JP2021086080A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an image forming apparatus that improves assemblability of a rotatable operation panel and prevents a cable from coming off from a storage path even if a rotation operation of the panel is repeated.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus has: a control unit that controls the operation of a main body; an operation panel 46 that includes an operation panel substrate on which an electronic component is mounted and is rotatably fixed; a cable 54 that electrically connects the control unit with the operation panel substrate; and a protective cover 71 that is provided on the operation panel to protect the operation panel substrate. The protective cover includes a slit part 75 into which the cable can be inserted, and a guide part 72 and a flexible member 74 that regulate the movement of the cable so that the cable does not come off from the slit part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a multifunction device, a printer or a fax machine provided with an operation panel.

Conventionally, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus is widely applied as a copier, a printer, a plotter, a facsimile, or a multifunction device having a plurality of functions thereof, and is provided with an operation panel. In recent years, the operation panel of an image forming apparatus has become larger due to the increasing number of functions, and usability is improved by using a wide-sized operation panel such as a liquid crystal display panel.

In addition, recent image forming devices have been developed so that they can be easily operated in either a standing posture of a user or a sitting posture such as when using a wheelchair by supporting universal design. .. The operation panel mounted on such an image forming apparatus is electrically connected to the control unit by a cable and is exposed on the front surface of the apparatus main body to be between a normal use position and an angled use position. It is provided so that it can rotate while the cable is connected.

In such a situation, Patent Document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus having an accommodating portion and a winding shaft, and accommodating an extra length portion of a cable wound around the winding shaft in the accommodating portion. Although such an extra length portion of the cable is necessary for temporarily placing the operation panel on the device body or the assembly jig when assembling the operation panel to the device body or replacing it by a serviceman, the operation is performed. It is the remaining part after fixing the panel. In the image forming apparatus of Patent Document 1, the extra length portion of the cable connecting the operation panel and the control unit can be accommodated in the apparatus main body without enlarging the apparatus main body.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-2111613

However, in Patent Document 1, when a serviceman replaces the operation panel, the work of winding the extra length portion of the cable around the winding shaft is troublesome, and there is room for improvement in the assembleability of the operation panel. Further, Patent Document 1 has a problem that, by repeating the rotation operation of the operation panel, the cable may be disengaged from the winding shaft and may come into contact with the movable portion by an unexpected force and slide. ..

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of improving the assemblability of an operation panel and preventing the cable from coming off the storage path even if the operation panel is repeatedly rotated. ..

The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a device main body, a control unit provided on the device main body to control the operation of the device main body, and a substrate on which electronic components are mounted, and is rotatable with respect to the device main body. The protective cover has an operation panel fixed to the control unit, a cable for electrically connecting the control unit and the substrate, and a protective cover provided on the operation panel to protect the substrate. It is characterized by including a slit portion through which the cable is inserted and a regulating portion that regulates the movement of the cable so that the cable does not come off from the slit portion.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the assemblability of the operation panel and prevent the cable from coming off the storage path even if the operation panel is repeatedly rotated.

It is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which looked at the operation panel in the state which removed the protective cover of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention from the back. It is a perspective view which looked at the operation panel in the state which attached the protective cover of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention from the back. It is a perspective view which looked at the operation panel in the state which removed the protective cover fixed to the body side fixing member of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention from the back. It is a perspective view which looked at the operation panel in the state which attached the protective cover fixed to the body side fixing member of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention from the back. It is a side view of the state which the user of the operation panel fixed to the body side fixing member of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention operates in a standing posture. It is a side view of the state which the user of the operation panel fixed to the body side fixing member of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention operates in a sitting posture. It is a perspective view seen from the back of the operation panel in the state which the flexible member fixed to the body side fixing member of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention is removed. It is a perspective view seen from the back of the operation panel in the state which attached the flexible member fixed to the body side fixing member of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the state which attached the operation panel of the position which a user operates in a standing posture to the document reading device of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the state which attached the operation panel of the position which a user operates in a sitting posture to the document reading apparatus of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the state in which the operation panel is temporarily placed with respect to the document reading apparatus of the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Structure of image forming apparatus>
The configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10.

The image forming apparatus 1 includes a document reading unit 41, a sheet supply unit 42, a sheet conveying unit 43, an image forming unit 44, a fixing unit 45, an operation panel 46, a control unit 48, and a main body side fixing member 51. And a protective cover 71.

The document reading unit 41 reads the image of the document placed on the document reading surface 47, and outputs the image data of the scanned image to the image forming unit 44.

The seat supply unit 42 accommodates the seat S.

The sheet transport section 43 transports the sheet S housed in the sheet supply section 42 and discharges it to the discharge tray 13. Specifically, the sheet transport unit 43 includes a secondary transfer roller 8, a resist roller 9, a paper feed roller 10, a fixing roller 11, a reverse transfer roller 17, and a discharge transfer roller 18. ..

The secondary transfer roller 8 conveys the sheet S conveyed from the resist roller 9 to the nip portion formed by the intermediate transfer belt 7, and transfers the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 7 to the sheet S. Secondary transfer. The secondary transfer roller 8 conveys the sheet S to which the toner image is secondarily transferred toward the fixing roller 11.

The resist roller 9 conveys the sheet S conveyed from the paper feed roller 10 or the reverse transfer roller 17 toward the secondary transfer roller 8 after adjusting the timing.

The paper feed roller 10 conveys the sheets S stored in the sheet supply unit 42 toward the resist roller 9 one by one.

The fixing roller 11 sandwiches and heats the sheet S conveyed from the secondary transfer roller 8 to fix the toner image secondarily transferred to the sheet S to the sheet S. The fixing roller 11 conveys the sheet S on which the toner image is fixed toward the discharge transfer roller 18.

The reversing transfer roller 17 conveys the sheet S switched back by the discharge transfer roller 18 toward the resist roller 9 again.

When the discharge transfer roller 18 forms an image only on one side of the sheet S, the discharge transfer roller 18 discharges the sheet S conveyed from the fixing roller 11 to the discharge tray 13. When forming an image on both sides of the sheet S, the discharge transfer roller 18 switches back the sheet S transferred from the fixing roller 11 and conveys the sheet S toward the reverse transfer roller 17.

The image forming unit 44 forms a toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 7 with the toner supplied from the toner bottle 12 based on the image data input from the document reading unit 41. The image forming unit 44 transfers the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 7 to the sheet S conveyed by the sheet conveying unit 43. Specifically, the image forming unit 44 includes an exposure unit 2, an image forming unit 3, a primary transfer unit 5, and a photoconductor drum 6.

The exposure unit 2 exposes the photoconductor drum 6 charged by a charger (not shown) to form a latent image on the photoconductor drum 6.

The image forming unit 3 is a process cartridge provided around the photoconductor drum 6 and including a charger, a developing device, and a cleaner (not shown).

The primary transfer unit 5 is arranged so as to face each photoconductor drum 6 via an intermediate transfer belt 7. The photoconductor drum 6 comes into contact with the primary transfer unit 5 via the intermediate transfer belt 7. A primary transfer bias is applied to the primary transfer unit 5 from an electrical substrate (not shown). The primary transfer unit 5 sequentially transfers the toner image that arrives with the rotation of the photoconductor drum 6 to the intermediate transfer belt 7.

The photoconductor drum 6 forms a toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 7. A latent image is formed on the photoconductor drum 6 by being charged and exposed by the image forming unit 3. A toner image is formed on the photoconductor drum 6 by developing a latent image with the toner supplied from the toner bottle 12 to the image forming unit 3. Here, the case where four photoconductor drums 6 are arranged is illustrated.

The fixing unit 45 applies heat and pressure to the sheet S transported by the sheet transport unit 43 to fix the toner image transferred to the sheet S to the sheet S.

The operation panel 46 is attached to the main body side fixing member 51, and includes a panel main body 60, a right hinge 61, a left hinge 62, an operation panel board 63, and a cable holding member 64.

The panel body 60 includes a display unit 65 such as a liquid crystal display panel that displays an image or the like operated by a user to operate the image forming apparatus 1.

The right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62 as movable portions are attached to the main body side fixing member 51 by screws or the like, and hold the panel main body 60 rotatably with respect to the main body side fixing member 51. The right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62 are referred to as a position operated by the user in a standing posture (hereinafter referred to as "first position") or a position operated by the user in a sitting posture (hereinafter referred to as "second position"). The panel body 60 can be held by (described). Further, the right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62 can hold the panel body 60 even at a position between the first position and the second position. The right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62 include a torque limiter and a stopper member (not shown).

Various electronic components (not shown) such as connectors are mounted on the operation panel board 63 as a board. The operation panel board 63 is connected to the control unit 48 by a cable 54.

One or a plurality of cable holding members 64 as the second cable holding member are provided to hold the cable 54 routed between the slit portion 75 and the operation panel board 63.

The control unit 48 controls the operation of the apparatus main body 100 of the image forming apparatus 1 based on the electric signal input from the operation panel 46.

The main body side fixing member 51 is fixed to the document reading unit 41, and includes a cable holding member 52 and a main body side cable port 53.

One or a plurality of cable holding members 52 as the first cable holding member are provided and detachably hold the cable 54 routed between the slit portion 75 and the control portion 48.

A cable 54 held by a cable holding member 52 is inserted into the cable port 53 on the main body side.

The protective cover 71 covers and protects the back side of the panel body 60 including the operation panel board 63, and includes a guide portion 72, an operation panel side cable port 73, a flexible member 74, a slit portion 75, and the like. It has. The guide portion 72 and the flexible member 74 form a regulating portion that regulates the movement of the cable 54 so that the cable 54 does not come off from the slit portion 75.

The guide portion 72 regulates the movement of the cable 54 so that the cable 54 does not protrude from the slit portion 75.

A cable 54 routed from the operation panel board 63 is inserted into the operation panel side cable port 73.

The flexible member 74 regulates the movement of the cable 54 so that the cable 54 does not come off the slit portion 75. The flexible member 74 preferably has a thickness of 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm.

The slit portion 75 communicates with the cable port 73 on the operation panel side and has a gap into which the cable 54 inserted through the cable port 73 on the operation panel side can be inserted.

<Cable routing for connecting the operation panel and the control unit>
The routing of the cable 54 connecting the operation panel 46 and the control unit 48 of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 10.

The cable 54 is routed from the operation panel board 63 of the operation panel 46, and is pulled out from the operation panel side cable port 73 of the protective cover 71 while being held by the cable holding member 64. Further, the cable 54 is routed from the operation panel side cable port 73, and is pulled out from the main body side cable port 53 of the main body side fixing member 51 while being held by the cable holding member 52 to reach the control unit 48. In this way, the cable 54 is routed via the main body side cable port 53 and the operation panel side cable port 73.

The movement of the cable 54 is restricted by the protective cover 71, the cable holding member 64, and the cable holding member 52 so that the cable 54 does not come into contact with or slide with moving parts such as the right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62 by an unexpected force. It has become. Further, the cable 54 is held by the cable holding member 64 and the cable holding member 52, and is moved by the guide portion 72 so as not to violently protrude from the slit portion 75 when the operation panel 46 is rotated. Is regulated.

When assembling the protective cover 71 with respect to the panel body 60 of the operation panel 46, the cable 54 can be easily assembled by inserting the cable 54 from the slit portion 75 provided in the protective cover 71 and inserting it into the operation panel side cable port 73. .. When assembling the operation panel 46 or replacing the operation panel 46 by a serviceman, when the operation panel 46 temporarily placed on the device body 100 is attached to the device body 100, the cable 54 is connected from the slit portion 75 by the flexible member 74. It can be prevented from coming off.

Further, by setting the thickness of the flexible member 74 to 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm, the elastic force of the flexible member 74 can urge the cable 54 so as not to come off from the slit portion 75. It is possible to suppress the increase in size of the entire device.

In this way, when the protective cover 71 is attached to the operation panel 46 around which the cable 54 is routed, the cable 54 is inserted into the slit portion 75 provided in the protective cover 71 and inserted into the operation panel side cable port 73. Therefore, the assembling property can be improved. Further, when the service person attaches / detaches the operation panel 46, the workability of the work of routing the cable 54 can be improved, and when the electric component is replaced, the protective cover 71 can be easily attached / detached to / from the operation panel 46. It can be carried out.

Further, when the operation panel 46 is rotatably fixed to the apparatus main body 100, the flexible member 74 regulates the cable 54 from coming off from the operation panel side cable port 73 and the slit portion 75. Assemblability can be improved.

Further, since the operation panel 46 is fixed and does not rotate with respect to the device main body 100 in a state where the cable 54 is disconnected from the operation panel side cable port 73, the cable 54 is a movable part and an unexpected force. It is possible to prevent contact and sliding with.

<Operation of operation panel>
The operation of the operation panel 46 of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13.

As shown in FIG. 11, the operation panel 46 is kept substantially horizontal to the document reading surface 47 of the document reading unit 41 when the user operates in the standing position. Further, the operation panel 46 is held at a predetermined angle with respect to the document reading surface 47 of the document reading unit 41 as shown in FIG. 12 when the user operates in the sitting posture. This predetermined angle is, for example, 50 to 60 degrees. Further, the operation panel 46 is temporarily placed on the device main body 100 as shown in FIG. 13 at the time of assembly or replacement by a service person. At this time, the operation panel 46 is attached to the device main body 100 by removing the screws or the like that attach the right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62 to the main body side fixing member 51 and releasing the holding of the cable 54 from the cable holding member 52. Can be temporarily placed.

In this way, the operation panel 46 can be temporarily placed by removing the screws or the like that attach the right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62 to the main body side fixing member 51 and releasing the holding of the cable 54 by the cable holding member 52. it can.

In this embodiment, the operation panel 46 has a protective cover 71 that protects the operation panel board 63. Further, the protective cover 71 includes a slit portion 75 into which a cable 54 connecting the operation panel board 63 and the control unit 48 can be inserted, and a guide portion that regulates the movement of the cable 54 so that the cable 54 does not come off from the slit portion 75. 72 and a flexible member 74. As a result, the assemblability of the operation panel 46 can be improved, and it is possible to prevent the cable 54 from coming off the storage path even if the operation panel 46 is repeatedly rotated.

Further, in the present embodiment, the cable from the slit portion 75 is provided with the guide portion 72 that regulates the movement of the cable 54 and the flexible member 74 that regulates the cable 54 so as not to come off from the slit portion 75. It is possible to ensure that the 54 does not come off.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof.

Specifically, in the above embodiment, the operation panel 46 is attached to the main body side fixing member 51 fixed to the document reading unit 41, but the operation panel 46 may be directly attached to the document reading unit 41. ..

Further, in the above embodiment, the panel body 60 is made rotatable by the right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62, but the panel body is made rotatable by an arbitrary movable portion other than the right hinge 61 and the left hinge 62. Can be done.

Further, in the above embodiment, the cable 54 is held by the cable holding member 52 and the cable holding member 64, but instead, the cable 54 may be guided by the guide member.

Further, in the above embodiment, the cable holding member 52 and the cable holding member 64 are provided, but either one or both of the cable holding member 52 and the cable holding member 64 may not be provided.

1 Image forming device 41 Document reading unit 44 Image forming unit 45 Fixing unit 46 Operation panel 47 Document reading unit 48 Control unit 51 Main unit side fixing member 52 Cable holding member 53 Main unit side cable port 54 Cable 60 Panel main unit 61 Right hinge 62 Left hinge 63 Operation panel board 64 Cable holding member 65 Display part 71 Protective cover 72 Guide part 73 Operation panel side cable port 74 Flexible member 75 Slit part 100 Device body

Claims (6)

With the device body
A control unit provided on the main body of the device and controlling the operation of the main body of the device,
An operation panel that is provided with a substrate on which electronic components are mounted and is rotatably fixed to the main body of the device.
A cable that electrically connects the control unit and the substrate,
A protective cover provided on the operation panel to protect the substrate, and
Have,
The protective cover is
A slit portion into which the cable can be inserted and a regulating portion that regulates the movement of the cable so that the cable does not come off from the slit portion are provided.
An image forming apparatus characterized in that. The device body
A first cable holding member for holding the cable between the slit portion and the control portion is provided.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The first cable holding member is
Holds the cable detachably,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2. The operation panel
A second cable holding member for holding the cable between the slit portion and the substrate is provided.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the image forming apparatus is characterized in that. The regulatory department
A guide portion for restricting the movement of the cable and a flexible member for restricting the cable from coming off the slit portion are provided.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the image forming apparatus is characterized in that. The flexible member
The thickness is 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5.

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