JP2537355Y2 - Rotary roll support structure - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a rotating roll used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine, and more particularly, in the vicinity of a supporting portion of a phenomenon sleeve as a rotating roll carrying a developer. The present invention relates to a support structure for a rotating roll configured to prevent a developer, which is a powder, from leaking out of the housing.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a developer in a developing device has been transported and supplied to an image carrier, for example, a photosensitive drum, on which an image is formed by a rotating developing sleeve. A seal member is provided at a portion supporting the developing sleeve to prevent the developer stored in the developing chamber from leaking in the lateral direction of the developing sleeve as the developing sleeve rotates.

This sealing member is, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 7,
The developing sleeve is provided on both the left and right regions of the casing on which the developing sleeve is supported.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are diagrams of a conventional example schematically showing a developing unit provided with a developing sleeve.

In both of the drawings, a developing unit 1 includes a developer 2,
A developer supply chamber 4 for supplying the developer 2 to the developing sleeve 3 is provided in a casing 8 accommodating the developing sleeve 3 and the like.
The developer 2 is evenly fed to the developing sleeve 3 by the rotation of the stirring member 5.

The developing sleeve 3 has a predetermined length as shown in FIG. 5, and is arranged so as to close the supply port 6 of the developer 2. The left and right regions of the developing sleeve 3 are supported by a support member (not shown) and are assembled to the developing unit 1.

A seal member 7 is provided on the support member side at a position where the developing sleeve 3 is pivotally supported. The seal member 7 formed of a sponge member or the like is provided with a casing 8 shown in FIG. Developing sleeves 3 provided at both ends of
Is provided on the inner peripheral surface of a surrounding member 8a surrounding the developing sleeve 3 and elastically abuts both left and right regions of the outer peripheral surface 3b of the developing sleeve 3 respectively.

In the above description, the developing unit 1 is used by being set in an image forming apparatus (not shown), and when it is set, the developing sleeve 3 is provided to face the photosensitive drum 9 in the image forming apparatus. For this reason, the sealing member 7 and the surrounding member 8a to which the sealing member 7 is attached are provided.
Is formed in a semicircular shape in which the portions facing the photosensitive drum 9 are cut off on both the left and right sides.

The blade 10 provided in the developing unit 1
Serves to keep the amount of the developer 2 carried on the outer peripheral surface 3b of the developing sleeve 3 constant.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional seal structure on the driving side.

In the figure, a rotating shaft 3a of the developing sleeve 3 is supported by a bearing 12 provided in a casing 8, and a gap roller 13, a spring pin 14
And a developing gear 15 that engages with the second gear. Development gear
15 is prevented from coming off by an E-ring 16.

On the other hand, the surrounding member 8a is erected on the casing 8, the inner peripheral surface 8b of the surrounding member 8a is formed parallel to the outer peripheral surface 3b of the developing sleeve 3, and the sealing member 7 is adhered to the inner peripheral surface 8b. It is attached by fixing means such as. And
The seal member 7 is formed of a sponge member as described above, and has a cross-sectional shape of a quadrilateral whose opposite sides are parallel.

Accordingly, the entire inner peripheral surface of the seal member 7 is uniformly elastically contacted with the outer peripheral surface 3b of the developing sleeve 3.

 FIGS. 7A and 7B show other conventional examples.

The sealing member 7a shown in FIG.
The inner peripheral surface that is in contact with the outer peripheral surface 3b of the developing sleeve 3 is tapered, and the tapered surface 17 is narrowed on the insertion side of the developing sleeve 3 so that the contact resistance of the seal member 7a to the developing sleeve 3 is reduced. It is an example in the case of reducing the rotational load in the above.

A further different conventional example shown in FIG. 7 (b) is a case where the width of the seal member 7b is narrowed to reduce the contact area with the developing sleeve 3, and the thickness of the seal member 7b is increased to reduce the rotational load. This is an example.

[Problems of the prior art]

However, in the conventional seal member, for example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 6, since the entire inner peripheral surface of the seal member 7 is always in pressure contact with the outer peripheral surface 3b of the developing sleeve 3, the rotational load of the developing sleeve 3 is reduced. Becomes larger. Moreover, since the seal member 7 is provided on both the left and right regions of the developing sleeve 3, the frictional resistance exerted on the developing sleeve 3 is extremely large.

Further, the seal member 7a shown in FIG. 7 (a) reduces the rotational load on the developing sleeve 3, but the seal member 7a is attached to the inner peripheral surface 8b of the surrounding member 8a. While the sealing surface is tapered surface 17 while being parallel to the outer peripheral surface 3b, and the adhesive surface and the sealing surface are not parallel, the workability of the sealing member 7a is poor and not suitable for mass production. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that the cost is increased.

On the other hand, the sealing member 7b shown in FIG. 7 (b) also has a reduced rotational load on the developing sleeve 3, but the sealing member 7b has a narrow width, a large thickness, and an extremely unstable shape. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that the seal member 7b is easily pushed up from the side when the developing sleeve 3 is assembled and inserted. Further, in the case of the seal member 7b, since the width is narrow, there is a problem that the workability of sticking to the inner peripheral surface 8b of the casing 8 is poor.

Thus, in the case of the above-described sealing member, it is necessary to increase the sealing thickness in order to enhance the sealing effect. However, there is a troublesome problem that the rotational load of the developing sleeve 3 increases in spite of the improvement of the image quality. For this reason, when sealing both ends of the developing sleeve, the sealing member 7 is required to have a sufficient sealing effect of the developer and to suppress the rotational load to a small value.
It was necessary to strictly check and manage the width, thickness, elasticity, etc.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the related art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rotating roll support structure that can simultaneously reduce a rotating load applied to a developing sleeve as a rotating roll and achieve reliable sealing.

[Gist of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a rotating roll that rotatably supports both ends of a rotating roll that carries and conveys powder on its peripheral surface to a pair of side plates opposed to each other via a bearing member. In the support structure, a surrounding member provided on the opposite side of the side plate and formed so as to surround the rotating roll end peripheral surface with a predetermined gap, an inner peripheral surface of the surrounding member and the rotating roll end An elastic seal member arranged to be compressed and deformed in a gap of the peripheral surface of the outer peripheral surface to prevent the powder from leaking toward the bearing member; The width of the elastic sealing member is smaller than the width of the elastic roll in the longitudinal direction of the rotary roll, and the width of the elastic seal is smaller than the width of the elastic roll in the longitudinal direction.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

Note that the same members as those described in the conventional example will be described using the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a supporting structure of a rotating roll according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a casing having a supporting structure of the rotating roll of the present invention.

1 and 2, the surrounding member 11 is a casing.
The inner peripheral surface of the surrounding member 11 is formed by a tapered inclined surface 19, which is provided inside the casing 18 and integrally with the casing 18.

The inclined surface 19 is formed in a tapered shape in which the inner diameter portion on the front end 11a side of the surrounding member 11 (the entrance side when the developing sleeve 3 is inserted) is reduced in diameter.

In the above, since the inside of the surrounding member 11 having the inclined surface 19 has an inverted tapered shape, the surrounding member 11 is formed separately from the casing 18 and then the surrounding member 11 is bonded to the casing 18 or the like. Alternatively, the inclined surface 19 may be formed by cutting the inside of the surrounding member 11 after forming the surrounding member 11 integrally with the casing 18 in advance.

On the other hand, as the seal member 20 attached to the inclined surface 19 of the surrounding member 11, a parallelogram member whose cross-sectional sides are parallel to each other is used, and the member is, for example, the seal member 7 shown in FIG. The same can be used.

Therefore, a wide member can be used as the seal member 20, and as a sealing function, the reduced-diameter side of the seal member 20 provided obliquely along the inclined surface 19 pushes obliquely against the outer peripheral surface 3 b of the developing sleeve 3. Shrunk.

FIG. 3 is an external view of the developing unit provided with the rotating roll support structure of the present invention.

The above-described structure for supporting the rotating roll in which the sealing member 20 is obliquely attached to the inclined surface 19 can of course be applied to sealing of rotating members other than the developing sleeve 3.

[Effect of the invention]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, by forming the casing structure in which the seal member is disposed to have a sloped shape, the seal member abutting on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating member is provided with a normal front and rear surface parallel to each other. While using the elastic member, only the corner portion on the reduced diameter side is crushed and pressed against the rotating outer peripheral surface, so that the seal member comes in contact with the minimum contact area necessary for ensuring the sealing performance, and a reliable seal is obtained. The driving load can be reduced while the driving load can be reduced.

Furthermore, since the seal member can be selected widely,
The work of attaching to the casing is easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a rotary roll support structure of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a casing provided with the rotary roll support structure of the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is an external view of a developing unit provided with a rotating roll support structure of the present embodiment, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a developing unit provided with a developing sleeve, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a rotary roll supporting structure showing a conventional example, and FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (b) are rotary rolls showing other conventional examples, respectively. It is sectional drawing of the support structure of FIG. 3 ... developing sleeve, 11 ... surrounding member, 11a ... tip of surrounding member, 18 ... casing, 19 ... inclined surface, 20 ... sealing member.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A supporting structure for a rotating roll, which rotatably supports both ends of a rotating roll that carries and conveys powder on a peripheral surface to a pair of side plates opposed to each other via a bearing member, wherein the rotating roll is provided on an opposite side of the side plate. A surrounding member formed so as to surround the peripheral surface of the rotating roll with a predetermined gap, and a gap between the inner peripheral surface of the surrounding member and the peripheral surface of the rotating roll end to be compressed and deformed. An elastic seal member is provided to prevent the powder from leaking in the direction of the bearing member, and the inner peripheral surface of the surrounding member is tapered so that the gap gradually widens toward the end of the rotary roll. A supporting structure for a rotating roll, wherein the width of the elastic seal member to be compressed and deformed is smaller than the width of the elastic sealing member in the longitudinal direction of the rotating roll.