JP2014056099A - Toner recovery device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toner recovery device which is high in the shape flexibility of a toner recovery container and further is capable of efficiently storing toner in the toner recovery container and to provide an image forming apparatus.SOLUTION: A toner recovery device 22 includes a toner recovery container 30, a first toner conveyance shaft member 40 provided in the toner recovery container 30, and a second toner conveyance shaft member 50 arranged in parallel with the first toner conveyance shaft member 40. The first toner conveyance shaft member 40 includes a spiral groove 43 around a rotating shaft and conveys the toner in an axial direction by rotation. The second toner conveyance shaft member 50 has an outer circumferential surface in which the appearance contour of the surface orthogonal to the rotating shaft is in a non-circular shape and conveys the toner in a direction crossing the axial direction by the rotation. The first toner conveyance shaft member 40 is arranged on the upstream side in a toner conveyance direction in the toner recovery container 30 and the second toner conveyance shaft member 50 is arranged in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the first toner conveyance shaft member 40 and on the downstream side.

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner recovery apparatus and an image forming apparatus.

  In an image forming apparatus, for example, a developed image formed with toner is carried on the peripheral surface of a photosensitive drum, and the image is directly transferred to a sheet or the like, or the image is carried indirectly on an intermediate transfer belt or the like. A transfer method is widely used. In such a system, a small amount of toner may remain on the surface of the image carrier (photosensitive drum, intermediate transfer belt, etc.) after the image is transferred to the paper. Residual toner on the surface of the image carrier becomes an obstacle to the next new image formation, and therefore needs to be removed by a cleaning device.

  The toner removed by the cleaning device is transported as a waste toner through a transport tube by a transport member such as a screw and collected by a toner recovery device. The toner recovery device includes a toner recovery container that stores waste toner, and the waste toner is stored inside the toner recovery container. Such a toner collection container needs to be replaced with a new container when it is filled with waste toner or periodically. Therefore, although it is desired for the toner collection container to increase the amount of waste toner, it is difficult to enlarge the toner collection container itself due to restrictions on the arrangement inside the image forming apparatus main body. .

For this reason, it is necessary to efficiently store the waste toner so that it can be stored in the limited storage space of the toner collection container as much as possible.
Against this background, in the toner recovery device of Patent Document 1, a large amount of waste toner can be recovered in a limited space by vibrating the recovery container.
However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, since the entire collection container is vibrated, there is a concern that the toner may scatter from the collection port or the like. Therefore, it is necessary to add a seal structure or the like in order to prevent toner scattering, resulting in an increase in cost.

  Therefore, in the toner recovery device of Patent Document 2, a toner delivery member for sending waste toner to the back of the container body is provided inside the container body in order to suppress scattering of the toner. The toner delivery member is a screw having a machine shaft and a blade portion standing from the machine shaft, and is configured to send waste toner in an axial direction in which the machine shaft extends with rotation about the machine shaft.

JP-A-8-160817 JP 2010-134386 A

Since the toner collection container of Patent Document 2 has an elongated shape along the screw axis direction, the waste toner is continuously conveyed to the inner side of the container body by the screw, so that the toner collection container can be accommodated in the housing space of the container body. Waste toner can be stored efficiently.
However, this configuration has a problem that the shape of the toner collecting container is constrained and the degree of freedom of the container is reduced. For example, when a container shape having a sufficient width with respect to the screw is employed, waste toner can be efficiently stored in the axial direction of the screw, but waste toner is disposed in the radial direction of the screw, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction. In some cases, it cannot be accommodated efficiently, and the radial accommodation space cannot be fully utilized.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toner recovery device and a toner recovery device which has a large degree of freedom in shape of the toner recovery container and can efficiently store toner in the toner recovery container. An object is to provide an image forming apparatus.

The toner recovery device according to the present invention includes a toner recovery container that recovers toner, a first toner transport shaft member that is provided inside the toner recovery container and transports toner, and the first toner transport shaft member. And a second toner conveying shaft member that is arranged and conveys the toner,
The first toner conveying shaft member has a spiral groove formed around its rotation axis, and is configured to convey toner in the axial direction by rotation around the axis.
The second toner conveying shaft member has an outer peripheral surface having a non-circular outer contour on a surface orthogonal to the rotating shaft of the second toner conveying shaft member so that the distance from the rotating shaft is not constant. And configured to convey the toner in a direction crossing the axial direction by rotation around the axis,
The first toner transport shaft member is disposed on one side of the toner recovery container, which is upstream of the toner transport direction, in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the first toner transport shaft member, and The second toner transport shaft member is disposed downstream of the first toner transport shaft member in the toner transport direction.

According to this toner recovery device, the first toner conveying shaft member rotates about the axis, whereby the toner is conveyed in the axial direction by the spiral groove. In addition, a part of the toner conveyed in the axial direction by the first toner conveying shaft member is disposed in parallel with the first toner conveying shaft member, and the shaft of the first toner conveying shaft member is arranged. The second toner conveying shaft member disposed in the direction orthogonal to the direction and downstream of the toner conveying direction rotates around the axis, thereby crossing the axial direction of the second toner conveying shaft member. Extruded and transported. Therefore, the toner is conveyed while spreading in a planar shape by being conveyed in a balanced manner in two directions without being biased in one direction. Therefore, the storage space can be widely used regardless of the shape of the toner recovery container.
Further, the configuration that vibrates the entire collection container is not employed, and therefore, there is no concern of toner scattering due to vibration, so there is no need to add a seal structure or the like.

In the toner recovery device, it is preferable that the second toner transport shaft member is disposed vertically below the first toner transport shaft member.
In this way, a part of the toner conveyed in the axial direction by the first toner conveying shaft member is efficiently pushed out in the direction intersecting the axial direction by the second toner conveying shaft member. .

In the toner recovery device, it is preferable that the outer peripheral surface of the second toner transport shaft member has an elliptical outer contour on a surface orthogonal to the rotation axis of the second toner transport shaft member.
In this way, a part of the toner conveyed in the axial direction by the first toner conveying shaft member is efficiently pushed out in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction by the second toner conveying shaft member. .

Further, in the toner recovery device, a flexible sheet member is provided on the downstream side in the toner transport direction from the second toner transport shaft member so as to contact the outer peripheral surface of the second toner transport shaft member. Preferably it is.
In this case, the rotation of the second toner conveying shaft member about the axis rotates the sheet member in the forward / reverse direction in a direction intersecting the axial direction of the second toner conveying shaft member. Therefore, the toner pushed by the second toner conveying shaft member is further conveyed away from the second toner conveying shaft member by the forward and reverse rotation of the sheet member, that is, the reciprocating operation.

In the toner recovery device, the toner recovery container is adjacent to the toner storage space for storing the toner, the toner storage shaft, and the first toner transport shaft member and the second toner transport shaft member. It is preferable that the sheet member is provided along a boundary between the toner storage space and the toner conveyance path.
In this way, even when the toner storage space is filled to some extent, the toner in the toner storage space is filled and pushed away by the reciprocating movement of the sheet member, and the space for introducing the toner from the toner transport path. Is formed. Therefore, more toner can be collected in the toner collection container.

In the toner recovery device, it is preferable that the first toner transport shaft member and the second transport shaft member rotate in directions opposite to each other.
In the toner recovery device, the toner recovery container is adjacent to the toner storage space for storing the toner, the toner storage shaft, and the first toner transport shaft member and the second toner transport shaft member. A spiral groove of the first toner conveyance shaft member, and an interval between adjacent grooves in the axial direction is gradually reduced from the start end to the end of the toner conveyance path. It is preferable.
In this case, the toner is transported substantially uniformly by the first toner transport shaft member without being biased from the start end to the end of the toner transport path.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image carrier that carries a developed image formed with toner, a cleaning device that removes toner remaining on the image carrier, and a toner collection that collects toner removed by the cleaning device. An image forming apparatus having the apparatus, wherein the toner recovery device is any one of the toner recovery devices described above.
According to this image forming apparatus, since the toner collecting device described above is included, the toner collecting function is excellent.

In the toner recovery apparatus of the present invention, the storage space can be widely used regardless of the shape of the toner recovery container. Accordingly, it is possible to increase the degree of freedom of the shape of the toner recovery container and efficiently store the toner in the toner recovery container. Further, since the toner can be transported in a balanced manner in two directions, the transport force is increased, which is suitable for a high-speed image forming apparatus.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, toner can be collected more efficiently without occupying useless space inside the apparatus.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a toner recovery device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a toner recovery device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B are configuration diagrams of a first toner conveying shaft member according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 3A is a plan view, and FIG. 4A and 4B are configuration diagrams of a second toner conveying shaft member according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a toner recovery container in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a toner recovery container in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the shaft member for toner conveyance in another embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the scale of each member is appropriately changed to make each member a recognizable size. In the following description, an example in which the toner recovery apparatus of the present invention is applied to a copying machine (image forming apparatus) will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine A according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The copying machine A of the present embodiment employs a direct transfer system that directly transfers a toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum (image carrier) 211 onto a recording sheet. The copying machine includes an image reading unit 1 that reads an image of a document, and an image forming unit 2 that forms an image on a recording sheet based on image data.

  The image reading unit 1 is a so-called scanner that reads an image (original image) of a document placed on a glass table (not shown) by an image sensor and converts it into document image data. Output.

  The image forming unit 2 is configured to form (copy) a document image on recording paper based on document image data supplied from the image reading unit 1. The image forming unit 2 includes a photoconductor unit 21, a toner collecting device 22, an exposure device 23, a developing device 24, a fixing device 25, a paper feed cassette 26, a paper feed tray 27, a paper discharge tray 28, and the like. The photosensitive unit 21 includes a photosensitive drum 211, a charging roller 212, a transfer roller 214, a cleaning device 215, and the like.

  The photosensitive drum 211 is a cylindrical rotating body having a peripheral surface formed of a predetermined photosensitive material, and forms an electrostatic latent image and a toner image (development image) based on the electrostatic latent image on the peripheral surface. It has become. The charging roller 212 is disposed to face the photosensitive drum 211 and charges the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 211. The peripheral surface of the charging roller 212 is cleaned by a charging roller cleaning brush 213.

  The exposure device 23 scans the peripheral surface of the charged photosensitive drum 211 with laser light emitted based on image data in the print format. The developing device 24 develops a toner image based on the electrostatic latent image on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 211 by supplying toner to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 211. The transfer roller 214 is disposed to face the photoconductive drum 211 and transfers the toner image developed on the photoconductive drum 211 onto a recording sheet.

  The cleaning device 215 has a blade member whose tip abuts on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 211, and scrapes off and removes the toner (residual toner) remaining on the photosensitive drum 211 after transfer. . The removed toner is conveyed by a toner conveying device 216 to a toner collecting device 22 described later. The toner conveying device 216 is connected to the first conveying tube 216b that conveys the toner in the depth direction of the sheet by the screw 216a and the terminal of the first conveying tube 216b, and the first conveying tube 216b conveys the toner to the toner collecting device 22 by a screw (not shown). 2 transport pipes 219.

The fixing device 25 includes a pair of rollers, and applies heat and pressure to the toner image on the recording paper transferred from the photosensitive drum 211 to fix the toner image on the recording paper.
The paper feed cassette 26 is a container for storing a bundle of recording paper. The paper feed tray 27 is a storage unit that receives manually fed recording paper. The paper discharge tray 28 is a storage unit that receives the recording paper on which the image is formed supplied from the fixing device 25.

Next, the configuration of the toner recovery device 22 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toner recovery device 22 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the toner recovery device 22 according to the embodiment of the present invention. 4A and 4B are configuration diagrams of the first toner conveying shaft member 40 according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 4A is a plan view and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 5A and 5B are configuration diagrams of the second toner conveying shaft member 50 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is a plan view, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along line YY in FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the toner collection container 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a plan view of the toner recovery container 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the toner recovery device 22 is connected to the photoreceptor unit 21 and has a toner recovery container 30 for recovering toner. The toner collection container 30 is provided with a toner introduction part 31 connected to the end of the second transport pipe 219. The toner removed by the cleaning device 215 is transported from the first transport pipe 216b to the second transport pipe 219, and enters the inside of the toner recovery container 30 from the end of the second transport pipe 219 via the toner introduction unit 31. It has been introduced.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the toner collection container 30 is configured by combining a container main body 32 and a lid member 33. Inside the toner recovery container 30, a toner storage space 34 and a toner transport path 35 are provided. The toner storage space 34 is a space for finally storing the toner introduced into the container, and has a predetermined capacity. The toner transport path 35 is a space adjacent to one side of the toner storage space 34, that is, the upstream side in the toner transport direction, and includes a first toner transport path 36 and a second toner transport path 37.

  The second toner transport path 37 is a space adjacent to one side of the toner storage space 34, and the first toner transport path 36 is a space provided adjacent to and parallel to the second toner transport path 37. is there. With such a configuration, the toner transport direction is such that the first toner transport path 36 disposed on one side of the toner recovery container 30 is the upstream side, the second toner transport path 37, and the toner storage space 34 in this order. Is supposed to be transported. Accordingly, the bottom of the first toner transport path 36 is sufficiently higher than the bottom of the toner storage space 34, and the bottom of the second toner transport path 37 is lower than the bottom of the first toner transport path 36. The position is higher than the bottom of 34.

  The toner collection device 22 includes a first toner conveyance shaft member 40 and a second toner conveyance shaft member 50 in the toner conveyance path 35 in the toner collection container 30. The first toner transport shaft member 40 is disposed in the first toner transport path 36, and the second toner transport shaft member 50 is disposed in the second toner transport path 37. As a result, the first toner transport shaft member 40 and the second toner transport shaft member 50 are arranged inside the toner transport path 35 in a state of being parallel to each other.

  That is, the first toner conveyance shaft member 40 and the second toner conveyance shaft member 50 of this embodiment are disposed along the toner conveyance path 35 as shown in FIGS. 35a and the end 35b are rotatably supported. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the second toner is disposed in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the first toner conveying shaft member 40 and downstream of the first toner conveying shaft member 40 in the toner conveying direction. The toner conveying shaft member 50 is disposed in the second toner conveying path 37 formed so that the bottom is lower than the first toner conveying path 36, so that the toner conveying shaft member 50 is disposed vertically below the first toner conveying shaft member. ing. In other words, the rotation axis C of the second toner conveyance shaft member 50 is arranged vertically below the rotation axis C of the first toner conveyance shaft member 40, so that the upper end of the outer peripheral surface 51 is the first toner conveyance shaft. The shaft member 40 is configured to have substantially the same height as the lower end of the shaft member 40 or a height that is lower than this.

  In this embodiment, one of the first toner transport shaft member 40 and the second toner transport shaft member 50 receives a rotational driving force of a motor (not shown) via a belt, a gear, or the like. It is designed to rotate around its axis. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the first toner transport shaft member 40 and the second toner transport shaft member 50 are engaged with the gears 49 and 59 on the outer side of the end 35 b of the toner transport path 35. Yes. Thus, when one toner conveying shaft member is rotated by the rotational driving force of the motor, the other toner conveying shaft member is also rotated. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the first toner transport shaft member 40 is rotated in the direction of arrow P, and the second toner transport shaft member 50 is moved in the direction of arrow Q, that is, the first toner transport. The shaft member 40 rotates in the opposite direction.

  The toner conveyance path 35 extends in the horizontal direction adjacent to a side portion on one side of the toner storage space 34. Further, a first toner transport path 36 and a second toner transport path 37 are provided in the toner transport path 35, and a first toner transport shaft member 40 is provided in the first toner transport path 36, and a second toner transport path 37. The second toner conveying shaft members 50 are respectively arranged in the. The first toner conveyance path 36 of the toner conveyance path 35 communicates with the toner introduction unit 31. As a result, the toner introduced from the toner introduction unit 31 is first introduced into the first toner conveyance path 36 of the toner conveyance path 35 and then conveyed to the second toner conveyance path 37, and then the second toner conveyance. The toner is transported to the toner storage space 34 adjacent to the path 37.

  The first toner conveying shaft member 40 has a screw shape as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, and has a cylindrical shaft portion 41 and a spiral shape that circulates around the outer periphery of the shaft portion 41. The screw blade 42 is formed. The screw blades 42 are formed with a small thickness, whereby a relatively large gap is formed between the screw blades 42 and 42 adjacent in the axial direction. Thus, a spiral groove 43 is formed around the shaft portion 41, that is, around the rotation axis C in the first toner conveying shaft member 40. In the present embodiment, the spiral groove 43 is formed with equal intervals between adjacent grooves in the axial direction.

  Under such a configuration, the first toner conveying shaft member 40 receives the toner introduced from the toner introducing portion 31 on the start end 35a side of the toner conveying path 35 as shown in FIGS. The toner in the groove 43 is sent out by the screw blades 42 by being rotated around the axis, and is conveyed in the axial direction, that is, toward the end 35b of the toner conveyance path 35. At this time, the first toner conveying shaft member 40 gradually discharges the toner from the opening of the groove 43 to the side of the shaft portion 41, that is, to the second toner conveying path 37 side. The discharged toner falls on the second toner transport shaft member 50 or the second toner transport path 37 because the second toner transport path 37 is formed lower than the first toner transport path 36.

  The second toner conveying shaft member 50 has a rod shape as shown in FIG. 5A, and has an outer peripheral surface 51 such that the distance from the rotation axis C does not become constant as shown in FIG. 5B. doing. That is, the outer peripheral surface 51 is formed such that the outer contour on the surface orthogonal to the rotation axis C of the second toner conveying shaft member 50 is a non-circular shape. In this embodiment, the outer contour is an ellipse. It is formed into a shape.

  Under such a configuration, the second toner conveying shaft member 50 rotates about the rotation axis C, so that the toner is disposed in the axial direction by a portion corresponding to the elliptical major axis of the outer peripheral surface 51 twice per rotation. Extruded in a crossing (orthogonal) direction and transported. In addition, the shape of the outer contour of the outer peripheral surface 51 is not limited to an elliptical shape, and may be a polygon such as a triangle or a square, a star shape, a pendulum shape cam shape, etc. Also good.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the toner recovery device 22 of the present embodiment, the second toner transport shaft member 50 is located downstream in the toner transport direction, that is, the second toner transport path 37 (toner transport path 35) and the toner storage space. A sheet member 60 is provided along a boundary line with the line 34. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the sheet member 60 is a flexible member having a length substantially equal to the length of the boundary line between the toner storage space 34 and the second toner conveyance path 37. In form, it is formed of a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet member 60 is arranged such that its upper end is suspended from the inner surface side of the lid member 33 and its lower end extends below the rotation axis C of the second toner conveying shaft member 50. Has been. Thus, the upper end of the sheet member 60 is a fixed end and the lower end is a free end. The sheet member 60 is formed such that the lower end thereof is separated from the bottom of the second toner conveyance path 37.

  The sheet member 60 is disposed such that the lower end side thereof, that is, the free end side is in contact with the outer peripheral surface 51 of the second toner conveying shaft member 50. Specifically, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, when contacting the surface on the short diameter side of the outer peripheral surface 51 of the second toner conveying shaft member 50, the sheet member 60 is suspended in a substantially vertical direction, that is, almost. It comes in contact with the outer peripheral surface 51 in a state without bending. Further, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 3, when the sheet member 60 is in contact with the surface on the longer diameter side of the outer peripheral surface 51 of the second toner conveying shaft member 50, the lower end side of the sheet member 60 is curved toward the toner containing space 34 side. That is, it comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface 51 in a bent state.

  Accordingly, the lower end side (free end side) of the sheet member 60 is orthogonal to (intersects) the axial direction of the second toner conveying shaft member 50 due to the rotation around the axis of the second toner conveying shaft member 50. And turn in the forward and reverse directions. In other words, from the state of drooping as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 to the state of curving toward the toner containing space 34 as shown by the broken line in FIG. It is designed to rotate in the opposite direction to the state where it hangs down.

Next, the operation of the toner recovery device 22 having the above-described configuration will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the untransferred toner on the photosensitive drum 211 is removed by the cleaning device 215. The removed toner is conveyed to the toner recovery device 22 through the first conveyance tube 216b and the second conveyance tube 219 by the screw 216a of the toner conveyance device 216 or the like. The conveyed toner is introduced into the toner collection container 30 from the end of the second conveyance tube 219 through the toner introduction part 31 of the toner conveyance path 35.

  The toner introduced into the toner collection container 30 is first supplied to the first toner conveyance path 36 of the toner conveyance path 35 as shown in FIG. A first toner transporting shaft member 40 is provided in the first toner transporting path 36, and the first toner transporting shaft member 40 transports toner in the axial direction by rotation around the rotation axis C. That is, the first toner conveying shaft member 40 receives the introduced toner and stores it in the groove 43, and sends the toner in the groove 43 by the screw blades 42 by rotation around the axis, so that the axial direction, that is, The toner is conveyed toward the end 35b of the toner conveyance path 35.

  Further, at that time, the first toner conveying shaft member 40 gradually discharges the toner from the opening of the groove 43 to the side of the shaft portion 41, that is, to the second toner conveying path 37 side while feeding the toner in the axial direction ( Transport).

  The second toner transport shaft member 50 pushes the toner transported by the first toner transport shaft member 40 in the direction orthogonal to (crosses) the axial direction by the rotation around the rotation axis C as described above, and the downstream To the toner storage space 34 side. The outer peripheral surface 51 of the second toner conveying shaft member 50 has an elliptical outer contour on the surface orthogonal to the rotation axis C. Therefore, the outer peripheral surface 51 rotates the toner axially by rotating once around the rotation axis C. Extrude twice in the direction perpendicular to (intersect). As a result, the pushed toner is conveyed to the toner storage space 34 side.

  Further, when such an operation is repeated, the toner is conveyed to the toner accommodating space 34. In particular, when the toner is accumulated in a mountain shape on the side of the second toner conveying shaft member 50, a sheet member as shown in FIG. The toner is pushed into the inner side of the toner accommodating space 34 by the forward / reverse rotation operation 60.

  As described above, according to the toner collection device 22 of the present embodiment, the first toner conveying shaft member 40 is rotated about the axis so that the toner is conveyed in the axial direction by the spiral groove 43, and the second By rotating the toner conveying shaft member 50 about the axis, the toner conveyed from the first toner conveying shaft member 40 is pushed out in a direction orthogonal to (crossing) the axial direction of the second toner conveying shaft member 40; The toner can be conveyed to the toner storage space 34. Therefore, the toner can be transported in a balanced manner in two directions, ie, the axial direction of the toner transporting shaft member 40 (50) and the direction orthogonal to (crossing) without transporting the toner biased in one direction. In other words, the toner can be conveyed while being spread in a plane, and therefore, like the toner recovery container 30 of the present embodiment, the toner is long in the axial direction of the toner conveying shaft member 40 and in the direction orthogonal to (crossing) the toner conveying shaft member 40. Even with the container shape, the toner can be stored until the toner storage space 34 is full.

  Therefore, in the toner recovery device 22, the storage space can be widely used regardless of the shape of the toner recovery container 30, and therefore the degree of freedom of shape of the toner recovery container 30 is increased, and The toner can be efficiently stored in the toner recovery container 30. Further, since the toner can be transported in a balanced manner in two directions, the transport force is increased, which is suitable for a high-speed image forming apparatus. Further, the configuration that vibrates the entire collection container is not employed, and therefore, there is no concern of toner scattering due to vibration, so there is no need to add a seal structure or the like.

  Further, since the second toner conveying shaft member 50 is disposed below the first toner conveying shaft member 40, the second toner conveying shaft member 50 is conveyed in the axial direction by the first toner conveying shaft member 50 and has fallen by its own weight. A part of the toner can be efficiently pushed out in the direction orthogonal (crossed) to the axial direction by the second toner conveying shaft member 50 and conveyed to the toner containing space 34.

  In addition, since the outer contour of the outer peripheral surface 51 of the second toner conveying shaft member 50 on the surface orthogonal to the rotation axis C is elliptical, the toner conveyed in the axial direction by the first toner conveying shaft member 40. Part of the toner can be efficiently pushed out in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction by the second toner conveying shaft member 50 and conveyed to the toner accommodating space 34.

  Further, a flexible sheet member 60 is provided in contact with the outer peripheral surface 51 of the second toner conveying shaft member 50, whereby the sheet member 60 is crossed with the axial direction of the second toner conveying shaft member 50. Since the sheet member 60 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions, the toner pushed out by the second toner transporting shaft member 50 by the reciprocating motion of the sheet member 60 is further transported in the second toner transport. The toner can be transported in a direction away from the shaft member 50, that is, in the back side of the toner storage space 34. Accordingly, the toner conveying force in the direction intersecting the axial direction can be greatly increased, and the toner accommodation efficiency of the toner recovery container 30 can be increased.

  Further, since the sheet member 60 is provided along the boundary between the toner accommodation space 34 and the second toner conveyance path 37 (toner conveyance path 35), the toner accommodation space 34 is filled with toner to some extent. By reciprocating the sheet member 60, the toner in the toner storage space 34 can be packed and pushed away to form a space for introducing the toner from the toner conveyance path. Therefore, more toner can be collected inside the toner collection container, and the toner accommodation efficiency of the toner collection container 30 can be improved.

  Further, the sheet member 60 can also function as a seal that prevents the backflow of toner from returning from the toner storage space 34 to the second toner transport path 37 side, and the toner that has risen in the toner storage space 34 Also, it can function as a seal that prevents the toner from being scattered outside the toner collection container 30. Thus, even if the toner is collected until the toner collecting container 30 is full, there is no possibility that the inside of the copying machine A is contaminated by the toner.

  Further, according to the copying machine (image forming apparatus) A of the present embodiment, since the toner collecting device 22 is provided, the toner collecting function is excellent, and a wasteful space is occupied inside the device. Therefore, the toner can be collected more efficiently.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring drawings, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment. Various shapes, combinations, and the like of the constituent members shown in the above-described embodiments are merely examples, and various modifications can be made based on design requirements and the like without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the spiral groove 43 of the first toner conveying shaft member 40 is formed so that the intervals between adjacent grooves in the axial direction are equal, but the present invention is limited to this configuration. Instead, the configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of the first toner conveying shaft member 40 in another embodiment.
In another embodiment, the spiral groove 43 of the first toner conveyance shaft member 40 is directed from the start end 35a (corresponding to the right side of the drawing in FIG. 8) of the toner conveyance path 35 to the terminal end 35b (corresponding to the left side of the drawing in FIG. 8). Accordingly, the gap between adjacent grooves in the axial direction is gradually reduced. That is, the spiral pitch of the spiral groove 43 becomes smaller toward the downstream side in the axial direction.

  With this configuration, the toner conveyance amount in the axial direction can be increased by increasing the conveyance speed in the axial direction by relatively increasing the helical pitch of the grooves 43 on the start end 35a side of the toner conveyance path 35. Therefore, the amount of toner discharged (conveyed) from the groove 43 to the second toner conveyance path 37 can be suppressed to be relatively small. Further, since the spiral pitch of the grooves 43 is relatively small on the terminal end 35b side of the toner conveyance path 35, the toner conveyance amount in the axial direction can be reduced by reducing the conveyance speed in the axial direction. Therefore, the amount of toner discharged (conveyed) from the groove 43 to the second toner conveyance path 37 can be increased.

However, on the terminal end 35b side of the toner transport path 35, since the toner has already been partially discharged on the start end 35a side, the absolute amount of toner sent by the first toner transport shaft member 40 is reduced. Yes. Therefore, as described above, even if the amount of toner discharged (conveyed) from the groove 43 to the second toner conveyance path 37 is increased on the end 35b side, the absolute amount is the same as that of the start end 35a side of the toner conveyance path 35. Approximately the same amount of toner is discharged (conveyed) to the second toner conveyance path 37.
Therefore, in the first toner conveying shaft member 40 of the present embodiment, the toner can be conveyed substantially uniformly in the axial direction of the first toner conveying shaft member 40, and as a result, more toner can be contained in the toner accommodating space 34. The toner can be stored efficiently.

  In the above embodiment, the sheet member 60 is described as being configured by a single film. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and the sheet member 60 may be configured by a plurality of films.

  In the above-described embodiment, the copying machine is exemplified as the image forming apparatus. However, the present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile apparatus.

  A ... Copier, C ... Rotating shaft, 22 ... Toner collection device, 30 ... Toner collection container, 34 ... Toner storage space, 35 ... Toner transport path, 35a ... Start end, 35b ... End, 36 ... First toner transport path, 37: second toner transport path, 40: first toner transport shaft member, 42: screw blade, 43 ... spiral groove, 50: second toner transport shaft member, 51: outer peripheral surface, 60 ... sheet member, 211: photosensitive drum (image carrier), 215: cleaning device

Claims (8)

A toner collecting container for collecting toner, a first toner conveying shaft member that is provided inside the toner collecting container and conveys the toner, and is arranged in parallel with the first toner conveying shaft member to convey the toner. A second toner conveying shaft member,
The first toner conveying shaft member has a spiral groove formed around its rotation axis, and is configured to convey toner in the axial direction by rotation around the axis.
The second toner conveying shaft member has an outer peripheral surface having a non-circular outer contour on a surface orthogonal to the rotating shaft of the second toner conveying shaft member so that the distance from the rotating shaft is not constant. And configured to convey the toner in a direction crossing the axial direction by rotation around the axis,
The first toner transport shaft member is disposed on one side of the toner recovery container, which is upstream of the toner transport direction, in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the first toner transport shaft member, and The toner collecting apparatus, wherein the second toner conveying shaft member is disposed downstream of the first toner conveying shaft member in the toner conveying direction.   The toner collecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second toner conveying shaft member is disposed vertically below the first toner conveying shaft member.   3. The toner according to claim 1, wherein the outer peripheral surface of the second toner transport shaft member has an elliptical outer contour on a surface orthogonal to the rotation axis of the second toner transport shaft member. Recovery device.   The flexible sheet member is provided on the downstream side in the toner transport direction from the second toner transport shaft member and in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the second toner transport shaft member. The toner recovery device according to any one of 1 to 3. The toner recovery container includes a toner storage space for storing toner, and a toner transport path that is adjacent to the toner storage space and extends along the first toner transport shaft member and the second toner transport shaft member. And
The toner collecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sheet member is provided along a boundary between the toner storage space and the toner conveyance path.   6. The toner recovery device according to claim 1, wherein the first toner transport shaft member and the second transport shaft member rotate in directions opposite to each other. The toner recovery container includes a toner storage space for storing toner, and a toner transport path that is adjacent to the toner storage space and extends along the first toner transport shaft member and the second toner transport shaft member. And
7. The spiral groove of the first toner conveying shaft member gradually decreases the interval between adjacent grooves in the axial direction from the start end to the end of the toner conveying path. The toner recovery device according to any one of the above. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrier that carries a developed image formed with toner; a cleaning device that removes toner remaining on the image carrier; and a toner collection device that collects toner removed by the cleaning device. Because
An image forming apparatus, wherein the toner collecting device is the toner collecting device according to claim 1.

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