JP3914561B2 - Image forming machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming machine such as an electrostatic copying machine or a laser printer that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive layer of a photosensitive drum into a toner image and transfers the toner image onto a transfer sheet.

  This type of image forming machine includes a photosensitive drum that is rotatably disposed and sequentially passes through a charging area, an electrostatic latent image forming area, a developing area, and a transfer area, and a photosensitive drum that is disposed in the charging area. A charger that charges the surface to a specific polarity; a developing device that is disposed in the developing area and that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum in the electrostatic latent image forming area into a toner image; and a transfer area And transfer means for transferring the toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum to transfer paper. In addition, a fixing unit for heating and fixing the toner image transferred to the transfer paper by the transfer unit is disposed downstream of the transfer unit in the transfer paper conveyance direction.

Thus, a guide plate for guiding the transfer paper is usually provided adjacent to the fixing means. When such a guide plate is provided, the heat released from the fixing means is, for example, the guide plate. In many cases, an undesired overheating state may be generated. Therefore, it has been proposed to form a plurality of openings in the guide plate at intervals in the longitudinal direction and dissipate heat through the openings. However, when a plurality of openings are formed in the guide plate, the transfer paper is hindered, that is, a so-called paper jam occurs due to the presence of the openings, and the strength and rigidity of the guide plate are excessively reduced. The problem occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned facts, and a main technical problem thereof is that the guide plate in the image forming machine in which the guide plate for guiding the transfer paper is disposed adjacent to the fixing unit. Despite the fact that a plurality of openings are formed at intervals in the longitudinal direction to dissipate heat, there is no risk of obstructing the transfer of the transfer paper, and the guide plate has sufficient strength and rigidity It is improved to have.

In order to solve the above technical problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, a plurality of openings are opened to reach the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction, and the guide plate has a non-guide surface thereof. The reinforcement part which protrudes from is attached.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, a plurality of openings reach the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and are opened, and the guide plate includes Ribs are provided between the openings.

That is, according to one aspect of the present invention, as an image forming machine that achieves the above technical problem, a photosensitive drum that is rotatably arranged and a charger that charges the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum to a specific polarity A developing device that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum into a toner image; and a transfer unit that transfers the toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum to transfer paper; In an image forming machine comprising: a fixing unit that heat-fixes a toner image transferred to transfer paper by the transfer unit;
A guide plate that guides the transfer paper is disposed adjacent to the fixing means, and the guide plate has a plurality of openings that reach the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and are open at intervals in the longitudinal direction. The transfer paper is guided by the portion remaining between the openings, and the hot air heated by the heat radiation from the fixing means is released through the openings, and further, the guide plate has its non-guide surface There is provided an image forming machine characterized in that a reinforcing portion projecting from the above is attached, and the reinforcing portion extends in the longitudinal direction in an upstream portion of the non-guide surface where the opening is not formed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, as an image forming apparatus that achieves the above technical problem, a photosensitive drum that is rotatably arranged and a peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum are charged to a specific polarity. A charger, a developing device that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum into a toner image, and a transfer unit that transfers the toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum onto a transfer sheet And a fixing unit that heat-fixes the toner image transferred to the transfer paper by the transfer unit,
A guide plate that guides the transfer paper is disposed adjacent to the fixing means, and the guide plate has a plurality of openings that reach the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and are open at intervals in the longitudinal direction. The transfer paper is guided by the portion remaining between the openings, and the hot air warmed by the heat radiation from the fixing means is released through the openings, and further, the guide plate has a space between the openings. There is provided an image forming machine characterized in that a rib arranged on the head is attached.

It is preferable that the rib is attached to the non-guide surface of the guide plate, and the upstream end thereof is connected to the reinforcing portion.

In the image forming machine of the present invention, a plurality of openings are formed in the guide plate at intervals in the longitudinal direction to dissipate heat, but the plurality of openings reach the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and are opened. Therefore, there is no possibility that the transfer paper will be obstructed due to the presence of the opening, and the guide plate is arranged between the reinforcing portion and / or the opening protruding from the non-guide surface. The reinforcing ribs and / or ribs sufficiently compensate for the strength or rigidity of the guide plate.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image forming machine configured according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the illustrated embodiment, a printer will be described as an example of an image forming machine configured according to the present invention.

  FIG. 1 schematically illustrates one embodiment of a printer constructed in accordance with the present invention. In this embodiment, the printer 2 is a small and low-speed laser printer used as a printing device such as a word processor, and includes a body housing 20 formed of synthetic resin. The body housing 20 includes a box-shaped housing main body 21 that is open at the top, and a cover 23 that is pivotally attached to a shaft 22 that is disposed on the upper portion of the housing main body 21. The process unit 4 is detachably attached to the central portion of the body housing 20 configured as described above.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the process unit 4 includes a photosensitive unit 40 and a developing unit 50 that is swingably supported by the photosensitive unit 40 via a support shaft 5. The photoconductor unit 40 includes photoconductor support means 41. The photoconductor support means 41 has a pair of side wall members 411 (only the back side wall member in FIG. And connecting members 412a and 412b for connecting the lower portions of the pair of side wall members 411, respectively. The connecting members 412a and 412b form a charging means mounting space 412c in which inner surfaces facing each other are arranged in parallel and a charging means (to be described later) is provided between them. The charging means mounting space 412c is positioned to face a charging area described later. The photoconductor support means 41 configured in this way is integrally formed of synthetic resin. Support portions 413 each provided with a mounting hole 414 are provided at the upper ends of the pair of side wall members 411 constituting the photoconductor support means 41 on the developing unit 50 side. By inserting a support shaft 5 made of a metal rod disposed in a developing housing (described later) of the developing unit 50 into the mounting hole 414 provided in the supporting portion 413, the photosensitive unit 40 and the developing unit 50 are mutually connected. Is swingably supported.

  The photosensitive unit 40 includes a photosensitive drum 42 having a photosensitive layer formed on the peripheral surface. The photosensitive drum 42 is provided with a rotating shaft 421. The rotating shaft 421 is rotatably supported by a pair of side wall members 411 constituting the photosensitive member supporting means 41, and is indicated by an arrow by a driving means (not shown). That is, it is driven to rotate through the charging area 422, the electrostatic latent image forming area 423, the developing area 424, and the transfer area 425 sequentially. In the charging means mounting space 412c located in the charging area 422, a charging means 43 disposed so as to face the lower peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 is mounted. The charging unit 43 includes a charging corona discharger 431 as a charging unit disposed in parallel with the photosensitive drum 42 along the axial direction, and a charger holding unit made of a synthetic resin for mounting and holding the charging corona discharger. The charger holding member 432 is fitted into the charging unit mounting space 412c and is positioned at a predetermined position. Further, a foreign substance recovery brush 44 that contacts the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 is disposed between the charging area 422 and the transfer area 425 along the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 42. The paper dust collecting brush 44 is made of acrylic fiber and has substantially the same length as the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 42, and is integrally formed with the charger holding member 432 in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 42. It is attached to a brush support member 440 disposed along the same. The upper end of the charger holding member 432 protrudes between the charging corona discharger 431 disposed in the charging region 422 and the foreign material collection brush 44 so as to be close to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42. And constitutes a toner intrusion prevention wall 47. The toner intrusion prevention wall 47 is attached when the residual toner attached to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 and removed together with foreign matters such as paper dust by the foreign matter collecting brush 44 falls without being reliably captured by the foreign matter collecting brush 44. Further, it has a function of preventing the charging corona discharger 431 from entering.

  Between the pair of side wall members 411 constituting the photoconductor support means 41, the transfer paper fed from diagonally upper left in FIG. 2 is guided toward the transfer area 425 on the peripheral surface of the photoconductor drum 42. A lower guide plate 451 constituting one of the pre-transfer guide plate pair 45 is disposed, and the lower guide plate 451 is integrally formed with the pair of side wall members 411. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of guide ribs 451a are integrally formed on the upper surface of the lower guide plate 451 at intervals in the longitudinal direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2). The lower guide plate 451 is also integrally formed with a plurality of reinforcing ribs 451b at intervals on the lower surface in the longitudinal direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2). 5 is configured to be in contact with 5. Therefore, even if the lower guide plate 451 is bent by the pressing force acting on the upper surface thereof, the reinforcing rib 451b can contact the support shaft 5 to prevent the bending. Further, the lower guide plate 451 functions as a connecting member for connecting the upper portions of the pair of side wall members 411 constituting the photoconductor support means 41 to each other, and the rigidity strength of the photoconductor support means 41 can be improved. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, since the lower guide plate 451 is integrally formed with the pair of side wall members 411, the positional relationship with respect to the photosensitive drum 42 rotatably supported by the pair of side wall members 411 is highly accurate. Can be maintained. Note that the lower guide plate 451 in the illustrated embodiment functions as a contact preventing member for the photosensitive layer of the photosensitive drum 42 when the process unit 4 is attached and detached, and prevents the developing unit 50 from touching a developing roller, which will be described later. It also functions as a member, and also has a function of preventing toner scattered from the surface of the developing roller, which will be described later, from adhering to the transfer paper and the transfer path of the transfer paper.

  Between the pair of side wall members 411 constituting the photoconductor support means 41, a guide plate 46 is provided which guides the upper surface side of the transfer paper on which the toner image is transferred in the transfer area 425 and guides it to the fixing means described later. Has been. The guide plate 46 is disposed adjacent to the fixing means, which will be described later, on the upstream side thereof, and is integrally formed with the pair of side wall members 411. Therefore, the guide plate 46 functions as a connecting member for connecting the pair of side wall members 411 constituting the photoconductor support means 41 to each other, and the rigidity strength of the photoconductor support means 41 can be improved. The guide plate 46 in the illustrated embodiment has a transfer paper guide portion 461 whose lower surface functions as a transfer paper guide surface, and is formed substantially perpendicular to the non-guide surface, that is, the upper surface of the transfer paper guide portion 461 and has a total length in the longitudinal direction. It consists of a reinforcing part 462 provided across. As shown in FIG. 3, the transfer paper guide 461 is provided with a plurality of openings 463 at intervals in the longitudinal direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2). The downstream end in the paper transport direction reaches the downstream end in the transfer paper transport direction of the transfer paper guide 461 and is opened. A plurality of openings 463 provided in the transfer paper guide portion 461 constituting the guide plate 46 function to release hot air heated by heat radiation from a fixing unit described later. Further, since the plurality of openings 463 are open at the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and there is no opening edge, the leading edge of the transfer paper guided by the lower surface of the transfer paper guide 461 is not caught by the opening edge. The transfer paper can be smoothly guided. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a paper jam (jam) due to the leading edge of the transfer paper being caught by the opening edge. If a plurality of openings 463 are formed in the guide plate 46, the strength and rigidity of the guide plate 46 are reduced. However, the illustrated guide plate 46 is provided with a reinforcing portion 462, thereby compensating for the strength and rigidity of the guide plate 46. Has been.

  Next, another embodiment of the guide plate 46 for guiding the transfer paper onto which the toner image has been transferred to the fixing means will be described with reference to FIG. In the illustrated embodiment, a plurality of ribs 464 are provided on the upper surface of the transfer paper guide portion 461 constituting the guide plate 46 at intervals in the longitudinal direction. The plurality of ribs 464 are provided between the openings 463 and are formed in a triangular shape from the reinforcing portion 462 to the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction. As described above, since the plurality of ribs 464 are provided on the upper surface of the transfer paper guide portion 461 constituting the guide plate 46, the strength and rigidity of the transfer paper guide portion 461 by providing the plurality of openings 463 as described above. Can be compensated for. Accordingly, since the strength and rigidity of the transfer paper guide 461 can be ensured, the transfer paper guide accuracy is ensured and deformation due to heat is prevented.

  Next, the developing unit 50 as an electrostatic latent image developing device will be described. The developing unit 50 in the illustrated embodiment includes a developing housing 51 in which a developer composed of one-component toner is accommodated. The developing housing 51 includes a bottom wall 511 and front and rear side walls 512 (see FIG. 2) formed upwardly from the front and rear ends of the bottom wall 511 (ends in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2). Only the rear side wall is shown) and a left side wall 513, which are integrally formed of a synthetic resin and define a stirring chamber 514 and a developing chamber 515. A partition wall 516 provided in the front-rear direction (in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2) between the stirring chamber 514 and the developing chamber 515 is integrally formed on the bottom wall 511 constituting the developing housing 51. Both left and right sides of the partition wall 516 are formed on arcuate guide surfaces 516a and 516b. A connecting member 517 disposed on the upper side of the developing chamber 515 is provided between the front and rear side walls 512 constituting the developing housing 51, and is integrally formed with the front and rear side walls 512. Note that a toner supply hole 518 is formed in the rear side wall 512 constituting the developing housing 51, and a cap 519 is fitted in the toner supply hole 518. The support shaft 5 is disposed through the front and rear side walls 512 at the upper end of the developing housing 51 configured as described above on the developing chamber 515 side, and the photosensitive unit 40 is disposed at both ends of the support shaft 5. By fitting the mounting holes 414 provided in the support portions 413 of the pair of side wall members 411 constituting the photoconductor support means 41, the photoconductor unit 40 and the developing unit 50 are supported so as to be swingable with respect to each other. . A coil spring 52 as a spring means is interposed between the lower end portion of the photoconductor support means 41 of the photoconductor unit 40 and the lower end portion of the developing housing 51 at the front end portion and the rear end portion, respectively. The photoconductor support means 41 and the development housing 51 are biased by the coil spring 52 so as to be pulled toward each other with the support shaft 5 as a fulcrum. Note that the developing housing 51 is open on the upper and right sides, that is, on the photosensitive unit 40 side.

In the developing housing 51, a developing roller 53, a replenishing roller 54, a stirring means 55, and a developer regulating means 56 are disposed.
The developing roller 53 is disposed in the developing chamber 515 of the developing housing 51, and is fixed to a rotating shaft 531 that is rotatably mounted on the front and rear side walls 512 that constitute the developing housing 51, and an outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 531. And a solid synthetic rubber roller 532. The rotating shaft 531 can be formed of an appropriate metal material such as stainless steel. The solid synthetic rubber roller 532 is made of a relatively flexible and conductive material, for example, a conductive solid synthetic rubber such as urethane rubber. In the illustrated embodiment, the surface roughness of the peripheral surface of the solid synthetic rubber roller 532, that is, the ten-point average roughness Rz defined in JIS B 0601 is set to 5.0 to 12.0. The volume resistance of the solid synthetic rubber roller 532 is set to about 10 ⁴ to 10 ⁹ Ω · cm. Further, the roller hardness of the solid synthetic rubber roller 532 is set to 60 to 80 in Asker C hardness in the illustrated embodiment. The roller 532 of the developing roller 53 configured as described above is exposed through the right opening formed in the developing housing 51 and is positioned to face the photosensitive drum 42. The peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53 is brought into pressure contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 in the developing region, and the peripheral surface of the roller 532 is slightly elastically compressed in the pressed nip portion. ing. The rotating shaft 531 of the developing roller 53 is driven to rotate from the lower side to the upper side in the direction indicated by the arrow, that is, in the developing area which is a contact portion between the roller 532 and the photosensitive drum 42 by a driving unit (not shown). The roller 532 is also rotationally driven in the direction indicated by the arrow by the rotation of the rotating shaft 531, and the peripheral surface of the roller 532 is sequentially moved through the developer holding area 533, the developer regulating area 534 and the developing area 424. In the illustrated embodiment, a constant voltage of 300 V is applied to the rotating shaft 531 of the developing roller 53.

The replenishing roller 54 is disposed in the developing chamber 515 of the developing housing 51 in parallel with the developing roller 53, and a rotating shaft 541 that is rotatably mounted on the front and rear side walls 512 that constitute the developing housing 51. , And a roller 542 fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 541. The rotary shaft 541 can be formed of an appropriate metal material such as stainless steel, like the rotary shaft 531 of the developing roller 53. The roller 542 is made of a foamed material such as foamed silicon or foamed urethane. The roller 542 is brought into pressure contact with the roller 532 of the developing roller 53 in a developer holding area 533 which is a nip portion with the developing roller 53. The hardness of the foam constituting the roller 542 of the replenishing roller 54 is considerably smaller than the hardness of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53 (for example, about 35 in Asker C hardness), and the roller 542 is the roller 532 of the developing roller 53. It is desirable that the roller 542 is elastically compressed by about 0.1 to 0.6 mm in the nip region by being pressed against the roller. The roller 542 also has conductivity, and its volume resistance is set to about 10 ² to 10 ⁶ Ω · cm. The rotation shaft 541 of the replenishing roller 54 is rotationally driven from the upper side to the lower side in a developer holding area 533 which is a nip portion between the roller 542 and the roller 532 of the developing roller 53 by a driving means (not shown). I'm damned. The roller 542 is also rotationally driven in the direction indicated by the arrow by the rotation of the rotation shaft 541. In the illustrated embodiment, a constant voltage of 450 V higher than the voltage applied to the developing roller 53 is applied to the rotating shaft 541 of the replenishing roller 54.

  The peripheral speed V1 of the photosensitive drum 42, the peripheral speed V2 of the developing roller 53, and the peripheral speed V3 of the replenishing roller 54 are set to have a relationship of V1 <V2 <V3. In the illustrated embodiment, the relationship between the peripheral speed V1 of the photosensitive drum 42 and the peripheral speed V2 of the developing roller 53 is set to 1.2V1 ≦ V2 ≦ 2.5V1. The relationship between the speed V2 and the peripheral speed V3 of the replenishing roller 54 is set to 1.0V2 ≦ V3 ≦ 2.0V2. When the peripheral speed V2 of the developing roller 53 is 1.2 V1 or less, the developer is insufficiently supplied to the photosensitive drum 42, which causes a decrease in image density. Further, when the peripheral speed V2 of the developing roller 53 is 1.2 V1 or less, the scraping action of the developing roller 53 with respect to the non-transfer developer adhering to the photosensitive drum 42 after the transfer is lowered, so that the non-transfer developer is removed. This may cause a so-called offset fog that occurs because the photosensitive drum 42 cannot be removed. On the other hand, when the peripheral speed V2 of the developing roller 53 is 2.5 V1 or more, the driving torque of the developing roller 53 is increased and the developer is scattered due to centrifugal force. On the other hand, when the peripheral speed V3 of the replenishing roller 54 is 1.0 V2 or less, the supply of the developer to the developing roller 53 becomes insufficient, causing the image density to decrease. Further, when the peripheral speed V3 of the replenishing roller 54 is 1.0 V2 or less, the scraping action of the peripheral surface of the developing roller 53 by the replenishing roller 54 is weak, so that the non-transfer developer attached to the photosensitive drum 42 after the transfer is removed. When the toner adheres to the developing roller 53, it is difficult to remove the adhered developer, and this adhered developer causes a so-called ghost phenomenon that appears during the next development. On the other hand, when the peripheral speed V3 of the replenishing roller 54 is 2.0 V2 or more, the driving torque of the replenishing roller 54 increases and the tendency of the developer to stay above the nip portion between the replenishing roller 54 and the developing roller 53 becomes stronger. This causes a shortage of developer supply to the developing roller 53.

  A stirring means 55 is disposed in the stirring chamber 514 of the developing housing 51. The stirring means 55 is disposed in parallel with the replenishing roller 54, and has a rotating shaft 551 rotatably mounted on the front and rear side walls 512 constituting the developing housing 51, and a stirring fixed to the rotating shaft 551. A member 552 and an elastic stirring sheet member 553 attached to the stirring member 552 are included. The stirring member 552 is made of synthetic resin, and has a plurality of openings in the longitudinal direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2). The stirring sheet member 553 is formed of, for example, polyethylene terephthalate (PETP) resin having flexible elasticity, and is fixed to the leading edge of the stirring member 552 with an adhesive or the like. The stirring means 55 configured as described above is continuously driven to rotate in a direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2 by a driving means (not shown).

  The developer regulating means 56 includes a blade 561 having flexible elasticity that is brought into pressure contact with the peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 32. The blade 561 is made of, for example, a stainless steel plate or a spring steel plate having a thickness of about 0.1 to 0.2 mm, and has substantially the same longitudinal dimension as the length of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53. . The blade 561 is attached to a blade mounting portion 511 a provided at the open end of the bottom wall 511 constituting the developing housing 51 on the photosensitive unit 40 side. That is, the base end portion of the blade 561 is sandwiched between the blade attachment portion 511 a and the pressing plate 562 and fixed by the screw 563. The tip of the blade 561 is bent, and the bent portion is configured to be brought into pressure contact with the peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53 in the developer regulating region 534.

  The developing housing 51 is provided with a lid 57 that covers the opened upper portion. The lid 57 is made of synthetic resin, and is fixed to the front and rear side walls 512, the left side wall 513, and the upper surface of the connecting member 517 constituting the developing housing 51 with an adhesive. On the inner surface of the lid 57, a restricting portion 571 extending in the front-rear direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2) at a position facing the replenishing roller 54 and protruding toward the developing chamber 515 is integrally formed. A predetermined gap is provided between the lower end of the restricting portion 571 and the outer peripheral surface of the roller 542 constituting the replenishing roller 54. In the illustrated embodiment, a sheet-like seal member 58 is attached to the connecting member 517 constituting the developing housing 51. The sheet-like seal member 58 is formed of a flexible elastic sheet member such as polyethylene terephthalate (PETP) resin, and has substantially the same length as the axial direction of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53. is doing. One end portion of the sheet-like seal member 58 is fixed to the connecting member 517 by an adhering means such as an adhesive, and the other end portion is curved to elastically adhere to the peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53. Touched. The sheet-like seal member 58 configured in this manner prevents the developer from scattering from the photosensitive unit 40 side opening of the developing housing 51 together with the blade 561 of the developer regulating means 56.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the process unit 4 configured as described above is detachably attached to the machine housing 20 of the printer 2. That is, the upper part of the housing main body 21 constituting the body housing 20 is opened by turning the cover 23 constituting the body housing 20 of the printer 2 around the shaft 22 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. Next, the process unit 4 is mounted in the housing body 21 from above. In the housing body 21, positioning means (not shown) capable of mounting the photosensitive unit 40 of the process unit 4 at a predetermined position is provided. When the process unit 4 is mounted on the housing main body 21 of the body housing 20, the upper portion of the cover 22 is closed by turning the cover 22 around the shaft 22 in the clockwise direction in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a laser unit 24 is disposed at a lower portion of a housing body 21 that constitutes a body housing 20 of the printer 2. The laser unit 24 irradiates the photosensitive layer of the photosensitive drum 42 with a laser beam corresponding to print data from, for example, a word processor connected to the printer 2 in the electrostatic latent image forming area 423 of the process unit 4. A latent image is formed.

  The housing body 21 constituting the machine housing 20 of the printer 2 is provided with a fixing roller pair 25 constituting fixing means on the downstream side of the guide plate 46. The fixing roller pair 25 includes a heating roller 251 incorporating a heating unit, and a pressure roller 252 disposed in contact with the peripheral surface of the heating roller 251. As shown in FIG. 1, the pressure roller 252 is disposed in contact with the heating roller 251 downstream of the vertical line passing through the axis of the heating roller 251 in the transfer paper conveyance direction. A space is formed. The guide plate 46 is disposed so as to extend to a space formed above the heating roller 251. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the pressure roller 252 is disposed downstream of the vertical line passing through the axis of the heating roller 251 in the transfer paper conveyance direction, and the guide plate 46 is formed above the heating roller 251. Since the space extends to the space, the space formed above the heating roller 251 can be used as a space for arranging the guide plate 46, and the size of the image forming machine in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1) is reduced. be able to. On the other hand, when the guide plate 46 is disposed so as to extend above the heating roller 251, the hot air warmed by the heat radiation from the heating roller 251 tends to stay between the heating roller 251 and the guide plate 46. In the embodiment, since the plurality of openings 463 are provided in the transfer paper guide portion 461 constituting the guide plate 46, the hot air can be smoothly released.

  A discharge roller pair 26 is disposed on the downstream side of the fixing roller pair 25, and a discharge tray 27 is disposed on the downstream side of the discharge roller pair 26. In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a cooling fan 33 is disposed on the front side of the housing body 21 on the side of the fixing roller pair 25 (right side in FIG. 4). The cooling fan 33 sends cooling air from the near side to the far side of the fixing roller pair 25 to cool the periphery of the fixing roller pair 25.

  A cover 23 constituting the machine body housing 20 of the printer 2 is provided with a paper feed tray 28 on the upper left side in FIG. A paper feed roller 29 is disposed on the downstream side of the paper feed tray 28, and the paper feed roller 29 is driven to rotate in a direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. A sheet separating friction pad 30 is disposed opposite to the sheet feeding roller 29. Further, a non-contact type transfer roller 31 is disposed in the transfer area 422 so as to face the photosensitive drum 42. The transfer roller 31 is made of conductive foamed urethane and is rotatably supported by the cover 23. The transfer roller 31 is provided with a color (not shown) made of an insulating material such as a synthetic resin having an outer diameter larger than that of the transfer roller 31 at both ends thereof, and the color is disposed in contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42. Accordingly, the transfer roller 31 is driven to slide along with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 42. The gap between the peripheral surface of the transfer roller 31 and the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 is set to about 0.5 mm. For example, a constant current of 10 μA is applied to the transfer roller 31 configured in this manner. The cover 23 is provided with an upper guide plate 452 constituting the other of the pre-transfer guide plate pair 45.

The printer 2 in the illustrated embodiment is configured as described above, and the operation thereof will be described below.
Each of the above members starts operating based on a print command from a word processor or the like (not shown), and the surface corona discharger 43 for charging charges the surface photosensitive layer of the photosensitive drum 42 substantially uniformly to a specific polarity. Next, the surface of the photosensitive layer of the charged photosensitive drum 42 is irradiated with laser light corresponding to the print data from the word processor or the like from the laser unit 24 to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive layer of the photosensitive drum 42 in this way is developed into a toner image by the developing action by the developing unit 50. The developing action of the developing unit 50 will be described in detail later. On the other hand, the transfer paper placed on the paper feed tray 28 is fed one by one by the action of the paper feed roller 29 and the friction pad 30. The transfer paper is guided by the pre-transfer guide plate pair 45 and conveyed between the photosensitive drum 42 and the transfer roller 31, and the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 42 is transferred to the surface thereof.

  The transfer paper onto which the toner image has been transferred is guided by the guide plate 46 and conveyed to the fixing roller pair 25. The transfer paper on which the toner image is heated and fixed by the fixing roller pair 25 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 27 by the discharge roller pair 26. The heat dissipated from the heating roller 251 for heating and fixing the toner image transferred onto the transfer paper as described above is taken away by the cooling air from the cooling fan 33 and is provided in the rear side of the housing body 21. Released from the mouth. As described above, the cooling air is sent from the cooling fan 33 and the heat radiated from the heating roller 251 to the surroundings is taken away and released to the outside of the housing main body 21, so that the components arranged around the heating roller 251 are removed. Although overheating is prevented, if the cooling fan 33 does not have a considerably large capacity, the cooling air necessarily takes away the heat trapped below the guide plate 46 disposed above the heating roller 251. I can't leave. However, according to the present invention, since the plurality of openings 461 are provided in the width direction in the transfer paper guide portion 461 constituting the guide plate 46, the heat accumulated under the guide plate 46 is a plurality of heat. Since it escapes upward through the opening 461 and is taken away by the cooling air and discharged to the outside of the housing main body 21, the lower side of the post-transfer guide plate 46 can be effectively cooled. As a result, even in the configuration in which the photosensitive drum and the fixing unit are arranged close to each other as in the illustrated embodiment, the characteristics of the photosensitive member are deteriorated due to the temperature rise of the photosensitive drum, and the toner is fused to the drum surface. Wearing can be prevented. Further, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a situation in which the housing and the guide plate are thermally deformed and the positional accuracy cannot be maintained or the transfer paper is caught. In addition, since the plurality of openings 463 are open at the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and there is no opening edge, the leading edge of the transfer paper guided by the lower surface of the transfer paper guide 461 may be caught by the opening edge. The transfer paper can be smoothly guided. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a paper jam (jam) due to the leading edge of the transfer paper being caught by the opening edge.

  On the other hand, when the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 that has passed through the transfer area 425 passes through the foreign matter collection brush 44, foreign matters such as paper dust attached to the peripheral surface are removed by the foreign matter collection brush 44. At this time, residual toner adhering to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 is removed together with foreign matters such as paper dust. The removed residual toner may fall without being reliably captured by the foreign material collection brush 44. When the dropped toner accumulates on the charging corona discharger 431, charging unevenness is caused. In the illustrated embodiment, the falling toner moves to the charging corona discharger 431 side by the toner intrusion prevention wall 47. Intrusion is prevented.

Next, the developing action of the developing unit 50 will be described.
When the developing unit 50 starts to operate, the developing roller 53, the replenishing roller 54, and the stirring means 55 are rotated and driven in directions indicated by arrows by driving means (not shown). When the agitating member 552 and the agitating sheet member 553 constituting the agitating means 55 rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow, the developer stored in the agitating chamber 514 gets over the partition wall 516 while being agitated and from above the replenishing roller 54. It is supplied into the developing chamber 514. At this time, the amount of the developer supplied into the developing chamber 514 is limited by the restricting portion 571 formed on the inner surface of the lid 57. In this way, the developer supplied by the agitation means 55 rides on the roller 542 of the replenishing roller 54 and is conveyed to a nip portion that is a developer holding area 533 with the roller 532 of the developing roller 53. Since the replenishing roller 54 and the developing roller 53 rotate in the same direction from the upper side to the lower side in the developer holding area 533 that is the nip portion as described above, the developer from the replenishing roller 54 to the developing roller 53 is rotated. Supply is sufficiently performed, and a shortage of developer can be prevented. Further, since the replenishing roller 54 and the developing roller 53 rotate in the same direction in the developer holding area 533 that is a nip portion as described above, they can be reliably driven without requiring a large driving force.

  As described above, the developer conveyed to the developer holding area 533 which is the nip portion between the replenishing roller 54 and the developing roller 53 is held on the peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53 to be the developer regulating area. It is conveyed toward 534. At this time, since the replenishing roller 54 and the developing roller 53 rotate in the same direction from the upper side to the lower side in the developer holding area 533 which is the nip portion as described above, the developer develops through both nip portions. Since it is held by the roller 53 and conveyed to the developer regulating area 534 and the developing area 424, when passing through the nip portion, they are rubbed against each other and sufficiently charged, and so-called fogging is prevented.

  In the developer regulating area 534, the blade 561 of the developer regulating means 56 acts on the developer held on the circumferential surface of the roller 532 of the developing roller 53, and the developer held on the circumferential surface of the roller 532 is removed. Regulate to the required amount to form a thin layer. The developer that is regulated by the blade 561 of the developer regulating means 56 in the developer regulating area 534 and scraped off on the bottom wall 511 of the developing housing 51 is rotated by the supply roller 54 in the direction indicated by the arrow. Therefore, it is conveyed along the guide surface 516b of the partition wall 516 without staying.

As described above, the developer is held on the peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53 in the developer holding area 533 and formed into a thin layer by the action of the blade 561 of the developer regulating means 56 in the developer regulating area 534. The developer is transported to the development area 424 as the arrow rotates.
In the development area 424, a developer is applied to the electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic photosensitive member disposed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42, and the electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image. For example, the electrostatic latent image has a non-image area charged to about +600 V and an image area charged to about +120 V, and toner as a developer adheres to the image area (so-called reverse development). The photosensitive drum 42 and the developing roller 53 are driven to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 2, and therefore, the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42 and the peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53 are both in the developing region 424. It is moved in the same direction from below to above. Since the circumferential speed V2 of the roller 532 and the circumferential speed V1 of the photosensitive drum 42 are set to 1.2V1 ≦ V2 ≦ 2.5V1, sufficient developer is conveyed to the developing area 424 by the roller 532 of the developing roller 53. At the same time, the developer once adhered to the non-image portion of the electrostatic latent image is appropriately peeled off by the sliding action of the peripheral surface of the roller 532 with respect to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 42, and therefore has an appropriate development density. In addition, a good toner image without fogging can be obtained. On the other hand, the used developer that is held on the peripheral surface of the roller 532 constituting the developing roller 53 and passes through the developing area 424 is transferred to the surface of the replenishing roller 54 at the nip portion between the developing roller 53 and the replenishing roller 54. It is. Since the peripheral speed of the replenishing roller 54 is set to be higher than the peripheral speed of the developing roller 53, the developer is moved at the nip portion. The adhesive force of the transfer developer can be weakened and recovered, so that the so-called ghost generated by the non-transfer developer attached to the developing roller 53 can be prevented.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a printer. However, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and can be applied to, for example, an electrostatic copying machine. Various changes or modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the above.

1 is a front view schematically showing an embodiment of an image forming machine configured according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a process unit mounted on the image forming machine shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of a photosensitive unit constituting the process unit shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a main part plan view of the image forming machine shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part of another embodiment of the photosensitive unit constituting the process unit shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

2: Printer 4: Process unit 5: Support shaft 20: Machine housing 21: Housing body 23: Cover 24: Laser unit 25: Fixing roller pair 26: Discharging roller pair 27: Discharging tray 28: Feeding tray 29: Feeding Roller 30: Friction pad 31: Transfer roller 33: Cooling fan 40: Photoconductor unit 41: Photoconductor support means 42: Photoconductor drum 43: Charging means 44: Foreign matter collection brush 45: Pre-transfer guide plate pair 46: Guide plate 47 : Toner entry prevention wall 50: Development unit 51: Development housing 52: Coil spring 53: Development roller 54: Replenishment roller 55: Stirring means 56: Developer regulating means 57: Lid 58: Sheet-like seal member 431: Charging corona release Electric device 411: Side wall member of photoconductor support means 412: Connection member of photoconductor support means 422: Electric area 423: Electrostatic latent image formation area 424: Development area 425: Transfer area 461: Transfer paper guide section 462: Reinforcement section 463: Opening 464: Rib 470: Toner intrusion prevention wall 514: Stirring chamber 515: Development chamber 517: Development housing connecting member 533: developer holding area 534: developer regulating area 561: blade

Claims (5)

A photosensitive drum arranged rotatably, a charger for charging the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum to a specific polarity, and developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum into a toner image An image including a developing device, a transfer unit that transfers a toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum to a transfer sheet, and a fixing unit that heat-fixes the toner image transferred to the transfer sheet by the transfer unit. In the forming machine,
A guide plate that guides the transfer paper is disposed adjacent to the fixing means, and the guide plate has a plurality of openings that reach the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and are open at intervals in the longitudinal direction. The transfer paper is guided by the portion remaining between the openings, and the hot air heated by the heat radiation from the fixing means is released through the openings, and further, the guide plate has its non-guide surface An image forming machine characterized in that a reinforcing portion protruding from the side is attached, and the reinforcing portion extends in the longitudinal direction in an upstream portion of the non-guide surface where the opening is not formed.   The image forming machine according to claim 1, wherein the guide plate is provided with a rib disposed between the openings.   The image forming machine according to claim 2, wherein the rib is attached to the non-guide surface of the guide plate, and an upstream end thereof is connected to the reinforcing portion. A photosensitive drum arranged rotatably, a charger for charging the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum to a specific polarity, and developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum into a toner image An image including a developing device, a transfer unit that transfers a toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum to a transfer sheet, and a fixing unit that heat-fixes the toner image transferred to the transfer sheet by the transfer unit. In the forming machine,
A guide plate that guides the transfer paper is disposed adjacent to the fixing means, and the guide plate has a plurality of openings that reach the downstream end in the transfer paper conveyance direction and are open at intervals in the longitudinal direction. The transfer paper is guided by the portion remaining between the openings, and the hot air warmed by the heat radiation from the fixing means is released through the openings, and further, the guide plate has a space between the openings. An image forming machine, characterized in that a rib arranged on the head is attached.   The image forming machine according to claim 4, wherein the rib is attached to a non-guide surface of the guide plate.

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