JP3057472B2 - Electronic device parts and sheet-like members attached to the parts - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component of an electronic device to which at least one sheet-like member is attached and a sheet-like member to be attached to a component of the electronic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, or a multifunction peripheral thereof, or in an electronic device such as various electric products, it has been generally practiced to attach a sheet-like member to the component. I have. For example, a sheet-like member called a decal is attached to the front door of the copying machine main body and various parts inside the same, and such a decal is made of a flexible material such as a resin sheet, a resin film, or a thin resin plate. It is composed of a sheet-like piece having properties or rigidity, and predetermined information is written on the surface thereof. More specifically, for example, in a copying machine, a decal in which various kinds of image information such as a simple handling explanation and a part replacement order number are entered for the user or a service person is used as a component of the copying machine. Is pasted on. The image information written on the surface of the decal may be represented by a symbol, a figure such as an arrow, a graphic, or a color, in addition to characters.

In addition to such a decal, a sheet-like member made of a flexible or rigid protective sheet is provided on the component itself or on a component such as a case for housing the component for the purpose of protecting the component of the electronic device. May be stuck. The sheet-like member made of such a protective sheet or decal may be attached to a replacement part of an electronic device, for example, a part such as a toner cartridge of a copying machine.

In recent years, in particular, in recent years, for the purpose of protecting the environment and further saving resources, the emergence of products having excellent recyclability has been strongly demanded, and office automation devices such as image forming apparatuses and electronic products such as electric products have been strongly demanded. The same is required for devices. Therefore, conventionally, components of electronic devices are made of a thermoplastic resin, and when the components are used up, the components are recycled without discarding them. For example, a used part is crushed into a pellet shape by a shredder, heated and melted to form a part again, and such a regenerated product is used again.

However, conventionally, in the case of a component to which a sheet-like member such as a decal or a protective sheet is adhered, the component and the sheet-like member are made of different materials. When the two parts did not melt with each other and a recycled part was formed from such a molten material, the mechanical properties of the part were remarkably deteriorated, and it could not be reused as the part.

Therefore, conventionally, a sheet-like member has been peeled off from a used part using a dryer or a grinder, and then the part is crushed into a pellet shape, which is melted to obtain a remanufactured product. However, the operation of peeling off the sheet-like member from the component is a laborious and time-consuming and very troublesome operation, and as a result, the disadvantage of increasing the cost of recycling the component has been unavoidable.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made based on the above-described novel recognition, and an object of the present invention is to provide a component of an electronic device capable of performing reproduction processing without peeling a sheet-like member. Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet-like member attached to a component of an electronic device.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a part of an electronic device to which at least one sheet member on which image information is written is adhered. The member is composed of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins, and the surface area of all image information written on the sheet member is set to 20% or less of the surface area of all sheet members. Of electronic devices to be used.

In this case, it is particularly advantageous to use a thermoplastic resin compatible with the component and the sheet-like member as an adhesive for attaching the sheet-like member to the component.

In each of the above-described configurations, it is advantageous that information indicating that the sheet-like member can be reprocessed without being peeled off from the component is written in the sheet-like member.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a sheet-like member on which image information is stuck on a component of an electronic device made of a thermoplastic resin.
A sheet-shaped member made of a thermoplastic resin compatible with the component, wherein the surface area of all the written image information is set to 20% or less of the surface area of all the sheet-shaped members. Suggest.

Further, it is advantageous that the sheet-shaped member is provided with information indicating that the sheet-shaped member can be reprocessed without peeling off the sheet-shaped member from the component.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a copying machine which is an example of an electronic apparatus. This copying machine has an exterior cover 1 of a main body thereof, a front door 2 pivotally attached to a main body frame (not shown) of the main body so as to be openable and closable. And a number of components such as a document pressing platen 3 provided at the upper part of the main body and various elements (not shown) housed inside the main body. Here, the front door 2 is taken as an example of the parts, and a specific example in which the present invention is applied to the front door 2 will be clarified.

The front door 2 is supported by the body frame so as to be rotatable and openable between a closed position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1 and an open position indicated by a chain line. , At least one sheet-like member is stuck.
In the example of FIG. 1, a sheet-like member made of a first decal 4 is attached to the front surface of the front door 2, and a second decal 5 is attached to the back surface of the front door 2. Such decal 4,
As described above, 5 is made of a flexible or rigid sheet, film, or thin plate-shaped piece, and predetermined image information is written on the surface thereof. In this example, the first
As shown in FIG. 2, the order of consumables and the contact information for copier repair are entered in the decal 4 of FIG.
As shown in (1), image information for explaining the procedure for removing the sheet in which the transport trouble has occurred is written. Such a decal is often configured so that a user of the copying machine or a dealer thereof can enter predetermined information with a ballpoint pen or the like. Alternatively, the decal 4 may be configured such that the contact information of the repair is entered by the seller each time.

When the above-described copying machine has been used up, the copying machine is carried in from a user to a recycler, where it is disassembled. Then, the reusable parts are reproduced and reused.

Here, in order to facilitate the reproduction process of the copying machine, the front door 2, which is an example of the component, is made of a thermoplastic resin, and the first and second sheet-like members adhered thereto. Decals 4 and 5 are also made of a thermoplastic resin.
Moreover, the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 are made of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins. in this way,
The parts of the electronic device and the sheet-like member attached to it are
It is composed of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins.

According to the above-described structure, while the two decals 4 and 5 are adhered to the front door 2, this is crushed into a pellet having a side of about 5 mm by a shredder (not shown), and the pellet is heated and melted. Then, since the resin material forming the front door 2 and the resin material forming the decals 4 and 5 melt well with each other, the material can be formed into predetermined parts by a molding machine (not shown). Thus, it is possible to regenerate a component having characteristics that can be sufficiently used.

Generally, an outer cover 1 and a front door 2 of a copying machine
Is often made of a thermoplastic resin such as PS (polystyrene), PPE (polyphenylene ether), ABS (acryl-butadiene-styrene), or PPO (polyphenyl oxide). As the decals 4 and 5 attached to the door 2, it is preferable to use the following resin materials.

For the front door 2 made of PS, for example, PC (polycarbonate) or P
In addition to MMA (methacrylic resin), decals 4 and 5 made of the same PS as the material of the front door 2 can be advantageously used. For the front door 2 made of PPE, besides, for example, PS, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), ABS, PC, or PMMA compatible with the front door 2, and a decal 4 made of the same PPE as the material of the front door 2 5 can be used advantageously. Further, for the front door 2 made of ABS, for example, PS, PET, P
In addition to C or PMMA, the same A as the material of the front door 2
Decals 4 and 5 consisting of BS can be advantageously used. Also P
For the front door 2 made of PO, it is possible to advantageously use, for example, PS or ABS which is compatible with this, and decals 4 and 5 made of the same PPO as the material of the front door 2.

Front door 2 and decals 4 and 5 attached thereto
By forming the sheet-shaped member made of a thermoplastic resin as exemplified above, even if the sheet-shaped member is not subjected to peeling from the front door 2 and is subjected to a reprocessing as it is, characteristics of the regenerated product, for example, The mechanical strength (bending strength and impact strength) is not significantly reduced. Thus, the recycling cost can be reduced, and the cost of the recycled molded product can be reduced.

Here, it is understood from the above description that the thermoplastic resin forming the parts of the electronic device and the thermoplastic resin forming the sheet-like member adhered thereto have compatibility with each other. As a result, when the molded product obtained by recycling these components is used for its intended purpose, each heat component constituting the parts and sheet-like member before regeneration can be maintained to such an extent that the characteristics that can withstand its use can be maintained. It means that the plastic resins have compatibility with each other.

Since the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 are made of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins, when the decals 4 and 5 are attached to the front door 2, they are attached by heat fusion. In this case, it is not necessary to use an adhesive for attaching the two. In contrast,
The decals 4 and 5 can be attached to the front door 2 using an adhesive. At this time, since the amount of the adhesive used is generally very small, it is not necessary to particularly consider the compatibility between the adhesive and the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5,
It is particularly advantageous to use a thermoplastic resin compatible with the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 as the adhesive. That is, a thermoplastic resin compatible with the component and the sheet member is used as an adhesive for attaching the sheet member to the component of the electronic device. If such a configuration is adopted, when the parts such as the front door 2 are crushed and melted as described above without peeling off the sheet-like members such as the decals 4 and 5, the overall compatibility including the adhesive becomes further greater. It is possible to more reliably prevent the deterioration of the properties of the molded article which has been enhanced and regenerated.

For example, PMMA can be used as a thermoplastic resin adhesive for joining the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5.
Such an adhesive has good compatibility with, for example, PS, PPE, ABS, and the like. Therefore, when PMMA is used as the adhesive, the front door 2 and the decal 4, by resin such as PS, PPE, or ABS, are used. 5 are preferably formed.

By the way, in a component of an electronic device to which at least one sheet-like member is adhered like the front door 2 described above, the following configuration is employed together with or instead of the above-described respective configurations. You can also.

That is, both the parts of the electronic device and the sheet-like member are made of thermoplastic resin, and the ratio of the weight of the entire sheet-like member to the total weight of the sheet-like member and the part to which it is attached is 1% by weight. It is set as follows.
Again, taking the front door 2 shown in FIG. 1 as an example, the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 are made of a thermoplastic resin, and the weight ratio of all decals 4 and 5 to the total weight thereof is 1% by weight or less. It is. For one part like front door 2,
A plurality of sheet-like members, for example, first and second decals 4,
When 5 is attached, the weight ratio of all the decals 4 and 5 is set to the above-mentioned value. According to such a configuration, the weight ratio of the entire sheet-like member, that is, the decals 4, 5 to the parts such as the front door 2, is extremely low, so that the front door 2, the decals 4, 5, and the adhesive thereof are compatible with each other. Regardless of whether it is composed of materials, decal 4,
When the front door 2 with the 5 adhered thereto is crushed and recycled as a molded product, it is possible to prevent the characteristic of the recycled molded product from being greatly reduced. As described above, in this embodiment, except that the components of the electronic device and the sheet-like member adhered to the components are made of thermoplastic resin, the components can be used without particular consideration of the materials of both components. Regeneration processing can be performed with the sheet-like member attached. Of course, as described above, this configuration and the configuration of each embodiment described above may be appropriately combined. For example, both the components of the electronic device and the sheet-like member are made of a thermoplastic resin, and the ratio of the weight of the entire sheet-like member to the total weight of the sheet-like member and the component to which the sheet-like member is attached is set to 1% by weight or less. At the same time, the component and the sheet-like member are made of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins. Furthermore, it is particularly advantageous to use a thermoplastic resin compatible with the component and the sheet member as the adhesive for attaching the sheet member to the component.

By the way, as described above, image information is written on sheet-like members such as decals 4 and 5 shown in FIGS. Therefore, when such decals 4 and 5 are reclaimed while being adhered to the front door 2 in accordance with the configuration of each of the above-described embodiments, the surface of the reclaimed molded product has The ink appears as a large number of dots, which may reduce the appearance of the recycled molded product.

Therefore, in the configuration of each of the above-described embodiments, it is preferable that the surface area of all the image information written on the sheet member is set to 20% or less of the surface area of the entire sheet member. Explaining the example of the front door 2 shown in FIG. 1, since the first and second decals 4 and 5 are attached to the front door 2, all the decals 4 and 5 written on the both decals 4 and 5 are attached. The surface area of the image information is calculated by dividing the surface area of both decals 4 and 5 by 2
It is suppressed to 0% or less. As described above, when a plurality of sheet members are attached to a certain component, the surface area of the image information of all the sheet members is set to 20% or less of the total surface area of all the sheet members. It is. By adopting such a configuration, when the part with the sheet-like member adhered is crushed and melted to regenerate the molded article as described above, the ink is prevented from appearing on the surface in a dot-like manner, or this is prevented. It can be negligible and negligible. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the appearance of the recycled molded product from lowering.

In the meantime, in a sheet-like member such as a decal, when an electronic device or a part thereof is manufactured, the electronic device or the part is shipped from the manufacturing plant instead of being attached to the part at the manufacturing plant. In some cases, the package is packed together with the package, delivered to the user, and then attached to the part by the user or a distributor. For example, the second decal 5 shown in FIG. 1 is affixed to the front door 2 in a copier manufacturing factory, while the first decal 4 is
Since the electronic device should reach the user, the decal 4 should be attached to a desired location of the front door 2 because the electronic device should reach the user. An adhesive made of a pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied to one surface of such a decal 4, and a release sheet having a high release property is attached to the surface of the pressure-sensitive adhesive. Then, when the electronic device reaches the user, the release sheet is peeled off from the decal 4 enclosed with the electronic device, and the decal 4 is attached to the front door 2 with an adhesive. The configuration of each embodiment described above can also be adopted for the sheet-like member. That is, even when at least one sheet-like member of the sheet-like member attached to the component of the electronic device is one that is peeled off the release sheet attached to one side thereof and is attached to the component, the above-described case is also applied. The configuration of each embodiment can be adopted as it is.

Further, the decals 4 and 5 shown in each of the above-mentioned embodiments are used.
Can be reprocessed without peeling from the front door 2 which is a part of the sheet member. Therefore, in order to notify a recycling company or the like of the fact, the sheet member is peeled from the part. It is advantageous to enter information that informs that the reproduction process can be performed without performing. At the same time, the material of the sheet member can be entered. The decals 4 and 5 shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
On the surface, a message saying "Can be recycled without removing this seal" and "PS" indicating its material are written. Such a configuration can be applied to all the embodiments described above.

It is apparent from the above description that the configuration according to the present invention is not limited to the front door 2 shown in FIG. 1, but can be applied to various parts of electronic equipment. For example, the present invention can be applied to the outer cover 1 and the pressure plate 3 shown in FIG. Further, the copying machine shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a display section 6 such as a liquid crystal panel or an LED at the position of the operation section, and this display section 6 and its printed circuit board (not shown) are also shown. The case is housed in a case, and the display unit is located in the upper opening of the case. In order to protect the display unit, a transparent protective sheet 7 having a thickness of about 1 mm is provided in the upper opening of the case. It is stuck. The same configuration as the above-described configuration of the decals 4 and 5 and the front door 2 can be adopted for the sheet-like member made of the protective sheet 7 and the component made of the case to which the sheet is attached. Protective sheet 7 shown in FIG.
For example, a transparent thermoplastic resin made of PC or ABS can be used, and a case to which this is adhered is made of a thermoplastic resin compatible with these resins.

The decal 8 shown in FIG. 4 has a large margin, and the user attaches the decal 8 to an arbitrary position of a predetermined part, and freely fills in the margin with information required by the user. It is configured to be able to. The present invention can be applied to a part of an electronic device to which a sheet-like member made of such a decal 8 is attached. If the decal 8 on which the user can freely enter information is attached to a component of the electronic device, it is possible to prevent the user from attaching a sheet-like member such as paper other than the decal 8 to the component. If a large piece of paper or the like that is incompatible with this part is affixed to this part, the part cannot be reprocessed unless it is peeled off, which inevitably raises the cost of recycling.

The present invention can be widely applied to parts of various electronic devices other than the copying machine.

[0034]

According to the first and fourth aspects of the present invention,
Even if the reprocessing is performed while the sheet-like member is adhered to the part, it is possible to prevent a problem that the characteristics of the regenerated molded product are greatly reduced, and it is possible to reduce the recycle cost. Moreover,
The appearance of the regenerated molded product can be prevented from being deteriorated.

According to the configuration of the second aspect, the above-mentioned effect can be further enhanced.

According to the third and fifth aspects of the present invention, it is possible for a recycler or the like to know that the sheet-like member can be reprocessed without peeling the sheet-like member from the part, thereby improving the work efficiency. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a copying machine as an example of an electronic apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a first affixed to the front door of the copying machine shown in FIG.
It is a front view of the decal.

FIG. 3 is a second view attached to the front door of the copying machine shown in FIG. 1;
It is a front view of the decal.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing another example of the decal.

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Hidenori Sakai 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-4-266982 (JP, A) JP-A-4-1366082 (JP, A) JP-A-7-3218 (JP, A)

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A part of an electronic device to which at least one sheet member on which image information is written is attached, wherein the part and the sheet member are made of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins , Fill in the sheet-like member
The surface area of all image information is
A component of an electronic device, wherein the component is set to 20% or less of the product . 2. The component of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein a thermoplastic resin compatible with the component and the sheet member is used as an adhesive for attaching the sheet member to the component. . 3. The sheet-like member according to claim 1 , wherein
Can be regenerated without peeling off from the parts.
3. The component of the electronic device according to claim 1, wherein information to be reported is entered . 4. An electronic device made of a thermoplastic resin.
Sheet member with image information to be attached to parts
In the above, a thermoplastic resin compatible with the parts
And the surface area of all the image information entered
Is set to 20% or less of the surface area of all sheet-like members.
A sheet-like member. 5. A sheet over preparative member a sheet-like member according to claim 4, informing information is entered to be able to playback processing without being peeled off from the component.