JP4769465B2 - Powder container and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a powder container and an image forming apparatus for storing powder such as toner and carrier.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a multi-function machine having at least two functions, toner is consumed by use, so that the consumed amount must be sequentially supplied to the developing device. In general, a lot of toner is replenished to a developing device from a toner container such as a toner cartridge or a toner bottle, and these toner containers are replaced when the toner in the toner container becomes empty. Since the replacement of the toner container is performed by the user, it is required that the replacement operation is simple and that the hands and clothes due to toner scattering or the like are not contaminated during the replacement. Further, when toner is replenished from the toner container to the developing device, variations in the discharge amount from the toner container may cause image quality degradation such as blurring and color unevenness due to variations in toner density. Therefore, stable toner discharge is required for the toner replenishing device including the toner container.

  Various types of toner containers have been proposed and implemented in order to meet the above requirements. As one of them, a cylindrical toner bottle having a helical toner conveying portion is well known. The toner bottle is used with one end having a smaller diameter than the spiral main body at one end, and the bottle main body being set in a state where the bottle axis is almost horizontal. Further, this type of toner bottle discharges toner from the mouth by rotating the container.

JP 2004-139031 A

  Patent Document 1 discloses a toner container having the above-described helical toner conveying portion. Since the toner container can be set from above and a grip portion is provided, the user can use only the fingertip. It can be set and operability is good.

Here, FIG. 10 shows a toner container 1 having a helical toner conveying portion provided with a gripping portion.
In FIG. 10, the toner container 101 includes a cylindrical container main body 102 and a cylindrical discharge member 110 attached to the mouth 103 side of the container main body 102, and a gripping portion 111 is provided on the discharge member 110. . The container main body 102 and the discharge member 110 are connected to each other by engaging a claw 112 formed on the discharge member 110 with a protrusion 104 provided on the outer periphery of the container main body 102 near the mouth 103. The container main body 102 is integrally formed to be rotatable. In order to be able to rotate, a clearance (about 0.01 to 0.2 mm) of a fitting tolerance used in the mechanical design is required for the relationship between the protrusion 104 and the claw 112 to be locked. At this time, the end surface of the mouth 103 of the container body 102 is pressed against an elastic member 113 attached to the discharge member 110, for example, foamed polyurethane having a thickness of about 3 mm, so that toner leakage from the joint between the container body 102 and the discharge member 110 occurs. Is preventing.

  In the toner container 101, when the container main body 102 is rotationally driven via the gear 106, the toner stored by the action of the spiral toner conveying unit 105 is sent to the mouth 103 side, which is not shown. The toner is discharged from a supply port provided on the peripheral surface of the discharge member 110. In order to rotate the container main body 102, the toner container 101 is provided with a certain amount of backlash (in the example, a backlash (gap) of 2 mm in the radial direction) at the portion where the discharge member 110 and the container main body 102 overlap in the cylindrical direction. That is, in the toner container 101, the radial gap ΔL at the portion where the discharge member 110 and the container main body 102 overlap is set to approximately 2 mm.

  When the toner container 101 configured as described above is set in the image forming apparatus, the entire toner container is supported by holding the grip portion 111. At this time, the grip portion 111 is provided on the discharge member 110 which is one end of the toner container 101, and the toner container 101 and the discharge member 110 have a clearance of the above-described fit tolerance, so that they are in a cantilever state. The container body 102 side hangs down. That is, the weight of the container main body 102 including the stored toner causes the bottom side, which is the opposite side of the container discharge member 110, to sag, and as shown in FIG. 11, the central axis C2 of the discharge member 110 and the container main body 102 The rotation center axis C1 is easily displaced. In a state where such a shift has occurred, the adhesion between the container main body 102 and the discharge member 110 may become loose, or even a gap may be generated. The toner leaks and scatters from the gaps and gaps where the contact has become sweet due to the shock. In addition, it is not impossible for the toner to be barely leaked even if the close contact is weak, but if the rotation center axis of the container body 102 is mounted and operated while being tilted, the gear 106 is also displaced from the rotation center axis. As a result, there is a problem that the rotational torque for driving the main body increases.

  In view of the above-described conventional problems, the present invention is a powder that can prevent scattering and torque-up of stored powder with a simple configuration and suppressing displacement of the rotation center axis between the discharge member and the container body. It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage container and an image forming apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a container body formed in a cylindrical shape and provided with a mouth part for taking in and out the powder stored on one end side, and the mouth side of the container body is rotatable, and A cap formed in a cylindrical shape having a diameter larger than the diameter of the outer periphery so as to contain the outer periphery on the mouth side of the container body, the center axis being fitted so as to substantially match, and the cap formed on the cap A replenishing port for discharging the powder stored in the container body to the outside and a shutter for opening and closing the replenishing port. The cap is fixedly mounted on the apparatus body using the powder, and the container body is rotated. In the powder storage container in which the stored powder is transported to the cap side, when the container body is fitted in and attached to the cap, a seal that comes into contact with the tip on the mouth side comes into contact with the cap. Gripped by the person A gripping portion, said and a rib at the overlapping portion provided only at a position and the periphery thereof facing the gripping portion across the central axis of the container body, the cap, the operator of the gripper A powder storage container is proposed in which the shutter is opened and closed by holding and rotating, and the gap width in the overlapping portion with the container body is reduced by the rib.

The present invention is effective when a plurality of the ribs are provided .

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a container body provided with a mouth part for taking in and out the powder stored on one end side, and the mouth part side of the container body is rotatable. And a cap formed into a cylindrical shape having a diameter larger than the diameter of the outer periphery so as to include the outer periphery of the container body so as to include the outer periphery on the mouth side of the container body. A container having a replenishing port for discharging the powder stored in the container main body to the outside; and a shutter for opening and closing the replenishing port. In the powder storage container in which the stored powder is transported to the cap side by rotating the seal, when the container main body is fitted and attached to the cap, the tip on the mouth side abuts against and comes into close contact with the cap. , The operator Has a gripping portion for lifting, and a projection provided only on the position and the periphery thereof facing the gripping portion across the central axis in the overlapping portion between the container body, the cap, the gripping by the operator A powder storage container is proposed in which the shutter is opened and closed by rotating the holding part, and the gap width in the overlapping portion with the container body is reduced by the protrusion.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the tip has a rounded end and a plurality of the protrusions are provided .

Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that it is possible to mount a powder container that contains toner in any one of claims 1 to 4 . .

According to the present invention, the gap width of the overlapping portion between the cap and the container main body is reduced by the rib or the protrusion, so that the container body adheres to the seal of the container main body even if it is cantilevered when being set with the gripping portion. As a result, the gap becomes sweet and no gap is generated, and the scattering of the powder can be suppressed. In addition, the inclination of the rotation center axis with respect to the center axis of the cap of the container body can be suppressed, and torque increase can be suppressed.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a color laser printer which is an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. This color laser printer has a configuration in which a paper feeding unit 2 is disposed at the lower part of the apparatus main body 1 and an image forming unit 3 is disposed above the paper feeding unit 2. The image forming unit 3 is provided with an intermediate transfer belt 7 as an image carrier constituted by a flexible endless belt wound around a plurality of rollers 4, 5, 6. The image forming unit 3 is provided with four image forming units 8Y, 8C, 8M, and 8K as image forming means facing the lower running side between the rollers 4 and 5 of the intermediate transfer belt 7. Yes.

  The four image forming units 8 include a photosensitive drum 10 as a latent image carrier in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 7. Around the photosensitive drum 10, a charging device 11, a developing device 12, and a cleaning device 13 are arranged. Further, the primary transfer is performed inside the intermediate transfer belt 7 at a position where the photosensitive drum 10 is in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 7. A transfer device 14 is provided. In the present embodiment, the four image forming units 8Y, 8C, 8M, and 8K have the same structure, but the developer color of the developing device 12 is divided into four colors of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black. It has been. Also, below the image forming unit 8, there is disposed an optical writing unit 15 as optical writing means for irradiating the surface of each photosensitive drum with optically modulated laser light L. The laser light L is applied to the charging device 11 and the developing device. The photosensitive drum 10 is irradiated in between. The members provided for each color, such as the image forming unit 8, are denoted by Y for yellow, C for cyan, M for magenta, and K for black for each color, but in the description common to all colors, Y, Explanation will be made without adding C, M, and K.

  When the image forming operation is started, the photosensitive drum 10 of the image forming unit 8 is rotated clockwise by a driving device (not shown), and the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is set to a predetermined polarity by the charging device 11. Uniformly charged. The charged photoreceptor surface is irradiated with the laser beam L from the optical writing unit 15, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor drum 10 surface. At this time, the image information to be exposed on each photosensitive drum 10 is single-color image information obtained by separating a desired full-color image into color information of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black. The electrostatic latent image formed in this way is visualized as a toner image by the developer of each developing device 12 when passing through the developing device 12.

  Intermediate transfer belt 7 One of the plurality of rollers 4, 5 and 6 is rotationally driven counterclockwise by a driving device (not shown), whereby the intermediate transfer belt 7 is driven to travel in the direction indicated by the arrow. And the other rollers are driven to rotate. The yellow toner image formed by the yellow image forming unit 8Y including the yellow developing device 12 is transferred by the transfer device 14 to the intermediate transfer belt 7 that travels in this way. To the transferred yellow toner image, the cyan toner image formed by the image forming units 8C, 8M and 8K, and further the magenta toner image and the black toner image are sequentially superimposed and transferred by the transfer device 14, and thus the intermediate transfer belt 7 is A full-color toner image is carried on the surface. The intermediate transfer belt 7 is provided with a secondary transfer device 20 facing the roller 6 and a belt cleaning device 21 facing the roller 4 for cleaning the belt surface.

  Residual toner adhering to the surface of the photosensitive drum after the toner image is transferred is removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum by the cleaning device 13, and then the surface is subjected to a static eliminating action by a static eliminator (not shown). The surface potential is initialized and prepared for the next image formation.

  On the other hand, a recording medium made of paper or a resin sheet is fed from the paper feeding unit 2 and fed to the image forming unit 3 from the paper feeding port 2a. A recording medium, for example, a sheet fed to the image forming unit 3 is fed to a secondary transfer device 20 facing the roller 6 via a registration roller 24. At this time, a transfer voltage having a polarity opposite to the toner charging polarity of the toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt is applied to the secondary transfer device 20, whereby the toner image on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt is collectively transferred onto the sheet. The When the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred passes through the fixing device 22, the toner image is melted and fixed on the sheet by the heat and pressure. The fixed paper is discharged to a paper discharge unit 23 constituted by the upper part of the image forming apparatus main body 1 as indicated by an arrow. Further, the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 12 after the toner image is transferred onto the paper is removed by the cleaning device 21.

  The above description is an image forming operation when a full-color image is formed on a sheet. However, a single-color image is formed by using any one of the image forming units 8, or a two-color or three-color image is formed. It can also be formed.

  Next, the configuration of the developing device 12 will be described with reference to FIG. The developing device 12 includes a magnetic field generating means inside, a developing sleeve 25 as a developer carrying body that carries and conveys a two-component developer containing magnetic particles and toner, and is carried on the developing sleeve 25. And a doctor 26 as a developer regulating member that regulates the layer thickness of the conveyed developer. A developer accommodating portion 27 that accommodates the developer regulated by the doctor 26 without being conveyed to the developing area facing the photosensitive drum 10 is formed on the upstream side of the doctor 26 in the developer conveying direction. A toner conveying screw 28 for agitating and conveying the toner is provided adjacent to the lower portion of the developer accommodating portion 27.

  Next, the operation of this developing device will be described. In the developing device 12, a developer layer is formed on the developing sleeve 25. Further, the toner is taken into the developer from the developer accommodating portion 27 by the movement of the developer layer conveyed by the rotation of the developing sleeve 25. The toner is taken in so that the developer is within a predetermined toner density range. The toner taken into the developer is charged by frictional charging with the carrier. The developer containing charged toner is supplied to the surface of the developing sleeve 25 having a magnetic pole inside and is carried by magnetic force. The developer layer carried on the developing sleeve 25 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow as the developing sleeve 25 rotates. In the middle, after the thickness of the developer layer is regulated by the doctor 26, the developer layer is conveyed to a developing area facing the photosensitive drum 10. In the development area, development based on the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 10 is performed. The developer layer remaining on the developing sleeve 25 is conveyed to the upstream portion of the developer accommodating portion 27 in the developer conveying direction as the developing sleeve 26 rotates.

  In FIG. 1 described above, an accommodating stack portion 30 for accommodating toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K as toner containers is disposed above the intermediate transfer belt 7. As shown in FIG. 3, the toner bottles 31 </ b> Y, 31 </ b> M, 31 </ b> C, and 31 </ b> K are set in the storage stack unit 30 so as to be placed from the top for each toner color. That is, when the cover 32 of the paper discharge unit 23 is opened, the toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K appear, and the toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K can be replaced by operations from above. The Y, M, C, and K toners in the toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K are appropriately supplied to the developing devices 12 of the image forming units 8Y, 8M, 8C, and 8K by a toner supply device (not shown). These toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K are attached to and detached from the apparatus main body 1 independently of the image forming units 8Y, 8M, 8C, and 8K.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing the front end side of the toner bottle 31 according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 4, a toner bottle 31 includes a cylindrical bottle main body 33 as a container main body, and a cap 40 as a cylindrical discharge member that can rotate relative to the bottle main body 33 at a mouth portion 35 that is a tip portion thereof. Is provided. The bottle main body 33 is provided with a spiral conveyance unit 36 that conveys toner stored by its own rotation to the mouth portion 35 side. Further, the cap 40 includes a cap portion 41 having a toner replenishing port 44 provided in a lower peripheral surface, and a holder portion 42 that is fixed to the cap portion 41 and attaches the cap portion 41 to the bottle body 33. And the claw part 43 provided in the holder part 42 is latched by the groove | channel of the bottle main body 33, and the cap 40 and the bottle main body 33 are comprised relatively rotatably. It should be noted that a seal 45 is interposed at the joint between the bottle main body 33 and the cap part 41 to prevent toner leakage from the part. The holder portion 42 of the cap 40 is provided with a gripping portion 46 and a shutter 47. Further, a bottle gear 34 that is an input gear used as an input unit configured integrally with the bottle body 33 is provided in the vicinity of the bottle body 33 where the cap 40 is attached.

  When attaching the toner bottle 31 to the apparatus main body 1, first, the cover 32 shown in FIG. 1 is opened upward to expose the storage stack portion 30. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, after the toner bottle 31 is placed on the storage stack portion 30, the grip portion 46 is rotated. By this rotation, the cap 40 integrally formed with the gripping portion 46 rotates, and the shutter 47 moves in the circumferential direction of the cap 40 to open and the toner supply port 44 is opened. At the same time, the cap 40 and the storage stack portion 30 are opened. Are connected and fixed. Since this mechanism is not the gist of the present invention, a detailed description is omitted. The toner bottle 31 set in the storage stack portion 30 is drivingly connected with the bottle gear 34 meshing with a driving gear (not shown) provided on the apparatus main body 1 side.

  On the other hand, in order to remove the toner bottle 31 from the apparatus main body 1, the grip portion 46 is rotated in the reverse direction to release the connection between the cap 40 and the storage stack portion 30, and at the same time, the shutter 47 is closed to close the toner supply port 44. Will be closed. Then, the toner bottle 31 can be taken out from the apparatus main body 1 while holding the grip 46 as it is. As described above, since the toner bottle 31 can be placed and removed from the upper side of the apparatus main body 1, the replacement operation of the toner bottle 31 is easy to understand and can be easily performed. Moreover, since the grip part 46 is formed in the cap 40, the cap 40 can be rotated and fixed to the accommodation stack part 30 easily. When the toner bottle 31 is removed from the apparatus main body 1, the shutter 47 is not opened even if the gripping portion 46 of the cap 40 is rotated. As a result, it is possible to prevent the shutter 47 from being accidentally opened when the toner bottle 31 is replaced and the toner inside is spilled.

  By the way, as described above, the toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K are attached and detached by holding the gripping portion 46. For this reason, the toner bottle 31 is cantilevered and the rotation center axis of the bottle main body 33 and the cap 40 shifts to cause problems such as toner scattering and drive torque increase.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, a rib 48 as a regulating member is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the cap 40 in order to narrow the gap width in the overlapping portion of the bottle main body 33 and the cap 40 of the toner bottle 31. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the rib 48 is provided on the opposite side of the grip portion 46, that is, on the diagonal side of the grip portion 46 with respect to the central axis of the cap 40.

  By providing the ribs 48 in the vicinity of the diagonal of the grip portion 46 in the cap 40 as described above, the cap 40 is removed or detached when the toner bottle 31 is set while rotating the toner bottle 31 while holding the grip portion 46. It is possible to prevent toner scattering and torque increase. In addition, since the restricting member is constituted by the rib 48, the contact area with the rotating bottle main body 33 is reduced, and the torque due to the contact with the bottle main body 1 can be reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the ribs 48 of the present embodiment extend in parallel with the central axis of the cap 40, and the number of the ribs 48 is three. When the diagonal ribs of the gripping portion 46 are 48a and the left and right ribs are 48b, the bottle main body 33 and the cap 40 can be removed by the weight of the bottle main body 33 by the rib 48a. To prevent. Further, when the toner bottle 31 is set in the apparatus, the bottle main body 33 and the cap 40 are not removed or removed due to the load applied from the grip portion 3 by the rib 48b in addition to the rib 48a. Can be prevented. The number of ribs 48 is not limited to three, and the number is arbitrary. However, if a large number of ribs 48 are provided, the sliding load is increased when the bottle body 33 is rotated.

  FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a cap 40 showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, hemispherical protrusions 49 are provided on the diagonal side of the gripping portion 46 as the ribs 48 as a regulating member. ing. As described above, the protrusion 49 serving as the restricting member is formed in a hemispherical shape and disposed in the vicinity of the end of the cap 40, so that the contact area with the rotating bottle body 33 is much smaller, and the contact with the bottle body 33 is reduced. Torque can be reduced.

  Further, as another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 9, ribs 48c or protrusions 49 are further arranged below and in the vicinity thereof so as to resist dripping of the bottle body due to gravity after the body is set. preferable. With this configuration, the bottle body can be prevented from sagging at the three positions of the ribs 48a and 48b when the gripping part is gripped, and the rib body 48 is provided to further sag the bottle body when driving the bottle after mounting. Can be suppressed.

  Next, the height of the rib 48 described above was changed and the appropriate height of the rib was examined. The results are shown in Table 1. In this experiment, when the bottle main body 33 and the center axis of the cap shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 coincide, the gap ΔL of the overlapping portion is 2 mm, and the gap β between the rib 48 and the bottle main body 33 is Four types of 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 (mm) were used.

  As shown in Table 1, when the clearance β is 1 mm and 0.5 mm, the toner does not scatter and the container rotation is satisfactory and good. However, when the gap β is 0 mm, there is no problem of toner scattering, but the load is large due to sliding between the rib and the container, and there is a problem in container rotation. Further, when the gap β is 1.5 mm, toner scattering occurs, and there is a problem that the central axis is shifted during rotation of the container and the rotational load becomes large.

From this result, it was found that the height of the rib 48 is preferably about 1 mm to 1.5 mm when the gap ΔL is 2 mm.
As mentioned above, although advantageous embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited only to the said embodiment, Various modifications can be made.

  For example, although the powder storage container is described as a toner container in the above embodiment, the powder storage container is not limited to a toner container, and can be used as a powder developer or carrier container in which toner and a carrier are mixed. It is.

1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus using a toner container according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing a developing device of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an aspect when a toner container is set. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a toner container according to the present invention on the mouth side. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the inside of the cap of the toner container. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of an overlapping portion of a bottle body and a cap of a toner container during carrying, illustrating an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of an overlapping portion of a bottle body and a cap of a toner container at the time of setting showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the inside of a cap of a toner container showing another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of an overlapping portion of a bottle body and a cap of a toner container at the time of setting showing still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an exploded cross-sectional explanatory diagram of a conventional toner container. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram when the toner container of FIG. 9 is assembled.

Explanation of symbols

1 Device body 12 Developing device
30 Containment Stack Unit 31 Toner Container 33 Bottle Body 34 Bottle Gear 35 Portion 36 Spiral Conveying Unit 40 Cap
43 Claw
44 Supply port
45 Seal 46 Grasping part 48 Rib 49 Protrusion
50 Protrusion

Claims (5)

The container body formed in a cylindrical shape and provided with a mouth portion for taking in and out the powder to be stored at one end side is fitted so that the mouth side of the container body can be rotated and the central axis line is substantially coincident, A cap formed in a cylindrical shape having a diameter larger than the diameter of the outer periphery so as to enclose the outer periphery on the mouth side of the container main body, and the powder stored in the container main body formed on the cap are discharged to the outside. A replenishing port and a shutter for opening and closing the replenishing port;
In the powder storage container in which the stored powder is conveyed to the cap side by fixing and mounting the cap on the apparatus main body using the powder and rotating the container main body,
The cap includes
When the container body is fitted and installed, the seal that the tip on the mouth side abuts and comes into close contact with,
A gripping part to be gripped by the operator;
Having a rib provided only at a position facing the gripping part across the central axis in the overlapping portion with the container main body, and the periphery thereof ,
The powder container is characterized in that the cap opens and closes the shutter when the operator rotates the gripper and the gap width in the overlapping portion with the container body is reduced by the rib. . The powder container according to claim 1,
A powder container comprising a plurality of the ribs. The container body formed in a cylindrical shape and provided with a mouth portion for taking in and out the powder to be stored at one end side is fitted so that the mouth side of the container body can be rotated and the central axis line is substantially coincident, A cap formed in a cylindrical shape having a diameter larger than the diameter of the outer periphery so as to enclose the outer periphery on the mouth side of the container main body, and the powder stored in the container main body formed on the cap are discharged to the outside. A replenishing port and a shutter for opening and closing the replenishing port;
In the powder storage container in which the stored powder is conveyed to the cap side by fixing and mounting the cap on the apparatus main body using the powder and rotating the container main body,
The cap includes
When the container body is fitted and installed, the seal that the tip on the mouth side abuts and comes into close contact with,
A gripping part to be gripped by the operator;
Having a protrusion provided only at and around the position facing the grip portion across the central axis in the overlapping portion with the container body,
The powder container is characterized in that the cap opens and closes the shutter when an operator rotates the gripper, and the gap width in the overlapping portion with the container body is reduced by the protrusion. . The powder container according to claim 3,
A powder container, wherein the protrusion has a rounded tip and a plurality of the protrusions are provided.   An image forming apparatus capable of mounting a toner container in which the toner is stored in the powder container according to claim 1.

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