JP3255712B2 - Mounting structure of protective cover for image carrier - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mounting structure of a protective cover for an image carrier, and more particularly, to a long cover for covering an exposed portion of an image carrier mounted on a process unit of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine. The present invention relates to a mounting structure for an image carrier protective cover in which the protective cover is attached to the process unit so as to be able to be removed in the longitudinal direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer, process parts such as a photosensitive drum as an image carrier and a cleaner for scraping residual toner from the surface of the photosensitive drum are processed. At the time when a predetermined amount of image forming operation is performed as a unit, the process unit is removed from the image forming apparatus main body,
There is provided a device in which a new process unit can be mounted.

In an image forming apparatus employing the above process unit, consumables such as collected toner and a photosensitive drum can be exchanged integrally, so that maintenance can be performed easily and a user can use each component. This has the advantage that the occurrence of troubles caused by, for example, extracting a single image can be reliably prevented, and is particularly suitable for a small-sized image forming apparatus.

In the above process unit, in order to prevent the exposed portion of the photosensitive drum from being damaged during transportation, storage, replacement, etc., the exposed portion is long and has a protective cover having a curved cross section. Covering is being done. The protective cover can be attached to the process unit by being fitted into the outer case of the process unit along the axial direction of the photosensitive drum, that is, along the longitudinal direction of the protective cover. When introduced into the main body, it can be withdrawn in the longitudinal direction in accordance with the introduction stroke (for example, see
156669).

[0005]

In the above process unit, since the protective cover can be pulled out in the longitudinal direction, the workability when mounting the process unit on the main body of the image forming apparatus is good. When mounting to the unit, it is necessary to insert along the axial direction of the photoconductor drum, so that the clearance between the protection cover and the photoconductor drum is small. There has been a problem that the photosensitive drum is damaged. In addition, there is a problem that it takes a long time to attach the protective cover because the stroke for inserting the protective cover is long. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an image carrier protection cover mounting structure that can easily and quickly mount the protection cover on a process unit without damaging the image carrier. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an image carrier protective cover mounting structure according to the present invention covers an exposed portion of an image carrier mounted on a process unit of an image forming apparatus. In a mounting structure of a protective cover for an image carrier for attaching a curved long protective cover to the process unit so as to be able to be pulled out in the longitudinal direction, a curved end is provided at an end on the downstream side in the drawing direction of the protective cover. engaging portions that appear collision inward is formed, a process unit
The engaging portion formed on the protective cover of
Is engaged with the engaging portion of the protective cover, and the protective cover
Engaged parts that restrict movement in the radial direction of the body are formed.
A fitting portion is formed upstream of the end of the protective cover in the removing direction, and the fitting portion is formed on the outer periphery of the process unit.
The mating part that can be forcibly fitted from the radial direction of the image carrier
Is formed and the fitting part is forcibly fitted to the fitting part.
Indicates that the fitting portion has a predetermined withdrawal resistance with respect to the fitted portion.
With a protective cover attached to the process unit.
In the case where
From the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction,
Make sure that the engagement part of the protective cover is
The process unit is engaged with the engaged portion, and the process
When removing the protective cover from the
It is characterized in that it is removed in the longitudinal direction .

[0007]

According to the structure for mounting the protective cover for an image carrier having the above-described structure, the fitting portion formed on the protective cover is perpendicular to the fitting portion formed on the process unit in the longitudinal direction. Direction, or slightly shifted in the longitudinal direction, and forcibly fitted, and the engaging portion protruding at the end on the downstream side in the removal direction of the protective cover is attached to the engaged portion formed in the process unit. Just by engaging, the protective cover can be detachably attached to the process unit with a predetermined withdrawal resistance.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an internal configuration of a copying machine as an image forming apparatus in a state where the process unit 5 is mounted. In this copying machine, a document table 2 is disposed on the upper surface of a copying machine main body 1 so as to be reciprocally movable, and a light source 3 for illuminating the document and a reflected light from the document are formed inside the copying machine body 1. An optical system 4 for guiding the surface of a photosensitive drum 6 serving as a carrier, a process unit 5 for integrally holding the photosensitive drum 6 and the cleaner 8, and a toner for transferring an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 6 to toner Developing device 7 for visualizing an image
A charging charger 9 for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 6, a transfer charger 10 for transferring a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 6 to copying paper, and copying paper from the surface of the photosensitive drum 6. Separation charger 11 to be peeled
A copy paper transport unit 13 for feeding copy paper from the paper supply cassette 12, a fixing device 14 for heating and fixing the toner image on the copy paper, and a paper discharge tray 15 for receiving the copy paper on which the toner image has been heated and fixed. are doing.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the process unit 5 and the protective cover 20. As shown in FIG. 1, the photosensitive drum 6 is mounted on a pair of support frames 31 and 32 provided in the process unit 5. On the other hand, it is held rotatably with a part thereof exposed. The above protective cover 2
0 covers the exposed portion of the photosensitive drum 6;
It is composed of a curved synthetic resin long body. At the end of the protective cover 20 on the upstream side in the withdrawal direction, a plurality of fitting portions 21 are formed, which are formed of cutout grooves that are open on the upstream side and can be elastically expanded in the width direction.
A plurality of tongue-shaped engaging portions 22 protruding inwardly of the curve are formed at the end on the downstream side in the extracting direction. This engaging part 2
2, an engagement hole 22a for engaging with an engaged portion 34 of the process unit 5 described later is formed.

On the outer periphery of one of the support frames 31 of the process unit 5, a fitting portion 33 capable of forcibly fitting the fitting portion 21 of the protective cover 20 from the radial direction of the photosensitive drum 6 protrudes. Has been established. This fitted portion 33 is
When the fitting portion 21 of the protective cover 20 is forcibly fitted in the radial direction, an inclined guide portion 33a for temporarily expanding the fitting portion 21 and a point in time when the fitting portion 21 climbs over the guide portion 33a. A columnar held portion 33b elastically held by the fitting portion 21 is formed. The end face of the other support frame 32 of the process unit 5 is engaged with an engagement hole 22 a formed in the engagement portion 22 of the protection cover 20, and the protection cover 20 is moved in the radial direction of the photosensitive drum 6. An engaged portion 34 that restricts the movement of the engaging portion 34 is protruded.

[0011] In the above-mentioned configuration, the protective cover 20 is pressed in the radial direction of the photosensitive drum 6, the fitting portion 21 while forcibly fitted into the fitted portion 33, the engaging portion 22 a process unit The protective cover 20 can be attached to the process unit 5 by engaging with the engaged portion 34 of FIG. And in this mounting state,
The holding portion 33b of the fitted portion 33 is held by the fitting portion 21 of the protection cover 20, so that the protection cover 20 can be prevented from freely moving in the longitudinal direction.

The protective cover 20 is provided with a fitting portion 21.
Can be pulled out of the process unit 5 by pulling in the longitudinal direction against the holding force of the holding portion 33b by the above, so that the process unit 5 can be mounted on the copying machine main body 1 without any trouble. In addition, when the protective cover 20 is attached to the process unit 5, the protective cover 20 need only be pressed in the radial direction of the photosensitive drum 6, so that the attachment can be performed easily and quickly. There is no danger of damaging.

The protective cover 20 is provided with a fitting portion 21.
Is slightly moved along the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 6 in a state where the end on the open side is opposed to the side surface of the held portion 33 b of the locking claw 33 and is along the photosensitive drum 6. The fitting portion 21 can also be attached to the process unit 5 by forcibly fitting the fitting portion 21 from its open end to the pinched portion 33b of the fitted portion 33.

The fitting portion 21 of the protective cover 20 and the fitted portion 33 of the process unit 5 may be provided corresponding to the axially intermediate portion of the photosensitive drum 3 (see FIG. 3). In short, the fitting portion 21 and the fitted portion 3
As 3, the protective cover 20 may be formed at a predetermined distance upstream from the downstream end of the protective cover 20 in the removing direction. Also,
The fitting structure between the protective cover 20 and the process unit 5 can be implemented in various modes. For example, the fitting portion 21 of the protective cover 20 may be a protruding piece extending upstream in the removal direction of the protective cover 20, and the fitted portion 33 of the process unit 5 may be a concave groove into which the protruding piece can be forcibly fitted. (See FIG. 4). Further, the fitting portion 21 of the protective cover 20 is formed by fitting a fitting groove 26 projecting outward from the curved portion of the protective cover 20, and a locking claw 27 protruding from the fitting groove 26.
And the fitted portion 33 of the process unit 5
Can be forcibly fitted in the fitting groove 26 and the locking claw 27
May be formed as a double-legged claw (see FIG. 5).

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, a hemispherical projection may be formed instead of the engaging hole 22a of the engaging portion 22, and the engaged portion 34 may Various design changes can be made, such as a concave groove that can be engaged, and a photoreceptor belt instead of the photoreceptor drum 6 as the image carrier of the process unit 5.

[0016]

As described above, according to the mounting structure of the protective cover for an image carrier of the present invention, the protective cover is pressed in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction or slightly extended along the longitudinal direction. The protective cover can be attached to the process unit simply by moving the protective cover to the process unit. Therefore, the protective cover can be easily and quickly attached to the process unit without damaging the image carrier.

In addition, in the above-mentioned mounting state, the fitting portion on the protective cover side is forcibly fitted to the fitted portion on the process unit side with a predetermined withdrawal resistance. Can be prevented from floating in the longitudinal direction. Furthermore, in the above mounting state,
Since the protective cover can be removed in the longitudinal direction, the operation of attaching the process unit to the image forming apparatus main body can be performed without any trouble.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a process unit and a protective cover.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal structure of a copying machine in which a process unit is mounted.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing still another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part showing still another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 5 Process unit 6 Photoconductor drum as image carrier 20 Protective cover 21 Fitting part 22 Engaging part 33 Fitted part 34 Fitted part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-29159 (JP, A) JP-A-4-66961 (JP, A) JP-A-61-104474 (JP, U) JP-A-59-104 3580 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 15/00 G03G 21/16-21/18 B65D 35/44-55/16

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image carrier for mounting a curved long protective cover for covering an exposed portion of an image carrier mounted on a process unit of an image forming apparatus so as to be removable in the longitudinal direction with respect to the process unit. in the mounting structure of the use protective cover, an end portion of the downstream side withdrawal of the protective cover, the engaging portion of output collision to bend inwardly are formed, engaging portion formed on the protective cover of the process unit
The opposite end face engages with the
Cover that restricts the protective cover from moving in the radial direction of the image carrier.
An engaging portion is formed , a fitting portion is formed on the upstream side of the end portion of the protective cover in the removing direction, and the fitting portion is formed on the outer periphery of the process unit with the diameter of the image carrier.
A fitted portion that can be forcibly fitted from the direction is formed, and in a state where the fitted portion is forcibly fitted to the fitted portion, the fitting portion is
It has a predetermined withdrawal resistance to the mated part.
If a protective cover is attached to the process unit,
On the protective cover for the mated part of the process unit
When the fitting part is forcibly fitted from a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction,
In both cases, the above-mentioned engaging part of the protective cover is
Engage with the engaged part, and
To remove the protective cover, remove the protective cover in the longitudinal direction.
Mounting structure of the image-bearing member protective cover, characterized in that that.