JP2024032058A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] In order to reliably insert the collected toner container unit to a predetermined position, the distance between the door member and the pressed part of the collected toner container unit by the door member when the collected toner container unit is pushed to the predetermined position and the door member is closed. is preferably 0, but in reality, due to tolerances, how parts are assembled, etc., there is a possibility that there will be too much interference and the door member will not close. Therefore, countermeasures are taken to ensure a certain distance, but if the distance is too far, a problem may occur in which the collected toner container unit cannot be pushed all the way. SOLUTION: A pressing member that is an elastic body is placed inside the door member. The pressing member presses the abutting portion of the collected toner container unit when the door member is closed, and pushes the collected toner container unit into a predetermined position. [Selection diagram] Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a multifunctional device having multiple functions thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, electrophotographic image forming apparatuses have been known to have a collection toner container unit that collects waste toner generated during image formation. The above-mentioned collected toner container unit is provided inside the image forming apparatus, and can be accessed by opening a door-shaped door member.

Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a collected toner container unit is installed on a slide rail, and the collected toner container unit installed on the slide rail is pulled out after opening a door-like door member of an image forming apparatus.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-060078

When the door member is opened as described above and the collected toner container unit installed on the slide rail is pulled out, the collected toner container unit may not be pushed to a predetermined position due to poor pushing.

If the collected toner container unit is not pushed to a predetermined position, there is a possibility that the waste toner will not be collected by the collection container unit and the waste toner will scatter inside the image forming apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that can reliably push a collected toner container unit to a predetermined position.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes:
An image forming apparatus including an image forming section that forms an image on a sheet,
a collection toner container unit that can be inserted into and removed from the image forming apparatus via a guide means, and that collects toner discharged from the image forming section by being combined with the image forming section;
a door member that has an elastic member that is an elastic body inside and allows access to the collected toner container unit when opened;
Equipped with
the pressing member contacts the collected toner container unit when the door member is in a predetermined position;
the collected toner container unit is coupled to the image forming section when the door member is in a closed state;
It is characterized by

According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably push the collected toner container unit to a predetermined position.

A schematic sectional view of an image forming system including an image forming apparatus according to this embodiment Schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to this embodiment A perspective view of a collected toner container unit and a door member according to this embodiment A top view of the collected toner container unit and door member according to this embodiment

[First embodiment]
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, etc. of the components described in the following embodiments should be changed as appropriate depending on the configuration of the device to which the present invention is applied and various conditions. It is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to only those examples.

(image forming system)
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an image forming system 100 including an image forming apparatus 101 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The image forming apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 1 includes an image forming unit 102 that forms a toner image on a fed sheet S, and a decurler 103 that performs curl correction on the sheet S on which the toner image is formed.

A document reading device 104 that reads document images, and a document feeding device 105 that feeds a plurality of stacked documents one by one to the document reading device 104 are selectively connected to the upper part of the image forming unit 102 .

On the upstream side of the image forming unit 102 in the sheet conveyance direction, there is a large-capacity feeding device 106 having a plurality of sheet storage sections, a manual feeding device (not shown), or a long feeder (not shown) capable of storing long sheets. Any one of the feeding devices can be selectively connected. Further upstream of the large-capacity feeding device 106, any one of a large-capacity feeding device, a manual feeding device, and a long feeding device (not shown) can be selectively connected in parallel. .

On the downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction, the decurler 103 reads the fixed toner image formed on one or both sides of the sheet S, detects image density and image position deviation, and transmits the image to the image forming unit 102. A sensing device 107 for performing feedback correction on the signal is selectively connected. Further downstream of the decurler 103 or the sensing device 107, one or a combination of various post-processing devices (not shown) such as an inserter, puncher, case binding machine, large-capacity stacker, folding machine, finisher, trimmer, etc. are installed. , can be selectively connected.

As described above, the image forming apparatus 101 of the present embodiment outputs inline products that have undergone various post-processing processes on various sheets by selectively connecting various optional devices. This makes it possible to provide an image forming system 100 that is excellent in high productivity, high image quality, high stability, and high functionality.

(Image forming device)
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus 101 of this embodiment.

The image forming apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 2 includes a plurality of image forming stations 200 that form different toner images for each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K).

After the surface of the photosensitive drum 201 in each image forming station 200 is uniformly charged by a primary charger 202, an electrostatic latent image is formed by a laser scanner 203 driven based on a transmitted image information signal. . The formed latent image is developed as a toner image by the developing device 204. The toner consumed by development is appropriately replenished from the toner bottle 205 to each developing device 204 via a toner replenishment path 206. The toner images on the photosensitive drum 201 are sequentially transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 208 by applying a predetermined pressing force and electrostatic load bias by the primary transfer roller 207 . After the transfer, a small amount of residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 201 is removed by a photosensitive drum cleaner 209 in preparation for the next image formation. The removed remaining toner is stored in a collected toner container 211 via a toner collection path 210.

On the other hand, the sheets S fed one by one from the sheet storage section 212 inside the image forming section 102 or from one of the above-mentioned externally connected sheet feeding devices have their leading edges traced to the nip portion of the registration rollers 213. The skew correction is performed by forming a loop. The skew-corrected sheet S is conveyed to the secondary transfer section by the registration rollers 213 in synchronization with the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 208. The toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 208 is transferred onto the sheet S by applying a predetermined pressing force and electrostatic load bias at a secondary transfer nip consisting of an inner secondary transfer roller 214 and an outer secondary transfer roller 215. transcribed into. After the transfer, a small amount of residual toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 208 is removed by an intermediate transfer belt cleaner 216 in preparation for the next image formation. The collected toner container 211 is connected to the toner collection path 210, and the removed remaining toner is stored in the collected toner container 211 via the toner collection path 210.

The sheet S onto which the toner image has been transferred is transported to a fixing device 218 by a pre-fixing transport belt 217 . In the fixing device 218, the toner image is fixed onto the sheet S by applying heat and pressure. The sheet S on which an image has been formed in the above process is conveyed to the decurler 103 via the paper discharge conveyance path 219.

When the front and back sides of the sheet S are to be reversed, the sheet S on which an image has been formed is guided to the discharge reversing section 220 and switchback conveyance is performed. As a result, the leading and trailing ends of the sheet S are exchanged, and the front and back sides of the sheet S are reversed. The sheet S whose front and back sides have been reversed is conveyed to the decurler 103 via the reversal discharge path 221 .

When forming images on both sides of the sheet S, the sheet S on which the image on the first side has been formed is guided to the double-sided reversing section 222, and switchback conveyance is performed. As a result, the leading and trailing ends of the sheet S are exchanged, and the front and back sides of the sheet S are reversed. The reversed sheet S passes through the double-sided conveyance path 223 and is then fed to the subsequent sheet S by the sheet storage section 212 inside the image forming section 102 or one of the above-mentioned externally connected sheet feeding devices. It is made to rejoin the registration roller 213 with the same timing. Thereafter, the second side of the sheet S, on which image formation has been performed in the same process as the first side, is conveyed to the decurler 103 via the paper discharge conveyance path 219.

The sheet S on which an image has been formed and has been conveyed to the decurler 103 is appropriately curled by a pair of decurl rollers 224 and 225, and then is discharged to the above-mentioned sensing device 107 or a post-processing device (not shown).

(Configuration of collected toner container unit, door member, and elastic member)
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the structure of the collected toner container unit 300 and the door member 302, which is an exterior member, of this embodiment. FIG. 3A shows a state in which the door member 302 is closed, and the image forming apparatus system 100 is ready for operation. FIG. 3B shows a case where the collected toner container 211 is filled with collected toner and the collected toner container is replaced during maintenance of the collected toner container. The user can open and close the door member, and can open the door member 302 and pull out the collected toner container unit 300 toward the user. The collected toner container unit 300 has a collected toner container 211 installed on a collected toner container tray 301, and the collected toner container tray 301 is installed on a frame via a slide rail 303 (guiding means). The collected toner container unit can be smoothly inserted and removed to access the collected toner container unit. FIG. 3(c) shows the state when the user inserts the collected toner container tray 301 to the correct setting position. An elastic member 304 (pressing member) that is an elastic body is installed inside the door member 302.

(Operation of door member, elastic member, and collected toner container unit)
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the movement of the door member 302 on which the elastic member 304 of this embodiment is installed and the collected toner container unit 300 during the work of a user or a service person during maintenance of the collected toner container 211, as seen from the top. This is a diagram. To simplify the explanation, the image forming unit 102 and sensing device 107 are omitted in this figure.

FIG. 4A shows a state in which after maintenance of the collected toner container 211, the collected toner container unit 300 is not inserted to a predetermined position and is stopped midway. At this time, the toner recovery path outlet 210a, which is the most downstream of the toner recovery path 210, and the toner bottle opening 211a, which is the entrance for the collected toner of the collected toner container 211, which is partially indicated by a broken line, are misaligned, and if this continues, Toner will leak to the outside. When the door member 302 is open, the magnet 305 installed inside the door member 302 is not attracted to the magnet adsorption plate 306 installed on the collected toner container tray 301. That is, the above-mentioned state corresponds to the open state of the door member 302.

If the door member 302 continues to be rotated and closed, the state shown in FIG. 4(b) will be achieved. In FIG. 4B, the rigid portion 302a of the door member 302 comes into contact with the collected toner container tray 301, and the collected toner container tray 301 begins to be inserted. As the insertion continues, the contact portion 304a of the elastic member 304 contacts the collected toner container tray 301, and the collected toner container tray 301 is pressed by the contact portion 304a, thereby continuing the insertion. From this moment on, the contact between the rigid body part 302a and the recovered toner container tray 301 begins to be released. A predetermined position of the door member 302 is a state in which the door member 302 is in an open state and the contact portion 304a of the elastic member 304 is in contact with the collected toner container tray 301.

When the door member 302 is completely closed, the state shown in FIG. 4(c) is obtained. At this time, the magnet 305 installed inside the door member 302 is attracted to the magnetic adsorption plate 306 installed on the collected toner container tray 301, and the door member 302 cannot be opened without manual operation. That is, the above-mentioned state corresponds to the closed state of the door member 302. Further, the amount of protrusion of the elastic member is designed so that the gap between the contact portion 304a of the elastic member 304 and the recovered toner container tray is zero. Even if the elastic member 304 and the collected toner container tray 301 are in contact with each other due to interference due to deviations due to part tolerances, etc., the elasticity of the elastic member 304 does not inhibit the attraction of the magnet. Further, even if there is a gap, the design is originally aimed at a gap of 0, so the problem of not being able to push the collected toner container unit 300 completely does not occur.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by installing the elastic member 304 inside the door member 302, the recovered toner container tray 301 can be pushed in by the rotation of the door member 302.

Note that the material of the elastic member 304 is preferably rubber, and it is desirable that the rubber hardness is Shore A 35°±5 in order to exhibit the effects of the present invention. Further, the elastic member may be a compression spring or a leaf spring. Furthermore, although an elastic body is used as the pressing member in this embodiment, a configuration in which a rigid member abuts on the contact portion may also be used.

101 Image forming apparatus 102 Image forming section 211 Collected toner container 300 Collected toner container unit 302 Door member 303 Slide rail 304 Elastic member

Claims (8)

An image forming apparatus including an image forming section that forms an image on a sheet,
a collection toner container unit that can be inserted into and removed from the image forming apparatus via a guide means, and that collects toner discharged from the image forming section by being combined with the image forming section;
a door member that has an elastic member that is an elastic body inside and allows access to the collected toner container unit when opened;
Equipped with
the pressing member contacts the collected toner container unit when the door member is in a predetermined position;
the collected toner container unit is coupled to the image forming section when the door member is in a closed state;
An image forming apparatus characterized by: The door member has a magnet inside,
The collected toner container unit has a magnetic adsorption plate to which the magnet adsorbs,
When the door is in a predetermined position, the magnet and the magnetic adsorption plate are not adsorbed,
When the door is in a closed state, the magnet and the magnetic adsorption plate are adsorbed;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the door member is an exterior. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide means is a slide rail. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is made of rubber. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is a compression spring. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is a leaf spring. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a rigid member installed inside the door member that contacts the contact portion of the recovered toner container unit before the pressing member when the door member is closed. image forming device.

Images