JP2023144457A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an image forming apparatus that facilitates connection of an interface cable connecting to an external device to a connector part without increasing the size of an electrical unit.SOLUTION: In an electrical unit 70, a step part is formed between a first holding part 201a and a second holding part 201b, and connector parts 701 are provided on a center partition plate 202 that forms the step part. The formation of the step part between the first holding part 201a and the second holding part 201b can secure a space on the back side of the first holding part 201a. The center partition plate 202 faces the space, and a relay substrate 71 having the connector part 701 mounted thereon is held on the second holding part 201b so that the connector part 701 is exposed to the space from the center partition plate 202. This configuration enables the interface cable to be detachably attached to the connector part 701 with the use of the space secured on the back side of the first holding part 201a, and facilitates connection of the interface cable to the connector part 701 without increasing the size of the electrical unit 70.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction device.

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of units provided in the main body of the apparatus for forming an image on a recording material. An image forming apparatus includes, for example, a main control board that controls the entire image forming apparatus, a drive control board that controls motors, etc., a high-voltage board that controls various voltages for charging, development, and transfer, and a signal exchanger between external devices. It is equipped with an electrical board such as an interface board for input/output. These electrical equipment boards are housed in a box-shaped electrical equipment unit. Further, the electrical unit is provided with a connector portion on the side surface to which an interface cable can be connected in order to connect an external device and an interface board (Patent Document 1).

In an image forming apparatus, a process unit including, for example, a photosensitive drum and a developing device is provided so that a user can attach and detach it from the front side of the housing for periodic replacement, cleaning, or jam removal. On the other hand, the electrical unit housing the electrical board was placed on the back side of the housing to prevent users of the image forming apparatus from accidentally accessing it and to prevent it from getting in the way when installing and removing the process unit. .

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-347723

Recently, image forming apparatuses for commercial printing have been used that can form toner images on more recording materials in a shorter time. Compared to home-use image forming apparatuses, such devices use larger power supplies, process units, and the like, so the entire device including the housing becomes larger. However, image forming apparatuses for commercial printing are also required to be more compact. Therefore, it is a good idea to place a bottle storage unit that accommodates toner bottles filled with toner for replenishment on the top surface of the housing, and place the above-mentioned electrical unit in the remaining space on the top surface where the bottle storage unit is placed. It will be done. However, in this case, it has been desired that the interface cable be easily connected to the connector portion without increasing the size of the electrical unit, but such a device has not yet been proposed.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has been devised so that when the bottle storage unit and the electrical unit are arranged in parallel adjacent to the top surface of the housing, the interface cable for connecting to external equipment can be connected to the connector section without increasing the size of the electrical unit. The purpose is to provide an image forming apparatus that is easy to connect to.

An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material, and includes a housing and a toner provided on the top surface of the housing and filled with toner for replenishment. A bottle accommodating unit that accommodates bottles, a first electrical board, a second electrical board capable of inputting and outputting signals between the external device connected to the interface cable, and a connector part to which the interface cable can be connected. and an electrical unit disposed on the top surface adjacent to the bottle accommodating unit in parallel in the first direction, and the second electrical board is closer to the first electrical board in the first direction. is also disposed at a position away from the bottle storage unit and at a position shifted from the first electrical board in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the connector section is arranged to connect to the bottle on the second electrical board. It is characterized by being provided on the accommodation unit side.

According to the present invention, when the bottle accommodating unit and the electrical unit housing the second electrical board capable of inputting and outputting signals to and from an external device are arranged in parallel adjacent to the top surface of the casing, the electrical equipment The interface cable can be easily connected to the connector part without increasing the size of the unit.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming system including an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an image forming system. FIG. 3 is a control block diagram for explaining an electrical unit. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming transfer device. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the image forming transfer device with the unit cover removed. FIG. 3 is an external perspective view showing the electrical unit. A perspective view showing the electrical unit with the left cover and right cover removed. A perspective view showing the electrical unit with the left cover, right cover, and relay board removed.

<Image forming system>
First, an image forming system including an image forming apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system 1 includes an image forming apparatus 2 and a recording material loading device 3 capable of loading recording materials S discharged from the image forming apparatus 2. The image forming apparatus 2 is an electrophotographic tandem full-color printer, and in this embodiment is divided into an image forming transfer apparatus 500 and a fixing and conveying apparatus 600. The image forming transfer device 500 and the fixing conveyance device 600, and the fixing conveyance device 600 and the recording material stacking device 3 are each connected so as to be able to transfer recording materials (sheets). Note that examples of the recording material include papers such as plain paper, cardboard, rough paper, textured paper, and coated paper, plastic films, and cloth.

A bottle storage unit 20 is arranged on the top surface 1a of the image forming transfer device 500, an electrical unit 70 is arranged in the remaining space of the top surface 1a where the bottle storage unit 20 is arranged, and an operation unit 80 is arranged in the further remaining space. has been done. The electrical unit 70 is arranged adjacent to the bottle accommodating unit 20 in the left-right direction, and the electrical unit 70 and the bottle accommodating unit 20 are covered by a unit cover 120.

The operation unit 80 is arranged in front of the electrical unit 70 so that a display (such as a liquid crystal touch panel 82) that can display various information and keys that can input various information according to user operations are located on the front side. There is. An operating section 80 is connected to the electrical unit 70 via a signal cable 90 so that it can be energized and input/output signals, and an external device 101 such as a personal computer is connected via an interface cable 104 so that signals can be input/output. Note that the operation unit 80 is not limited to the illustrated left side of the bottle storage unit 20, but may be movably provided so that it can be placed at another position on the top surface 1a or on the top surface 1c of the fixing and conveying device 600. .

On the other hand, the top surface 1c of the fixing and conveying device 600 is formed into a flat shape on which a recording material can be placed as a work space for the user to check the image formed on the recording material and to organize the recording material. ing. Note that since the top surface 1c of the fixing and conveying device 600 is wide, a document reading device (not shown) capable of reading a document, for example, may be placed thereon.

In this specification, the side on which the user stands when operating the operating unit 80 is referred to as the "front (or front)" and the opposite side is referred to as the "back (or rear)." Further, the left side when viewed from the front is referred to as the "left", and the right side when viewed from the front is referred to as the "right".

In addition, although an example is shown in which the recording material loading device 3 is connected to the image forming device 2, the image forming device is not limited to this. It may be coupled to device 2. The post-processing apparatus may be one or a plurality of apparatuses that perform various post-processing processes, such as an inserter, a puncher, a case binding machine, a folding machine, a finisher, a trimmer, etc., connected together. As described above, in the image forming system 1 shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 2 is equipped with various types of equipment in order to enable inline output of recording materials as products obtained by performing various post-processing processes on various materials. A post-processing device is selectively coupled.

In this embodiment, the casing 500A of the image forming transfer device 500 and the casing 600A of the fixing and conveying device 600 are formed separately, and are movable by a plurality of casters provided respectively. As a result, even if the image forming transfer device 500 and the fixing/conveying device 600 are large, they can be separated into the casing 500A and the casing 600A and packaged and transported separately. Improves sex.

The image forming transfer device 500 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, inside a housing 500A of the image forming transfer device 500, the sheet feeding section 30, the image forming unit 40, a part of the sheet conveying unit 50, etc. are arranged.

The sheet feeding unit 30 is disposed in the lower part of the housing 500A, has a cassette 31 for storing and storing recording materials S, and a feeding roller 32, and directs the recording materials S toward the image forming unit 40. and feed it. The sheet conveying unit 50 is provided so as to be able to transfer the recording material S across the housing 500A and the housing 600A. The sheet conveyance unit 50 has a pre-secondary transfer conveyance path 51, a pre-fixing conveyance path 52, an ejection path 53, and a re-conveyance path 54, and carries the recording material S fed from the sheet feeding section 30. It is conveyed between the image forming transfer device 500 and the fixing conveyance device 600.

The image forming unit 40 forms a toner image on the recording material S according to image data received from a document reading device (not shown) or an external device 101. The image forming unit 40 includes image forming sections 41y, 41m, 41c, and 41k, and an intermediate transfer unit 44, and forms a toner image on the recording material S. The image forming units 41y to 41k are process units that form yellow, magenta, cyan, and black toner images, respectively, and are each removably provided in the housing 500A.

The intermediate transfer unit 44 includes a plurality of rollers such as primary transfer rollers 44y, 44m, 44c, and 44k, a drive roller 44a, a tension roller 44d, and a secondary transfer inner roller 45a, and an intermediate transfer belt 44b wound around these rollers. have. The primary transfer rollers 44y to 44k are arranged to face the photosensitive drums 47y to 47k, respectively, and are in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 44b. By applying a primary transfer voltage to the primary transfer rollers 44y to 44k by a power source (not shown), the toner images formed on the photosensitive drums 47y to 47k are sequentially primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 44b.

The image forming units 41y to 41k are arranged side by side along the moving direction of the intermediate transfer belt 44b. The intermediate transfer belt 44b is stretched around a plurality of rollers (44a, 44d, 45a) and rotated. The intermediate transfer belt 44b carries and conveys the toner image to be primarily transferred as will be described later. A secondary transfer outer roller 45b is disposed at a position opposite to a secondary transfer inner roller 45a that stretches the intermediate transfer belt 44b across the intermediate transfer belt 44b, and transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 44b to the recording material S. A secondary transfer portion T2 is formed.

The image forming units 41y to 41k have substantially the same configuration except that the developed color of the toner image is different. Therefore, here, the yellow image forming section 41y will be explained as a representative, and the explanation of the other image forming sections 41m, 41c, and 41k will be omitted.

The image forming section 41y is provided with a cylindrical photosensitive drum 47y as a photosensitive member. The photosensitive drum 47y is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown). A charging roller 48y, an exposing device 43y, a developing device 49y, and a primary transfer roller 44y are arranged around the photosensitive drum 47y.

When the image forming operation is started, the surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 47y is uniformly charged by the charging roller 48y. Next, the photosensitive drum 47y is scanned and exposed with laser light corresponding to image data emitted from the exposure device 43y. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 47y in accordance with the image data. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 47y is developed into a toner image by a developer containing toner and carrier contained in a developing device 49y. Toner is supplied to the developing device 49y from a toner bottle 42y filled with toner for replenishment. The toner bottle 42y and the toner bottles 42m to 42k of other colors are detachably housed in the bottle housing unit 20 in parallel in the left-right direction.

The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 47y is primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 44b at a primary transfer section configured between the photosensitive drum 47y and a primary transfer roller 44y disposed with the intermediate transfer belt 44b in between. At this time, a primary transfer voltage is applied to the primary transfer roller 44y. Note that toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 47y after the primary transfer is removed by a drum cleaning blade (not shown).

Such operations are sequentially performed in each of the yellow, magenta, cyan, and black image forming units 41y to 41k, and the four color toner images are superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 44b. Thereafter, the recording material S is conveyed to the secondary transfer section T2 in accordance with the timing of forming the toner image. Then, by applying a secondary transfer voltage to the secondary transfer outer roller 45b, the full-color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 44b is secondary-transferred onto the recording material S all at once. Note that toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 44b after the secondary transfer is removed by a belt cleaning device (not shown).

The recording material S onto which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed from the image forming transfer device 500 to the fixing conveyance device 600. Inside the housing 600A of the fixing conveyance device 600, the fixing device 46 and a part of the sheet conveyance unit 50 are disposed. The fixing device 46 includes a fixing roller 46a that is heated by a heater (not shown), and a pressure roller 46b that presses the recording material S against the fixing roller 46a. The recording material S on which the toner image has been formed is conveyed from the image forming transfer device 500 and is heated and pressurized while being nipped and conveyed in a fixing nip formed by a fixing roller 46a and a pressure roller 46b. As a result, the toner image is fixed on the recording material S.

The recording material S heated by the fixing device 46 is conveyed by a sheet discharge section 60. The sheet discharge section 60 includes a pair of discharge rollers 61 disposed in the discharge path 53 and a discharge port 62 formed in the housing 600A. The discharge roller pair 61 conveys the recording material S conveyed to the discharge path 53 toward the discharge port 62 . The discharge port 62 is formed to be able to deliver the recording material S to the recording material loading device 3 connected to the housing 600A.

The image forming apparatus 2 of this embodiment is capable of forming images on both sides of the recording material S. In the case of single-sided printing, the recording material S on which the toner image is fixed is conveyed to the discharge path 53 and discharged from the discharge port 62 to the outside of the housing 600A. In the case of double-sided printing, the recording material S on which the toner image has been fixed is conveyed to the re-conveyance path 54. In the re-conveyance path 54, the recording material S is reversed by a switchback operation, and the front and back surfaces of the recording material S are exchanged. The inverted recording material S is returned to the housing 500A, passes through the pre-secondary transfer transport path 51, and is transported to the secondary transfer section T2 with the unprinted back side facing the intermediate transfer belt 44b. . In the secondary transfer portion T2, the full-color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 44b is secondarily transferred to the back side of the recording material S all at once. Thereafter, the toner image on the recording material S is fixed by the fixing device 46, and the recording material S is conveyed to the discharge path 53 and discharged from the discharge port 62 to the outside of the housing 600A.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram showing part of the control performed by the electrical equipment unit 70. As shown in FIG. 3, in the case of this embodiment, the electrical unit 70 includes electrical equipment boards such as a relay board 71, a main control board 72, and an exposure control board 73, and a solid state drive or hard disk drive (SSD, HDD). It has a storage device 74. The electrical equipment board is a board on which, for example, a CPU, memory, electronic parts, electric parts, connector parts, etc. are mounted. It should be noted that the electrical unit 70 may be connected to a developing board for controlling the developing units 49y to 49k in addition to those shown in the drawings, but since this is not the main point of the invention, their illustration and description will be omitted here.

The main control board 72 includes, for example, a CPU 75, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 76 that stores various programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 77 that temporarily stores data, and an input/output circuit (I/F) that inputs and outputs signals. It has 78. The storage device 74 is a removable large-capacity storage device for storing data, and mainly stores image processing programs, digital image data, and the like.

A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 75 is a microprocessor that controls the entire image forming system 1 and is the main component of the main control board 72 . The CPU 75 can read an image processing program and digital image data from the storage device 74 and form an image on the recording material S in accordance with the execution of the image processing program. The CPU 75 connects via an input/output circuit 78 to an exposure control board 73 for controlling the exposure devices 43y to 43k (see FIG. 2), and a relay such as an interface board for inputting and outputting signals with the external device 101. It is connected to a board 71, a storage device 74, an operation section 80, and the like.

The operation unit 80 includes a driver board 81 and a liquid crystal touch panel 82. The liquid crystal touch panel 82 allows the user to use the image forming apparatus 2 to display, for example, messages notifying the remaining amount of recording material in the cassette 31 and the remaining amount of toner in the developing devices 49y to 49k, warning messages when these consumables are running out, replenishment procedures, etc. Various information for operating the can be displayed. Further, the liquid crystal touch panel 82 can accept various inputs related to image formation by user operations, such as settings for the size and basis weight of the recording material S, image density, and number of output sheets. The driver board 81 is an electrical equipment board that controls the power supplied from the power supply 12 to the liquid crystal touch panel 82 in order to cause the liquid crystal touch panel 82 to perform the above-described display, input reception, and the like.

The operating section 80 is connected to the electrical unit 70 by a signal cable 90. The signal cable 90 may be a signal line 90a or a power line 90b, and may be a bundle in which the signal line 90a and the power line 90b are bundled together, or may be a separate signal line 90a and power line 90b. good. The signal line 90a connects the input/output circuit 76 of the main control board 72 and the driver board 81, and the power line 90b connects the power supply 12 and the driver board 81. Note that the power supply 12 is provided separately from the electrical unit 70, and is placed on the back of the housing 500A, inside the housing 500A, or the like.

The relay board 71 is electrically connected to the input/output circuit 78 of the main control board 72, and is also electrically connected to the external device 101 by an interface cable 104. The external device 101 has an external controller 102 and an external display 103, and the main control board 72 can control the external controller 102 via the relay board 71. By controlling the external controller 102, the main control board 72 can, for example, display the above-described various information on the external display 103, and transmit/receive various data such as image data to/from the external device 101.

Next, the arrangement of the bottle storage unit 20 and the electrical unit 70 in the image forming transfer apparatus 500 will be explained using FIGS. 4 and 5 while referring to FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the image forming transfer device 500, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the image forming transfer device 500 with the unit cover 120 removed. As described above, the bottle accommodating unit 20 and the electrical unit 70 are arranged on the top surface 1 a of the image forming transfer device 500 , and the bottle accommodating unit 20 and the electrical unit 70 are covered by the unit cover 120 . The unit cover 120 is configured by combining a plurality of covers.

In this embodiment, a bottle unit cover 120a of the unit cover 120 is provided so as to be rotatable and openable, and when the bottle unit cover 120a is opened, the bottle storage unit 20 is exposed. Moreover, the electrical unit cover 120b of the unit cover 120 is provided to be removable with a screw, and when the electrical unit cover 120b is removed, the electrical unit 70 is exposed. That is, the user can access the bottle housing unit 20 by opening the bottle unit cover 120a, and can attach and detach the toner bottles 42y to 42k to and from the bottle housing unit 20. The user can access the electrical unit 70 by removing the electrical unit cover 120b, and can attach and detach the interface cable 104 and the signal cable 90 to the connector section 701 of the electrical unit 70 (see FIGS. 7 and 8, which will be described later).

As shown in FIG. 5, a bottle storage unit 20 is arranged on the top surface 1a of the housing 500A. The bottle storage unit 20 is fixed to the housing 500A with screws (not shown) or the like so that the stored toner bottles 42y to 42m are lined up in the left-right direction. Furthermore, an electrical unit 70 is disposed on the top surface 1a of the housing 500a. The electrical unit 70 is arranged in parallel adjacent to the bottle housing unit 20 in the left-right direction (first direction), which is the same direction as the arrangement direction of the toner bottles 42y to 42m inside the bottle housing unit 20. Similarly to the bottle storage unit 20, the electrical unit 70 is also fixed to the housing 500a with screws (not shown) or the like.

The electrical unit 70 includes a signal cable 90 for supplying electricity and inputting/outputting signals with the operation unit 80, and an interface cable 104 for inputting/outputting signals between an external device 101 such as a personal computer. Connected. In the case of this embodiment, as will be described in detail later, the electrical unit 70 has a connector for connecting the interface cable 104 to a location farther from the bottle accommodating unit 20 than the right end 70a on the bottle accommodating unit 20 side in the left-right direction. 701. The interface cable 104 can be connected to the connector section 701 by inserting the interface cable 104 straight to the left from the bottle accommodating unit 20 side. As the connector section 701, a type corresponding to the interface cable 104 to be connected is used, such as a right-angle type USB connector, an HDMI (registered trademark) connector, a display port connector, etc. Note that the electrical unit 70 has another connector portion 702 for connecting the signal cable 90 to the left end portion 70b on the opposite side from the bottle accommodating unit 20 in the left-right direction.

<Electrical unit>
Next, the detailed configuration of the electrical unit 70 of this embodiment will be described using FIGS. 6 to 8 while referring to FIG. 5. FIG. 6 is an external perspective view showing the electrical unit 70. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the electrical unit 70 with the left cover 203 and right cover 204 removed. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the electrical unit 70 with the left cover 203, right cover 204, and relay board 71 removed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the electrical equipment unit 70 has a casing composed of an electrical equipment board holder 201, a central partition plate 202, a left cover 203, and a right cover 204. , a plurality of electrical equipment boards are held within the casing. In this embodiment, the left cover 203 is removably fastened with screws or the like so as to cover the left side of the electrical board holding section 201, with the center partition plate 202 disposed at the center in the left-right direction as a border, and the right cover 204 is removably fastened with screws or the like so as to cover the right side of the electrical equipment board holder 201. The electrical equipment board holding section 201 has a step shape in which the left cover 203 and the right cover 204 are arranged at positions shifted in the front-back direction, and the central partition plate 202 connects the left cover 203 and the right cover 204. is formed. By doing so, in the electrical unit 70, a stepped space M whose size is determined by the length of the right cover 204 in the left-right direction and the height of the center partition plate 202 in the front-back direction is secured on the back side of the right cover 204.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the electrical equipment unit 70, the electrical equipment board holding part 201 has a first holding part 201a and a second holding part 201a, which is formed parallel to the first holding part 201a in the left-right direction, with the central partition plate 202 as a border. The holding portion 201b is broadly divided into the holding portion 201b. The first holding part 201a holds the exposure control board 73 as a first electrical board, and the above-mentioned right cover 204 is attached (see FIG. 6).

On the other hand, the second holding part 201b holds the relay board 71 as a second electrical equipment board, and the above-mentioned left cover 203 is attached to it (see FIG. 6). In the case of this embodiment, a plurality of (here, two) connector parts 701 are mounted on the relay board 71 as connectors for board-to-wire connection. A plurality of (here, two) openings 202a are formed in the central partition plate 202, and the relay board 71 is inserted into the second holding part 201b so that the connector part 701 is exposed from the opening 202a of the central partition plate 202. Retained. In this way, the relay board 71 is located further away from the bottle storage unit 20 than the exposure control board 73 in the left-right direction, and is shifted from the exposure control board 73 in the front-back direction (the second direction perpendicular to the first direction). is placed in the correct position. The connector portion 701 is provided on the bottle storage unit side (here, on the right side) of the relay board 71. That is, the connector portion 701 is arranged within the projection plane of the electrical unit 70 in the front-back direction.

In other words, the center partition plate 202 (second opposing surface) facing the bottle accommodating unit 20 is larger than the right end portion 70a (first opposing surface) of the first holding part 201a facing the bottle accommodating unit 20 in the left-right direction. A step portion is formed between the first holding portion 201a and the second holding portion 201b at a position away from the bottle accommodating unit 20 and protruding from the right end portion 70a in the front-rear direction. Then, by providing the connector part 701 on the central partition plate 202 that forms the step part, the interface cable 104 is connected to the connector using the step space M (see FIG. 6) secured on the back side of the first holding part 201a. It can be attached to and detached from the section 701.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the second holding section 201b holds a main control board 72 and a storage device 74 in addition to the relay board 71. The main control board 72 as a third electrical equipment board is stacked and arranged at a position parallel to the exposure control board 73 in the left-right direction and at a position overlapping with the relay board 71 in the front-rear direction. The storage device 74 is arranged above the main control board 72. In this way, the main control board 72 and the storage device 74 are held by the second holding part 201b so as to overlap with the relay board 71 on the projection plane on the front side with respect to the relay board 71.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in the electrical unit 70, a stepped portion is formed between the first holding portion 201a and the second holding portion 201b, and the connector portion 701 is attached to the central partition plate 202 forming the stepped portion. provided. By forming a stepped portion between the first holding portion 201a and the second holding portion 201b, a stepped space M is secured on the back side of the first holding portion 201a. The central partition plate 202 faces the stepped space M, and the connector portion 701 is exposed from the central partition plate 202 to the stepped space M side. In order to do this, the relay board 71 on which the connector part 701 is mounted is held by the second holding part 201b. In this way, the interface cable 104 can be attached to and detached from the connector section 701 using the stepped space M secured on the back side of the first holding section 201a. Therefore, the interface cable 104 that connects to the external device 101 can be easily connected to the connector section 701 without increasing the size of the electrical unit 70.

Note that the electrical unit cover 120b is preferably formed of metal. This is because if the electrical unit 70 is covered with the metal electrical unit cover 120b, even if noise or static electricity is generated from each board held in the electrical unit 70 or the signal wires connecting these boards, it will not be caused by them. This is because the image forming transfer device 500 can be prevented from malfunctioning.

1a... Top surface, 2... Image forming device, 20... Bottle storage unit, 42y (42m to 42k)... Toner bottle, 70... Electrical unit, 70a... First opposing surface (right end), 71... Second electrical component board ( Relay board), 72... Third electrical board (main control board), 73... First electrical board (exposure control board), 80... Operation unit, 90... Cable (signal cable), 101... External device, 104... Interface cable , 201a...First holding part, 201b...Second holding part, 202...Second opposing surface (stepped part, center partition plate), 500A...Casing, 701...Connector part, 702...Another connector part, S...Record material

Claims (7)

An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material,
A casing and
a bottle accommodating unit provided on the top surface of the housing and accommodating a toner bottle filled with replenishing toner;
The first electrical board has a second electrical board capable of inputting and outputting signals between the first electrical board and an external device connected to the interface cable, and a connector part to which the interface cable can be connected, and the bottle is attached to the top surface. an electrical unit arranged in parallel in a first direction adjacent to the accommodation unit;
The second electrical board is located further away from the bottle storage unit than the first electrical board in the first direction, and is shifted from the first electrical board in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. placed in position,
The connector portion is provided on the bottle storage unit side of the second electrical board,
An image forming apparatus characterized by: The electrical equipment unit has a third electrical equipment board stacked and arranged at a position parallel to the first electrical equipment board in the first direction and at a position overlapping with the second electrical equipment board in the second direction.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second electrical equipment board is an interface board that controls input/output of signals to the external device connected via the interface cable.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: The third electrical equipment board is a main control board that controls the entire image forming apparatus.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The electrical equipment unit includes a first holding part that holds the first electrical equipment board, and is formed in parallel to the first holding part in the first direction, and holds the second electrical equipment board and the third electrical equipment board. a second holding part;
The second holding part has a second opposing surface facing the bottle accommodating unit that is further away from the bottle accommodating unit in the first direction than a first opposing surface of the first holding part facing the bottle accommodating unit. forming a step portion with the first holding portion at a position where the step portion protrudes from the first opposing surface in the second direction;
The connector portion is provided at the step portion,
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4. an operation unit provided separately from the casing for operating the image forming apparatus;
a cable capable of inputting and outputting signals by connecting the third electrical component board and the operating section;
The second holding part is provided with another connector part to which the cable can be connected at an end opposite to the stepped part, which is remote from the bottle storage unit in the first direction.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that: The stepped portion is provided at a central portion of the electrical unit in the first direction.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that:

Images