JP2019049753A - Structure of image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To achieve a configuration where distortion is hardly generated to an image reading part housing 800 even though a space P between the image reading part housing 800 and an image forming part housing 100 opens continuously in two directions, while suppressing an increase in weight and manufacturing cost.SOLUTION: A support part 803 supports an image reading part housing 800 relative to an image forming part housing 100 irrespective of an external load on the image reading part housing 800. An auxiliary support part 109a includes a gap T with a bottom plate part 810 while the external load is not applied on the image reading part housing 800. Meanwhile, when a load equal to or larger than a predetermined load is applied downward to an upper part of a position other than a mounting part for the image reading part housing 800 where the image reading part housing 800 is mounted, the auxiliary support part 109a is in contact with the bottom plate part 810, and supports the image reading part housing 800 relative to the image forming part housing 100.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure of an image forming apparatus such as, for example, a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine, or a multifunction machine having a plurality of functions of these.

  2. Description of the Related Art As an image forming apparatus having an image reading unit, a structure in which an image reading apparatus having an image reading unit is disposed on the top of an image forming apparatus main body having an image forming unit has been known. In addition, a so-called in-body discharge configuration is also known in which a discharge tray for discharging the recording material formed by the image forming unit is provided in the space between the image reading apparatus and the image forming apparatus main body. ing. In the case of the inside discharge configuration, in order to make it easy for the user to pick up the recording material discharged to the discharge tray, the space provided with the discharge tray is continuously opened in two directions of the front and one side. There is.

  In such an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus is configured, and the image reading device is configured on the upper portion of the image forming unit casing on which the image forming unit is supported, and the image reading unit casing on which the image reading unit is supported Have a structure in which is arranged. In addition, the structure is provided on one side of the image forming unit casing, and a first support member arranged to bridge the front plate and the rear plate, and the other side of the image forming unit casing. And a second support member cantilevered on the back side plate. Then, the image reader housing is supported by the first support member and the second support member. As described above, by making the second support member cantilever, the space between the image reading unit housing and the image forming unit housing is continuously opened in two directions (for example, see Patent Document 1). 1).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-293216

  However, as described above, when the space between the image reading unit casing and the image forming unit casing is continuously opened in two directions, the lower side of the space with respect to the image reading apparatus When a load is applied to the image reading unit, distortion may occur in the image reading unit housing. In particular, when the user leans to the corner between the other side and the front on which the second support member of the image reading apparatus is disposed, and the load is applied downward to this corner, the second support member Since it is cantilevered, distortion is likely to occur in the image reading unit case. If distortion occurs in the image reading unit case, the image reading accuracy by the image reading unit supported by the image reading unit case is lowered. In order to suppress such distortion, it is conceivable to increase the thickness of the second support member or to add a reinforcing plate, but both increase the weight and the manufacturing cost.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides an image reading unit casing even when the space between the image reading unit casing and the image forming unit casing is continuously opened in two directions. It is invented to realize a configuration in which distortion does not easily occur while suppressing an increase in weight and manufacturing cost.

  According to the present invention, an image reading unit case on which an image reading unit is supported, and a space which is disposed below the image reading unit case and which is orthogonal to the vertical direction and in which two orthogonal directions are continuously open is formed. An image forming unit case having a mounting unit on which the image reading unit case can be mounted at a position where the space is not continuously opened in two directions; And one or more supporting parts provided in at least one of the parts and supporting the image reading part case with respect to the image forming part case regardless of the load on the image reading part case from the outside The image reading unit case is provided in one of the image reading unit case and the placing unit, and a gap is provided between the image reading unit case and the other while no load is applied to the image reading unit case from the outside, and the image reading unit is provided from outside In the upper part of the position away from the mounting part of the housing, a predetermined load is applied downward. And one or more auxiliary supporting portions for supporting the image reading unit casing with respect to the image forming unit casing in contact with the other when a load is applied to the image forming unit. In the structure of the device.

  Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an image reading unit housing supporting the image reading unit, and a space disposed below the image reading unit housing and orthogonal to the vertical direction and two continuous directions orthogonal to each other being continuously opened. An image forming unit casing having a placement unit on which the image reading unit casing can be placed at a position where the space is not continuously opened in two directions; One or more support portions provided in at least one of the description placing portions and supporting the image reading portion casing with respect to the image forming portion casing, the image forming portion casing, and the placing portion And at least one auxiliary supporting portion provided on the space side with a predetermined gap between the at least one supporting portion and the other. It is in the structure of the image forming apparatus.

  According to the present invention, even if the space between the image reading unit case and the image forming unit case is continuously opened in two directions, the increase in weight and manufacturing cost is suppressed. Distortion can be less likely to occur in the image reading unit housing.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment as viewed from the front. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an enlarged part of an image reading unit casing according to the embodiment supported by the image forming unit casing. FIG. 8 is a schematic view exaggerating a state in which a load is applied to the image reading unit casing in a comparative example. (A) A cross-sectional view as seen from the front, cut in the lateral direction in the vicinity of the auxiliary support on the right front side of the portion where the image reader housing according to the present embodiment is supported by the image forming unit housing b) A cross-sectional view showing the auxiliary support in the same manner. FIG. 7 is a top view showing the vicinity of an auxiliary support portion on the right front side in the portion where the image reading portion case according to the present embodiment is supported by the image forming portion case.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described using FIGS. 1 to 6. First, a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The terms “front” and “rear” used in the following description refer to the front side of the device as the front, and the back side of the device as the rear, and “right” and “left” as viewed from the front side of the device. It corresponds. Further, the front side of the apparatus is the side on which the user operates the apparatus, for example, the side on which the operation panel is disposed, or the side from which the cassette for storing the recording material is pulled out. Also, the “vertical direction” is the vertical direction in a state where the device is installed on the installation surface such as a floor.

[Image forming apparatus]
The image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is configured such that an image reading apparatus 400a including an image reading unit 400 is disposed on an upper portion of an image forming apparatus main body 300a including an image forming unit 300 adopting an electrophotographic method. The image reading unit 400 reads the original 6 placed on the original table glass 7 by the image sensor 8 and obtains it as image information. The image forming unit 300 has a so-called tandem structure in which a plurality of photosensitive drums (image carrier, photosensitive member) 10 are arranged in the traveling direction of the intermediate transfer belt (intermediate transfer member) 17.

  Each photosensitive drum 10 is charged by the charging device 16 and scanned on the surface by the scanning of the laser scanner (exposure device) 9 based on the image information read by the image reading unit 400 or the image information sent from the external terminal. An electrostatic latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent image is developed as a toner image by the toner supplied from the developing device 11. The developing devices 11 contain toners of respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan and black, and toner images of respective colors of yellow, magenta, cyan and black are formed on the respective photosensitive drums 10. Ru.

  The toner images of the respective colors formed on the respective photosensitive drums 10 are transferred so as to be superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 17, and four superimposed toner images are formed on the intermediate transfer belt 17. The toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 17 is transferred to a recording material (for example, a sheet material such as a sheet or an OHP sheet) S conveyed from the cassette 12 at a nip with the transfer roller 18. The image is formed on Specifically, the recording material S conveyed one by one by the feeding and separating device 13 is conveyed to the registration roller 15 via the conveyance unit 14, and the recording material S is rotated by the registration roller 15 and the photosensitive drum 10 is rotated. And the scanning timing of the laser scanner 9 are synchronized and transported.

  The recording material S is conveyed to the fixing device 19 in a state where an image is formed, and the image is fixed to the recording material S by being heated and pressed by the fixing device 19. Thereafter, the recording material S on which the image is fixed is discharged onto the discharge tray 21 from the discharge unit 20. The discharge tray 21 is provided in a space P between the image reading apparatus 400 a and the image forming apparatus main body 1 a. The space P is continuously opened in two directions of the front surface of the image forming apparatus 1 and the side surface on one side (the left side surface in the illustrated example). In other words, the space P is continuously covered with the rear surface and the other side surface (right side surface in the illustrated example), and the front surface, one side surface, and the corners between the front surface and one side surface are opened. There is. Thus, the user can easily take out the recording material discharged to the discharge tray 21 from the front side or one side surface.

  Further, when the toner of each developing device 11 is consumed by forming an image as described above, the developing devices 11 of each color are developed from the developer replenishing containers 4 a to 4 d of each color of the developer replenishing unit 2. The agent is replenished. Specifically, when using a one-component developing device that performs development using one-component magnetic toner, the one-component magnetic toner is replenished as a developer. In addition, when using a two-component developing device that performs development using a two-component developer in which a magnetic carrier and a nonmagnetic toner are mixed, the nonmagnetic toner is replenished as a developer. In this case, the magnetic carrier may be supplied together with the nonmagnetic toner as a developer.

  The developer supply unit 2 supplies the developer of each color from the developer supply containers 4a to 4d, the drive mechanism 5, and the developer supply containers 4a to 4d to the respective developing devices 11a to 3d. Have. The developer supply devices 3a to 3d each have a hopper 23, a supply path 25 and the like. When the developer is required, the developer supply containers 4a to 4d are rotationally driven by the drive mechanism 5, and the developer is supplied to the hopper 23 from the developer supply containers 4a to 4d. The developer discharged from the developer supply containers 4 a to 4 d and stored in the hopper 23 is conveyed to the developing device 11 via the supply path 25.

  As described above, each component or unit from the electrostatic latent image formation to the image formation on the recording material is supported by the image forming unit casing 100 described next. That is, the image forming unit 300 is supported by the image forming unit casing 100. Further, the original table glass 7 and the image sensor 8 described above are supported by an image reading unit case 800 described next. That is, the image reading unit 400 is supported by the image reading unit housing 800.

[Structure]
The schematic configuration of the structure 500 of the image forming apparatus provided with the image forming unit case 100 supporting the image forming unit 300 as described above and the image reading unit case 800 supporting the image reading unit 400, as shown in FIG. This will be described using The image forming unit case 100 is disposed below the image reading unit case 800, and is connected to the image reading unit case 800 in a state where the image reading unit case 800 is placed on the top. Each configuration will be described in detail below.

[Image formation unit case]
The image forming unit housing 100 includes a front side plate 101, a rear side plate 102, a main base 103, a right support 104, a left support 105, and the like. In addition, the image forming unit housing 100 includes a first lower right stay 106, a second lower right stay 113, a lower left stay 107, a lower front stay 108, an upper right stay 109, a left middle stay 110, a right middle stay 111, and a diagonal stay 112. , A cantilever support beam 203 and the like.

  The front side plate 101 and the rear side plate 102 are disposed so as to be substantially parallel to each other with the above-described image forming unit 300 interposed therebetween. The main base 103 connects the front side plate 101 and the rear side plate 102, and the laser scanner 9 is attached. The right support column 104 is vertically disposed, is fastened to the front side plate 101, supports the right end of the front side plate 101, and extends downward to the vicinity of the installation surface. The left support column 105 is vertically disposed, is fastened to the front side plate 101, supports the left end of the front side plate 101, and extends downward to the vicinity of the installation surface.

  The first lower right stay 106 is disposed in a direction substantially orthogonal to the front side plate 101 so as to connect the right support column 104 and the rear side plate 102 in the vicinity of the installation surface, and their depth direction in the vicinity of the installation surface Regulate the position of). The first lower right stay 106 is provided with a rail for guiding the cassette 12 so as to be inserted into and withdrawn from the image forming apparatus main body 300a on the inner side on the center side in the width direction (left and right direction). The width direction is a direction (left and right direction) perpendicular to the vertical direction and parallel to the front side plate 101.

  The second lower right stay 113 is disposed between the front side plate 101 and the first lower right stay 106 in the vertical direction and at the center side of the first lower right stay 106 in the width direction parallel to the front side plate 101. The support column 104 and the rear side plate 102 are connected. That is, the second lower right stay 113 connects the right support column 104 and the rear side plate 102 above the first lower right stay 106 and closer to the center in the width direction. The second lower right stay 113 is disposed substantially in parallel with the first lower right stay 106. A rail for guiding the cassette 12 to the image forming apparatus main body 300a so as to be able to be inserted and pulled out is also provided on the widthwise inner surface of the second lower right stay 113 as described above.

  Here, although omitted in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the cassette 12 is provided in two stages, and in consideration of the load at the time of conveyance of the recording material, the recording material from the lower cassette to the upper cassette The transport route is largely diverted. Therefore, the upper cassette is disposed at a position shifted to the left with respect to the lower cassette. Therefore, the second lower right stay 113 guiding the upper cassette is disposed at a position shifted to the left with respect to the first lower right stay 106 guiding the lower cassette.

  The lower left stay 107 is arranged to connect the left support column 105 and the rear side plate 102 in the vicinity of the installation surface, and regulates the position in the depth direction in the vicinity of the installation surface. In the lower left stay 107, a rail for guiding the cassette 12 so as to be inserted into and withdrawn from the image forming apparatus main body 300a is provided on the inner side surface on the central side in the width direction. The front lower stay 108 is arranged to connect the right support 104 and the left support 105 in the vicinity of the installation surface, and restricts the position in the width direction in the vicinity of the installation surface.

  The upper right stay 109 is arranged to connect the upper end of the right support column 104 and the rear side plate 102, and regulates the depth direction of the upper end. The left middle stay 110 is arranged to connect the upper left end of the front side plate 101 and the rear side plate 102, and regulates the depth direction of these at this position. The right middle stay 111 is disposed so as to connect the upper right periphery of the front side plate 101 and the rear side plate 102, and regulates their depth direction at this position. The oblique stay 112 is arranged to connect the upper left end of the front side plate 101 with the rear of the right middle stay 111, and suppresses the twist of the image forming unit casing 100.

  The cantilevered support beam 203 is a cantilevered plate-like member having one end supported by the upper left portion of the rear side plate 102 and the other end extending forward, as shown in FIG. 3 described later. Further, as shown in FIG. 3 described later, fixing plate portions 201 and 202 are fixed to the right side surface of the upper right stay 109. The fixing plate portions 202 and 203 are each bent and formed so as to protrude upward from the upper right stay 109.

  In the image forming unit casing 100 configured as described above, a space P is formed in which two directions orthogonal to each other in the vertical direction are continuously opened. As described above, in order to facilitate the removal of the recording material discharged to the discharge tray 21 disposed in the space P between the image reading device 400 a and the image forming apparatus main body 1 a, the space P has a front surface and a left surface. Two directions are open continuously. For this reason, the lower left of the image reading unit casing 800 is a space without a portion supported by the image forming unit casing 100. Here, the two directions of the front side and the left side are the two directions (front, rear, right, left) orthogonal to each other and the directions perpendicular to each other of the image forming unit housing 100. , Left).

  In this embodiment, in order to configure in this manner, the position of the upper end of the left support 105 is lower than the position of the upper end of the right support 104. In other words, the upper end of the left support 105 extends to the lower end of the space P described above and does not reach the image reading unit housing 800. On the other hand, the upper end of the right support 104 extends to the upper end of the space P and reaches near the lower end of the image reading unit housing 800. Then, the front side plate 101 is disposed between the range from the height direction upper end of the left support 105 to the intermediate position and the right support 104, and the left middle stay 110 is provided between the upper end position of the left support 105 and the rear side plate 102. It is arranged. As a result, in the image forming unit casing 100, a space P in which two directions of the front side and the left side are continuously opened is formed. Although the right side of the space P formed by the image forming unit casing 100 is also opened in FIG. 2, the right support 104 is present between the right side and the front of the space P. The two directions of the surface side and the front side are not continuous.

[Image reader housing]
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the image reading unit housing 800 is formed in a substantially box shape, and includes a bottom plate 810, a front wall 811, a rear wall 812, a right wall 813, a left wall 814, and the like. Therefore, the image reading unit casing 800 has a substantially rectangular shape as viewed from one side in the vertical direction. The front wall portion 811, the rear wall portion 812, the right wall portion 813 and the left wall portion 814 are formed so as to rise upward from the front, rear, right and left sides of the bottom plate 810 (vertically) Wall portions, each of which is bent inward. The image reading unit casing 800 configured as described above is disposed on the top of the image forming unit casing 100 as described below.

[Connection between Image Reading Unit Case and Image Forming Unit Case]
Next, connection between the image reading unit case 800 and the image forming unit case 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the image forming unit casing 100 and the image reading unit casing 800 in a separated state. In the present embodiment, the image forming unit casing 100 has an upper right stay 109 and a bending plate portion 102 a as a placement unit on which the image reading unit casing 800 can be placed. The upper right stay 109 and the bending plate portion 102a are provided at positions where the above-described space P is not continuously opened in two directions, that is, at the right side and the rear side.

  That is, the upper right stay 109 is disposed in the upper right portion of the image forming unit casing 100 so as to connect the upper end of the right support column 104 and the rear plate 102, and the image reading unit casing 800 is placed on the upper surface of the upper right stay 109. It is possible. Further, a bent plate portion 102a bent forward from the upper end of the rear side plate 102 is formed at the upper end portion of the rear side plate 102 at a position substantially the same height as the upper surface of the upper right stay 109, and the upper surface of the bending plate portion 102a The image reading unit case 800 can be mounted on the On the other hand, although the cantilever support beam 203 supported at one end by the back side plate 102 is disposed at the upper left portion of the image forming unit casing 100 as described above, the image reading unit casing is mounted on the cantilever support beam 203. The body 800 is not placed. In addition, since nothing is disposed at a position substantially the same as the upper right stay 109 in front of the image forming unit housing 100 and on the left side of the upper right stay 109, the front surface of the left side is higher than the upper right stay 109. On the side, there is no portion on which the image reading unit case 800 is placed. Accordingly, the image reading unit casing 800 is placed on the right side and the rear side where the space P is not continuously opened in two directions.

  As described above, the image reading unit casing 800 has a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from one side in the vertical direction, and the upper right stay 109 and the bending plate portion 102 a as the placement unit are different from each other in the image reading unit casing 800. Located below the two crossing sides. That is, one side on the right side and one side on the rear side of the substantially rectangular image reading unit casing 800 are placed on the upper right stay 109 and the bending plate portion 102a. Further, in the vicinity of these two sides of the bottom plate portion 810 of the image reading unit casing 800, supporting portions 801, 802, 803 for supporting the image reading unit casing 800 with respect to the image forming unit casing 100 are provided. . The supporting units 801 to 803 support the image reading unit casing 800 with respect to the image forming unit casing 100 regardless of the load on the image reading unit casing 800 from the outside.

  In the case of the present embodiment, three supporting portions 801 to 803 are provided, and the image reading unit casing 800 is supported (three-point supported) at three places with respect to the image forming unit casing 100. The support portions 801, 802, 803 are formed so as to respectively project downward at three positions near the above-mentioned two sides of the bottom plate portion 810. That is, the supporting portion 801 is in the vicinity of the corner on the left side and the rear side of the bottom plate 810, and the supporting portion 802 is in the vicinity of the corner on the right side and the rear side of the bottom plate 810. The bottom plate portion 810 is formed in the vicinity of the corner on the right side and the front side of the bottom plate 810, respectively. As shown in FIG. 5A described later, the support portions 801 to 803 are formed by drawing at respective positions of the bottom plate portion 810 so as to project downward. In addition, although only the support part 803 is shown in figure by Fig.5 (a), the support parts 801 and 802 are also the same.

  In this embodiment, near the two sides connecting the three apexes of the substantially rectangular image reading unit casing 800 except the left front side, that is, one side on the right side of the image reading unit casing 800 and the rear side thereof. Support portions 801 to 803 are formed on one side. In addition, the support portions 801 to 803 are respectively disposed in the vicinity of the apexes of the above-described three points, that is, in the vicinity of three corner portions other than the front left corner portion. Then, when the image reading unit casing 800 is placed on the image forming unit casing 100, the image reading unit is brought into contact by the support portions 801 to 803 contacting the upper surface of the upper right stay 109 and the upper surface of the bending plate portion 102a. Partial case 800 is supported by image forming unit case 100. Specifically, the support portion 801 contacts the upper surface of the bending plate portion 102a, and the support portions 802 and 803 contact the upper surface of the upper right stay 109, respectively. Thus, the image reading unit casing 800 is positioned in the vertical direction.

  The image reading unit casing 800 is fixed to the image forming unit casing 100 with the image reading unit casing 800 mounted on the image forming unit casing 100 as described above. Specifically, the image reading unit casing 800 is cantilevered at the upper left portions of the fixing plate portions 201 and 202 fixed to the upper right stay 109 and the rear side plate 102 in a state of being mounted on the image forming unit casing 100. It is sandwiched between the supported cantilever support beam 203. Then, the right side surface of the image reading unit casing 800 is fastened to the fixing plate portions 201 and 202, and the left side surface is fastened to the cantilever support beam 203 by screws or the like. Thus, the image reading unit casing 800 is positioned in a direction orthogonal to the vertical direction of the image reading unit casing 800, and the image reading unit casing 800 is fixed to the image forming unit casing 100.

  As described above, by supporting the image reading unit casing 800 at the upper right stay 109 and the upper surface (mounting surface) of the bending plate portion 102a at three points, the image reading unit casing 800 can be stably supported. Distortion can be suppressed. Further, in the present embodiment, as described later, in a state where the auxiliary support portion 109a is placed on the upper right stay 109 and the image reading unit casing 800 is mounted on the image forming unit casing 100, the image reading unit casing It is provided in a state of having a predetermined gap between it and 800.

[Comparative example]
Here, a comparative example in which the auxiliary support portion 109a is not provided with the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG. In the case of the comparative example, when a load is applied downward to the upper part of the position away from the portion placed on the image forming unit casing 100 of the image reading unit casing 800 from the outside, the state is exaggerated by a broken line As a result, the image reading unit casing 800 may be distorted. For example, such a load may be applied when transporting the apparatus or when the user leans on the image reading apparatus. In particular, the image reading is performed when a load is applied downward on the upper portion of the two consecutive open portions of the space P of the image reading unit housing 800, that is, the left front corner of the image reading unit housing 800. A twisting force is generated so that the left front of the partial housing 800 hangs down. Then, there is a possibility that the image reading unit casing 800 is plastically deformed and distorted due to the twisting.

[Auxiliary support]
So, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.5 and FIG.6, the auxiliary | assistant support part 109a is provided and such distortion is suppressed. The auxiliary support portion 109a is provided on the upper surface of the upper right stay 109 as a placement portion, and a gap is formed between the auxiliary support portion 109a and a part of the image reading portion housing 800 in a state where no load is applied to the image reading portion housing 800 from the outside. Have. On the other hand, the auxiliary support portion 109a reads an image when a load above a predetermined load is applied downward on the upper part of the image reading portion casing 800 from the outside away from the upper right stay 109 and the bending plate portion 102a. Contact with part of the housing 800. Then, the image reading unit casing 800 is supported on the image forming unit casing 100.

  It will be described more specifically. As shown in FIG. 5A, the auxiliary support portion 109a has a predetermined gap T with the bottom plate portion 810 of the image reading unit housing 800 on the space side of one support portion 803. It is provided. Such an auxiliary support portion 109a is formed by drawing processing so as to project upward on a part of the space P side of the upper right stay 109 formed by bending the sheet metal. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, a predetermined gap T is interposed between the top of the auxiliary support portion 109a and the lower surface of the bottom plate portion 810.

  When a predetermined load is applied downward from the outside to the left front corner of the image reading unit casing 800, the image reading unit casing 800 is assumed to have no auxiliary support portion 109a. It is set smaller than the amount of deformation that causes plastic deformation. Here, the left front corner of the image reading unit casing 800 is an upper portion of a portion in which two directions in which the space P is open are continuous. Further, the predetermined load is appropriately set in accordance with the structure of the image reading unit casing 800 and the relationship between the position of the auxiliary support portion 109a and the positions of the support portions 801 to 803, but in the present embodiment, 49N (approximately 5kgf) or more. The upper limit of the predetermined load also depends on the strength of the auxiliary support portion 109a and can be set as appropriate, but in the present embodiment, it is 400 N (about 40 kgf or about 41 kgf). That is, in the present embodiment, the predetermined load is set to 49N or more and 400N or less.

  The predetermined gap T is also appropriately set to satisfy the above-described conditions according to the structure of the image reading unit casing 800 and the relationship between the position of the auxiliary support portion 109a and the positions of the support portions 801 to 803. . In any case, the auxiliary support portion 109a has a predetermined gap T with the lower surface of the bottom plate portion 810 in the state where the auxiliary support portion 109a does not hang on the image reader housing 800 from the outside. Then, when a load of 49 N or more is applied to the left front corner of the image reading unit casing 800 from the outside, the auxiliary support unit 109 a contacts the lower surface of the bottom plate 810 and the image reading unit casing 800 forms an image forming unit. It is supported with respect to the case 100 to prevent the image reading unit case 800 from being plastically deformed.

  The position at which the auxiliary support portion 109a is provided is closer to the space P than any one of the support portions 801 to 803. This is because, when a downward load is applied to the upper side of the space P of the image reading unit case 800, the image reading unit case 800 tries to deform so that the space P side hangs down with the support portions 801 to 803 as the fulcrum. Do. For this reason, such a deformation | transformation can be efficiently suppressed by providing the auxiliary | assistant support part 109a in the space P side rather than any one support part. In particular, the position at which the auxiliary support portion 109a is provided is preferably in the vicinity of the support portions 801 and 803 arranged at a position near the front left corner. In the present embodiment, since the left rear side where the support portion 801 is provided is fixed to the cantilever support beam 203, the cantilever support beam 203 suppresses deformation at this portion. Therefore, the auxiliary support portion 109 a is provided closer to the space P than the support portion 803 in the vicinity of the support portion 803 on the right front side. A similar auxiliary support may be provided on the support 801 side.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the auxiliary support portion 109 a is provided below the front wall portion 811 as a wall portion formed in the vertical direction of the image reading unit housing 800. As a result, when the load as described above is applied to the image reading unit casing 800, the auxiliary support portion 109a contacts the lower side of the front wall portion 811 of the bottom plate portion 810 or the vicinity thereof. Since the front wall portion 811 is formed in the vertical direction, the rigidity in the vertical direction is high. Therefore, by providing the auxiliary support portion 109a at this position, distortion of the image reading unit casing 800 when a load is applied can be efficiently suppressed.

  As described above, in the case of the present embodiment, even if the space P between the image reading unit case 800 and the image forming unit case 100 is continuously opened in two directions, the weight and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Distortion can be made less likely to occur in the image reading unit casing 800 while suppressing the increase. That is, in the case of the present embodiment, in addition to the supporting portions 801 to 803 that support the image reading unit casing 800 with respect to the image forming unit casing 100, a predetermined gap T between the image reading unit casing 800 and An auxiliary support portion 109a is provided via. For this reason, when a load equal to or greater than a predetermined load is applied to the image reading unit casing 800 from the outside, the image reading unit casing 800 contacts the auxiliary supporting unit 109a to distort the image reading unit casing 800. Can be difficult to occur. As a result, it is possible to suppress distortion of the image reading unit casing 800 and a decrease in the image reading accuracy by the image reading unit 400 supported by the image reading unit casing 800. In addition, such distortion of the image reading unit casing 800 can be suppressed without increasing the thickness of the cantilever support beam 203 or providing a separate reinforcing member, thereby suppressing an increase in weight and manufacturing cost. it can.

  Further, in the case of the present embodiment, in a state where no load is applied to the image reading unit housing 800, or when a load smaller than a predetermined load is applied, the image reading unit housing 800 and the auxiliary support unit 109a Do not touch Therefore, in such a normal state, the image reading unit casing 800 is supported at three places with respect to the image forming unit casing 100. For example, when the image reading unit case 800 is supported at four places, tolerances of the respective members, for example, the difference in the amount of protrusion of each support portion, the parallelism of the mounting surface of the upper right stay 109 and the bending plate portion 102a, etc. Thus, there is a possibility that there is a support that does not contact the mounting surface. In this case, the image reader housing 800 may be twisted. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the auxiliary supporting unit 109a contacts the image reading unit case 800 when a load equal to or more than a predetermined load is applied to the image reading unit case 800, as described above. In a normal state, the image reading unit casing 800 is not supported at four places. As a result, in the normal state, the image reading unit casing 800 is stably supported with respect to the image forming unit casing 100, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of twisting.

[Other embodiments]
In the above-described embodiment, three supporting portions for supporting the image reading unit casing 800 with respect to the image forming unit casing 100 are provided (three-point support), but the number of supporting portions is one or more. It is good if it is. However, in the case of supporting at four or more places, there is a possibility that there may be a support portion not in contact with the mounting surface due to the tolerance of each member. In this case, the image reading unit casing 800 is twisted. Therefore, it is preferable that the image reading unit casing 800 be supported at as few places as possible. On the other hand, when the image reading unit case 800 has only one supporting portion, the image reading unit case 800 becomes unstable. For this reason, it is preferable that the number of supporting portions for supporting the image reading portion casing 800 be two or three, and more preferably three.

  Moreover, the above-mentioned support part also includes the case where there are two or more contact parts in one place other than the case where there is one contact part in contact with the mounting surface such as a protrusion. For example, the spacing between the two contact portions may be reduced to provide a single support portion. Here, in the configuration having three supporting portions, there are two contacting portions in any one supporting portion, and if the distance between the contacting portions is wide, the configuration of the four point support is the same. I will. Therefore, in this case, the distance between the two contact portions is made smaller, for example, 1/3 or less of the length of one side near the bottom plate portion 810 where the support portion is provided.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the support is provided in the image reading unit casing 800, but the support may be provided in the image forming unit casing 100. Or you may provide a support part in both. For example, the support unit 801 may be provided on the image reading unit housing 800 side, and the support units 802 and 803 may be provided on the image forming unit housing 100 side. The point is that the support may be provided on at least one of the image reading unit casing 800 and the placement unit of the image forming unit casing 100.

  In the above-described embodiment, one auxiliary support is provided on the upper surface of the upper right stay 109 as the placement unit of the image forming unit casing 100. Alternatively, the support may be provided on the image reading unit casing 800 . Alternatively, one or more auxiliary support portions may be provided. Moreover, when making an auxiliary support part into multiple, you may provide an auxiliary support part in both. For example, one auxiliary support may be provided on the side of the image reading unit housing 800 near the support 801, and another auxiliary support may be provided on the side of the image forming unit housing 100 near the support 803. In any case, when the auxiliary supporting unit is provided on one of the image reading unit casing 800 and the placement unit of the image forming unit casing 100, the load between the other and the other is not applied with a predetermined load or more. Make a gap in the

  1 ... image forming apparatus / 100 / ... image forming unit case / 102 ... back side plate / 102a ... bent plate portion (placement portion) / 109 ... upper right stay (placement portion) / 109a ······································································································································································································································································································· Support part / 810 ... bottom plate part / 811 ... front wall part (wall part) / P ... space / T ... predetermined gap

Claims (1)

An image reading unit housing on which the image reading unit is supported;
A space which is disposed below the image reading unit casing and which is orthogonal to the vertical direction and in which two directions orthogonal to each other are continuously opened is formed, and the space is not continuously opened in two directions. An image forming unit casing having a placement unit on which the image reading unit casing can be placed;
The image reading unit case is provided to the image forming unit case regardless of the load applied to the image reading unit case from the outside provided in at least one of the image reading unit case and the placing unit. One or more supports for supporting
It is provided in one of the image reading unit case and the placing unit, and has a gap between the image reading unit case and the other when no load is applied to the image reading unit case from the outside, and the image reading unit from the outside When a load equal to or greater than a predetermined load is applied downward at the upper part of the position away from the mounting portion of the housing, the image reading portion housing contacts the other with respect to the image forming portion housing. And one or more auxiliary supports for supporting
A structure of an image forming apparatus characterized in that.

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