JP4680050B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus that records an image by ejecting droplets of a recording liquid such as ink from a recording head toward a recording surface of a recording medium such as recording paper. It relates to a door that can be opened and closed on its entire surface.

  This type of ink jet recording apparatus, as typified by an ink jet printer, is often used for personal use as compared to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. There is a strong demand for narrowing, and various structures have been realized. On the other hand, it is also attracting attention as being able to replace conventional electrophotographic copying machines, printers, and the like.

Under such circumstances, a product having an appearance such as a conventional electrophotographic copying machine has been proposed, but there are various points to be improved.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-030178

For example, the image forming unit can be made considerably smaller than an electrophotographic copying machine or the like, but a serial scan type image forming unit has a maintenance / recovery mechanism and an idle discharge receiving unit for maintaining and recovering the recording head. Therefore, the scanning area of the carriage must be wider than the width of the paper that can be passed. Therefore, in the configuration in which the carriage is scanned in the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body, for example, the empty discharge receiving portion is arranged on the front side. Therefore, if the shape of the front side of the device main body is determined according to the outer shape of the idle discharge receiving portion, a wasteful space will be generated in the portion where the ink cartridge is loaded, and the device main body will be enlarged and occupied space will be increased. becomes widely, also it large-sized device to looks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems by providing a structure in which the space occupied by the entire apparatus is reduced to reduce the size of the apparatus and to reduce the size of the apparatus .

Therefore, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the front side door of the apparatus main body of the image forming apparatus is vertically divided into two, and one of the doors can be accessed for parts that are normally exchanged such as ink and toner. attached to the openable unit body in a Do position and the other Ri Na fixedly attached to a position covering the front side of the image forming portion of the serial scan type of the instrumentation Okimoto within the body, said one of the door of the other door Further, it is provided at a position retracted to the rear side of the apparatus main body .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the exterior planar shape on the back side of the apparatus main body is formed into a curved curved shape that makes a business trip to the rear side of the apparatus main body. The amount of protrusion of the part corresponding to the back side of the image forming unit from the curved back side of the apparatus main body is reduced .

Which according to the claim 3 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the image forming unit and said image forming portion der Rukoto inkjet type.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect , the image forming unit is a gel ink jet type image forming unit .

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention, miniaturized by reducing the space occupied by the apparatus main body, there is an effect that Ru Hakare also the size of the viewing.

  Embodiments as the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated image forming apparatus 100 is, for example, an in-cylinder discharge type gel ink jet image forming apparatus, and includes an image forming unit 110 and a sheet feeding unit that is disposed below the image forming unit 110 and includes four sheet feeding trays. Section 120, image reading section 130 provided above image forming section 110, and paper discharge section 140 provided between image forming section 110 and image reading section 130. The image forming unit 110 and the image reading unit 130 include a connecting unit 150 that connects the left and back sides of the image forming unit 110 and the image reading unit 130, and a connecting unit 160 that connects the front right side. The operation unit 200 is disposed above the image forming unit 110 and on the upper front side of the image reading unit 130.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an outline of a mechanism unit of the apparatus main body and the image reading unit, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of an image forming unit and a sub-scanning conveyance unit of the apparatus main body. The apparatus main body 1 in the image forming apparatus 100 includes an image forming unit 2 for forming an image while transporting paper, a sub-scanning transport unit 3 for transporting paper, and the like in a housing of the image forming unit 110. Then, the paper 5 is fed one by one from the paper feeding unit 120 including the paper feeding cassette provided at the bottom of the apparatus main body 1, and the paper 5 is conveyed at a position facing the image forming unit 2 by the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3. On the other hand, after forming (recording) a desired image by discharging droplets onto the paper 5 by the image forming unit 2, in the case of single-sided printing, the paper discharged on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1 through the paper discharge transport unit 7. The paper 5 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 8 of the unit 140, and in the case of double-sided printing, it is sent from the middle of the paper discharge transport unit 7 to the double-side unit 10 provided at the bottom of the apparatus main body 1 for switchback transport. Then, feed again to the sub-scanning transport unit 3 and print on both sides. To discharged onto the discharge tray 8 after the formation of the.

  Also, above the paper discharge tray 8 at the top of the apparatus main body 1, a scanner unit 11 is provided in an image reading unit 130 for reading an image as an input system for image data (print data) formed by the image forming unit 2. ing. The scanner unit 11 includes a scanning optical system 15 including an illumination light source 13 and a mirror 14, and a scanning optical system 18 including mirrors 16 and 17, so that an image of an original placed on the contact glass 12 is scanned. The scanned original image is read as an image signal by the image reading element 20 disposed behind the lens 19, and the read image signal is digitized and subjected to image processing, and the image-processed print data is printed. Can do.

  Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 100 uses an image processing apparatus such as an external personal computer, an image reading apparatus such as an image scanner, and a digital camera as an input system for image data (print data) formed by the image forming unit 2. Print data including image data from the host side such as an apparatus can be received via a cable or a network, and the received print data can be processed and printed.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the image forming unit 2 also holds the carriage 23 in a cantilevered manner by the guide rod 21 and the guide rail 22 and is movable in the main scanning direction. It moves and scans in the main scanning direction via a timing belt 29 spanned between the driven pulleys 28B.

  A recording head 24 including a droplet discharge head for discharging droplets of each color is mounted on the carriage 23, the carriage 23 is moved in the main scanning direction, and the sheet 5 is transferred to the sheet by the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3. A shuttle type is used in which droplets are ejected from the recording head 24 while feeding in the transport direction (sub-scanning direction) to form an image.

  The recording head 24 has two droplet discharge heads 24k1 and 24k2 that discharge black (Bk) ink, respectively, and one each that discharges cyan (C) ink, magenta (M) ink, and yellow (Y) ink. Each of the sub-tanks 25 mounted on the carriage 23 is composed of a total of five liquid droplet ejection heads (hereinafter referred to as “recording head 24” when the colors are not distinguished). Of ink is supplied.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, a recording liquid cartridge containing black (Bk) ink, cyan (C) ink, magenta (M) ink, and yellow (Y) ink from the front of the apparatus main body 1 to the cartridge mounting portion. Each color ink cartridge 26 can be detachably mounted, and ink is supplied from each color ink cartridge 26 to each color sub-tank 25. The black ink is supplied from one ink cartridge 26 to the two sub tanks 25.

  The recording head 24 uses a piezoelectric element as a pressure generating means (actuator means) for pressurizing the ink in the ink flow path (pressure generation chamber) to deform the vibration plate that forms the wall surface of the ink flow path. A so-called piezo type that discharges ink droplets by changing the volume in the flow channel, or discharges ink droplets with a pressure generated by heating the ink in the ink flow channel using a heating resistor to generate bubbles. The so-called thermal type, the diaphragm that forms the wall surface of the ink flow path and the electrode are placed opposite to each other, and the diaphragm is deformed by the electrostatic force generated between the vibration plate and the electrode, thereby the ink flow path inner volume It is possible to use an electrostatic type or the like that discharges ink droplets by changing the above.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a maintenance / recovery mechanism 121 for maintaining and recovering the state of the nozzles of the recording head 24 in a non-printing area (on the rear side of the apparatus main body) on one side in the scanning direction of the carriage 23 Is arranged. The maintenance / recovery mechanism 121 includes five moisturizing caps 122k2, 122k1, 122c, 122m, and 122y for capping the nozzle surfaces of the five recording heads 24 (“moisturizing cap 122” when colors are not distinguished). ), A single suction cap 123, a wiper blade 124 for wiping the nozzle surface of the recording head 24, and a discharge (empty discharge) of droplets that do not contribute to recording (image formation). An empty discharge receiving member 125 is provided.

  Further, in the non-printing area on the other side of the carriage 23 in the scanning direction (on the front side of the apparatus main body), as shown in FIG. 3, the discharge of droplets that do not contribute to recording (image formation) from five recording heads 24 ( An empty discharge receiving member 126 for performing (empty discharge) is provided. The empty discharge receiving member 126 has five openings 127k2, 127k1, 127c, 127m, and 127y corresponding to the recording head 24 (referred to as “openings 127” when colors are not distinguished).

  The sub-scanning conveyance unit 3 includes a conveyance roller 32 and a tension roller that are driving rollers for conveying the paper 5 fed from below by facing the image forming unit 2 by changing the conveyance direction by approximately 90 degrees. An endless transport belt 31 spanned between the driven rollers 33, a charging roller 34 which is a charging means to which a high voltage as an alternating voltage is applied from a high voltage power source to charge the surface of the transport belt 31, and a transport A guide member 35 that guides the belt 31 in a region facing the image forming unit 2, two pressing rollers (pressure rollers) 36 that press the paper 5 against the conveyance belt 31 at a position facing the conveyance roller 32, and image formation Two spur rollers 37 for pressing the upper surface side of the paper 5 on which an image is formed by the section 2, and a separation claw 38 for separating the paper 5 on which the image is formed from the conveyance belt 31. There.

  The transport belt 31 of the sub-scan transport unit 3 is rotated in the paper transport direction (sub-scan direction) in FIG. 3 by rotating the transport roller 32 from the sub-scan motor 131 via the timing belt 132 and the timing roller 133. It is configured to do. The transport belt 31 includes, for example, a surface layer that is a sheet adsorption surface formed of a pure resin material that is not subjected to resistance control, such as ETFE pure material, and a back layer that is subjected to resistance control using carbon with the same material as the surface layer. Although a two-layer structure (medium resistance layer, earth layer) is used, the present invention is not limited to this, and a one-layer structure or a structure of three or more layers may be used.

  The paper feed unit 4 can be inserted / removed from the front side of the apparatus main body 1. The paper feed cassette 41 that stacks and stores a large number of sheets 5 and the sheets 5 in the sheet feed cassette 41 are separated and sent out one by one. A sheet feeding roller 42 and a friction pad 43 are provided, and a registration roller 44 that registers the fed sheet 5 is provided. The paper feed unit 4 includes a manual feed tray 46 for stacking and storing a large number of sheets 5, a manual feed roller 47 for feeding the sheets 5 from the manual feed tray 46 one by one, and the apparatus main body 1. On the lower side, a paper feed cassette that is optionally mounted and a transport roller 48 for transporting paper 5 fed from a duplex unit 10 described later are provided. A member for feeding the paper 5 to the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3 such as the paper feed roller 42, the registration roller 44, the manual feed roller 47, and the conveyance roller 48 is a paper feed motor including an HB type stepping motor via an electromagnetic clutch (not shown). (Drive means) 49 is rotationally driven.

  The paper discharge transport unit 7 includes three transport rollers 71a, 71b, and 71c that transport the paper 5 separated by the separation claw 38 of the sub-scan transport unit 3 (referred to as “transport roller 71” when not distinguished). Spurs 72a, 72b, 72c (also referred to as “spurs 72”), a lower guide portion 73 and an upper guide portion 74 for guiding the paper 5 conveyed between the paper discharge roller 71 and the spur 72, and a lower guide. A reversing roller pair 77 and a reversing discharge for reversing the sheet 5 fed from between the section 73 and the upper guide section 74 through the reversing sheet discharging path 81 which is the first transport path and sending it to the sheet discharging tray 8 face down. A pair of paper rollers 78. A conveyance path for conveying the sheet 5 between the lower guide portion 73 and the upper guide portion 74 is referred to as a conveyance path 70.

  Note that, on the exit side of the conveyance path 70, a first discharge path 81 for reverse discharge to the discharge tray 8, a second discharge path 82 for discharging to a straight discharge tray 181 described later, and both sides A branch mechanism 60 is provided for switching to the transport path for any of the units 10.

  The duplex unit 10 transports the fed paper 5 from the side surface of the apparatus main body 1 and transports it in the horizontal direction following the vertical duplex transport path 90c that constitutes the vertical duplex transport path 90c that transports it downward. A horizontal conveyance unit 101b that forms a horizontal take-in conveyance path 90a and a switchback conveyance path 90b is integrally provided.

  The vertical double-sided conveyance path 90c is provided with a double-sided entrance roller pair 91 for conveying the fed paper 5 downward and a conveyance roller pair 92 for sending it out to the horizontal taking-in conveyance path 90a. 93, and the switchback conveyance path 90b includes a double-sided exit roller 94 composed of a reverse roller for reversing and refeeding the sheet 5 fed from the take-in conveyance path 90a and three double-sided conveyance roller pairs 95. Yes.

  Further, the branch plate 96 for switching between the conveyance path of the sheet 5 from the take-in conveyance path 90a to the switchback conveyance path 90b and the conveyance path for refeeding from the switchback conveyance path 90b to the conveyance roller pair 48 can be swung. Provided. The branch plate 96 can swing between a switchback side position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 2 and a refeeding side position indicated by a broken line.

  The sheet 5 sent out from the duplex unit 10 is sent into the above-described transport roller 48 and sent to the registration roller 44.

  When the sheet 5 fed from the sheet feeding cassette 41, the manual sheet feeding tray 46, and the duplex unit 10 described above is conveyed by the registration roller 44, the conveyance roller 32 of the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3 and As shown in FIG. 2, the open / close guide plate 190 can be swung to form a loop (slack) on the paper 5 between the presser rollers 36 and the registration roller 44 to prevent back tension on the paper 5. Provided.

  When the paper 5 is sent from the registration roller 44 to the sub-scanning conveyance unit 3, the open / close guide plate 190 swings in the direction indicated by the arrow to guide the paper 5. At the timing reached, the state returns to the state shown in FIG.

  Further, in this image forming apparatus, in order to perform manual sheet feeding, a single sheet feeding tray 141 is provided on one side of the apparatus body 1 with respect to the apparatus body 1 as shown in FIG. In order to manually feed one sheet, the one-sheet manual feed tray 141 is folded to the position shown in the phantom line. The sheet 5 manually fed from the single sheet feed tray 141 is guided linearly between the transport roller 32 and the pressing roller 36 of the sub-scan transport section 3 as guided by the upper surface of the open / close guide plate 190. Can be plugged in.

  On the other hand, a straight discharge tray 181 is provided on the other side of the apparatus main body 1 so as to be openable and closable (can be opened and lowered) in order to discharge the sheet 5 on which the image has been formed straight up face up. By opening (opening) the straight paper discharge tray 181, the paper 5 fed from the lower guide portion 73 and the upper guide portion 74 to the paper discharge conveyance portion 7 is discharged linearly to the straight paper discharge tray 181. A straight paper discharge path 82 as a second paper discharge path is formed.

  As a result, for example, when using paper that is difficult to convey in a curved line, such as OHP or thick paper, one sheet can be manually fed from the single sheet feed tray 141 and the sheet 5 can be conveyed linearly to the straight discharge tray 181. become able to. Of course, even normal paper such as plain paper can be fed from the single manual feed tray 141 and discharged linearly to the straight discharge tray 181.

  The image forming operation in the image forming apparatus will be briefly described. By applying a high voltage of positive and negative rectangular waves, which is an alternating voltage, to the charging roller 34 from an AC bias supply unit (not shown), the charging roller 34 is conveyed to the transport belt 31. In this case, positive and negative charges are alternately applied to the surface layer of the transport belt 31 in a strip shape in the transport direction of the transport belt 31, and a predetermined amount is applied on the transport belt 31. Charging is performed with the charging width, and an unequal electric field is generated.

  Therefore, the sheet 5 is fed from the sheet feeding unit 4, the manual sheet feeding unit 46, the duplex unit 10, the one-sheet manual sheet feeding tray 141, and the positive and negative charges between the transport roller 32 and the pressing roller 36 are generated. When the sheet 5 is fed onto the conveyor belt 31 where an unequal electric field is generated, the sheet 5 is instantly polarized according to the direction of the electric field, and is attracted onto the conveyor belt 31 by electrostatic adsorption force. It is transported as the transport belt 31 moves.

  Then, while the paper 5 is intermittently transported by the transport belt 31, an image is formed (printed) by ejecting recording liquid droplets from the recording head 24 on the paper 5 according to the print data. The front end side of the sheet 5 is separated from the conveyor belt 31 by the separation claw 38 and is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 8 and the straight sheet discharge tray 181 as appropriate by the sheet discharge conveyance unit 7 or sent to the duplex unit 10. Then, after the image is formed on the other side, the sheet is discharged.

  4 is an enlarged perspective view showing a state where the front door of the main body of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is closed, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state where the front door of the main body of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. It is. As shown in the figure, the image forming unit 110 is smaller in size than a conventionally known electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and the door covering the front side of the apparatus main body is divided into two in the vertical direction. The left door 110a is attached to the apparatus main body so that it can be opened and closed by the user, and the other door 110b is attached to the apparatus main body for maintenance service so that it is difficult for the user to attach and detach.

  Specifically, as can be clearly understood from FIG. 5, the left door 110a that can be opened and closed by the user is connected to a part that is normally replaced, such as ink or toner (attached to a part indicated by an arrow X in the figure). It is provided at a position where it can be accessed. The user door 110a is attached to a frame 170 or the like constituting the apparatus main body so that it can be opened and closed by a hinge or the like. The attachment portion is indicated by an arrow Y.

  On the other hand, the maintenance service door 110b is mounted on the apparatus main body by a mechanism that the user cannot easily open and close. Specifically, the door 110b is attached to the frame 170 constituting the apparatus main body by fitting, screwing or the like. The mounting position is a position that covers the front side of a part (indicated by an arrow Z in the figure) that houses an image forming unit (not shown) of the image forming unit 110 in the apparatus main body. As shown in the figure, since the size of the device arrangement part of the image forming unit in the apparatus main body located corresponding to the position of the maintenance service door 110b is relatively small, the user cannot easily open and close the door 110b. Therefore, it is meaningful to make access difficult.

  The portions of the user door 110a and the maintenance service door 110b correspond to the idle discharge receiving portion 126 (see FIG. 3) of the engine unit as shown in FIG. The portion of the door 110b that protrudes to the front side of the door 110a, and the portion of the door 110a corresponding to the loading portion of the ink cartridge 26 is relatively retracted.

  That is, in the serial scan type image forming unit, the maintenance / recovery mechanism 121 and the idle discharge receiving unit 126 are required to maintain and recover the recording head 24 as described above. For this reason, in the configuration in which the carriage 23 is scanned in the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body 1, for example, the idle discharge receiving portion 126 is disposed on the front side.

  At this time, if the shape of the front side is determined in accordance with the outer shape of the idle discharge receiving portion 126, a wasteful space is generated in the portion where the ink cartridge 10 is loaded, the apparatus main body is enlarged, and the occupied space is widened. In addition, the device becomes large in appearance.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the space occupied by the entire apparatus is formed by retreating a portion (a portion corresponding to the door 110a) that does not correspond to the empty discharge receiving portion 126 (or the maintenance / recovery mechanism) in a planar shape. The size of the apparatus is reduced, and the overall depth of the apparatus can be seen small. Further, the outer shape of the user door 110a and the maintenance service door 110b is a flat and gently curved uneven shape as shown in the figure, thereby further reducing the visual size.

  Here, the maintenance / recovery mechanism of the image forming unit and the idle discharge receiving unit that receives liquid droplets that do not contribute to image formation are provided on the end side in the front-rear direction of the apparatus main body. In the case where the configuration is provided at the end in the direction, the right or left side of the apparatus main body may be retreated.

  The rear portion of the image forming apparatus 100 will also be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the serial scan type image forming unit 2 requires the maintenance / recovery mechanism 121 and the idle ejection receiving unit 126 to perform the maintenance / recovery of the recording head 24 as described above. The scanning area must be wider than the width of the paper that can be passed. Therefore, in the configuration in which the carriage 23 is scanned in the front-rear direction of the apparatus body 1, for example, the maintenance / recovery mechanism 121 is disposed on the rear side (back side). Will do.

  In this case, if the exterior on the back side of the apparatus main body 1 is made to follow the maintenance / recovery mechanism 121, only the portion corresponding to the image forming unit 2 on the back side protrudes, and the unevenness is too conspicuous when viewed in a planar shape. It will be. Since the maintenance and recovery mechanism 121 is relatively larger than the idle discharge receiving portion 126, the unevenness is also increased. Therefore, in this image forming apparatus 100, the back surface 501 of the apparatus main body 1 is configured to have a curved shape which is curved in a planar shape, and the amount of protrusion of the portion 502 corresponding to the maintenance / recovery mechanism 2 with respect to the back surface 501 is reduced. Unevenness caused by the maintenance / recovery mechanism 121 of the portion 2 is made inconspicuous.

  Of course, the above-described embodiment is only the image forming apparatus of the in-cylinder discharge type gel ink jet method. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the in-cylinder discharge type may not be used. In addition, a general ink jet type can also be applied.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining a mechanism unit and an image reading unit of an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. Plane explanatory diagram of the image forming unit and sub-scanning conveying unit of the apparatus main body The enlarged perspective view which shows the state which closed the front door of the main body of the image type apparatus shown in FIG. The perspective view which shows the state which opened the front door of the main body of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. Plane explanatory drawing of the device body

Explanation of symbols

1: Device main body 2: Image forming unit 3: Sub-scanning conveying unit 4: Paper feeding unit 5: Paper (recording medium)
7: Paper discharge conveyance unit 8: Paper discharge tray (paper discharge unit)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10: Duplex unit 11: Image reading part 21: Guide rod 22: Guide rail 23: Carriage 24: Recording head 31: Conveying belt 32: Conveying roller 34: Charging roller 100: Image forming apparatus 110: Image forming part 110a: User Left door 110b that can be opened and closed: Door for maintenance service 120: Paper feed unit 121: Maintenance / recovery mechanism 126: Empty ejection receiving unit 130: Image reading unit 140: Paper discharge unit 150, 160: Connection unit 170: The main body of the apparatus Constructing frame 200: operation unit 201: operation unit

Claims (4)

Bisects the front side door of the apparatus main body of the image forming apparatus in a vertical, attached to the openable unit body in a normal manner switched access is enabled position to parts of such one ink doors and toner, and the other the Ri Na fixedly attached to a position covering the front side of the image forming portion of the serial scan type instrumentation Okimoto the body, provided the one door at a position retracted into the rear side of the apparatus body than the other door image forming apparatus, characterized in that the. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an exterior planar shape on the back side of the apparatus main body is formed into a curved curve shape that makes a business trip to the back side of the apparatus main body, and is formed on the back side of the image forming unit in the apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus , wherein a protrusion amount of the corresponding part of the apparatus main body from the curved back surface is reduced . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, an image forming apparatus wherein the image forming unit and said image forming portion der Rukoto inkjet type. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit is a gel ink jet type image forming unit.