JP2017217859A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image formation device which enables easy attachment/detachment work of an exterior cover.SOLUTION: An image formation device 1 includes multiple detachable cover plates 11, 22. The adjacent cover plates 11, 22 respectively have overlapping parts 11a, 22a overlapping with each other. The cover plate 11 overlapping at an outer side is configured to be attached or detached by a fastening member B. The cover plate 22 overlapping at an inner side is configured to be fixed by the overlapping part 11a of the cover plate 11 overlapping at the outer side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including an exterior cover that covers a protected portion.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral, a main board that controls an image forming operation of an image forming unit is covered and protected by an exterior cover. Further, a connector for connecting various wire materials such as FFC (Flexible Flat Cable) connected to the main board and various wire materials connected to the image forming unit is covered and protected by a wire material cover. The exterior cover is detachably provided by an elastically deformable engaging portion or the like so that the user can easily add a memory to the main board. On the other hand, since it is not preferable that the connector is exposed, the wire cover cannot be attached / detached unless a tool is used so that it cannot be easily attached / detached by the user.

  Further, the printer and the facsimile described in Patent Document 1 have a storage space for adding memory, and a sub-cover that opens and closes the storage space. By attaching and detaching the sub cover, it is possible to easily attach and detach the memory.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-334173

  However, if a cover plate corresponding to each of a plurality of protected parts is provided, such as the above-mentioned wire rod cover or the sub-cover of Patent Document 1, that is, if the cover is divided finely, there is a problem that the attaching / detaching operation of the cover becomes complicated. Arise. Moreover, even when the method of attaching and detaching the cover is varied depending on the property of the portion covered with the cover, the operation of attaching and detaching the cover is complicated.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of easily attaching / detaching a cover even when the cover is divided finely or the attaching / detaching method differs for each cover.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus including a plurality of detachable cover plates, and the adjacent cover plates have overlapping portions that overlap each other, and overlap each other. The cover plate is configured to be attached and detached by a fastening member, and the cover plate stacked on the inner side is configured to be fixed by the overlapping portion of the cover plate stacked on the outer side. And

  By adopting such a configuration, the cover plate stacked on the inside cannot be removed unless the fastening of the cover plate stacked on the outside is released and removed. That is, since the cover plate stacked on the inner side cannot be easily removed, the protected portion that is not preferably exposed can be protected by the cover plate stacked on the inner side.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the cover plate stacked on the inside may be configured to be attached and detached by an elastically deformable engaging portion.

  By adopting such a configuration, when releasing and removing the fastening of the cover plate stacked on the outer side, the cover plate stacked on the inner side can be removed with a simple operation of elastically deforming the engaging portion, The cover plate can be easily attached and detached.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a creepage distance between a gap between the outer peripheral surfaces of the adjacent cover plates and a protected portion provided on the inner side of the cover plate that is overlapped on the inner side is 15 mm or more. It may be characterized.

  By adopting such a configuration, the protected portion can be electrically protected even when static electricity is generated in the vicinity of the gap.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet, a main substrate that controls an image forming operation of the image forming unit, a wire connected to the image forming unit, and the main substrate. A connecting portion that connects the wire rods to each other, and the connecting portion may be provided inside the cover plate that is overlapped inside.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily attach and detach the exterior cover even when the cover cover is finely divided or the method of attaching and detaching the cover varies depending on the nature of the portion covered with the cover.

1 is a perspective view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the apparatus main body with the left rear cover removed in the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a perspective view showing an apparatus main body with a wire rod cover removed in a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a wire cover attached to the apparatus main body in the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the printer which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, it is a perspective view which shows a wire rod cover. In the printer which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, it is sectional drawing which shows the superimposition part of a wire rod cover and the superimposition part of a left front cover. In the printer which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, it is sectional drawing which shows the hook of a wire rod cover. 1 is a perspective view showing a multifunction machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  A printer as an image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the printer, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the apparatus main body with the left rear upper cover removed, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the apparatus main body with the wire cover removed. Hereinafter, the front-rear direction shown in FIG. 1 is the front-rear direction of the printer, and the left-right direction is based on the direction when the printer 1 is viewed from the front side.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus main body 2 of the printer 1 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing (not shown) and an exterior cover that covers the outer peripheral surface of the casing. The housing accommodates an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet. The exterior cover includes an upper surface cover 4 that covers the upper surface of the housing, a front cover 5 that covers the front surface so that it can be opened and closed, a back cover 6 that covers the back surface so that it can be opened and closed, a left side cover 7 that covers the left side surface, and a right side surface. And a right side cover 8 for covering.

  The left side cover 7 includes a left front cover 11 covering substantially the front half of the left side surface, a left rear lower cover 12 covering substantially the rear half of the left side surface, and a left rear upper cover covering a portion above the rear half of the left side surface. 13.

  The left front cover 11 has a substantially rectangular shape, and has an edge that bends inward along the upper edge and the front and rear edges. As shown in FIG. 2, overlapping portions 11 a bent rearward are formed along the vertical direction at the edge bent along the rear edge. In the overlapping portion 11a, a rectangular notch 11b is formed at a position near the upper end. Further, the left front cover 11 is formed with an extending portion 11c extending rearward along the lower edge. A through hole 11d is opened at the tip of the extending portion 11c.

  Further, locking pieces (not shown) that are locked to the upper surface cover 4 and the front cover 5 are formed on the upper edge and the front edge of the left front cover 11. The left front cover 11 is mounted by locking these locking pieces to the upper surface cover 4 and the front cover 5 and passing the screw B as a fastening member through the through hole 11d and fastening it to the housing. ing.

  Inside the left front cover 11, a motor for driving the image forming unit 3, a mechanism for transmitting the driving force of the motor, a fan, and the like (all not shown) are arranged.

  The left rear lower cover 12 has a rectangular shape, and locking pieces (not shown) that are locked to the left rear upper cover 13 and the back cover 6 are formed on the upper edge and the rear edge. The left rear lower cover 12 is mounted by locking these locking pieces to the left rear upper cover 13 and the back cover 6.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a conductive shield plate 21 is provided below the left rear lower cover 12, and a wire rod cover 22 is provided above. The shield plate 21 and the wire cover 22 are adjacent to the left front cover 11 in the front-rear direction. Further, an expansion port 23 for memory expansion is provided behind the shield plate 21.

  Inside the shield plate 21, a main board 31 and a power board 32 for controlling the image forming operation of the image forming unit 3 are arranged. Inside the wire cover 22, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of wire materials W such as FFC (Flexible Flat Cable) connected to the main substrate 31 and the power supply substrate 32, and a plurality of wire materials connected to the image forming unit 3. A connecting portion 33 in which a connector C for connecting W to each other is arranged.

  Next, the wire cover 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. 4 is a perspective view showing the wire rod cover in a mounted state, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the wire rod cover.

  The wire cover 22 has a rectangular shape, and an edge portion that is bent inward along the front and rear edges and the lower edge is formed. At the front edge of the wire rod cover 22, an overlapping portion 22 a extending forward is formed. In the upper half of the overlapping portion 22a, an L-shaped concave portion 22b that is reversed left and right is formed. The recess 22b faces the notch 11b of the left front cover 11. At the edge along the lower edge of the wire rod cover 22, a locking piece 22 c that protrudes downward is formed slightly inside the front and rear ends.

  Further, hooks 25 are formed at both ends of the upper edge of the wire rod cover 22, respectively. As shown in FIG. 5, the hook 25 has a U-shape that is laterally viewed from the side, and has a proximal end portion 25 a that is bent inward from the upper edge, and an arc-shaped upward from the distal end of the proximal end portion 25 a. And a tip portion 25b that is folded back. A claw portion 25c that protrudes upward is formed on the upper surface of the tip portion 25b slightly inside the tip. The distal end portion 25b is elastically deformed so as to approach the proximal end portion 25a by being pressed downward.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the wire rod cover 22 is mounted by locking each locking piece 22 c to the shield plate 21 and locking the claw portion 25 c of each hook 25 to the left rear upper cover 13. It has become.

  In the printer 1 having the above-described configuration, attachment / detachment of the left side cover 7 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the hook of the wire cover engaged with the left rear upper cover, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the overlapped portion of the left front cover and the overlapped portion of the wire cover which are overlapped with each other.

  First, after the shield plate 21 (see FIG. 2) is attached, the wire cover 22 is attached. The wire rod cover 22 locks each locking piece 22c to the shield plate 21, and elastically deforms the hook 25 to lock the claw portion 25c to the lower edge of the left rear upper cover 13, as shown in FIG. It is installed by.

  Thereafter, the left front cover 11 is attached. At this time, the overlapping portion 11a of the left front cover 11 overlaps the outer side of the overlapping portion 22a of the wire cover 22, as shown in FIG. As described above, the left front cover 11 is mounted by locking the locking pieces to the upper surface cover 4 and the front cover 5 and fastening them to the casing through the through holes 11d of the extending pieces 11c (see FIG. 2). As a result, the wire cover 22 is fixed by the overlapping portion 11a of the left front cover 11, and even if the locking pieces 22c and the hooks 25 are released, the wire cover 22 cannot be removed. Finally, the lower left rear cover 12 is mounted with the respective locking pieces locked to the upper left rear cover 13 and the back cover 6 (see FIG. 1).

  As shown in FIG. 7, the left front cover 11 and the wire cover 22 have overlapping portions 11 a and 22 a overlapping each other, but between the outer surface of the left front cover 11 and the outer surface of the wire cover 22. The gap g is slightly open. The creepage distance from the gap g to the wire W through the gap between the overlapping portions 11a and 22a is preferably 15 mm or more.

  When the user increases the memory, the locking by each locking piece is released, and the left rear lower cover 12 is removed. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, since the expansion port 23 is exposed, the user can easily connect the memory to the expansion port 23. When the left rear lower cover 12 is removed, the wire cover 22 is exposed. However, since the overlap portion 11a of the left front cover 11 overlaps the outside of the overlap portion 22a of the wire cover 22, the wire cover 22 is not removed unless the left front cover 11 is removed. It cannot be removed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the connection portion 33 from being accidentally exposed.

  On the other hand, when exposing the connection portion 33 when the service person replaces the parts of the main board 31, etc., the left rear lower cover 12 is removed and then the screw fastening is released using a tool such as a screwdriver. Remove the cover 11. Thereafter, the tip 25b of each hook 25 of the wire cover 22 is pressed downward and elastically deformed, whereby the claw portion 25c is separated from the lower edge of the left rear upper cover 13, and the wire cover 22 is removed. Thereby, the connection part 33 is exposed.

  As described above, in the printer 1 of the present invention, the extension port 23 can be removed and opened by an easy operation of releasing the left rear lower cover 12 by the locking piece. Memory expansion work can be performed. On the other hand, since the left front cover 11 cannot be removed unless a tool for releasing the screw fastening is used, the connecting portion 33 cannot be easily opened by anyone other than a service person. However, after the screw fastening of the left front cover 11 is released by using a tool such as a screwdriver, the hook 25 of the wire cover 22 is elastically deformed by hand to remove the wire cover 22 and expose the connecting portion 33. Can do. That is, it is possible to set the number of operations for the serviceman to use the tool at least once, and the work efficiency can be improved. Moreover, compared with the case where the wire rod cover 22 is fastened with screws, the number of operations using the tool can be reduced and the number of screws used can be reduced.

  As described above, even when the cover of the left side cover 7 is finely divided or the attachment / detachment method of the left rear lower cover 12 and the wire cover 22 is changed, the number of operations required to attach / detach each cover is as much as possible. Can be reduced.

  Furthermore, by providing the overlapping portions 11a and 22a on the left front cover 11 and the wire cover 22, the creepage distance from the gap g to the wire W in the connecting portion 33 can be earned. The creepage distance is preferably 15 mm or more, for example. In this case, the wire W can be safely protected even when static electricity is generated in the vicinity of the gap g.

  In addition, although this embodiment demonstrated the case where the overlapping part was provided in two adjacent covers (left front cover 11 and wire rod cover 22), the number of covers can be two or more. In this case, the cover plate having the overlapped portion that is overlapped on the outermost side is configured to be attached to the housing by screw fastening, and the plurality of cover plates that are overlapped on the inside are overlapped portions of the cover plate that are overlapped on the outside And is attached to the housing or the adjacent cover by elastic deformation of the locking piece. By configuring in this way, after removing the cover plate that is stacked on the outermost side by releasing the screw fastening, the plurality of cover plates stacked on the inner side are removed by a simple operation that elastically deforms the locking pieces. be able to.

  Next, a case where the present invention is applied to a multifunction machine as an image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the multifunction machine.

  The multi-function device 51 includes an apparatus main body 52 in which an image forming unit is provided, and an image reading device 53 that is provided on the upper part of the apparatus main body 52 and reads an image formed in the image forming unit. A document conveying device 54 is mounted on the upper portion of the image reading device 53. The document conveying device 54 conveys a document from which an image is read to the image reading device 53 one by one. Similar to the printer, the apparatus main body 52 includes a housing (not shown) and an exterior cover that covers the outer peripheral surface of the housing. The exterior cover includes a front cover 61 that covers the front of the housing so that it can be opened and closed, an opening and closing cover 62 that covers the lower part of the back so that it can be opened and closed, a back surface fixing cover 63 that covers the top of the back, and a left side lower cover 64 that covers the bottom of the left side. A left side upper cover 65 covering the upper part of the left side, a right side lower cover 66 covering the lower part of the right side, and a right side upper cover 67 covering the upper part of the right side.

  The left side lower cover 64 is divided into a left front cover 71 and a left rear cover 72. Inside the left rear cover 72, a shield plate 75 is provided below, and a wire rod cover 76 is provided above. A main board 81 and a power supply board 82 are disposed inside the shield plate 75. Inside the wire rod cover 76, a connection portion 83 is provided in which a connector for connecting a plurality of wire rods connected to the image forming unit and the image reading device 53 and a plurality of wire rods connected to the main substrate 81 is provided. . The wire cover 76 has the same shape as the wire cover 22 of the printer 1.

  In such a multi-function device 51, when the image reading device 53 is replaced, the rear fixed cover 63, the left side cover 65, and the right side upper cover 67 are removed. Thereafter, the left rear cover 72 is removed, and then the wire cover 76 is removed. At this time, when the wire rod cover 76 is pulled upward without removing the left front cover 71, the wire rod cover 76 is pulled out through the space formed by removing the left side upper cover 65.

  After removing the wire cover 76 and exposing the connection portion 83, the connection between the wire connected to the image reading device 53 and the wire connected to the main substrate 81 is released, and the image reading device 53 is removed. When the document feeder 54 is mounted, the outer cover is removed and wiring is performed with the apparatus main body 52.

  As in the case of the multi-function device 51, when removing the wire cover 76, it may not always be necessary to remove the left front cover 71. As with the printer 1, when the memory of the main board is added, the extension port is exposed when the left rear cover 72 is removed. Further, when replacing or maintaining the main board, the left rear cover 72 is removed, and then the left front cover 71 is removed. Thereafter, the wire cover 76 is removed by elastically deforming the engaging portion engaged with the left side upper cover 65.

  In addition, as described above, since the common wire rod covers 22 and 76 can be used for the printer 1 and the multi-function device 51, the cost can be reduced.

  The description of the embodiment of the present invention described above describes a preferred embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and thus may have various technically preferable limitations. The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments unless specifically described to limit the present invention. That is, the above-described components in the embodiment of the present invention can be appropriately replaced with existing components and the like, and various variations including combinations with other existing components are possible. The description of the embodiment of the present invention described above does not limit the contents of the invention described in the claims.

1 Printer (image forming device)
3 Image forming unit 7 Left side cover (exterior cover)
11 Front left cover (cover plate)
11a Overlapping part 22 Wire cover
22a Superposition part 25 Engagement part 31 Main board 33 Connection part B Screw (fastening member)
C connector

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of detachable cover plates,
The adjacent cover plates each have overlapping portions that overlap each other,
The cover plate stacked on the outside is configured to be attached and detached by a fastening member,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cover plate stacked on the inner side is configured to be fixed by the overlapping portion of the cover plate stacked on the outer side.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cover plate stacked on the inner side is configured to be attached and detached by an elastically deformable engagement portion.   2. The creeping distance between a gap between the outer peripheral surfaces of the adjacent cover plates and a protected component provided on the inner side of the cover plate that is overlapped inside is 15 mm or more. The image forming apparatus according to 2. An image forming unit for forming an image on paper;
A main board for controlling the image forming operation of the image forming unit;
A connector for connecting a wire connected to the image forming unit and a wire connected to the main substrate to each other;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connector is provided on an inner side of the cover plate stacked on an inner side.

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