JP4099497B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus that superimposes and transfers an image of each color component on a sheet.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a printer that performs full-color printing and a copying machine that performs full-color copying, a so-called tandem system includes a plurality of image forming units corresponding to each color component. For example, in a laser printer that performs full color printing, four image forming units are provided corresponding to four color components of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black.

  Each image forming unit includes a photosensitive drum on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a developer that visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum as a toner image of each color component, and image information. A laser light source that emits a corresponding laser beam, a polygon mirror that deflects the laser beam from the laser light source in the scanning direction, a lens unit that forms an image of the laser beam deflected by the polygon mirror on the photosensitive drum, and the like are provided.

  Around the photosensitive drum, a main charger for precharging the photosensitive drum, a transfer / separation device for transferring the toner image on the photosensitive drum onto the paper, and separating the paper from the photosensitive drum are arranged. Yes.

Such image forming units are usually arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction inside the casing of the image forming apparatus. Paper is sequentially supplied from a paper feed unit such as a paper feed cassette to the image forming unit in which each image forming unit is arranged, and toner images of the respective color components are transferred in an overlapping manner. The sheet onto which the toner image has been transferred is heated and fixed by a fixing unit provided on the side of the image forming unit, and is discharged to a paper discharge tray.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-140752

  In such an image forming apparatus, a sheet conveyance path from a sheet feeding unit such as a sheet feeding cassette to a sheet discharge tray is horizontally arranged inside the casing, and the planar size is increased, so that a large installation space is provided. Is required. Further, when a paper jam occurs in the paper conveyance path, it is difficult to open the paper conveyance path, and there is a problem that jam processing is structurally difficult.

  Further, since the polygon mirror is usually installed so that the rotation axis is in the vertical direction, in order to image the laser beam deflected by the polygon mirror on the surface of the photosensitive drum, the beam is deflected in the vertical direction. The mirror will be necessary. Accordingly, such an image forming apparatus has a problem that the structure of each image forming unit is complicated.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that is small in size and can minimize installation space.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can easily perform jam processing.

An image forming apparatus according to a first aspect is an apparatus for forming an image by superimposing and transferring an image of each color component on a sheet, and includes a casing, a sheet feeding cassette, an image forming unit, and a sheet conveying unit. ing. The paper feed cassette is attached to a lower end portion inside the casing and stores paper. The image forming unit includes a plurality of image forming units corresponding to the respective color components arranged in the vertical direction in a space above the sheet feeding cassette inside the casing. The sheet conveying unit has a conveying belt for sequentially conveying the sheets stored in the sheet feeding cassette in pressure contact with all the image forming parts of the plurality of image forming units to each image forming part. Each of the plurality of image forming units includes a photosensitive drum on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a developing roller for forming a toner image on the photosensitive drum, and a photosensitive drum of the developing roller. A toner cartridge placed on the opposite side and containing toner, and placed on the opposite side of the developing roller across the toner cartridge and placed opposite the photoconductive drum, condensing the laser beam in the horizontal direction and feeling. And a laser scanning unit for forming an electrostatic latent image on the optical drum.

Here, since the plurality of image forming units are arranged compactly on the upper part of the paper feed cassette, the size can be reduced and the installation space can be reduced. In each image forming unit, the laser beam can be condensed in the horizontal direction as it is to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum, so that a mirror for folding the laser beam can be omitted, and the apparatus can be further It can be simplified and downsized.

  An image forming apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the apparatus of the first aspect, further comprising an open panel provided on one side surface of the casing so as to be openable and closable, and the sheet conveying means is connected to each photosensitive drum via a conveying belt. In addition to having a plurality of transfer rollers arranged at opposing positions, the conveying belt can be opened so as to be separated from all image forming portions of the plurality of image forming units in the opened state of the open panel.

  In this case, the paper conveying means can be opened so that the conveying belt can be separated from all the image forming portions of the plurality of image forming units in the open state of the open panel.

  An image forming apparatus according to a third aspect is the apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein both the sheet conveying means and the open panel can be opened in the same direction with the lower end as a fulcrum.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the fixing device for heating and fixing the image transferred onto the paper is extended above the paper conveying means.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the paper discharge section is disposed in a space located above the image forming section and to the side of the fixing apparatus, and discharges the paper from the fixing apparatus. Is further provided. In this case, the fixing device and the paper discharge unit can be arranged without increasing the size of the image forming apparatus.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, size reduction and space saving can be achieved. Further, the jam processing is facilitated.

  An image forming apparatus in which an embodiment of the present invention is employed will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional view of a printer that performs full-color printing.

  The printer body 1 has a casing 2. A paper cassette mounting portion 4 for mounting the paper cassette 3 is provided at the lower end of the casing 2. The paper feed cassette 3 stores paper therein, and has an upper plate 5 that is supported at one end on the inner bottom surface and movable at the other end in the vertical direction. The upper plate 5 is biased upward by a spring 6.

  A paper feed roller 7 is disposed at a position above the paper feed cassette mounting unit 4 and in contact with one end of the paper stored in the paper feed cassette 3. The paper stored in the paper feed cassette 3 is placed in a stacked state on the upper plate 5, one end is pushed upward by the spring 6, and the paper located at the top is pressed against the paper feed roller 7. Has been.

  An image forming unit 8 is provided in a space located above the sheet cassette mounting unit 4. In this image forming section 8, for example, image forming units 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d for forming images of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan color components are arranged in the vertical direction from above.

  As shown in FIG. 2, each of the image forming units 9a to 9b includes a photosensitive drum 13 on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, and a developing unit for forming a toner image of each color component on the photosensitive drum 13. 14 and a laser scan unit 15 for condensing a laser beam on the photosensitive drum 13 to form an electrostatic latent image. Around the photosensitive drum 13, a main charger 16 for precharging the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 13, and a transfer roller 17 for transferring the toner image on the photosensitive drum 13 onto the conveyed paper. A cleaning device 18 for removing the toner remaining on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 13 is provided.

  The developing unit 14 is provided with a toner cartridge 19 in which color toner corresponding to each color component is stored. The toner cartridge 19 is in contact with the feed roller 20 for feeding the toner and the peripheral surface of the photoconductor drum 13. A developing roller 21 for forming a toner image on 13 and a developer supply roller 22 for supplying toner to the peripheral surface of the developing roller 21 are provided.

  The laser scanning unit 15 is deflected by a laser light source (not shown) that emits a laser beam corresponding to image information, a polygon mirror 24 that is driven to rotate by a motor 23 and deflects the laser beam from the laser light source, and the polygon mirror 24. A lens unit 25 for forming an image of the laser beam on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 13 is provided.

  Image forming units 9a to 9d as shown in FIG. 2 are arranged in the image forming unit 8 in the vertical direction, and the photosensitive drums 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d are arranged on the left side of the image forming unit 8 in FIG. Will be located in order.

  On the left side of the image forming unit 8 in FIG. 1, there is provided a paper transporting unit 26 that transports the paper stored in the paper feed cassette 3 to the photosensitive drums 13 a, 13 b, 13 c, and 13 d of the image forming unit 8. Yes. The sheet conveying means 26 is arranged in a vertical direction and is rotatable on conveying rollers 27 and 28 and stretched around the two conveying rollers 27 and 28 to convey the sheet to the photosensitive drums 13a to 13d and through the sheet. And a conveyor belt 29 in pressure contact with the photosensitive drums 13a to 13d.

  Transfer rollers 17a, 17b, 17c, and 17d are provided at positions facing the respective photosensitive drums 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d via the conveyance belt 29, respectively. The sheet conveying means 26 is provided close to one side surface (left side in FIG. 1) of the casing 2.

  On the left side of the casing 2 in FIG. 1, an open panel 30 whose upper part can be opened to the side is provided. A lower end portion of the open panel 30 is supported so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis of the conveyance roller 28. The above-described sheet conveying means 26 is fixed to the open panel 30 and can be opened sideways integrally with the open panel 30.

  A manual feed tray 10 that can be opened and closed laterally is provided at the bottom of the open panel 30. When the manual feed tray 10 is opened to the side while the open panel 30 is closed to the printer main body 1, paper can be supplied from the manual feed tray 10 to the paper transport means 26.

  A fixing device 31 for heat-fixing the toner image formed on the paper is provided above the paper conveying means 26. The fixing device 31 includes a heating roller 32 having a heater therein, pressure roller pairs 33 and 34, and a fixing belt 35 formed of an endless metal belt stretched between the heating roller 32 and one pressure roller 33. And have.

  A discharge port 36 for discharging the sheet is provided on the right side of the fixing device 31 in FIG. Further, a paper discharge tray 37 for receiving the paper discharged from the discharge port 36 is provided in a space located above the image forming unit 8. The paper feed roller 7, paper transport means 26, photosensitive drum 13, and fixing device 31 are provided with driving means (not shown), respectively, from the paper feed cassette 3 or the manual feed tray 10 through the image forming unit 8 and the fixing device 31. The sheet is conveyed to the sheet discharge tray 37.

  This image forming apparatus includes a control unit 41 as shown in FIG. The control unit 41 is constituted by a so-called microcomputer system including a CPU, ROM, RAM, various IOs and the like. Connected to the control unit 41 is an image information input unit 42 for receiving image information from a data processing device such as a computer, word processor, image scanner, or OCR. The control unit 41 is connected to an image processing unit 43 that decomposes input image information into color components and converts them into image information for each color component. Further, the image forming unit 8 is connected to the control unit 41. The control unit 41 drives each laser light source of the image forming unit 8 on the basis of the image information converted for each color component by the image processing unit 43, and statically based on the color component on each of the photosensitive drums 13a to 13d. An electrostatic latent image is formed, and a toner image with each color component is formed. The control unit 41 is connected to a sheet conveying system 44 including a sheet feeding roller 7, a sheet conveying unit 26, and the fixing device 31.

  In the image forming apparatus according to this embodiment, the paper feed cassette 3 in which paper is stored is mounted on the paper feed cassette mounting portion 4. At this time, the uppermost sheet in the sheet feeding cassette 3 is in contact with the sheet feeding roller 7 by the action of the spring 6. When there is a print processing instruction, the paper feed roller 7 is driven to feed the uppermost sheet to the sheet conveying means 26 or the sheet placed on the manual feed tray 10 is fed to the sheet conveying means 26. Further, the sheet conveying means 26 is driven to convey the sheet to the photosensitive drum 13 of the image forming unit 8. At the same time, based on the image information of each color component, the laser light sources of the image forming units 9a to 9d are driven to form electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive drums 13a to 13d. The electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive drums 13a to 13d are visualized by the developing roller 21 as toner images of the respective color toners.

  The paper transported by the transport belt 29 is in contact with the photosensitive drums 13a to 13d, and is charged from the back surface via the transport belt 29 by the transfer rollers 17a to 17d. Transfer is sequentially performed in the order of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying unit 26 is further conveyed to the fixing device 31. In the fixing device 31, the fixing belt 35 heated by the heating roller 32 is rotated in a pressure contact state between the pair of pressure rollers 33 and 34. A toner image transferred by the image forming unit 8 is formed on the sheet conveyed between the pair of pressure rollers 33 and 34, and the toner image is heated and melted by the heat of the fixing belt 35 to be fixed. . Thereafter, the paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray 37.

  In this embodiment, the image forming units 9 a to 9 d for the respective color components are arranged in a vertical direction in a space located above the paper feed cassette 3, and the installation space is almost the same size as the planar shape of the paper feed cassette 3. It can be. Further, by opening the paper conveying means 26, the conveying belt 29 and all the transfer rollers 17a to 17d can be separated from the respective photosensitive drums, and the jam processing is facilitated. In particular, the paper conveying means 26 can be opened integrally with the open panel 30 provided on the side of the casing 2, and jamming can be easily performed when a paper jam occurs.

  Further, in each of the image forming units 9a to 9d, the laser beam deflected by the polygon mirror 24 can be focused in the horizontal direction as it is and imaged on the photosensitive drum 13, so that a mirror for turning the laser beam back is used. Etc. can be omitted, the apparatus can be simplified, and downsizing and cost reduction can be achieved.

  Further, the paper discharged onto the paper discharge tray 37 is in a so-called face-down state in which the surface on which the image is formed faces downward, and handling after execution becomes easy when printing a plurality of pages.

[Other Embodiments]
The present invention can also be applied to a copying machine having an image reading unit such as a scanner on the upper surface.

1 is a schematic vertical sectional configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus in which an embodiment of the present invention is employed. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming unit. 1 is a control block diagram illustrating an outline of an image forming apparatus in which an embodiment of the present invention is employed.

Explanation of symbols

2 Casing 3 Paper Feed Cassette 8 Image Forming Units 9a to 9d Image Forming Units 13a to 13d Photosensitive Drums 17a to 17d Transfer Roller 26 Paper Conveying Means 29 Conveying Belt 30 Opening Panel 31 Fixing Device 37 Discharge Tray

Claims (5)

An image forming apparatus for forming an image by transferring an image of each color component on a sheet,
A casing,
A paper feed cassette that is attached to a lower end portion inside the casing and stores paper;
An image forming unit having a plurality of image forming units corresponding to the respective color components arranged in a vertical direction in a space above the paper feed cassette inside the casing;
A sheet conveying unit having a conveying belt for sequentially conveying the sheets stored in the sheet feeding cassette in pressure contact with all the image forming parts of the plurality of image forming units;
With
Each of the plurality of image forming units includes a photosensitive drum on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a developing roller for forming a toner image on the photosensitive drum, and the photosensitive drum of the developing roller. A toner cartridge disposed on the opposite side of the toner cartridge and containing toner, and disposed on the opposite side of the developing roller across the toner cartridge and facing the photosensitive drum, and the laser beam in a horizontal direction A laser scanning unit for condensing and forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum,
Image forming apparatus. An opening panel provided on one side of the casing so as to be freely opened and closed;
The sheet conveying means includes a plurality of transfer rollers arranged at positions facing the respective photosensitive drums via the conveying belt, and the conveying belt is configured to form the plurality of images when the open panel is opened. Releasable away from all imaging sites of the unit,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein both the sheet conveying unit and the open panel can be opened in the same direction with a lower end as a fulcrum.   4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a fixing device that heat-fixes the image transferred onto the sheet is extended above the sheet conveying unit. 5.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a paper discharge unit that is disposed in a space located above the image forming unit and to the side of the fixing device and that discharges the paper from the fixing device.

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