JP2020047494A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

To simplify a configuration for connecting a connector on the main body side of an image forming device and a connector on the additional device side.SOLUTION: A receiving connector 28 is mounted on a circuit board 26 on the device body side. Guide members 56A and 56B are arranged so as to sandwich the receiving connector 28. A insertion side connector 24 on a facsimile modem 18 side which is an additional device is temporarily placed at the tips of the guide members 56A and 56B. A push-in lever 36 is depressed to push the back of the insertion side connector 24 and push the back toward the receiving connector 28.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  When an additional device is mounted on an image forming apparatus, it is necessary to electrically connect the apparatus main body and the additional device. Specifically, the electrical connection is established by connecting the receiving connector mounted on the board of the apparatus main body to the insertion connector provided in the additional device. Conventionally, various devices have been devised to reliably connect the connectors.

  Patent Literature 1 below discloses a connector in which a holding member holding a female connector is internally fitted to a connector portion having a male tab of a male connector housing, and a terminal of the female connector is connected to the male tab. The holding member is provided with a rotatable lever, and by rotating the lever, the holding member moves toward the male connector housing, and the held female connector is pushed into the connector portion.

JP-A-10-27648

  In a connector for making an electrical connection, the number of parts is smaller than in a configuration in which one connector is held by a holder and an operator such as a lever provided on the holder is moved toward the mating connector. Reduce.

  The invention according to claim 1 includes an apparatus main body, a receiving connector disposed on a circuit board fixed to the apparatus main body, for electrically connecting an additional device and a device on the apparatus main body, A temporary placement portion for temporarily placing an insertion-side connector provided at an end of a harness extending from a device; and a push-in provided rotatably in the apparatus main body and directly pushing the temporarily placed insertion-side connector into the receiving-side connector. And an operation member.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing operation element covers at least a part of the harness at a pressing position.

  The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the pushing operation element is at the pushing position, a gap between the pushing operation element and the additional device is so small that a finger of an operator does not pass. Device.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a cross-sectional shape of the pushing operation element is a U-shape.

  The invention according to claim 5, wherein the apparatus main body further includes a guide wall disposed at a position facing the push-in control element so as to be along the inside of a side wall of the push-in control element. An image forming apparatus.

  The invention according to claim 6 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing operation member presses and holds the additional device.

  The invention according to claim 7 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the pushing operation element has a projection at a tip, and the projection presses the additional device.

  The invention according to claim 8 is characterized in that the additional device has a projection receiving portion that receives the projection of the push operation element at a push position, a cross-sectional shape of the push operation element is a U-shape, and the projection is 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: a guide wall formed by one side wall of the pushing operation element and an upper wall adjacent to the side wall, and disposed on the apparatus main body along the inside of the other side wall. 9. Device.

  The invention according to claim 9 further includes an operation member support member provided on the apparatus main body, a holding projection provided on one of the operation member support member and the push-in operation member, and an elastic holding member provided on the other. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pushing operation element is held at a pushing position by engagement with a piece. 9.

  The invention according to claim 10 is characterized in that, when the holding projection passes through the elastic holding piece with the rotation of the pushing operation element, the elastic holding piece bends and passes through the holding projection, The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, at the pushing position, the image forming apparatus returns to the original position, engages with a side surface of the holding protrusion, and holds the pushing operation element.

  The invention according to claim 11, wherein the temporary placement portion has a guide member disposed on both sides of the receiving side connector and extending in a direction away from the circuit board with respect to the receiving side connector. An image forming apparatus according to (1).

  The invention according to claim 12 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein an inclined surface is provided at a front end portion of the guide member on surfaces facing each other.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the apparatus body includes a bracket having a bottom plate to which the circuit board is fixed, and a side plate erected on an edge of the bottom plate, and a cutout is formed in the side plate of the bracket. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the pushing operation element is arranged in the notch so that a part thereof protrudes outside the edge of the circuit board. It is.

  The invention according to claim 14 includes a lid mounted on the apparatus main body and covering the mounted additional device, wherein the pushing operation element before pressing the insertion-side connector is configured such that the lid is attached to the apparatus main body. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the image forming apparatus prevents attachment.

  According to the invention according to claim 1, the number of components is reduced as compared with a configuration in which one connector is held by a holder and an operator such as a lever provided on the holder is operated to move toward a mating connector. Can be reduced.

  According to the invention according to claim 2, it is possible to suppress the worker from catching the harness.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the operator from hooking the pushing operation element at the pushing position with the finger.

  According to the invention according to claim 4, the harness can be held at a predetermined position.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, it is possible to assist in arranging the harness at a predetermined position.

  According to the invention according to claim 6, it is possible to suppress the lifting of the additional device.

  According to the invention according to claim 7, the projection for holding the additional device can be used as a handle at the time of operation.

  According to the invention according to claim 8, the pushing operation element can be stably held in a state where the additional device is pressed.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the pushing operation element can be stably held in a state where the additional device is pressed.

  According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the pushing operation element can be stably held in a state where the additional device is pressed.

  According to the invention as set forth in claim 11, at the time of temporary placement, it is possible to hold the insertion-side connector therebetween.

  According to the twelfth aspect of the invention, it becomes easy to temporarily place the insertion-side connector.

  According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, it becomes easy to cope with the receiving side connector arranged at the edge of the circuit board.

  According to the fourteenth aspect, it is possible to prevent forgetting to connect the connector when the additional device is mounted.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the image forming apparatus. FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating a process of attaching the facsimile modem to the board device. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of a pushing lever. It is a perspective view showing the appearance of a lever support member. It is a perspective view showing the state where the push lever was assembled to the lever support member. It is explanatory drawing regarding attachment of a pushing lever and a lever support member to a bracket. It is an explanatory view of connector connection, and is a figure showing the state where the insertion side connector was temporarily placed. It is an explanatory view of connector connection, and is a figure showing a process of pushing in an insertion side connector by a pushing lever. It is an explanatory view of connector connection, and is a figure showing the state where the insertion side connector and the receiving side connector were connected. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the board device showing a state where the attachment of the facsimile modem is completed. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a pushing lever at a pushing position and components around the pushing lever. It is explanatory drawing of the mechanism which holds a pushing lever in a pushing position.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of the image forming apparatus 10. A board device 14 having a circuit board on which electronic components are mounted is arranged inside a device main body 12 of the image forming apparatus 10. In some cases, additional devices set as options may be retrofitted to the board device 14. In this case, the side panel 16 on the side of the device body 12 is removed to access the board device 14.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a process of attaching an additional device to the board device 14, particularly a state at the start of the attachment. The additional device to be exemplified is the facsimile modem 18. The facsimile modem 18 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped modem main body 20, a harness 22 extending from the modem main body 20, and an insertion-side connector 24 provided at a tip of the harness 22. The board device 14 includes a circuit board 26 on which electronic components are mounted. On the circuit board 26, a receiving connector 28 for connecting the facsimile modem 18 to the electronic components on the circuit board 26 or the apparatus body 12 is mounted. By connecting the insertion-side connector 24 and the reception-side connector 28, the facsimile modem 18 and the electronic components on the circuit board 26 and the like are electrically connected.

  The board device 14 further includes a bracket 30 to which the circuit board 26 is fixed. By fixing the bracket 30 to the apparatus main body 12, the board device 14 is mounted on the apparatus main body 12 and becomes integral with the apparatus main body 12. The bracket 30 includes a bracket bottom plate (not shown) to which the circuit board 26 is fixed, and a bracket side plate 32 erected on an edge of the bottom plate. A push lever 36 is mounted on the bracket side plate 32 via a lever support member 34. The lever support member 34 is fixedly attached to the bracket side plate 32, and the pushing lever 36 is rotatably supported by the lever support member 34. When the facsimile modem 18 is mounted, the push lever 36 is rotated to push the insertion-side connector 24 toward the reception-side connector 28.

  The board device 14 is attached to the device main body 12 with the circuit board 26 upright with the direction of the arrow UP shown in FIG.

  Next, detailed shapes of the push lever 36 and the lever support member 34 will be described with reference to FIGS. The pushing lever 36 has a U-shaped cross section opened downward in FIG. 3, and portions corresponding to horizontal U-shapes are referred to as lever side walls 38 </ b> A and 38 </ b> B, and portions corresponding to vertical U-shapes are illustrated. It is described as a lever upper wall 40. A lever shaft 42 is provided on the lever side walls 38A and 38B so as to cross the lever side walls. The lever shaft 42 extends outward from the outer wall surfaces of the lever side walls 38A and 38B, and also extends from the inner wall surfaces of the lever side walls 38A and 38B toward the partner lever side wall as shown in FIG. The pushing lever 36 rotates around a lever shaft 42 in a predetermined range, for example, a range of about 90 °. Holding projections 44 are provided on the outer wall surfaces of the lever side walls 38A and 38B. The holding projection 44 holds the posture of the pushing lever 36 in cooperation with an elastic holding piece 58 (see FIG. 4) of the lever support member described later. A lever projection 46 is provided at the tip of the pushing lever 36, that is, at the end farther from the rotation axis. The lever protrusion 46 may be constituted by one lever side wall 38A and a part of the lever upper wall 40 adjacent thereto, and in this case, the cross-sectional shape of the lever protrusion 46 is L-shaped.

  The lever support member 34 has a pair of support member side walls 48 and a receiving flange 50 provided so as to bridge the upper end of the support member side walls 48 in FIG. The receiving flange 50 receives the supporting flange 62 (see FIG. 6) of the bracket 30 and contributes to stably fixing the lever supporting member 34 to the bracket 30. The lever support member 34 includes a shaft holding portion 52 that holds the lever shaft 42 of the pushing lever 36. The shaft holding portion 52 is a substantially U-shaped notch with a slightly narrower mouth portion. When the lever shaft 42 is pushed in, the shaft holding portion 52 opens due to the elasticity of the material, and holds the lever shaft 42 after being pushed in.

  The lever support member 34 has a receiving opening 54 for receiving the receiving connector 28 disposed on the circuit board 26. The accommodation opening 54 is open upward and downward in FIG. 4, receives the receiving connector 28 from below, and the upper portion of the received receiving connector 28 is opened.

  Guide members 56A and 56B are arranged adjacent to the accommodation opening 54 and sandwiching the accommodation opening 54. The guide members 56A and 56B extend away from the circuit board 26 when the lever support member 34 is attached to the bracket 30. The guide members 56A and 56B function as temporary placement portions for temporarily placing the insertion-side connector 24 before being connected to the reception-side connector 28, and also function to guide the insertion-side connector 24 toward the reception-side connector 28. Having. The functions of the guide members 56A and 56B will be described later in detail. The guide member 56 </ b> A arranged on one side of the housing opening 54 may be configured as a part of a member forming the shaft holding portion 52. Further, the guide member 56A is longer than the guide member 56B arranged on the opposite side of the housing opening 54, and its tip is located higher in FIG. Further, on the opposing surfaces of the guide member 56A and the guide member 56B, a slope is formed at the front end portion, the slope of which becomes wider toward the front end.

  The support member side wall 48 has an elastic holding piece 58 extending upward in FIG. When the pushing lever 36 rotates, the elastic holding piece 58 is bent by the holding protrusion 44 when the holding protrusion 44 provided on the lever side walls 38A, 38B passes, and allows the holding protrusion 44 to pass. After passing through the holding projections 44, they return to their original positions.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram relating to attachment of the lever support member 34 to the bracket 30. A side plate cutout 60 for receiving the lever support member 34 is formed in the bracket side plate 32 of the bracket 30. Further, the bracket 30 is provided with a support flange 62 so as to straddle the side plate cutout portion 60 and to protrude outside the board device 14. When the lever support member 34 is disposed in the side plate cutout 60, the lever support member 34 and the push lever 36 are positioned so that a part thereof protrudes outside the edges of the bracket side plate 32 and the circuit board 26. For example, the lever shaft 42 may be arranged substantially at the position of the bracket side plate 32. When the receiving connector 28 is located near the edge of the circuit board 26, by disposing a part of the lever support member 34 to the outside, the force of the pushing lever 36 effectively acts on the insertion connector. . When the lever support member 34 is attached to the bracket 30, the receiving connector 28 on the circuit board 26 is housed in the housing opening 54 of the lever support member 34.

  FIGS. 7 to 10 are explanatory diagrams of the connection process between the insertion-side connector 24 and the receiving-side connector 28. FIG. 7, the modem body 20 is held by a modem holding unit 64 (see FIG. 10) provided on the circuit board 26. The insertion-side connector 24 at the tip of the harness 22 is temporarily placed on guide members 56A and 56B provided on the lever support member 34. First, the insertion-side connector 24 is inserted between the opposing guide members 56A and 56B from above in FIG. The insertion side connector 24 can be easily inserted between the guide members 56A and 56B by the slope formed on the opposite surface of the distal ends of the guide members 56A and 56B. At this stage, the insertion-side connector 24 and the reception-side connector 28 are not electrically connected, for example, the insertion-side connector 24 is placed on the reception-side connector 28.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the push lever 36 is rotated from the state of FIG. At this time, the operator may hold down the lever projection 46 provided at the tip of the pushing lever 36 and tilt the pushing lever 36. When the push lever 36 is rotated, the lower edges of the lever side walls 38A and 38B hit the rear surface of the temporarily placed insertion-side connector 24, which is directly pushed and pushed toward the receiving-side connector 28. At this time, the guide members 56A and 56B guide the insertion-side connector 24 toward the reception-side connector 28.

  FIG. 9 is a view showing a state in which the push lever 36 is tilted, the insertion-side connector 24 and the receiving-side connector 28 are connected, and the electrical connection is completed. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the board device 14 in a state where the connection of the connector is completed. When the pushing lever 36 is turned down in FIG. 9, the insertion-side connector 24 is pushed into the receiving-side connector 28, and both terminals are connected to each other to establish an electrical connection. The position of the pushing lever 36 at this time is referred to as a pushing position. When the pushing lever 36 is in the pushing position, the harness 22 is housed and held inside the U-shaped cross section of the pushing lever 36. Since the harness 22 is housed in the push lever 36, a predetermined distance is maintained between the harness 22 and peripheral devices. As shown in FIG. 10, the harness 22 is almost covered by the push lever 36. The lever projection 46 of the pushing lever 36 hits a projection receiving portion 66 protruding from the modem main body 20 at a position adjacent to the harness 22, and suppresses the facsimile modem 18 from rising from the modem holding portion 64.

  As described above, the pushing lever 36 functions as a pushing operation element operated by the operator when pushing the insertion-side connector 24 into the receiving-side connector 28. The push lever 36 may be a part independent of other functional members, may be formed as a part of the other functional members, and may be formed as a part of the lever support member 34, for example.

  When the push lever 36 is tilted, the attachment of the lid 70 to the substrate device 14 is allowed. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, when the push lever 36 is standing, the push lever 36 hinders the attachment of the lid 70. When the pushing lever 36 is tilted down to the pushing position, the pushing lever 36 is settled within the height of the bracket 30 and the attachment of the lid 70 is allowed.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the push lever 36 at the push position and the surrounding configuration as viewed from above in FIG. As described above, the protrusion receiving portion 66 provided to protrude from the modem body 20 receives the lever protrusion 46 of the pushing lever 36. A guide wall 68 is arranged along the lever side wall 38B at a position inside the lever side wall 38B opposite to the side where the lever protrusion 46 is provided. The guide wall 68 is provided on the circuit board 26 and guides the direction in which the harness 22 extends before the push lever 36 is depressed. By determining the position of the harness 22 before the push lever 36 is tilted, the harness 22 is prevented from being pinched when the push lever 36 is tilted. As shown in FIG. 11, the harness 22 is surrounded by the lever side walls 38A and 38B of the pushing lever 36, the lever upper wall 40, and the guide wall 68, and is stably disposed at a predetermined position. Also, it prevents access from outside, for example, an unintentional hooking by an operator. The gap d between the push lever 36 and the modem body 20 is designed to prevent the finger of an adult worker from entering. For example, the gap d can be 10 mm or less. When lifting the pushing lever 36, the pushing lever 36 is operated by putting a finger on the side surface of the lever projection 46, for example, the edge of the lever side wall 38A on the back side of the drawing in FIG.

  The push lever may not be provided with the lever projection 46 and may be configured so that the leading edge is flat. In this case, the facsimile modem 18 may be prevented from being lifted so that a part of the leading edge of the push lever comes into contact with the projection receiving portion 66 of the modem body 20.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a mechanism for holding the push lever 36 at the push position. The pushing lever 36 is held at the pushing position by the interaction between the holding projections 44 provided on the outer wall surfaces of the lever side walls 38A and 38B and the elastic holding pieces 58 provided on the lever support member 34. In the process of tilting the push lever 36 from the position shown by the dashed line in FIG. 12, the holding projection 44 contacts the elastic holding piece 58. With the rotation of the pushing lever 36, the holding projection 44 deflects the elastic holding piece 58 outward, and passes through the position of the elastic holding piece 58. When the pushing lever 36 reaches the pushing position, the elastic holding piece 58 returns from the bent state to the original state, and the holding projection 44 comes into contact with the side surface of the elastic holding piece 58. The holding projection 44 is held at this position by the elastic force of the elastic holding piece 58, and the pushing lever 36 is held at the pushing position.

  In the board device 14 described above, the insertion connector 24 is pushed in with the rotation of the pushing lever 36. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an operator that translates and pushes the insertion connector may be used. Further, the additional device may be a device other than the facsimile modem.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus, 12 apparatus main body, 14 board | substrate apparatus, 16 side panel, 18 facsimile modem (additional equipment), 20 modem main body, 22 harness, 24 insertion side connector, 26 circuit board, 28 receiving side connector, 30 bracket, 32 Bracket side plate, 34 lever support member, 36 push lever (push operation element), 38A, 38B lever side wall, 40 lever upper wall, 42 lever shaft, 44 holding protrusion, 46 lever protrusion, 48 support member side wall, 50 receiving flange, 52 Shaft holding part, 54 accommodation opening, 56A, 56B guide member (temporary placement part), 58 elastic holding piece, 60 side plate cutout part, 62 support flange, 64 modem holding part, 66 projection receiving part, 68 guide wall.

Claims (14)

The device body,
A receiving connector arranged on a circuit board fixed to the device main body, for electrically connecting additional devices and devices on the device main body,
A temporary placement section for temporarily placing an insertion-side connector provided at an end of a harness extending from the additional device,
A push operation member that is rotatably provided in the apparatus main body and directly pushes the temporarily inserted insertion-side connector to push the insertion-side connector into the receiving-side connector.
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the push operation element covers at least a part of the harness at a push position.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the push operation element is at the push position, a gap between the push operation element and the additional device is so small that an operator's finger cannot pass.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cross-sectional shape of the pushing operation element is a U-shape.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a guide wall disposed at a position of the apparatus main body facing the push operation element so as to extend along a side wall of the push operation element. 6.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing operation member presses and holds the additional device. 3.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the pushing operation element has a projection at a tip, and the projection presses the additional device.   The additional device has a projection receiving portion that receives the projection of the push operation element at a push position, a cross-sectional shape of the push operation element is a U-shape, and the protrusion is one side wall of the push operation element. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: a guide wall formed by the upper side wall adjacent to the side wall and disposed on the apparatus main body along the inside of the other side wall.   Further, an operating member supporting member provided on the apparatus main body is provided, and the holding member provided on one of the operating member supporting member and the push-in operating member, and the elastic holding piece provided on the other, engage with the elastic holding piece, The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the pressing operation element is held at the pressing position.   When the holding projection passes through the elastic holding piece with the rotation of the pushing operation element, the elastic holding piece bends and passes through the holding projection, and returns to the original position at the pushing position of the pushing operation element. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the image forming apparatus returns to engage with a side surface of the holding protrusion to hold the pushing operation element.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temporary placement unit includes a guide member disposed on both sides of the receiving side connector and extending in a direction away from the circuit board with respect to the receiving side connector. 3.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein an inclined surface is provided on a front surface of the guide member, the surfaces being opposed to each other.   The apparatus main body includes a bottom plate to which the circuit board is fixed, and a bracket having a side plate erected on an edge of the bottom plate, a cutout portion is formed in the side plate of the bracket, and the pushing operation element includes: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a part of the image forming apparatus is disposed in the notch so as to protrude outside the edge of the circuit board.   2. The push operation device including a lid mounted on the device main body and covering the mounted additional device, wherein the pushing operation element before pressing the insertion-side connector prevents the lid from being mounted on the device main body. 3. 14. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

Images