JP2020112716A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent, when attaching a toner cartridge, electric contacts of an image forming apparatus body from being unnecessarily rubbed.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 1 comprises: a toner cartridge 6; a body housing 2 that has an attachment port 24; a slot 25; and a lever 72. The toner cartridge 6 has a storage housing 110, and a memory having an electrical contact surface. The slot 25 allows the toner cartridge 6 to be moved to an attachment position through the attachment port 24 and attached. The lever 72 has an arm 72B and electric contacts 72D, is rotatable between a first position where the electric contacts are not in contact with the electrical contact surface and a second position where the electric contacts are in contact with the electrical contact surface, when the toner cartridge 6 is not located at the attachment position, is at the first position, and when the toner cartridge 6 is located at the attachment position and the toner cartridge 6 comes into contact with the arm, rotates from the first position to be located at the second position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus including a toner cartridge.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a toner cartridge that can be mounted on an image forming apparatus is known that includes a memory such as an IC chip (see Patent Document 1). The image forming apparatus has an electric contact arranged in contact with the memory. The image forming apparatus can read the product information of the toner cartridge from the memory when the toner cartridge is mounted.

JP, 2009-008698, A

By the way, when the toner cartridge is mounted, the electric contact of the image forming apparatus main body may unnecessarily rub against the toner cartridge.

Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to prevent unnecessary rubbing of the electrical contacts of the image forming apparatus main body when the toner cartridge is mounted.

In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a toner cartridge, a main body housing, a slot, and a lever. The toner cartridge has a housing that can store toner and a memory having an electrical contact surface. The main body case has a mounting opening. The slot extends from the mounting opening toward the inside of the main body housing, and allows the toner cartridge to move to the mounting position of the main housing via the mounting opening and be mounted. The lever has an arm and an electrical contact and is rotatable between a first position in which the electrical contact does not contact the electrical contact surface and a second position in which the electrical contact contacts the electrical contact surface. The lever is located at the first position when the toner cartridge is not located at the mounting position, and when the toner cartridge is located at the mounting position, the toner cartridge comes into contact with the arm and rotates from the first position. Located in the second position.

With such a configuration, the electric contact is located at the first position where it does not contact the electric contact surface of the memory until the toner cartridge is mounted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent unnecessary rubbing between the electrical contact and the toner cartridge.

In the above-described image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus may further include a registration roller capable of transporting the sheet, and the lever may be configured to be rotatable about the axis of the registration roller.

According to this, it is not necessary to newly provide a rotation shaft for rotating the lever. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the image forming apparatus from increasing in size.

In the above-described image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus further includes a registration roller capable of transporting the sheet, and the lever is provided at a position different from the sheet passage area in the axial direction of the registration roller. May be

This can prevent the lever from interfering with the seat.

In the above-described image forming apparatus, the arm may be located closer to the mounting opening than the electrical contact.

In the above-described image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus may further include a chute below the slot, and the lever may be provided on the chute.

In the image forming apparatus described above, when the lever is located at the first position, the electrical contact does not project upward from the upper surface of the chute, and when the lever is located at the second position, the electrical contact is located above the upper surface of the chute. It may be configured to project upward.

According to this, when the lever is located at the first position, that is, when the toner cartridge is not located at the mounting position, the electrical contact does not project upward from the upper surface of the chute. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the electric contact from being unnecessarily rubbed.

In the above-described image forming apparatus, the toner cartridge may be configured to be attachable to the main body enclosure as a toner cartridge in a state where the developing cartridge having the housing and the memory is attached to the drum cartridge having the photosensitive drum. Good.

In the above-described image forming apparatus, the toner cartridge may have a configuration in which the developing cartridge has a protrusion capable of coming into contact with the arm when the toner cartridge in the state of being mounted in the drum cartridge is mounted in the slot.

In the above-described image forming apparatus, the drum cartridge has the protrusion, and when the developing cartridge is not attached to the drum cartridge, the protrusion is located at the retracted position where it cannot contact the arm, and the developing cartridge is attached to the drum cartridge. In this case, the protrusion may be pushed by the developing cartridge and moved to a protrusion position where it can contact the arm.

According to this, when the developing cartridge is not attached to the drum cartridge, the protrusion is located at the retracted position. Therefore, since the protrusion does not contact the arm, the lever does not rotate. As a result, when only the developing cartridge or only the drum cartridge is mounted in the main body casing, it is possible to suppress unnecessary rubbing of the electrode contacts.

In the image forming apparatus described above, the drum cartridge may further include a biasing member that biases the protrusion from the protruding position toward the retracted position.

According to this, the projection can be moved to the retracted position by removing the developing cartridge from the drum cartridge.

In the image forming apparatus described above, the biasing member may be a spring.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present disclosure, it is possible to suppress unnecessary rubbing of the electrical contacts of the image forming apparatus main body when the toner cartridge is mounted.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a perspective view showing a main body housing and a slot. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which a developing cartridge and a drum cartridge are separated. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which a developing cartridge is mounted on a drum cartridge. It is a figure which shows the state in which the protrusion of a drum cartridge exists in a retracted position (a) and a protrusion position (b). It is a perspective view which shows a chute. It is the perspective view (a) which looked at the lever from one side, and the perspective view (b) seen from the other side. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state before the toner cartridge is mounted in the mounting position. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which the toner cartridge is mounted at the mounting position.

Next, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 1 for a monochrome laser printer mainly includes a main body housing 2, a feeder 3, an image forming unit 4, and a control device 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the main body housing 2 is formed in a hollow case shape. The main body housing 2 has side walls 21A and 21B, a front wall 22, a front cover 23, a mounting opening 24, and a slot 25.

The front wall 22 connects the side wall 21A and the side wall 21B. The front wall 22 has a front cover 23. The front cover 23 is swingable and opens and closes the mounting port 24. The front wall 22 has a mounting opening 24. The mounting port 24 is an opening.

The slot 25 is a space for mounting the toner cartridge 6 described later. The slot 25 extends from the mounting opening 24 toward the inside of the main body housing 2. The slot 25 allows the toner cartridge 6 to be moved to the mounting position of the main body housing 2 via the mounting port 24 and mounted. More specifically, in the slot 25, the developing cartridge 100 and the drum cartridge 200 are mounted as the toner cartridge 6 in the state where the developing cartridge 100 is mounted in the drum cartridge 200 via the mounting port 24, and the main body housing 2 is mounted in the slot 25. Allow it to be moved into position and installed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the side wall 21A and the side wall 21B each have a guide groove GM for guiding the toner cartridge 6. The guide groove GM extends from the mounting opening 24 along the inner surface of the slot 25.

The feeder 3 is a mechanism that supplies the sheet S into the main body housing 2. The feeder 3 includes a supply tray 31 that is detachably attached to the lower portion of the main body housing 2, and a supply mechanism 32 that supplies the sheet S in the supply tray 31 toward the image forming unit 4.

The image forming unit 4 forms an image on the sheet S. The image forming unit 4 includes a scanner unit 5, a toner cartridge 6, a chute 7, and a fixing device 8.

The scanner unit 5 is provided in the upper part of the main body casing 2 and includes a laser emitting section, a polygon mirror, a lens, a reflecting mirror, and the like, which are not shown. In this scanner unit 5, a laser beam is applied to the surface of a photosensitive drum 210 described later by high speed scanning.

The chute 7 is arranged between the feeder 3 and the scanner unit 5. The chute 7 is located below the slot 25. The upper surface 7A of the chute 7 constitutes the lower surface of the slot 25. The upper surface 7A of the chute 7 guides the sheet S sent from the feeder 3 to the image forming unit 4 to the fixing device 8.

The control device 10 includes, for example, a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and an input/output circuit, and performs arithmetic processing based on product information of the mounted toner cartridge 6 and programs and data stored in the ROM. Print control is being executed.

The toner cartridge 6 is inserted into the slot 25 through the mounting opening 24 opened and closed by the front cover 23 of the main body housing 2 and mounted at the mounting position in the slot 25. The toner cartridge 6 is mounted between the feeder 3 and the scanner unit 5. The toner cartridge 6 is mounted along the guide groove GM of the main body housing 2. That is, the mounting direction of the toner cartridge 6 is along the guide groove GM.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, the toner cartridge 6 is the one in which the developing cartridge 100 is mounted on the drum cartridge 200. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the developing cartridge 100 can be attached to the drum cartridge 200. The toner cartridge 6 can be attached to the main body housing 2 as the toner cartridge 6 in a state where the developing cartridge 100 is attached to the drum cartridge 200.

The developing cartridge 100 has a housing 110, a developing roller 120, a supply roller 130, and a memory 140. The housing 110 is capable of housing toner inside. The developing roller 120 is rotatable about a first axis X1 extending in the axial direction. In this embodiment, the axial direction is orthogonal to the mounting direction (see also FIG. 2). The developing roller 120 supplies toner to the photosensitive drum 210 described later. The supply roller 130 supplies the toner in the housing 110 to the developing roller 120.

The memory 140 is a medium that stores information such as an IC chip, and is not limited to the IC chip. The memory 140 has a storage element 141 and an electrical contact surface 142. The storage element 141 stores the product information of the toner cartridge 6. The product information of the developing cartridge 100 is, for example, at least one of the cumulative rotation number of the developing roller 120, the used dot count, and the remaining amount of toner. The memory 140 is exposed through an opening (not shown) of the drum cartridge 200 when the developing cartridge 100 is attached to the drum cartridge 200. The memory 140 may include the storage element 141 and may not include the electrical contact surface 142. In this case, the electrical contact surface 142 is provided as a separate component from the memory 140. Then, the storage element 141 and the electrical contact surface 142 are electrically connected via, for example, a harness.

The drum cartridge 200 mainly has a frame 205, a photosensitive drum 210, a transfer roller 220, a charger 230, and a pinch roller 240. The photoconductor drum 210 is rotatable about a second axis X2 extending in the axial direction.

In the drum cartridge 200, the surface of the photosensitive drum 210 is uniformly charged by the charger 230, and then exposed by scanning with the laser beam from the scanner unit 5. As a result, the potential of the exposed portion is lowered, and an electrostatic latent image based on the image data is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 210.

Next, the toner in the developing cartridge 100 is supplied to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 210 by the developing roller 120, and a toner image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 210. After that, the sheet S is conveyed between the photoconductor drum 210 and the transfer roller 220, so that the toner image carried on the surface of the photoconductor drum 210 is transferred onto the sheet S.

The fixing device 8 includes a heating roller 81 and a pressure roller 82. The pressure roller 82 is located opposite to the heating roller 81 and presses the heating roller 81. In the fixing device 8 thus configured, the toner transferred onto the sheet S is thermally fixed while the sheet S passes between the heating roller 81 and the pressure roller 82.

The sheet S heat-fixed by the fixing device 8 is conveyed to the paper discharge roller 28 located on the downstream side of the fixing device 8 and is sent from the paper discharge roller 28 onto the paper discharge tray 29.

As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the drum cartridge 200 has a slide member 250. The slide member 250 has a contact portion 251 and a protrusion 252. The drum cartridge 200 further includes a compression spring 260 which is an example of a biasing member.

In this embodiment, the contact portion 251 has a protruding spherical shape. Further, the protrusion 252 extends in a direction intersecting with the mounting direction. The tip 252A of the protrusion 252 is arranged to be farther from the frame 205 when the protrusion 252 is located at the projecting position than when it is located at the retracted position. The compression spring 260 constantly biases the protrusion 252 from the protruding position toward the retracted position.

The protrusion 252 is movable with respect to the frame 205 between a retracted position shown in FIG. 5A and a projected position shown in FIG. 5B. More specifically, the slide member 250 moves with respect to the frame 205 together with the contact portion 251 and the protrusion 252, thereby moving the protrusion 252 between the retracted position and the protruding position.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the protrusion 252 is located at the retracted position where the protrusion 252 cannot contact the arm 72B of the lever 72 described later when the developing cartridge 100 is not mounted on the drum cartridge 200. Specifically, one end of the compression spring 260 is connected to the contact portion 251, and the other end of the compression spring 260 is connected to the frame 205. Therefore, when the contact portion 251 is pressed by the developing cartridge 100, the contact portion 251 moves with respect to the frame 205, and the compression spring 260 moves from the first length N1 shown in FIG. It changes to the 2nd length N2 shown in 5 (b).

Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the developing cartridge 100 is mounted on the drum cartridge 200, the protrusion 252 is pushed by the developing cartridge 100, and the protrusion 252 can come into contact with the arm 72B. Move to the protruding position. When the developing cartridge 100 is not mounted on the drum cartridge 200, the contact portion 251 is biased by the biasing force of the compression spring 260, and the projection 252 is in the retracted position.

The slide member 250 further includes a claw portion 253. The slide member 250 may not have the claw portion 253.

The claw portion 253 extends in a direction intersecting with the mounting direction. When the projection 252 is located at the retracted position, the claw portion 253 comes into contact with the outer surface of the frame 205 to prevent the projection 252 from falling off.

In the present embodiment, the biasing member is a compression spring, but is not limited to this. For example, instead of the compression spring, another type of spring such as a leaf spring or a torsion spring may be used. Further, rubber having a biasing force may be used.

As shown in FIG. 6, the chute 7 has a registration roller 71 and a lever 72.

The registration roller 71 has a shaft 71A and a roller portion 71B. The shaft 71A is rotatable about a third axis X3 extending in the axial direction. The roller portion 71B comes into contact with the pinch roller 240 when the toner cartridge 6 is attached to the main body housing 2. The registration roller 71 can convey the sheet S together with the pinch roller 240.

As described above, the chute 7 has the lever 72. The lever 72 is provided at a position different from the passage area S1 of the sheet S in the axial direction of the registration roller 71.

As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the lever 72 has a rotating shaft portion 72A, an arm 72B, a second arm 72C, and an electric contact 72D.

As shown in FIG. 8, the rotation shaft portion 72A is rotatably attached to the shaft 71A of the registration roller 71. Therefore, the lever 72 can rotate with respect to the axis of the registration roller 71.

The arm 72B extends from the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft portion 72A. In the mounting direction, the arm 72B is located closer to the mounting port 24 than the electrical contact 72D. The arm 72B can come into contact with the protrusion 252 when the developing cartridge 100 is mounted in the drum cartridge 200 and the toner cartridge 6 is mounted in the slot 25 (see FIG. 9).

The second arm 72C extends from the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft portion 72A in a direction different from that of the arm 72B. An electrical contact 72D is provided at the tip of the second arm 72C. When the electrical contact 72D contacts the electrical contact surface 142 of the memory 140, the information stored in the memory 140 is sent to the control device 10.

The lever 72 is rotatable between a first position shown in FIG. 8 and a second position shown in FIG. The first position is a position where the electrical contact 72D of the lever 72 does not contact the electrical contact surface 142. The second position is a position where the electrical contact 72D of the lever 72 contacts the electrical contact surface 142.
As shown in FIG. 8, the lever 72 is located at the first position when the toner cartridge 6 is not located at the mounting position.
As shown in FIG. 9, when the toner cartridge 6 is located at the mounting position, the lever 72 is rotated from the first position to the second position when the protrusion 252 of the toner cartridge 6 comes into contact with the arm 72B. It is like this.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the lever 72 is located at the first position, the electrical contact 72D does not project upward from the upper surface 7A of the chute 7.
As shown in FIG. 9, when the lever 72 is located at the second position, the electrical contact 72D projects upward from the upper surface 7A of the chute 7.
The upper surface 7A of the lever 72 is a conveyance surface of the sheet S formed by a plurality of ribs of the chute 7 (see FIG. 6).

Next, a procedure for mounting the toner cartridge 6 on the image forming apparatus 1 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the toner cartridge 6, the developing cartridge 100 is mounted on the drum cartridge 200. When the developing cartridge 100 is not attached to the drum cartridge 200, the projection 252 of the drum cartridge 200 is biased by the compression spring 260 and is located at the retracted position (see also FIG. 5A).

When the toner cartridge 6 is mounted in the slot 25 as the toner cartridge 6 in the state where the developing cartridge 100 is mounted in the drum cartridge 200, the protrusion 252 of the drum cartridge 200 is pushed onto the developing cartridge 100 as shown in FIG. Then, it moves from the retracted position to the protruding position.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the toner cartridge 6 is not attached, the lever 72 is located at the first position. At this time, the arm 72B and the electrical contact 72D of the lever 72 are located below the upper surface 7A of the chute 7. Therefore, even if only the developing cartridge 100 is inserted into the slot 25, it does not come into contact with the electrical contact 72D. Similarly, even if only the drum cartridge 200 is inserted into the slot 25, it does not come into contact with the electrical contact 72D.

Next, the toner cartridge 6 is mounted in the mounting position in the slot 25 via the mounting port 24. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the protrusion 252 comes into contact with the arm 72B of the lever 72, and the lever 72 rotates from the first position to the second position. When the lever 72 moves to the second position, the electrical contact 72D projects above the upper surface 7A of the chute 7 and contacts the electrical contact surface 142 of the memory 140. Therefore, the control device 10 can read the information stored in the memory 140.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the toner cartridge 6 at the mounting position is removed from the main body housing 2, the contact between the protrusion 252 and the arm 72B is released, and the lever 72 rotates by its own weight to move from the second position to the first position. Return to position 1.

According to the image forming apparatus 1 described above, the electric contact 72D is located at the first position where it does not come into contact with the electric contact surface 142 of the memory 140 until the toner cartridge 6 is mounted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the electric contact 72D and the toner cartridge 6 from unnecessarily rubbing.

Further, the lever 72 is rotatable about the shaft of the registration roller 71. For this reason, it is not necessary to provide a new rotation shaft for rotating the lever 72. As a result, the enlargement of the image forming apparatus 1 can be suppressed.

The lever 72 is provided at a position different from the passage area S1 of the sheet S in the axial direction of the registration roller 71. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the lever 72 from interfering with the sheet S.

Further, when the lever 72 is located at the first position, the electrical contact 72D does not project upward from the upper surface 7A of the chute 7, and when the lever 72 is located at the second position, the electrical contact 72D is located at the chute 7. It projects upward from the upper surface 7A. Therefore, when the lever 72 is located at the first position, that is, when the toner cartridge 6 is not located at the mounting position, the electrical contact 72D does not project upward from the upper surface 7A of the chute 7. As a result, it is possible to suppress unnecessary rubbing of the electrical contact 72D.

Further, when the developing cartridge 100 is not attached to the drum cartridge 200, the protrusion 252 is located at the retracted position. Therefore, since the protrusion 252 does not contact the arm 72B, the lever 72 does not rotate. As a result, when only the developing cartridge 100 or only the drum cartridge 200 is attached to the main body housing 2, it is possible to suppress unnecessary rubbing of the electrical contact 72D.

Further, the drum cartridge 200 has a compression spring 260 that biases the protrusion 252 from the protruding position toward the retracted position. Therefore, when the developing cartridge 100 is removed from the drum cartridge 200, the protrusion 252 moves to the retracted position.

Although the embodiment of the invention has been described above, the invention is not limited to the embodiment. The specific configuration can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, the toner cartridge 6 is configured to be separable into the developing cartridge 100 and the drum cartridge 200, but it may be an integral type in which the toner cartridge cannot be separated. This toner cartridge further has a photosensitive drum in addition to the housing and the memory. This toner cartridge has a protrusion that can be brought into contact with the arm when the toner cartridge is mounted at the mounting position of the slot. Even when such an integrated toner cartridge is mounted, it is possible to suppress unnecessary rubbing between the electrical contact and the toner cartridge, as in the case of the separation type toner cartridge.

In the above-described embodiment, the registration roller and the lever are provided on the chute, but the registration roller and the lever may be provided on other members of the image forming apparatus.

In the above-described embodiment, the biasing member that biases the protrusion of the developing cartridge is provided, but the biasing member may be omitted.

In the above-described embodiment, the image forming apparatus of the monochrome laser printer is illustrated, but the image forming apparatus may be a color image forming apparatus, an LED exposing device, or a copying machine. Or a multi-function peripheral.

The elements of the above-described embodiments and modified examples can be implemented in any combination.

1 Image Forming Apparatus 2 Main Body Case 6 Toner Cartridge 7 Chute 7A Upper Surface 24 Mounting Port 25 Slot 71 Registration Roller 72 Lever 72B Arm 72C Second Arm 72D Electrical Contact 100 Development Cartridge 110 Storage Housing 140 Memory 141 Storage Element 142 Electrical Contact surface 200 Drum cartridge 210 Photoreceptor drum 224 Installation port 240 Pinch roller 252 Protrusion 260 Compression spring S Sheet S1 Passing area

Claims (11)

A toner cartridge having an accommodating housing capable of accommodating toner, and a memory having an electrical contact surface,
A main body housing having a mounting opening,
A slot extending from the mounting opening toward the inside of the main body housing, the slot allowing the toner cartridge to move to the mounting position of the main body housing via the mounting opening and be mounted. ,
A lever having an arm and an electrical contact, the lever pivoting between a first position in which the electrical contact does not contact the electrical contact surface and a second position in which the electrical contact contacts the electrical contact surface. When the toner cartridge is not located at the mounting position, the lever is located at the first position, and when the toner cartridge is located at the mounting position, the toner cartridge comes into contact with the arm. A lever which is rotated from the first position and is located at the second position,
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus further includes a registration roller capable of conveying a sheet,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lever is rotatable about an axis of the registration roller. The image forming apparatus further includes a registration roller capable of conveying a sheet,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lever is provided at a position different from a passage area of the sheet in the axial direction of the registration roller. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the arm is located closer to the mounting opening than the electrical contact. The image forming apparatus further includes a chute below the slot,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lever is provided on a chute. When the lever is in the first position, the electrical contact does not project upward from the top surface of the chute,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the lever is in the second position, the electrical contact protrudes upward from an upper surface of the chute. The toner cartridge can be mounted on the main body housing as a toner cartridge in a state where the developing cartridge having the housing and the memory is mounted on a drum cartridge having a photosensitive drum. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 8. The toner cartridge according to claim 7, wherein the developing cartridge has a protrusion capable of coming into contact with the arm when the toner cartridge mounted in the drum cartridge is mounted in the slot. The image forming apparatus according to item 1. The drum cartridge has the protrusion,
When the developing cartridge is not attached to the drum cartridge, the protrusion is located at a retracted position where it cannot contact the arm,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when the developing cartridge is mounted on the drum cartridge, the protrusion is pushed by the developing cartridge and moves to a protruding position where the developing cartridge can contact the arm. apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the drum cartridge further includes a biasing member that biases the protrusion from the protruding position toward the retracted position. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the biasing member is a spring.

Images