JP2018155993A - Developer supply device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a developer supply device that can scrape off a developer accumulated especially on corner parts of a ceiling surface of a developer container.SOLUTION: In a developer supply device comprising a housing 110, a stirring member 121, and a scraping member 131, the scraping member 131 is caused to perform a reciprocating movement along a ceiling surface of the housing 110, by using a motion conversion mechanism that converts a rotation operation of the stirring member 121 into an operation of the scraping member 131 to move along one end to the other end of the ceiling surface of the housing 110.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a developer replenishing device that replenishes developer to a developing device, and more particularly to improvement of a developer scraping technique in the vicinity of a ceiling surface in an apparatus housing.

In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, a developer (for example, toner) is supplied from a developing unit to an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor to visualize the image. Image formation is performed by transferring the toner image on the photoreceptor onto a recording sheet.
Many image forming apparatuses are provided with a developer replenishing device (hereinafter referred to as “toner cut ridge”) for replenishing toner to a developing device. The toner cartridge is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus, and the toner in the toner cartridge is replenished into the developing device as the toner in the developing device is consumed by visualization. The amount of toner is stabilized. If all the toner in the toner cartridge runs out while the toner supply is repeated, the toner cartridge is replaced with a new one.

  The new toner cartridge will go through a physical distribution route before reaching the user's hand, and will be stored until it is used after reaching the user's hand. During this time, in a high-temperature environment near the upper limit of the use temperature of the toner in the new toner cartridge, the toner tends to be in a state of weak aggregation (hereinafter referred to as “soft aggregation”) that can be re-dispersed by stirring. When using, the state of soft aggregation becomes more prominent.

In this case, if the toner cartridge is placed and stored with the surface (ceiling surface) facing the toner discharge port on the bottom surface of the casing facing down, the toner tends to be softly aggregated and collected on the ceiling surface. .
When the toner is softly agglomerated on the ceiling surface in this way, when the toner cartridge is mounted in a normal posture with the ceiling surface facing the top and the bottom surface facing downward, the state where the soft agglomerated toner is directly attached to the ceiling surface is maintained. Then, the toner is not used as replenishment to the developing device, and as a result, the cartridge is replaced without using up the toner, and the printing cost increases.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of a conventional toner cartridge, and FIG. 12 is a view showing a stirring locus of a stirring member in the conventional toner cartridge.
As shown in FIG. 11, the toner cartridge 300 includes a housing (housing) 310 in which a stirring unit 320 and a scraping unit 330 are accommodated, and a toner discharge port 315 is opened on the bottom surface of the housing 310. The stirring unit 320 includes a stirring member 321, a crank arm 322, a crank pin 322a, a rotating shaft 323a, and the like.

In addition, the scraping unit 330 includes a scraping member 331, a pair of levers 332, and the like. A long groove 332a provided in the lever 332 is associated with a fixed shaft 313a and a crank pin 322a provided in the housing 310. Match.
As shown in FIG. 12, when the stirring member 321 rotates while drawing a locus M1 in the arrow J direction, the long groove 332a of the lever 332 engaged with the crank pin 323a slides in the vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the fixed shaft 313a. Thus, the scraping member 331 holding the PET films 331a and 331b shown in FIG. 11 circulates while drawing the locus of M2 shown in FIG.

JP 2010-224172 A JP 2014-10225 A

Since the PET films 331a and 331b are easily deformed, when the film size is set so as to reach the toner accumulated in the corner portion 310d of the ceiling surface 310a, the point N of the locus M2 where the distance from the ceiling surface 310a is the shortest. When passing through the ceiling surface 310a, the shape is deformed so as to follow the ceiling surface 310a.
However, the PET film is soft, and in the configuration in which the scraping member 331 draws the locus M2, the film can rub only a part near the point N of the ceiling surface 310a, and therefore, particularly the corner portion 310d of the ceiling surface 310a. If the toner is softly aggregated and accumulated in the toner, the toner may not be scraped off.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and is a developer replenishing device capable of scraping off softly agglomerated toner particularly on corner portions of the ceiling surface of the developer replenishing device, and the developer replenishment An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus including the apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, a developer replenishing device according to the present invention is a developer replenishing device for replenishing a developer to a developer, and includes a housing for accommodating the developer and a development on a bottom surface in the housing. An agitating member for agitating the agent, and a scraping means for scraping off the developer attached to the ceiling surface in the casing by the scraping member, wherein the scraping means scrapes off the rotational operation of the agitating member. The member is provided with a motion conversion mechanism for converting the movement from one end of the ceiling surface to a reciprocating movement along the other end.

  The stirring member is rotatably held around a rotation shaft provided in the housing, the motion conversion mechanism includes a link mechanism, and a trajectory of movement of the scraping member is one of the ceiling surfaces. A guide member that guides the scraping member so as to have a trajectory along the other end from the end, and the link mechanism holds the scraping member at the tip, and the tip A lever member having a long groove formed on the opposite side, a first pin provided at a position different from the rotation shaft in the housing, and a second pin provided at a position eccentric from the rotation shaft in the stirring member. In addition, the scraping member may be configured to reciprocate with the rotation of the stirring member by engaging the long groove of the lever member with the first pin and the second pin. .

Here, the guide member is a ridge member provided on the inner wall surface of the housing, and at least one through hole is formed in the guide surface of the guide member, and the through hole is formed from the ceiling side. Also, the bottom side opening may be widened.
Further, a gap may be formed between both end portions in the extending direction of the guide member and the inner wall surface adjacent to the inner wall surface provided with the guide member at an angle.

Further, the scraping member may include a blade member that extends horizontally from the distal end portion of the lever member and at least one plate member that is arranged at intervals.
The scraping member may be attached to the lever member so as to be swingable with respect to an axis extending in parallel with the rotation axis of the stirring member.
Here, the ceiling surface may be a flat surface.

  In addition, the present invention is an image forming apparatus including the developer supply device described above.

  With the above configuration, the scraping member can move from one end portion of the ceiling surface of the developer container to the other end portion, so that the developer collected in the corner portion of the ceiling surface of the developer supply device. Can be scraped off.

1 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the appearance and contents of a toner cartridge. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a stirring unit, a scraping unit, and a part of a housing of the toner cartridge in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the toner cartridge in FIG. 2. (A)-(d) is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the state of the stirring part and scraping part which change temporally with the drive of a cartridge motor. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of a cross section taken along line B-B of the toner cartridge in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the through-hole of a guide, and is a perspective view of CC sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is a figure which shows the shape of the through-hole of a guide, (a) is a perspective view of the DD arrow directional cross section of FIG. 7, (b) is a perspective view of the EE arrow directional cross section of FIG. FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the contents of a toner cartridge according to Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a partially enlarged view of the toner cartridge in FIG. 9 taken along the line F-F, where (a) shows a large amount of toner that is softly agglomerated on the ceiling surface, and (b) shows no toner adhering to the ceiling surface. Each case is shown. FIG. 6 is a transparent perspective view of a conventional toner cartridge. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a stirring member inside a conventional toner cartridge.

Hereinafter, a developer supply device and an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking a tandem type color image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as “printer”) as an example.
<Embodiment 1>
(Overall printer configuration)
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes an image forming unit 10, a paper feeding unit 20, a fixing unit 30, a control unit 40, and an operation panel 50.

The image forming unit 10 includes toner cartridges 100Y, 100M, and 100C containing toners T _Y , T _M , T _C , and T _K for each color of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black). , 100K, image forming units 11Y, 11M, 11C, and 11K corresponding to the respective colors, an intermediate transfer belt 13, and the like.
Toner cartridge 100K via a supply pipe (not shown) for connecting the toner conveying unit 140 provided in the cartridge (see FIG. 2) and the developing unit 18, provided with toner T _K to the image forming unit 11K development Refill the vessel 18.

The image forming unit 11K includes a photosensitive drum 12, and a charger 16, an exposure unit 17, a developing unit 18, and a cleaner 19 arranged along the circumferential direction of the photosensitive drum 12.
The exposure unit 17 includes a light emitting element such as a laser diode, a lens, and the like. The exposure unit 17 modulates laser light according to a drive signal from the control unit 40 and performs exposure scanning on the photosensitive drum 12.
The photosensitive drum 12 is rotationally driven by a driving source (not shown), and after the toner remaining on the surface is removed by the cleaner 19 before receiving the exposure, the photosensitive drum 12 is uniformly charged by the charger 16 as described above. When exposed to the laser beam in a uniformly charged state, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 12.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 12 is developed by the developing unit 18, and thereby a K-color toner image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 12. The toner _TK is primarily transferred from the photosensitive drum 12 onto the intermediate transfer belt 13 by the primary transfer roller 14 disposed on the opposite side of the photosensitive drum 12 via the intermediate transfer belt 13.
The image forming units 11Y, 11M, and 11C have the same configuration as the image forming unit 11K, and a toner image of a corresponding color (Y, M, or C color) is formed on the photosensitive drum 12 for each image forming unit. Then, the image is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 13 by the primary transfer roller 14.

The operation in each of the image forming units 11Y to 11C is executed at different timings so that the toner images are transferred to the same position on the intermediate transfer belt 13 in a superimposed manner. Thereby, Y to K color toner images are formed on the intermediate transfer belt 13.
The paper feed unit 20 includes a paper feed cassette 21 that stores the recording sheet S, a feeding roller 22, a transport roller 23, and a timing roller 24.

The feeding roller 22 contacts the uppermost recording sheet S of the paper feed cassette 21 and feeds it to the downstream conveyance path. The transport roller 23 transports the recording sheet S fed by the feed roller 22 toward the timing roller 24. The timing roller 24 sends the recording sheet S to the downstream side at a timing instructed by the control unit 40.
The color toner image that has been multiple-transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 13 in the image forming unit 10 moves to the secondary transfer position 15 a by the rotation of the intermediate transfer belt 13.

  The recording sheet S is fed from the timing roller 24 of the paper feeding unit 20 in accordance with the movement timing of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 13, and the contact between the intermediate transfer belt 13 and the secondary transfer roller 15 is made. When the recording sheet S passes through the secondary transfer position 15a, the color toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 13 is secondarily transferred onto the recording sheet S by the secondary transfer roller 15. The recording sheet S that has passed the secondary transfer position 15 a is sent to the fixing unit 30.

The fixing unit 30 is formed by pressing a pressure roller 32 against the fixing roller 31, a halogen heater 33 is disposed inside the fixing roller 31, and the pressure roller 32 is driven by a driving source (not shown), The fixing roller 31 is driven to rotate as the pressure roller 32 rotates.
In the fixing unit 30, the color toner image (unfixed image) on the recording sheet S conveyed by the secondary transfer roller 15 is heated and pressed to be fixed.

The recording sheet S that has passed through the fixing unit 30 is conveyed to the discharge roller 25 along the conveyance path 25 b, and then discharged from the discharge port 25 a to the outside of the apparatus by the discharge roller 25 and is stored in the discharge tray 26.
The operation panel 50 is disposed at a position where the user can easily operate when standing in front of the image forming apparatus 1, here, a position on the front side of the upper surface of the apparatus main body, and accepts various job execution instructions from the user. Has keys etc. Information received on the operation panel 50 is sent to the control unit 40.

The control unit 40 executes the smooth image forming operation by controlling the image forming unit 10, the paper feeding unit 20, and the like.
(Configuration of toner cartridge)
Next, the configuration and operation of the toner cartridges 100C to 100K will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The toner cartridges 100C to 100K except for the color of the toner. Are the same structure, and in the following, one toner cartridge is indicated by omitting the subscripts C to K from the reference numerals of the components.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the appearance and contents of the toner cartridge 100.
As shown in the figure, the toner cartridge 100 includes a housing 110, an agitation unit 120, a scraping unit 130, a toner transport unit 140, a drive transmission unit 160, a cap 170, and the like. Here, the X-axis direction shown in FIG. 2 is referred to as the left-right direction, the Y-axis direction is referred to as the depth direction, and the Z-axis direction is referred to as the up-down (height) direction.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of the stirring unit 120, the scraping unit 130, and the housing 110 of the toner cartridge in FIG. As shown in the figure, the stirring unit 120 has a so-called crankshaft configuration that rotates in the direction of the arrow G, and includes a stirring member 121 at the center in the rotation axis direction and a rotation shaft 123a at both ends in the rotation axis direction. b, and one end of a pair of crank arms 122b, c and 124b, c are attached to both ends of the stirring member 121 and the rotating shafts 123a, b, respectively. Crank pins 122a and 124a are installed between the crank arms 122b and c and 124b and c.

The agitating unit 120 is a driven unit that is driven by a driving force of a driving unit (cartridge motor) (not shown). The rotating shaft 123a is supported by the bearing unit 114 of the housing 110, and the end of the rotating shaft 123b. The claw 123c located at the position is hooked into the recess 160a of the drive transmission unit 160 in FIG. 2 to form a so-called snap fit.
When the cartridge motor rotates, the agitating member 121 rotates in the direction of arrow G about the rotation shaft 123a via the snap fit, and agitates the toner in the housing 110.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the scraping unit 130 includes a scraping member 131, levers 132 and 134, and slider pins 133 a and b, and together with the stirring unit 120, a pair of crank arms 122 b and c and 124 b and c are cranked. The two reciprocating slider crank mechanisms have slider pins 133a and 133b as sliders and levers 132 and 134 as connecting rods.

The dimensions of each part constituting the slider crank mechanism are such that the scraping member 131 is rotated while the crank arms 122b, c and 124b, c make one rotation around the rotation shafts 123a, b as the cartridge motor rotates. The reciprocal movement is determined from one end of the ceiling surface to the other end.
The scraping member 131 is made of a resin such as ABS or polycarbonate, and includes a blade member 131b and a plurality of elliptical plate members 131a as shown in FIG. 3, and has upper ends (close to the ceiling) of the levers 132 and 134. A plurality of plate members 131a... Are arranged in a row in the direction of the rotation axis of the stirring member 121 with respect to the blade member 131b installed between the end portions on the side.

The plate member 131a has a thickness of 1 mm, for example, and is integrally formed with the long blade member 131b by injection molding or the like, and has higher rigidity than the conventional film shown in FIG.
The blade member 131b has a V-shape obtained by bending a plate-like member at the center, and an angle α (see FIG. 6) corresponding to the outer angle of the V-shape is set in a range of 180 ° to 270 °.

The blade member 131b is formed in such a V shape in order to efficiently scrape off the toner lump existing in the corner portion of the casing. The operation of the blade member in FIG. 6 will be described later.
Returning to FIG. 3, the levers 132 and 134 are provided with long grooves 132a and 134a, and fixed shafts 113a and 113b and crank pins 122a and 124a provided in the housing 110 are inserted into the long grooves 132a and 134a. Yes. As can be seen from the figure, the levers 132 and 134 are U-shaped with their lower ends open, but a long groove may be provided in the lever with the lower end closed.

  4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the toner cartridge in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of the toner cartridge in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the slider pins 133a and 133b are respectively positioned between the guides 111 and 112 provided on the housing 110 and the ceiling surface of the housing 110. As shown in FIG. It is slidably inserted in. Although not shown in FIG. 5, the slider pin 133b is also inserted freely in the left-right direction (X-axis direction), similarly to the slider pin 133a. The slider pins 133a and 133b are in contact with the guides 111 and 112 by the weights of the levers 132 and 134 and the scraping member 131.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the position of the guide 111 in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) takes the shape of the scraping member 131 into consideration, and the upper end portion of the scraping member 131 is located near the ceiling surface of the housing 110. It is decided so. Further, as shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C, the guide 111 has a left-right direction (the right and left ends of the scraping member 131 are positioned in the vicinity of the left wall surface 110b and the right wall surface 110c of the housing 110). The position in the Y-axis direction) is determined and provided parallel to the ceiling surface.

5A, gaps 111a and 111b are provided between the left end of the guide 111 and the left wall surface 110b of the housing 110, and between the right end of the guide 111 and the right wall surface 110c of the housing 110, respectively. ing. The sizes of the gaps 111a and 111b are set smaller than the diameter of the slider pin 133a.
By providing the gap 111a, when the scraping member 131 moves in the direction of the arrow H, the escape place of the toner scraped by the slider pin 133a sliding on the guide 111 is created, and the toner on the guide 111 is scraped downward. Can be dropped. Further, the guide 111 is provided with a through hole that makes it easy to drop the toner on the guide downward.

Although not shown in FIG. 5, the guide 112 also has a design similar to that of the guide 111, the installation position on the housing 110 is determined, and the guide is provided with a through hole.
The trajectory of the scraping member 131 in FIG. 5 and the through holes provided in the guides 111 and 112 will be described later.
Returning to FIG. 2, external gears (not shown) are provided on the gear 150, the gear 160b formed integrally with the recess 160a of the drive transmission unit 160, and the peripheral portion of the gear 142 of the transport unit 140, respectively. The gear 150 meshes with the gear 160b and the gear 142, respectively.

When the cartridge motor rotates, the rotational driving force is transmitted to the gear 142 of the transport unit 140 via the gear 150, and the internal screw 143 (see FIG. 4) rotates.
As shown in FIG. 4, a discharge port 115 that guides toner from the housing 110 to the conveyance unit 140 is provided below the housing 110.

The toner in the housing 110 is agitated by the agitating member 121 and falls to the toner conveyance tube 141 through the toner discharge port 115.
A screw 143 is installed on the inner side of the toner conveyance tube 141. When the screw 143 rotates with the rotation of the cartridge motor, the toner in the toner conveyance tube 141 is discharged from the toner supply port 144 and is not shown. The developer 18 is replenished with toner.

In FIG. 4, a circular hole 116 is formed in the left wall surface of the housing 110, and the toner supply from the hole 116 into the housing 100 is completed before the toner cartridge is distributed as a new toner cartridge. Then, the cap 170 is attached to the hole 116, and the hole 116 is sealed.
(Travel path of scraping member)
Next, the locus of the scraping member 131 that moves in conjunction with the rotation of the stirring member 121 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Here, although one set of reciprocating slider crank mechanisms will be described, the crank pins 122a and 124a both rotate in phase, so the operation is the same for the other set of mechanisms.

FIGS. 5A to 5D show the rotational phase of the stirring member 121 and the state of the scraping member 131 that change as the cartridge motor is driven.
FIG. 5A shows the positions of the agitating member 121 and the scraping member 131 when the crank pin 122a that moves circularly is located at the top of the movement locus. In FIG. 5A, the scraping member 131 is located at the center of the guide 111 that is long in the left-right direction in the drawing. When the crank pin 122a rotates in the direction of arrow G from this state, the scraping member 131 is Move in the direction of arrow H.

Hereinafter, the direction of the arrow H is referred to as the left side, and the direction opposite to the arrow H is referred to as the right side.
FIG. 5B shows the positions of the stirring member 121 and the scraping member 131 after the crank pin 122a has been rotated 45 degrees in the direction of arrow G from the position of FIG.
In FIG. 5B, the position of the fixed shaft 113a is determined so that the scraping member 131 is positioned at the left end portion of the guide 111, and the crank pin 122a is moved from the position of FIG. The toner accumulated on the ceiling surface 110a and the corner portion 110e formed by the ceiling surface 110a and the left wall surface 110b can be scraped off by the scraping member 131 while rotating 45 degrees in the direction.

FIG. 5C shows the positions of the agitating member 121 and the scraping member 131 after the crankpin 122a has rotated 135 degrees from the position of FIG. While the crank pin 122a rotates 135 degrees from the position of FIG. 5A in the direction of arrow G, the scraping member 131 moves from the position of the left end portion of the guide 111 to the center portion in the left-right direction of the guide 111.
FIG. 5D shows the positions of the agitating member 121 and the scraping member 131 after the crank pin 122a has rotated 135 degrees from the position of FIG.

  5D, the position of the fixed shaft 113a is determined so that the scraping member 131 is located at the right end of the guide 111, and the crank pin 122a is moved from the position of FIG. The toner accumulated on the ceiling surface 110a and the corner portion 110f formed by the ceiling surface 110a and the right wall surface 110c can be scraped off by the scraping member 131 while rotating 135 degrees in the direction.

When the crank pin 122a further rotates 45 degrees in the arrow G direction from the position of the crank pin 122a in FIG. 5D, the state returns to the state in FIG.
While the stirring member 121 makes one rotation, the scraping member 131 reciprocates once on the guide 111 as shown in FIGS.
As described above, in the past, the PET film was moved along a part of the ceiling surface. However, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, the combination of the above-described reciprocating slider crank mechanism and the guide allows scraping. The member can be moved along the guide from one end of the ceiling surface to the other end.

Hereinafter, the operation of the blade member 131b provided in the scraping member 131 and the through holes provided in the guides 111 and 112 to facilitate scraping off the toner accumulated on the ceiling surface will be described.
(Operation of the blade member)
6 is a partially enlarged view of the toner cartridge in FIG. 2 taken along line B-B. As shown in the figure, the blade member 131b provided in the scraping member 131 moves integrally with the slider pin 133a moving on the guide 111, and the surface 131c becomes closer to the left corner 110e of the ceiling surface. Nearly parallel to the guide 111.

Here, the case where the blade member 131b moves in the direction of the arrow H will be described. However, since the blade member 131b is arranged symmetrically with respect to the center line PP of the plate member 131a, it is opposite to the arrow H. The operation is the same when moving in the direction of.
Since the long groove 132a (see FIG. 5) is engaged with the fixed shaft 113a (see FIG. 5), the lever 132 returns to FIG. 6 and the scraping member 131 moves in the direction of the arrow H. The tip of the blade member 131b moves at the same time as the inclination angle β is decreased, and at the same time, the tip of the blade member 131b rotates by the change of the inclination angle β and is positioned below.

When the toner T1 is solidified in a block shape at the left corner 110e, the blade member 131b moves in the direction of the arrow H, pushes in the tip in the H direction, and further moves in the direction of the arrow H. Since the front end of the member 131b in the H direction is positioned below, the block-shaped toner T1 can be scraped downward.
(Guide through hole)
FIG. 7 is a view showing the appearance of the through hole of the guide, and is a perspective view of a cross section taken along the line CC in FIG. As shown in the figure, the plate-shaped guide 111 is provided with a through hole 111b.

By providing the through hole 111b in the guide 111, the toner scraped by the slider pin 133a sliding on the guide 111 can be scraped downward through the through hole 111b.
8A and 8B are diagrams showing the shape of the guide through-hole, wherein FIG. 8A is a perspective view taken along the line D-D in FIG. 7, and FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line E-E in FIG. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the guide 111 is inclined so that the lower opening is wider than the upper side of the through hole 111b.
By providing this inclination, it is possible to prevent the toner scraped off from the through hole 111b from being caught on the side surface of the through hole 111b and being clogged with the toner.
The area of the through hole 111b provided in the guide 111 is as large as possible, and it is desirable to increase the number of through holes because it is easier to scrape off the toner. Therefore, the thickness of the guide 111 and the length of the stirring member 131 in the moving direction are desirable. It may be changed appropriately by, for example.

For example, when the thickness of the guide 111 is large, the area of the through hole 111b can be increased within a range in which the attachment strength of the guide 111 to the housing 110 is sufficiently secured.
(Summary)
According to the configuration of the first embodiment, since the scraping member is moved from one end portion of the ceiling surface along the other end portion, the corner of the ceiling surface that may not be scraped off conventionally can be used. The toner that has softly aggregated in the portion can be scraped off toward the stirring member 121 below.

For this reason, almost no toner remains in the housing 110, and as a result, the printing cost can be reduced.
Further, since the scraping member 131 is movable from one end portion of the ceiling surface 110a along the other end portion by using the rotational force of the stirring member 121, the scraping member is moved. An independent drive source becomes unnecessary. Note that, according to the configuration of the first embodiment, even when the scraping member 131 is, for example, a PET film, the effect of scraping off the soft-aggregated toner at the corner portion is more effective than the configuration shown in FIG. can get.
<Embodiment 2>
The scraping member of the first embodiment is fixed with respect to the lever. However, in the second embodiment, the scraping member can swing with respect to the lever. 1 and different. Hereinafter, in order to avoid duplication of explanation, explanation of the same contents as those in Embodiment 1 is omitted, and the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the toner cartridge according to the second exemplary embodiment. 10 is a partially enlarged view of the toner cartridge in FIG. 9 taken along the line F-F. FIG. 10A shows a case where a large amount of toner is softly agglomerated on the ceiling surface, and FIG. The case where it has not adhered is shown, respectively. In FIG. 9, the scraping member 231 has a length corresponding to the facing distance of a pair of swingable levers 132 and 134 (only the lever 132 near the left inner wall is shown in the figure) existing near the left and right inner walls of the housing 110. A plurality of protruding pieces 231b... Are provided at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 231a on both sides of the plate-like member 231a. The plate-like member 231a and the plurality of projecting pieces 231b are made of resin such as ABS and polycarbonate, and are integrally formed by injection molding or the like.

  Both end portions in the longitudinal direction (Y-axis direction) of the plate-like member 231a have portions 231c in which the upper half in the state shown in the figure is cut out, and projecting pieces 231b located outside the cutout portion 231c. A pin insertion hole is formed. A pin 132a (134b) protruding from the upper end of the lever 132 (134) is inserted into the pin insertion hole, and the scraping member 231 is supported rotatably about the pin 132a (134a).

As can be seen from the figure, the pin insertion hole is provided not at the center position of the projecting piece 231b but at an eccentric position. Therefore, when the scraping member 231 is in a free state where the scraping member 231 is not in contact with the toner lump or the like, the posture hangs down in the direction of gravity as shown in FIGS. In the case of contact, as shown in FIG. 10 (a), 132a is turned around in the direction of arrow I with the fulcrum as a fulcrum to enter the toner mass. For this reason, the toner lump prevents the scraping member 231 from being overloaded, and further, the toner is easily broken and dropped downward.
<Modification>
As described above, the present invention has been described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the following modifications may be considered.
(1) Motion conversion mechanism In the above embodiment, the movement of the scraping member has been described by taking as an example a configuration including a reciprocating slider crank mechanism and a guide for guiding the scraping member along the ceiling surface of the housing. If the link mechanism is not limited to the crank mechanism but can convert the rotational motion into the linear motion, the same effect can be obtained even if another motion conversion mechanism is used.

For example, by using a watt parallelogram mechanism and a connecting rod as the motion conversion mechanism, the rotational motion of the stirring member is approximately converted to linear motion, and the scraping member is reciprocated along the ceiling surface of the housing. Can be made. The size of each part of the mechanism may be determined so that the scraping member performs one reciprocal movement from the other end of the ceiling surface to the other end while the stirring member rotates once. In this case, the guides 111 and 112 provided in the housing are not necessary.
(2) Number of levers In the above-described embodiment, one lever is provided at each end of the scraping member 131 to form two sets of reciprocating slider crank mechanisms. It is also possible to reduce the number of levers to one.

For example, when the size of the toner cartridge is short in the direction of the rotation axis of the stirring member 121, the number of levers may be set to one in consideration of the toner storage space in the housing. Even when the number of levers is one, the operation of the scraping member reciprocating along the ceiling surface of the housing does not change, so the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained.
(3) Shape of ceiling surface In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the ceiling surface of the housing is a flat surface has been described. However, the shape of the ceiling surface is not limited to a flat surface.

If the motion conversion mechanism is composed of a link mechanism and a guide, the guide should be shaped along the ceiling surface. If the motion conversion mechanism is composed only of a link mechanism, the ceiling surface depends on the design. By configuring the link mechanism that moves the scraping member along the other end portion from one end portion, the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained.
(4) Guide In the above embodiment, the slider pin is configured to slide on the plate-shaped guide. However, the slider pin is slidably fitted along the guide groove provided on the inner wall surface of the housing. It is good also as a structure.
(5) Toner In the above embodiment, the toner cartridge has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the two-component developing system using toner and carrier, and a developer replenishing device that stores one component as a developer. Good.

  The present invention is suitable as a developer replenishing device for replenishing a developer to a developing device of a developer replenishing device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus 10 ... Image forming part 20 ... Paper feed part 30 ... Fixing part 40 ... Control part 50 ... Operation panel 100Y-K ... Toner cartridge 110 ... Housing 111 ... Guide 113a ... Fixed shaft 120 ... Stirring part 121 ... Stirring Member 122a ... Crank pin 122b ... Crank arm 130 ... Scraping part 131 ... Scraping member 131a ... Plate member 131b ... Bane member 132 ... Lever 133a ... Slider pin 140 ... Toner conveying part

Claims (8)

A developer replenishing device for replenishing a developer to a developing device,
A housing for containing the developer;
A stirring member that stirs the developer on the bottom surface in the housing;
Scraping means for scraping off the developer adhering to the ceiling surface in the housing with a scraping member;
With
The scraping means includes a motion conversion mechanism that converts the rotating operation of the stirring member into an operation in which the scraping member reciprocates along one end of the ceiling surface. Developer replenishing device. The stirring member is rotatably held around a rotation shaft provided in the housing,
The motion conversion mechanism includes a link mechanism,
A guide member that guides the scraping member so that the trajectory of the scraping member moves from one end of the ceiling surface to the trajectory along the other end;
With
The link mechanism holds the scraping member at the tip, and has a lever member formed with a long groove on the opposite side of the tip, and a first pin provided at a position different from the rotation shaft in the housing. A second pin provided at a position eccentric from the rotation shaft in the stirring member,
The long groove of the lever member is engaged with the first pin and the second pin, so that the scraping member is reciprocated with the rotation of the stirring member. Item 2. The developer supply device according to Item 1. The guide member is a protrusion member provided on the inner wall surface of the housing, and at least one through hole is formed in the guide surface of the guide member, and the through hole is on the bottom side of the ceiling side. The developer replenishing device according to claim 2, wherein the opening is wide. The clearance gap is formed between the both ends in the direction where the said guide member is extended, and the inner side wall surface which makes an angle with the inner side wall surface in which the guide member was provided, The Claim 2 or 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The developer replenishing device described. The scraping member is composed of a blade member extending horizontally from the tip end portion of the lever member and at least one plate member arranged in a row at an interval. The developer supply device according to claim 1. 5. The scraping member is attached to the lever member so as to be swingable with respect to an axis extending in parallel with a rotation axis of the stirring member. 5. Developer replenisher. The developer replenishing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the ceiling surface is a flat surface.   An image forming apparatus comprising the developer supply device according to claim 1.

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