JP2011034118A - Agent storage container and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an agent storage container whose attitude is held in a predetermined form even when an agent is stored in a flexible case capable of decreasing its volume and which is attached to an image forming apparatus without fail, and to provide the image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The storage container includes its flexible container body 22 in which toner is stored, and a bottom board member 23 which attachably/removably supports the container body 22. The container body 22 can be attached to the bottom board member 23, by fitting a discharge member 24 in a fitting part 32 and locking a locking claw 26 on a locking part 33, and is also provided with a shutter 30 for covering a toner discharge port 21 formed on the container body 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an agent storage container and an image forming apparatus.

  In image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers, and facsimiles, an electrostatic latent image is generally visualized by a developing device using toner. Since toner is consumed with image formation, in the image forming apparatus, a toner container for storing toner, such as a toner bottle and a toner cartridge, is set in the apparatus main body, and toner is supplied from the container to the developing device using the toner replenishing device. is doing.

  In an image forming apparatus that sequentially supplies toner from a toner container to a developing device, it is necessary to replace the container by taking out an empty toner container and installing a new container. Most toner containers are made of a hard case, but hard toner containers have a problem such as an increase in the recovery cost, and in recent years, a soft case has come out. However, if the toner container is composed of a soft case, it is necessary to hold the toner container in a predetermined form when the machine is mounted. For this reason, it is necessary to devise such as storing it in a hard box.

  In addition, there is a problem that a certain amount of toner remains in the toner container even if the toner end is detected. In other words, it is quite difficult to discharge and use most of the toner in the toner container.

  Therefore, the tray swinging system described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 is attracting attention as a toner replenishing system that can reduce the residual toner in the toner container at the time of toner end. In this tray swinging system, the toner stored in the tray is moved to the discharge port by inertia force by swinging and suddenly stopping, and the discharge port is dropped to discharge the toner without waste. Can do.

  In such a tray swinging system, the toner container is swung together with the swinging tray, and therefore needs to be securely fixed to the tray. However, if a soft case toner container having a low distribution cost including the recovery cost is used in such an apparatus, it is difficult to firmly fix the toner container to the tray.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and can retain its posture in a predetermined form even when housed in a flexible case capable of reducing the volume of the agent, and can be reliably attached to the apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage container and an image forming apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a flexible container main body in which a toner or a carrier used in an electrophotographic process or a developer storage container containing a developer composed of a toner and a carrier is stored. And a bottom plate member that detachably supports the container main body, and is provided with shutter means that covers a toner discharge port formed in the container main body.

  According to the present invention, the shutter means is slidably moved to a base portion in which a toner discharge port is formed by welding to the container main body, an O-ring provided so as to surround the toner discharge port, and It is effective to have a shutter that opens and closes the toner discharge port.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the container body is flexible and the bottom plate member has higher rigidity than the container body.
Furthermore, the present invention is effective when a locking member provided on the container body is locked to the bottom plate member.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the locking member is provided at two locations, and the locking member is locked to the bottom plate member while pulling the container body.
Moreover, in order to achieve said objective, this invention uses the agent storage container as described in any one of Claim 1 thru | or 5. It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  According to the present invention, the agent storage container is composed of a bottom plate and a flexible container main body, and the container main body is provided with a shutter, so that the container main body, the container main body and the bottom plate are combined and distributed in two forms. You can also Further, since the flexible container body is pulled by the bottom plate, the bottom surface of the container body is attached to the bottom plate without any wrinkles.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective explanatory view showing a set portion of a toner cartridge of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a toner discharging method from a toner cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a toner discharging method from a toner cartridge according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of a toner cartridge according to the present invention. FIGS. 5A and 5B show a container main body of the toner cartridge of FIG. 5, where FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a bottom plate member of the toner cartridge of FIG. 5. FIG. 6 is a bottom view showing a bottom plate member of the toner cartridge of FIG. 5. It is a top view which shows a rocking | fluctuation tray. (A), (b), (c) and (d) are explanatory views showing the movement of the shutter when the toner cartridge is mounted. (A), (b), and (c) are explanatory views for explaining a locking operation when the toner cartridge is mounted.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a color printer which is an example of an image forming apparatus. In the image forming apparatus shown here, an intermediate transfer belt 1 as an image carrier is disposed on the upper part of the apparatus body. The intermediate transfer belt 1 is wound around rollers 2 and 3, and one of the rollers is a driving roller. Is driven in the direction of the arrow by being rotated counterclockwise. On the lower running side of the intermediate transfer belt 1, first to fourth image forming units 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d are opposed to each other. The first to fourth image forming units 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d have drum-shaped photoconductors 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d as image carriers, and magenta toner images and cyan toners on the photoconductors. An image, a yellow toner image, and a black toner image are formed.

  Since the first to fourth image forming units 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d have substantially the same configuration and operation as those for forming a toner image on the image carrier, the first image forming unit 4a. Only the configuration for forming a toner image on the photosensitive member 5a will be described. The photosensitive member 5a is driven to rotate clockwise in FIG. 1, and at this time, the surface of the image carrier is uniformly charged to a predetermined polarity by the charging roller 6. Next, the charged surface is irradiated with a light-modulated laser beam L emitted from the laser writing unit 7. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoreceptor 5a, and the electrostatic latent image is visualized by the developing device 8 as, for example, a magenta toner image. In the magenta toner image formed in this way, a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied to the transfer roller 9 disposed with the photoconductor 5a and the intermediate transfer belt 1 interposed therebetween, whereby the magenta toner image on the photoconductor 5a. Is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 1. Untransferred toner that is not transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 1 and remains on the photoreceptor 5 a is removed by the cleaning device 10.

  In exactly the same manner, a cyan toner image, a yellow toner image and a black toner image are formed on the photoreceptors 5b, 5c and 5d of the second to fourth image forming units 4b, 4c and 4d, respectively. The magenta toner image is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 1 on which the magenta toner image has been transferred. The four color toner images formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 in this way move to the secondary transfer portion provided with the secondary transfer roller 11 facing the rightmost roller 2 in FIG. 1 as the belt travels. .

  On the other hand, a paper feeding unit 12 is provided at the lower part of the apparatus main body, and a recording material P made of transfer paper, for example, is fed in the direction of the arrow from the paper feeding unit 12 by the paper feeding means 13. The fed recording material P is abutted against the registration roller 14 and then sent to the secondary transfer portion of the intermediate transfer belt 1 at a timing at which the toner image is correctly transferred onto the recording material. A voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner on the intermediate transfer belt 1 is applied to the secondary transfer roller 11, whereby the toner image superimposed and transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 1 is transferred onto the recording material P. The recording material P to which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed upward and passes through the fixing device 15, and after the toner image is fixed, the recording material P is discharged to the paper discharge unit 17 on the upper surface of the apparatus main body via the paper discharge roller 16. . Further, after the secondary transfer, the transfer residual toner that has not been transferred to the recording material P is removed by a belt cleaning device 18 disposed with the roller 3 and the intermediate transfer belt 1 interposed therebetween.

  Toner cartridges 20 a, 20 b, 20 c, and 20 d serving as agent storage containers that store toner to be supplied to the developing devices 8 a, 8 b, 8 c, and 8 d are provided in a set unit provided between the paper discharge unit 17 and the intermediate transfer belt 1. It is installed. As shown in FIG. 2, the set unit inserts a toner cartridge 20 formed in an elongated rectangular body from an insertion port 19 provided in the apparatus main body along the longitudinal direction. In the present invention, a tray swinging system is adopted in the toner replenishing device from the toner cartridges 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d to the developing devices 8a, 8b, 8c, and 8d. The principle of the dynamic method will be described.

  In FIG. 3, in the tray swinging method, the toner cartridge 20 having the toner discharge port 21 formed on the bottom plate is fixed to the swinging tray 50 that can move in the direction of the arrow B-C via the roller 66 on the support base 70. A contraction spring 51 is fixed to the support base 70 of the swing tray 50, and the swing tray 50 is attracted in the direction of arrow C. The cam 52 is supported by the support base 70, and by rotating in the direction of arrow A, as shown in FIG. 3, the swing tray 50 is moved in the direction of arrow B as shown in FIG. As the second step, as shown in FIG. 4, the cam 52 is opened when the zenith passes, and the swing tray 50 moves while accelerating in the direction of arrow C by the force of the contraction spring 51. As a third step, the swing tray 50 to which the toner cartridge 20 is fixed collides with the support base 70 at a certain speed and stops. At this time, since the toner cartridge 20 suddenly decelerates, there is a large difference in acceleration between the C direction and the B direction of the toner cartridge 20, so that the internal toner moves in the C direction due to inertial force and is discharged from the toner discharge port 21. . The discharged toner is supplied to the developing device 8 by a transfer means (not shown).

  In this way, in the tray swinging system in which the toner is discharged from the toner cartridge 20, when the toner cartridge 20 is set on the swinging tray 50, the toner cartridge 20 is securely locked to the swinging tray 50, and at the same time the toner cartridge. It is necessary to open the 20 toner discharge ports 21 and communicate with the opening 53 of the swing tray 50 so that the toner can be replenished.

  Next, the toner cartridge 20 used in the tray swinging system will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the toner cartridge 20 is a container body 22 in which a soft transparent material made of, for example, vinyl chloride is expanded in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. And a bottom plate member 23 attached to the bottom of the container body 22. The bottom plate member 23 is made of a resin that is harder than the container body 22 and has a certain degree of elasticity. As shown in FIG. 6, the container body 22 has a discharge port member 24 having a toner discharge port 21 formed on one end in the longitudinal direction on the bottom thereof, that is, the surface facing the bottom plate member 23, and a bottom plate on the other end. A locking member 25 having a locking claw 26 to be locked to the member 23 is fixed. The discharge port member 24 in which the toner discharge port 21 is formed is a thin plate member made of resin, and an O-ring 27 fitted in a mounting groove is provided around the toner discharge port 21. Further, guide grooves (not shown) for slidably guiding a shutter 30 that opens and closes the toner discharge port 21 are formed on the left and right side portions of the discharge port member 24, that is, the side portions parallel to the longitudinal direction. .

  The shutter 30 is slidable in the direction of arrow D in FIGS. 6A and 6B by fitting a hook-shaped portion (not shown) in the guide groove. At this time, the shutter 30 is moved to the O-ring. 27, a certain amount of sliding contact resistance is received at the position in contact with 27, and a certain amount of force is required for the movement. In addition, on the left and right side portions of the shutter 30, engagement recesses 31 to be engaged with engagement pins 55 described later are formed.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the bottom plate member 23 includes a fitting portion 32 into which the discharge port member 24 of the container body 22 is fitted, and a locking portion 33 to which the locking claw 26 of the container body 22 is locked. A handle portion 34 that is gripped when the toner cartridge 20 is attached or detached is provided. The fitting portion 32 is a recess into which the discharge port member 24 is fitted and fitted. The fitting portion 32 is provided with an opening that constitutes a part of the toner discharge port 21 and a blind plate 35 that covers the shutter 30. Yes.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the length from the fitting portion 32 to the locking portion 33 in the bottom plate member 23 is L1, and the length from the discharge member 24 to the locking claw 26 in the container body 22 is L2. At this time, L1 and L2 are set equal to each other or L2 is set slightly longer than L1. With this setting, since the container main body 22 cannot be locked to the locking portion 33 unless it is pulled after the discharge member 24 is fitted to the fitting portion 32, the container main body 22 attached to the bottom plate member 23. Will have no wrinkles with a pebbled bottom. Therefore, even if the container main body 22 that is detachably attached to the bottom plate member 23 is formed of a flexible bag-like shape, no wrinkles that impede toner discharge on the bottom surface are generated.

  Further, since the toner cartridge 20 is provided with the shutter 30 in the container main body 22 itself, the container main body 22 may be circulated. At this time, the user replaces the container main body 22 with the bottom plate member 23, but the container main body 22 is attached to the bottom plate member 23 with the discharge member 24 fitted into the fitting portion 32, and the locking claw 26 is attached. A simple operation of locking the locking portion 33 is sufficient.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the blindfold plate 35 is made of, for example, a metal thin plate, is attached to the bottom plate member 23 so as to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of the toner container in the same direction as the shutter 30, and is always closed by a spring 36. Since the elastic force in the direction is biased, it is normally held at the closed position. In addition, the handle portion 34 is provided with an operation plate 37 for releasing a lock claw described later when pushed down.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the swinging tray 50 to which the toner cartridge 20 inserted into the apparatus main body is fixed has engaging pins 55 as engaging members on both sides of the bottom surface near the opening 53. It is attached to a guide-shaped guide hole 54 extending in the direction. Each engagement pin 55 is fixed to both ends of the spring 56, is movable in the width direction of the tray, and is elastically biased by the springs 56 toward each other.

  When the toner cartridge 20 is mounted, the engagement pin 55 is locked to the engagement recesses 31 provided on both sides of the shutter 30, so that the shutter 30 is automatically opened and closed according to the attachment / detachment of the toner cartridge 20. Configured to do. At this time, the track is guided by the guide groove 38 provided in the bottom plate member 23 so that the engagement pin 55 does not escape from the engagement recess 32.

  Next, an operation mode when the toner cartridge 20 is mounted on the apparatus main body will be described. The user inserts the toner cartridge 20 into the apparatus main body from the insertion port 19 and mounts it on the swing tray 50. At this time, since only the bottom plate member 23 of the toner cartridge 20 is made of a hard material, both sides of the bottom plate member 23 are guided smoothly by the guide walls 60 provided on the swing tray 50 and inserted smoothly. The toner discharge port 21 is automatically opened following the operation of the toner cartridge 20 just before the toner cartridge 20 is set at the proper position.

This opening operation will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing the toner cartridge 20 as viewed from below.
In FIG. 10A, when the toner cartridge 20 is inserted to a position close to a predetermined position, the engaging pin 55 provided on the swing tray 50 enters the guide groove 38 provided on the bottom plate member 23. At this time, the engaging pin 55 is urged by the spring 56 in the direction along the inner wall surface of the guide groove 38 and moves relative to the movement of the toner cartridge 20. That is, as the toner cartridge 20 moves in the direction of arrow D, the engagement pin 55 moves relatively in the direction of arrow D ′. An inclined surface 39 for shifting the engaging pin 55 outward is formed in the guide groove 38. When the inclined surface 39 contacts the engaging pin 55, the engaging pin 55 is moved outward as shown in FIG. Moving. Then, an engaging auxiliary projection 40 is formed on the outer wall surface of the guide groove 38 at the end point position of the inclined surface 39. When the engaging pin 55 exceeds the inclined surface 39, as shown in FIG. The pin 55 is urged by the spring 56 to move inward, and hits the engagement assisting protrusion 40 to be surely engaged with the engagement recess 31 of the shutter 30. Although the movement of the toner cartridge 20 is continued by this engagement, the movement of the shutter 30 is stopped, whereby the shutter 30 starts to open, and the toner discharge port 21 is eventually opened. The groove width w of the guide groove 38 is preferably set to such a width that the engagement pin 55 engaged with the engagement recess 31 cannot be removed, as shown in FIG. Further, when the engagement pin 55 can be operated with a finger, the shutter 30 moves and the toner discharge port 21 is opened. Therefore, the width w of the guide groove 38 is a width that the finger cannot enter, for example, 10 mm or less, preferably 4 mm. It is preferable to be about ˜6 mm.

  Further, the blind plate 35 is pushed by the engaging pin 55 against the action of the spring 36 by the movement of the toner cartridge 20 and is released simultaneously with the shutter 30. At this time, the engagement pin 55 pushes the blindfold plate 35 before fitting into the engagement recess 31, so that the blindfold plate 35 is opened slightly ahead of the shutter 30 and the toner cartridge 20 is mounted in the proper position. The shutter 30 and the blindfold plate 35 are completely opened. Since the blindfold plate 35 hides not only the shutter 30 but also the guide groove 38, the width w of the guide groove 38 is inadvertently set by the user so that the user cannot carelessly engage the shutter 30 from the engaging recess 31. It is configured so that it is difficult to move.

  Further, when the toner cartridge 20 is mounted at the proper position, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the insertion plate 57 provided on the swing tray 50 is attached to the lock claw 41 provided on the handle portion 34. It enters into the handle part 34. By inserting the insertion plate 57, the lock claw 41 made of a resin material is locked in a locking hole 58 provided in the insertion plate 57 by its own elasticity. Thus, even when the toner cartridge 20 is locked and the swing tray 50 is vibrated, the toner cartridge 20 is not detached from the tray.

  Since the engaging pin 55 rotates in contact with the wall surface of the guide groove 38 when the toner cartridge 20 is mounted, there is no possibility that a large load is applied to the movement of the toner cartridge.

  Next, when the toner cartridge 20 is empty and is taken out, the user reveals the set portion of the apparatus main body, grasps the handle portion 34, and pulls it out. At this time, when the handle portion 34 is grasped, the operating plate 37 is pushed with a finger almost automatically, so that the lock claw 41 locked in the locking hole 58 is released as shown in FIG. The cartridge 20 can be pulled out. When the toner cartridge 20 is pulled out, the shutter 30 begins to close. When the engagement pin 55 engaged with the engagement recess 31 returns to the position of the engagement auxiliary protrusion 40, the shutter 30 is completely opened. close. Then, after the shutter 30 closes the toner discharge port 21, the engagement pin 55 comes out of the engagement recess 31. Therefore, when the toner cartridge 20 is pulled out, the toner discharge port 21 is completely closed, and there is no possibility of toner scattering or toner leakage at the time of replacement.

  In the above-described embodiment, the agent replenishing device that replenishes toner has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to replenishment of a carrier and further replenishment of a developer in which toner and a carrier are mixed.

8 Developing Device 20 Toner Cartridge 21 Toner Discharge Port 22 Container Body 23 Bottom Plate Member 24 Discharge Port Member 26 Locking Claw 30 Shutter 32 Fitting Portion 33 Locking Portion

JP 2002-46843 A JP 2004-333705 A

Claims (6)

In an agent storage container for storing a toner or carrier used in an electrophotographic process, or a developer composed of toner and carrier,
There is provided a shutter unit that has a flexible container main body for storing the agent and a bottom plate member that detachably supports the container main body, and covers a toner discharge port formed in the container main body. An agent storage container.   The shutter means is welded to the container body and has a base portion in which a toner discharge port is formed, an O-ring provided to surround the toner discharge port, and slides to open and close the toner discharge port. The agent storage container according to claim 1, further comprising a shutter.   The agent container according to claim 1, wherein the container body is flexible, and the bottom plate member has higher rigidity than the container body.   The agent storage container according to claim 1, wherein a locking member provided on the container body is locked to the bottom plate member.   2. The agent storage container according to claim 1, wherein the locking member is provided at two locations, and the locking member is locked to the bottom plate member while pulling the container main body.   An image forming apparatus using the agent storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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