JP2010249969A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inform a user that paper is ejected and stacked in a paper ejection space part while suppressing cost rise with simple constitution. <P>SOLUTION: An in-body paper ejection type image forming apparatus includes an image reading means 16 above an image forming part of the image forming apparatus, while putting the paper ejection space part 61 including a bin paper ejection tray 81 in between, and includes a detection means which detects that a recording medium is ejected to the bin paper ejection tray 81 and generates a detection signal, and a light emitting part 83 which is arranged at the edge a front-side edge of the bin paper ejection tray 81 and which includes an LED light emitting element actuated based on the detection signal. The image forming apparatus includes an operation panel 91 on the front side of the bin paper ejection tray 81, and the light emitting part 83 is arranged at an edge part of the bin paper ejection tray 81, deviated from the arranging position of the operation panel 91. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an in-cylinder discharge type image forming apparatus in which an image reading unit is disposed across a paper discharge space having a bin paper discharge tray above an image forming unit.

  There is a so-called in-body discharge type image forming apparatus. In this type, an image forming unit, an image reading unit, and a paper discharge unit are provided between the image forming unit and the image reading unit. Such an in-body paper discharge type image forming apparatus has a problem that it is difficult to confirm that a recording medium such as a recording paper is discharged to a paper discharge unit. In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 1 discloses that an image forming unit and an image are provided so that a user can clearly understand that print sheets are discharged and stacked on a bin discharge tray. Stack notification by detecting that paper has been discharged and stacked on the bin discharge tray disposed in the in-cylinder discharge unit of the in-cylinder discharge type image forming apparatus provided with the in-cylinder discharge unit between the reading device and the reader A paper detection means for generating a signal, and a paper discharge means for making the bin paper discharge tray transparent to notify the bin paper discharge tray that paper has been stacked based on the stack notification signal are described. ing.

  However, in the conventional image forming apparatus described above, in order to notify the sheet discharge, there is a problem that the bin sheet discharge tray needs to be provided in addition to the transparent bin discharge tray, which increases the cost. SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus capable of notifying a user that a sheet is discharged and stacked in a discharge space portion while suppressing cost with a simple configuration.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an in-cylinder discharge type image forming apparatus in which an image reading unit is disposed with a discharge space portion including a bin discharge tray above the image forming unit. And a detecting unit that detects that the recording medium has been discharged and generates a detection signal, and a light emitting unit that is disposed on a front side edge of the bin discharge tray and that operates based on the detection signal. An image forming apparatus.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the light emitting means includes an LED light emitting element.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the image forming apparatus includes an operation panel on the front side of the bin discharge tray, and the light emitting means is disposed on the bin discharge tray. Among them, the operation panel is arranged at a position deviating from the arrangement position.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, an automatic document feeder is disposed on an opening / closing body of the reading unit.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the light emitting means for notifying that the recording medium has been discharged to the bin discharge tray is disposed at the front side edge of the bin discharge tray. Thus, the user can be surely recognized that the recording medium is arranged on the bin discharge tray while suppressing the cost.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus to which an embodiment is applied. It is a perspective view which shows the attachment state of an opening-and-closing body part. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming apparatus. FIG. 5 is a perspective view from another direction showing the image forming apparatus. 1 is a side view of an image forming apparatus. It is a schematic diagram which shows the eyes | visual_axis from a user.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an in-cylinder discharge type image forming apparatus in which an image reading unit is disposed with a discharge space portion including a bin discharge tray above an image forming unit. In addition to detecting means for detecting that the recording medium has been discharged to the tray and generating a detection signal, an LED light emitting element as a light emitting means that is disposed on the front side edge of the bin discharge tray and operates based on the detection signal Arranged. In addition, the image forming apparatus includes an operation panel on the front side of the bin discharge tray, and the light emitting unit is disposed at a position out of the bin discharge tray in the bin discharge tray. An automatic document feeder is disposed on the opening / closing body.

  The image forming apparatus according to the embodiment will be described below. First, a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus will be described. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus to which the embodiment is applied, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a mounting state of an automatic document reader.

  A copying machine 11 that is an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied includes an image forming unit 12 that forms a toner image on a recording medium, and a toner image on the recording medium that is formed by the image forming unit 12. A fixing device 13 for fixing the recording medium, a recording medium conveying device 14 for feeding a recording medium to the image forming means 12, a first apparatus main body 15 for housing the image forming means 12, the fixing device 13 and the recording medium conveying device 14; An image reading means 16 for reading a document image, a second apparatus main body 17 for accommodating the image reading means 16, and an automatic document feeder 18 (ADF) having a pressure plate function as an opening / closing member for conveying the document. ing. As shown in FIG. 2, the ADF 18 is mounted on the second device main body 17 via the hinge mechanism 19 so as to be openable and closable. With this configuration, in this example, the second apparatus main body 17 and the automatic document feeder 18 constitute an image reading unit.

  The ADF 18 is provided between a document placing table 20 on which a document bundle can be placed, a contact position that contacts the upper surface of the document bundle placed on the document placing table 20 and feeds the document bundle, and a separation position that is separated from the document bundle. A pickup roller 21 that is moved by the pickup roller 21, a sheet feeding belt 22 that separates documents one by one from a bundle of documents sent out by the pickup roller 21, and conveys them toward a slit glass 36 that is a reading position. A document conveying means 25 comprising 24, and a document discharging means 29 comprising a conveying roller pair 27 and a discharge roller pair 28 for discharging the document, which has been read at the reading position, to the document discharging table 26 are provided.

  The paper discharge roller pair 28 includes a drive roller 28a, a driven roller 28b and a driven roller 28c that are in sliding contact with the drive roller 28a, and a switching claw 30 is provided in the vicinity of the paper discharge roller pair 28. . The switching claw 30 moves between the first switching position and the second switching position. When the switching claw 30 is switched to the first switching position, the driving roller 28a and the driven roller 28b The document is discharged to the document discharge table 26. When the switching claw 30 is switched to the second switching position, the document is conveyed to the switchback passage 31 by the driving roller 28a and the driven roller 28c.

  The switchback passage 31 is provided with a pair of switchback rollers 32 that can freely rotate in the forward and reverse directions. The document conveyed to the switchback passage 31 is conveyed rightward in FIG. When the switchback roller pair 32 is driven in reverse, the switchback roller pair 32 is transported to the transport roller pair 24 via the re-transport path. For this reason, the document is reversed and conveyed to the reading position.

  The image reading means 16 includes a second device main body 17 that houses the optical system 34, a contact glass 35 and a slit glass 36 that are fixedly arranged on the upper portion of the second device main body 17, as is known per se. It has. The image reading means 16 reads a document by placing a document composed of a closed document or a book on the contact glass 35 and pressing the document by the automatic document feeder 18. be able to. A document automatically conveyed by the automatic document conveying device 18 is read at the reading position of the slit glass 36. That is, the optical system 34 as an image reading unit includes a first traveling body 39 having a light source 37 and a first mirror 38, a second traveling body 42 having a second mirror 40 and a third mirror 41, and an imaging lens. 43 and a CCD image sensor 44, and the first traveling body 39 and the second traveling body 42 move to the right from the position shown in FIG. Is reflected on the first mirror 38, the second mirror 40, and the third mirror 41 in this order, and then enters the CCD image sensor 44 through the imaging lens 43. In this way, the original image is formed on the CCD image sensor 44, whereby the original image is read.

  When reading the document by the automatic document feeder 18, the document traveling in the above-described procedure is read with the first traveling body 39 and the second traveling body 42 fixed at the position shown on the right side in FIG.

  The image forming unit 12 includes a first image carrier 45Y, a second image carrier 45C, a third image carrier 45M, and a fourth image carrier 45BK made of a drum-shaped photoconductor. An intermediate transfer belt 46 composed of an endless belt wound around a plurality of support rollers is disposed opposite to the four image carriers 45Y to 45BK. The first to fourth image carriers 45Y to 45BK are respectively rotated in the clockwise direction in FIG. 1, and the intermediate transfer belt 46 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. At this time, the first image carrier 45Y is charged to a predetermined polarity by the charging roller 47.

  The optical writing unit 48 emits a laser beam L that is light-modulated based on the image signal corresponding to the reading result of the document, and the laser is applied to the charging surface of the first image carrier 45Y. By irradiating the beam L, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the first image carrier 45Y, and this electrostatic latent image is visualized as a yellow toner image by the developing device 49.

  When a transfer voltage is applied to the primary transfer roller 50, the toner image formed on the first image carrier 45Y is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 46 that rotates in the direction of arrow A in FIG. . The transfer residual toner adhering to the first image carrier 45Y after the toner image transfer is removed by the cleaning device 52. In the copying machine 11 of the present embodiment, the first image carrier 45Y, the charging roller 47 disposed around the first image carrier 45Y, the developing device 49, and the cleaning device 52 constitute an integral process cartridge. Yes.

  Further, the developing device 49 has a developing container 53 containing powdered toner, and the electrostatic latent image is visualized by the toner. Further, when the toner amount in the developing container 53 decreases, the toner is supplied to the developing container 53 from the toner bottle 54Y.

  On the other hand, the cleaning device 52 includes a cleaning container 55 that receives the toner removed from the first image carrier 45Y. The toner in the cleaning container 55 is transported to a waste toner container (not shown) by the toner transport device. Is done. As described above, the developing container 53, the toner bottle 54Y, the cleaning container 55, and the waste toner container contain toner.

  In the same manner as described above, a cyan toner image, a magenta toner image, and a black toner image are formed on the second image carrier 45C, the third image carrier 45M, and the fourth image carrier 45BK, respectively. Are primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 46, to which the yellow toner image has been transferred, one after another.

  When the toner amount in the developing container of the developing device for forming the toner image on the second image carrier 45C, the third image carrier 45M, and the fourth image carrier 45BK decreases, the toner bottles 54C, 54M, From 54BK, toner is supplied to each developer container.

  In this manner, the superimposed toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 46 is secondarily transferred onto the recording medium by the action of the secondary transfer roller 56, and the transfer residual toner attached on the intermediate transfer belt 46 after the transfer. Is removed by the belt cleaning device 52. The cleaning container 55 of the cleaning device 52 also stores toner, and the toner is conveyed to a waste toner container (not shown).

  The recording medium transport device 14 is disposed below the intermediate transfer belt 46, and the recording medium transport device 14 includes a paper feed cassette 57 that stores a recording medium S made of recording paper or the like, and a top recording medium S. The uppermost recording medium S is fed in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1 as it has a paper feed roller 58 and a registration roller pair 59 that are in contact with each other. The sent recording medium S is fed between the intermediate transfer belt 46 and the secondary transfer roller 56 disposed opposite to the intermediate transfer belt 46 at a predetermined timing by the rotation of the registration roller pair 59.

  When the recording medium S passes between the intermediate transfer belt 46 and the secondary transfer roller 56, a transfer voltage is applied to the secondary transfer roller 56, so that the superimposed toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 46 is recorded on the recording medium. Secondary transfer. In this way, a toner image is formed on the recording medium S by the image forming means 12.

  Then, the recording medium S on which the toner image is formed passes through the fixing device 13, and at this time, the toner image on the recording medium S formed by the image forming unit 12 is fixed to the recording medium S. The recording medium S on which the image is fixed by the fixing device 13 is discharged into the discharge space 61 by the discharge roller pair 60.

The paper discharge space 61 is formed between the first apparatus main body 15 that stores the image forming means 12 and the second apparatus main body 17 that stores the image reading means 16. This is a cylinder discharge type copier 11 in which the space between the first apparatus main body 15 and the second apparatus main body 17 on the downstream side in the discharge direction of the recording medium S by the paper roller pair 60 is opened. A bin paper discharge tray 81 is disposed in the paper discharge space 61 as required (see FIGS. 3 and 4).
Further, a switching lever 62 is provided on the upstream side of the discharge roller pair 60. When the copying on the front surface of the recording medium is completed, the switching lever 62 is used when copying on the back surface of the recording medium S. It can be switched to the reversing passage 63 side.

  That is, when the rear end of the recording medium S is sandwiched between the paper discharge roller pair 60, the paper discharge roller pair 60 is driven in reverse, and the switching lever 62 is switched to a position communicating with the reverse passage 63. It is conveyed toward the reversing passage 63.

A reversing roller pair 64 is provided in the reversing path 63, and the recording medium conveyed through the reversing path 63 by the reversing roller pair 64 is conveyed to the secondary transfer roller 56 side.
On the other hand, a reflective guide plate 65 is provided on the slit glass 36, and the reflective guide plate 65 reflects light from the light source 37.

  Further, a guide member 71 as shown in FIG. 3 is provided between the contact glass 35 and the slit glass 36, and this guide member 71 scoops up the document that has passed through the slit glass 36 and supplies it to the conveying roller pair 27. It is designed to guide you towards you.

  Next, features of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, FIG. 4 is a perspective view from another direction illustrating the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. 6 is a plan view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a line of sight from the user.

  As described above, the copying machine 11 forms the paper discharge space 61 between the first apparatus main body 15 and the second apparatus main body 17 which is a document reading apparatus. In this example, an operation panel 91 constituted by a liquid crystal touch panel is attached to the first apparatus main body 15 with a variable arrangement angle. A bin discharge tray 81 is arranged in the discharge space 61. The bin discharge tray 81 has a notch 82 for facilitating removal of the discharged recording medium.

  In this example, light emission is provided with an LED light emitting element as a light emitting means at the front edge portion (left end portion in the figure) of the front side edge of the bin paper discharge tray 81 that is out of the arrangement position of the operation panel 91. The part 83 is arranged.

  Further, in this example, the detection means for detecting that the recording medium is discharged to the bin discharge tray 81 and generating a detection signal also serves as a control unit for controlling the copier 11, and the control state of the copier 11 is controlled. A detection signal is generated from Note that as the detection means, an optical sensor or an ultrasonic sensor for detecting the recording horse on the bin discharge tray 81, or a contact type or non-contact type sensor provided at other locations in the bin discharge tray 81 may be used. it can.

  Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the recording medium is discharged to the bin discharge tray 81, the detection unit detects this and the light emitting unit 83 emits light. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the user E can visually recognize the light emitting portion 83 of the bin discharge tray 81. At this time, since the light emitting unit 83 is disposed at a position where the line of sight is not blocked by the operation panel 91, the user E can surely see the light emitting unit 83 that has emitted light, and thus the recording medium S is placed on the bin paper discharge tray 81. It can be recognized that the paper has been discharged.

  In the above example, the light emitting unit 83 is disposed at the tip of the bin discharge tray 81. However, if the line of sight is not blocked by the operation panel 91, the light emission unit 83 is disposed at another position of the bin discharge tray 81. Also good.

11: copier 12: image forming means 13: fixing device 14: recording medium conveying device 15: first apparatus main body 16: image reading means 17: second apparatus main body 18: automatic document conveying apparatus 19: hinge mechanism 20: Document placing table 21: Pickup roller 22: Paper feeding belt 23: Reverse roller 24: Conveying roller pair 25: Document conveying means 26: Document discharging table 27: Conveying roller pair 28: Discharging roller pair 28a: Drive roller 28b: Followed Roller 28c: driven roller 29: document discharge means 30: switching claw 31: switchback passage 32: switchback roller pair 34: optical system 35: contact glass 36: slit glass 37: light source 38: first mirror 39: first Traveling body 40: second mirror 41: third mirror 42: second traveling body 43: imaging lens 44: CCD image sensors 45Y to 45BK: 1st to 4th image carrier 46: intermediate transfer belt 47: charging roller 48: unit 49: developing device 50: primary transfer roller 52: cleaning device 53: developing container 54C, 54M, 54BK: toner bottle 55: cleaning container 56: Secondary transfer roller 57: paper feed cassette 58: paper feed roller 59: registration roller pair 60: paper discharge roller pair 61: paper discharge space 62: switching lever 63: reverse path 64: reverse roller pair 65: reflection guide plate 71 : Guide member 81: Bin discharge tray 82: Notch 83: Light emitting unit 91: Operation panel

JP 2006-259194 A

Claims (4)

In the in-cylinder paper discharge type image forming apparatus in which the image reading unit is disposed with the paper discharge space portion including the bin paper discharge tray above the image forming unit.
Detecting means for detecting that the recording medium is discharged to the bin discharge tray and generating a detection signal;
A light emitting means disposed on the front side edge of the bin discharge tray and operating based on the detection signal;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit includes an LED light emitting element.   The image forming apparatus includes an operation panel on a front side of the bin discharge tray, and the light emitting unit is disposed at a position out of an operation panel arrangement position in the bin discharge tray. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an automatic document feeder is disposed in the opening / closing body of the reading unit.