfer unit 8 is disposed above the process unit 7, and includes a drive roller 81, a driven roller 82, an intermediate transfer belt 83, four primary transfer rollers 84, and a secondary provided on the front cover 21. A transfer roller 85 and a cleaning unit 86 are mainly provided.

  The driving roller 81 and the driven roller 82 are arranged in parallel with a distance in the front-rear direction, and an endless intermediate transfer belt 83 is stretched between them. The intermediate transfer belt 83 is rotationally driven together with the driven roller 82 by the rotational driving of the driving roller 81.

  Each primary transfer roller 84 is disposed on the inner side of the intermediate transfer belt 83, and is disposed to face the upper side of each photosensitive drum 71 so as to sandwich the intermediate transfer belt 83. The secondary transfer roller 85 is disposed to face the front side of the drive roller 81 so as to sandwich the intermediate transfer belt 83. A transfer bias is applied to the primary transfer roller 84 and the secondary transfer roller 85 by constant current control during transfer.

  The cleaning unit 86 is disposed above the intermediate transfer belt 83, collects the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 83 with the cleaning rollers 86A and 86B, and enters the toner storage unit 86C provided on the front side of the cleaning rollers 86A and 86B. The collected toner is stored.

  The fixing unit 9 is provided on the upper front side of the intermediate transfer belt 83, and mainly includes a heating roller 91 and a pressure roller 92 that is disposed to face the heating roller 91 and presses the heating roller 91.

  The paper discharge unit 5 includes a plurality of transport rollers (reference numerals omitted). The paper P discharged from the fixing unit 9 is discharged to the outside of the main body housing 2 by the transport roller and is accumulated in the paper discharge tray 22.

  In the image forming unit 4 configured as described above, first, the surface of each photosensitive drum 71 is uniformly charged by each charger 72 and then exposed to the laser light emitted from the scanner unit 6. As a result, the potential of the exposed portion is lowered, and an electrostatic latent image based on the image data is formed on each photosensitive drum 71. Further, the toner in the toner storage chamber 76 is supplied to the developing roller 74 by the rotation of the supply roller 75 and is carried on the developing roller 74.

  The toner carried on the developing roller 74 is supplied to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 71 when the developing roller 74 comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 71. As a result, the toner is selectively carried on the photosensitive drum 71, the electrostatic latent image is visualized, and a toner image is formed. The toner images of the respective colors formed on the respective photosensitive drums 71 are sequentially superimposed and transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 83 by the action of the respective primary transfer rollers 84 to which a transfer bias is applied.

  The toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 83 is subjected to secondary transfer to which a transfer bias is applied when the paper P supplied to the image forming unit 4 passes between the intermediate transfer belt 83 and the secondary transfer roller 85. The image is transferred onto the paper P by the action of the roller 85. The sheet P on which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing unit 9 and passes between the heating roller 91 and the pressure roller 92 to thermally fix the toner image. The paper P on which the toner image is thermally fixed is discharged outside the main body housing 2 by a pair of paper discharge rollers (not shown) provided in the paper discharge unit 5 and is accumulated on the paper discharge tray 22.

  Next, a configuration for attaching and detaching the developing cartridge 73 which is a characteristic part of the present invention will be described. 2 is a perspective view of the support frame, the photosensitive drum, and the developing cartridge. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the developing roller is separated from the photosensitive drum. FIG. 4 is a state in which the support frame is pulled out from the main body housing. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the support frame 10 is a box-shaped member that accommodates the photosensitive drum 71, the developing cartridge 73, and the like, and includes a front panel 10A, a rear panel 10B, a left panel 10C, a right panel 10D, and a bottom panel 10E. (See FIG. 3).

  A registration roller 33 is disposed on the front panel 10A, and a plurality of ribs 11 are provided on the outer surface along the vertical direction. The plurality of ribs 11 reduce the contact area between the front panel 10A and the paper P, thereby suppressing the paper P conveyed upward from sticking to the front panel 10A.

  The left panel 10C and the right panel 10D support the photosensitive drums 71 and the chargers 72, and are provided with through holes (reference numerals omitted) through which the rotation shafts 71A of the photosensitive drums 71 are inserted. . The rotation shaft 71A of each photosensitive drum 71 protrudes outward from the left panel 10C and the right panel 10D.

  Further, a protrusion 12 extending outward is provided near the front of the outer surface of the left panel 10C and the right panel 10D, and a roller mounting portion 13 extending toward the rear is provided at the rear end. The roller mounting portion 13 is provided with a long cylindrical guide 14 projecting outward and a rotatable guide roller 15 in this order from the front side.

  Further, the right panel 10D is provided with four openings 16 through which the developing cartridge 73 attached to the support frame 10 is exposed. The developing cartridge 73 is attached to and detached from the opening 16 in the left-right direction.

  On the inner surface (upper surface) of the bottom panel 10 </ b> E, four frame side guide portions 17 facing the cartridge side guide portions 73 </ b> B of each developer cartridge 73 in a state where the developer cartridge 73 is mounted on the support frame 10. Each is attached along the left-right direction which is the attaching / detaching direction.

  The frame-side guide portion 17 is a resin member, and the width in the longitudinal direction (left-right direction in FIG. 2) is approximately the same as the size from the inner surface of the left panel 10C to the opening end of the opening 16 of the right panel 10D. And extending continuously in the width direction. The frame-side guide portion 17 is formed with a recess having a cross-sectional shape (arc shape) that matches the cartridge-side guide portion 73B of the developing cartridge 73.

  The cartridge-side guide portion 73B is a substantially cylindrical member that continuously extends in the left-right direction and has a constant cross section (circular shape), and on the lower front side of the developing case 73A in a state where the developing cartridge 73 is attached to the support frame 10, It is provided integrally with the developing case 73A.

  According to such a configuration, the developing cartridge 73 (developing case 73A) is gripped, and the cartridge side guide portion 73B is slid along the concave portion of the frame side guide portion 17 in the left-right direction (the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 71). By doing so, the developing cartridge 73 can be attached to and detached from the support frame 10 easily and smoothly.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the switching member 23 is a member that switches the position of the developing roller 74 between a contact position that contacts the photosensitive drum 71 and a retracted position that is separated from the photosensitive drum 71. The switching member 23 is formed in a substantially triangular plate shape when viewed from the side, and corresponds to each developing cartridge 73 in the main body housing 2 on both the left and right sides of the scanner unit 6 whose width in the left-right direction is smaller than that of the process unit 7. The four pairs are arranged below the developing cartridge 73. The switching member 23 is configured to rotate with respect to the main body housing 2 around the rotation shaft 23A by a known rotation function.

As shown in FIG. 1, during the image forming operation, the top 23 </ b> B of the switching member 23 is in contact with the lower rear side of the developing cartridge 73 to push up the developing cartridge 73 from below. As a result, the developing cartridge 73 is tilted slightly forward from the initial position with the cartridge side guide portion 73B having a circular cross-sectional view as the center of rotation, so that the developing roller 74 is relatively moved forward and the photosensitive drum 71 In contact with.
Here, the “initial position” refers to the position of the developing cartridge 73 other than during the image forming operation (see FIG. 3).

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, when the image forming operation is not performed (including when the support frame 10 is attached / detached), the switching member 23 is rotated clockwise (in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3) by a known rotation mechanism (not shown). ). As a result, the top 23 </ b> B of the switching member 23 is separated from the lower part of the developing cartridge 73 and does not push up the developing cartridge 73. Then, the developing cartridge 73 returns to the initial position from the position slightly inclined forward with the cartridge side guide portion 73B as the rotation center due to its own weight, so that the developing roller 74 moves relatively rearward and the photosensitive drum. Separated from 71. The bottom panel 10E has a plurality of openings (reference numerals omitted) so as not to hinder the rotation of the switching member 23.

  According to such a switching member 23, the photosensitive drum 71 and the developing roller 74 can be separated from each other. Therefore, when the developing cartridge 73 is attached to and detached from the support frame 10, the photosensitive drum 71 and the developing roller 74. It is possible to suppress damage to the surface of the surface.

  Further, since the switching member 23 is disposed below the developing cartridge 73 provided below the photosensitive drum 71, the developing roller 74 and the photosensitive drum 71 are easily brought into contact by pushing up the developing cartridge 73 from below. In addition, by releasing the pushing-up (biasing), the developing cartridge 73 can be easily separated by its own weight.

  Further, since the developing roller 74 is brought into contact with and separated from the photosensitive drum 71 with the cartridge side guide portion 73B having a circular shape in cross section as a rotation center, the developing roller 74 (developing cartridge 73) is made with a relatively small force. Can be moved. Furthermore, by using the cartridge side guide portion 73B as the rotation center, the vertical movement of the developing cartridge 73 when the developing roller 74 is brought into contact with or separated from the moving portion can be reduced. As a result, the size of the support frame 10 can be reduced, and as a result, the color printer 1 can be reduced in size.

  Further, since the switching member 23 is disposed below the developing cartridge 73, the switching member 23 does not interfere with the developing cartridge 73 when the developing cartridge 73 is attached to and detached from the support frame 10. Further, since the switching member 23 is arranged so as to overlap the scanner unit 6 when viewed from the left and right sides of the scanner unit 6, that is, from the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 71, it is compared with the case where the switching member is arranged above the exposure apparatus. And the dimension (height) of the up-down direction of the main body housing | casing 2 can be made small. This also makes it possible to reduce the size of the color printer 1.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the side frames 24 are provided on the left and right sides (one side is not shown) of the support frame 10 in the main body housing 2. The side frame 24 includes a guide groove 24A for guiding the rotation shaft 71A of the photosensitive drum 71 protruding from the left and right panels 10C and 10D of the support frame 10, and a guide for guiding the guide 14 and the guide roller 15 of the support frame 10. A groove 24B and a guide groove 24C for guiding the protrusion 12 of the support frame 10 are formed. Each of the guide grooves 24A to 24C is open at the front end (see FIG. 3), so that the support frame 10 can be detached from the main body housing 2.

  Each of the guide grooves 24A to 24C has a portion extending obliquely upward on the rear side from the rear end of the horizontal portion extending from the front side to the rear side (the guide groove 24A has four locations corresponding to the four rotation shafts 71A), Further, this portion is formed in a shape having a positioning portion that extends horizontally from the rear end portion toward the rear side.

  With such a shape, when the support frame 10 is mounted on the main body housing 2, the support frame 10 is finally moved upward (obliquely upward) along the guide grooves 24A to 24C. Each photosensitive drum 71 and the intermediate transfer belt 83 abut at the end of the mounting. On the other hand, when the support frame 10 is pulled out from the main body housing 2, the support frame 10 is first moved downward (obliquely downward) along the guide grooves 24 </ b> A to 24 </ b> C. And the intermediate transfer belt 83 are separated at the beginning of the drawer. According to this, since most of the photosensitive drums 71 and the intermediate transfer belt 83 are not in contact with each other while the photosensitive drums 71 move in the front-rear direction with respect to the main body housing 2, Damage to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 83 can be suppressed.

The operation and effect of the color printer 1 configured as described above will be described.
When replacing the developing cartridge 73, first, as shown in FIG. 3, the front cover 21 is pivoted downward and opened. At this time, since the switching member 23 is rotated clockwise by a known rotation mechanism, each photosensitive drum 71 and the developing roller 74 of each developing cartridge 73 are separated (in this embodiment). The developing roller 74 is always in the retracted position except during the image forming operation).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the support frame 10 is pulled out from the main body housing 2 to the front side (in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4) until all the developing cartridges 73 come out of the main body housing 2. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the cartridge side guide portion 73B of the developing case 73A is placed along the frame side guide portion 17, and the developer cartridge 73 is removed from the right panel 10D side of the support frame 10 and replaced.

  As described above, according to the color printer 1, even when the photosensitive drum 71 and the intermediate transfer belt 83 are arranged above the developing cartridge 73, the front cover 21 is opened and the support frame 10 is attached to the main body housing 2. Then, all the developing cartridges 73 are pulled out until they come out of the main body housing 2, and can be easily replaced by attaching / detaching the developing cartridge 73 from the right panel 10D side of the support frame 10. That is, the workability at the time of exchanging the cartridge is excellent as in the case of the image forming apparatus that is exchanged by attaching and detaching the cartridge in the vertical direction from the support member pulled out from the apparatus main body in the horizontal direction.

  Further, since the support frame 10 is pulled out in the front-rear direction and pulled out, the developing cartridge 73 can be easily compared with an image forming apparatus in which a heavy support member supporting the cartridge is translated upward and then the cartridge is replaced. Can be exchanged. In addition, since it is not necessary to provide an openable / closable cover on the upper surface of the main body housing 2, it is possible to effectively use the space above the main body housing 2, such as providing an image reading device above the main body housing 2. it can.

  Furthermore, compared with an image forming apparatus in which each cartridge is directly attached to and detached from the side surface of the apparatus main body, the configuration in the main body housing 2 can be simplified and the space can be effectively used. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, in the color printer 1, a drive system 41 is provided in the main body housing 2 so as to face the left panel 10 </ b> C of the support frame 10, and the electrodes face the right panel 10 </ b> D of the support frame 10. A system 42 can be provided. Thus, by arranging the drive system 41 and the electrode system 42 separately, the configuration in the main body housing 2 can be simplified, and the left and right spaces of the support frame 10 can be used effectively. it can.

  On the other hand, in the configuration in which the cartridge is directly attached to and detached from the side surface of the apparatus main body, one side of the cartridge side surface serves as a cartridge attachment / detachment path, so that the drive system and electrode system components are mixed on the other side. As a result, the configuration inside the apparatus main body becomes complicated, and the space on one side cannot be used effectively.

  In general, the drive system 41 is mainly configured by a motor for driving the photosensitive drum 71, various rollers, the intermediate transfer belt 83, and the like, and a plurality of gears for transmitting a driving force. It is mainly composed of electrodes of the charger 72 and the heating roller 91, a control board for controlling the color printer 1, a power supply board for supplying power to each part of the color printer 1, and various wirings.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to above-described embodiment. About a concrete structure, it can change suitably in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the developing cartridge 73 is attached / detached from the right panel 10 </ b> D side of the support frame 10 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the developing cartridge 73 is attachable / detachable from the left panel 10 </ b> C side. Also good.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the support frame 10 is configured to be removable from the main body housing 2 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the support frame 10 may be configured not to be removable from the main body housing 2 by restricting the movement of the support frame 10 toward the front side of the guide frame 24B by closing the front end portion of the guide groove 24B.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the switching member 23 having a substantially triangular shape in a side view that is configured to be rotatable around the rotation shaft 23A by a known rotation mechanism has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a rod-shaped member having a rack gear portion is provided at the rear or lower side of the cartridge, and a gear meshing with the rack gear portion is directly or indirectly driven by a motor or the like to move the rod-shaped member to apply a pressing force to the cartridge. Thus, the position of the developing roller may be switched between the contact position and the retracted position. That is, the configuration can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, the cartridge side guide portion 73B provided in the developing cartridge 73 and continuously extending in the left-right direction with a constant cross section, and the cartridge side guide portion 73B are continuously attached to the support frame 10 along the left-right direction. Although the frame side guide portion 17 having a cross section that matches with the above is shown, it is not limited to this. For example, the frame side guide part may be comprised from the several member attached intermittently along the left-right direction. Further, the frame side guide portion may be formed by a bottom panel or the like (support member) itself of the support frame. Furthermore, the cross-sectional shape of the cartridge side guide portion is not particularly limited, and may be a polygonal shape in addition to the circular shape described above.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the intermediate transfer belt 83 is disposed so as to be opposed to the upper side of each photosensitive drum 71 has been described. However, the configuration is not limited thereto. In other words, the present invention can be applied to, for example, a configuration including a sheet conveying belt disposed so as to face the photosensitive drum.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the developing cartridge 73 having the developing roller 74 and the toner storage chamber 76 is adopted as an example of the cartridge is shown, but the cartridge of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a developer cartridge (so-called toner box) mainly having only a developer storage chamber may be used.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the scanner unit 6 including a laser light emitting unit (not shown) is adopted as an example of the exposure apparatus is shown, but the exposure apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the exposure apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the one that exposes the photosensitive drum with laser light, and may be one that exposes the photosensitive drum with an LED or the like, for example.

  In the above-described embodiment, the color printer 1 is illustrated as an example of the image forming apparatus, but the image forming apparatus of the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a color multifunction peripheral or a color copying machine that includes an image reading device (such as a flatbed scanner) above the apparatus main body.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a color printer as an example of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a support frame, a photosensitive drum, and a developing cartridge. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a developing roller is separated from a photosensitive drum. It is a figure which shows the state which pulled out the support frame from the main body housing | casing. It is VV sectional drawing of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Color printer 2 Main body housing | casing 6 Scanner part 10 Support frame 10D Right panel 23 Switching member 71 Photosensitive drum 73 Developing cartridge 74 Developing roller 76 Toner accommodating chamber 83 Intermediate transfer belt

Claims (5)

A plurality of photosensitive drums arranged in parallel;
A plurality of cartridges disposed below the photosensitive drum and having a developer storage chamber in which at least a developer is stored;
The photosensitive drum and the cartridge are arranged and supported, and a support member that can be pulled out from the apparatus main body in the arrangement direction of the photosensitive drum,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the cartridge is configured to be detachable from the support member in an axial direction of the photosensitive drum in a state where the support member is pulled out from the apparatus main body. The cartridge has a developing roller arranged to face the photosensitive drum,
The apparatus main body is provided with a switching member that switches a position of the developing roller between a contact position in contact with the photoconductive drum and a retracted position separated from the photoconductive drum. 2. The image forming apparatus according to 1.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an intermediate transfer belt disposed to face the upper side of each of the photosensitive drums.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the switching member is disposed below the cartridge. An exposure device for exposing the photosensitive drum;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the switching member is disposed so as to overlap the exposure apparatus when viewed from an axial direction of the photosensitive drum.

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