JP5310006B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a fax machine, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus including a waste toner collecting device.

In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus that forms an image using toner, untransferred residual toner is generated even when the toner on the photoreceptor is transferred by the transfer device. The transfer residual toner is cleaned by a cleaning device, conveyed, and collected in a waste toner collecting container. When the waste toner collection container is filled with waste toner, it is replaced with a new waste toner collection container. When the waste toner collecting container is full, the image forming apparatus needs to be stopped. However, if the waste toner collecting container is frequently filled, there are problems such as replacement work and cost of the collecting container.
In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to secure a sufficient waste toner capacity. However, it is difficult to mount a large waste toner collecting container because the image forming apparatus is also desired to be small in size. Therefore, it is necessary to collect the waste toner as efficiently as possible in the waste toner collection container.

For this purpose, in Patent Document 1, a box body that is formed in a substantially rectangular shape that is elongated along the arrangement direction of a plurality of image forming engines and that stores the collected waste toner in an internal space, and is connected to each image forming engine. A plurality of waste toner collection ports are formed along the longitudinal direction of the box body, a lid member that closes the box body from above, a waste toner in the box body, and an upper limit for containing waste toner, and each collection A waste toner collection box is disclosed that includes a transport member that diffuses waste toner dropped from the mouth along the longitudinal direction and the short direction of the box body.
In Patent Document 2, when the full proximity position detection unit detects that the waste toner has been stored in the storage unit up to the full proximity position, based on the detection result by the image information detection unit and the recognition result by the image formation state recognition unit. There is disclosed an image forming apparatus provided with a fullness determination unit that integrates pixel amounts and determines that the waste toner has reached full when the integration result reaches a predetermined value.
In Patent Document 3, a recycle toner conveying means is provided in the vicinity of one end of the collecting screw in the cleaning device, and a waste toner conveying means is provided in the vicinity of the other end of the collecting screw to rotate the collecting screw for switching the conveying means. An image forming apparatus having a direction switching control unit is disclosed.
In Patent Document 4, a waste toner amount detection sensor is installed on the upper surface of a horizontally extending portion of a waste toner collecting container having a large volume in the horizontal direction, and the falling waste toner or floating waste toner adheres to the sensor surface. In addition, a waste toner recovery device that prevents accumulation and prevents erroneous detection of waste toner fullness early is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-148884 JP 2005-284012 A JP 2002-36595 A JP 2000-81823 A

However, in Patent Document 1, when the frequency of an image with only one color is high, only a large amount of waste toner of that color is collected, and if the waste toner conveyance direction is one direction, there is a margin in the reverse direction. Even if there is, there is a problem that the space is wasted because it cannot be transported. In Patent Documents 2 to 4, waste toner cleaned from each photoconductor is transported through a transport path in the main body and collected in a waste toner collection container. However, when a large amount of waste toner is generated at one time (high image In other words, waste toner has a considerably low fluidity, such as a continuous area ratio image.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and the problem is that an image forming apparatus capable of collecting waste toner as efficiently as possible even in a small waste toner collection container is possible. Is to provide.

The features of the present invention, which is a means for solving the above problems, are listed below.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a plurality of image carriers that carry a latent image, a plurality of cleaning devices that contact the surface of the image carrier and clean the surface of the image carrier, and the plurality of cleaning devices A plurality of waste toner discharge ports for introducing the waste toner into the inside, and the waste toner is conveyed to either one side or the other side in a direction parallel to the direction in which the plurality of waste toner discharge ports are arranged in a line met image forming apparatus and a waste toner collecting container having a conveying means for, for each of the image bearing member, the average image area and the image bearing member in a predetermined number of printed sheets calculated from the number of pixels to the transfer receiving material residual toner amount consisting of the product of the transfer rate, and, by calculating the inverse transfer amount of toner is reversely transferred to the image carrier from the transfer member, to calculate the amount of waste toner discharged from each of said cleaning device Comprising a calculation unit, whereas the total amount of waste toner that is charged from the waste toner discharge port on the side, out of the total of the waste toner amount of waste toner is introduced from the discharge port on the other side, towards the side of the smaller Then, the conveyance direction of the conveyance means is controlled so as to convey the waste toner.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the information stored in the pixel number storage unit is reset when it is detected that the waste toner collection container is newly installed.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the waste toner agitating means is screw-shaped and conveys waste toner in the same direction as the arrangement of the plurality of waste toner discharge ports in the waste toner collection container. And
The image forming apparatus of the present invention further includes a process cartridge in which the image carrier and at least one of the charging device, the developing device, and the cleaning device are integrally formed and detachably attached to the image forming apparatus main body. Features.

The present invention, which is a means for solving the above problems, has the following specific effects.
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the waste toner can be reliably discharged into the waste toner collection container, so that failure is unlikely to occur and the waste toner can be efficiently collected in the waste toner collection container. Since the number of times is reduced, the burden on the user is reduced. Further, by resetting the pixel number information, the pixel information can be correctly reflected from the initial stage of a new waste toner collecting container.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration around an image carrier. 5 is a graph showing the amount of adhesion of each image forming unit on the horizontal axis and the residual transfer toner and reverse transfer toner adhering to the photoconductor on the vertical axis. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of waste toner stirring means. Was stirred at waste toner stirring means is a schematic diagram showing a state of conveying the waste toner. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration inside a waste toner collecting container. FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a means for detecting the fullness of a waste toner collecting container.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. A copying machine capable of forming a full-color image employing a tandem method will be described as an image forming apparatus. However, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the illustrated one, and may be a printer, a facsimile apparatus, a composite apparatus. And so on.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration around the image carrier. The basic configuration and operation of the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.
Then, a sheet feeding unit having a sheet feeding cassette 70 for storing sheets as recording materials is provided at the lower part of the illustrated image forming apparatus 1, and the image forming unit 2 is arranged above the sheet feeding unit. The image forming unit 2 includes four image forming units as a plurality of image forming units including image carriers 3Y, 3M, 3C, and 3K (hereinafter referred to as the image carrier 3 unless it is particularly necessary to specify a color). An intermediate transfer belt 42 as an intermediate transfer member composed of units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K and a flexible endless belt wound around a plurality of support rollers 45a and 45b, and a latent image on each image carrier An exposure device 22 which is a latent image forming device for forming the toner image, a fixing device 60 for fixing the toner image on the paper, and the like. A transport path for transporting paper is formed between the paper feed cassette 70 and the fixing device 60. In order to convey the paper, a calling roller 71 and a registration roller 72 are arranged.

The intermediate transfer belt 42 running between the supporting rollers 45a and the supporting roller 45b. Inside the intermediate transfer belt 42, primary transfer rollers 41Y, 41C, 41M, and 41K as transfer devices that primarily transfer the toner image formed on the image carrier 3 to the intermediate transfer belt 42 are provided in respective image forming units. 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K are arranged. In addition, a secondary transfer roller 43 serving as a secondary transfer device is disposed on the intermediate transfer belt 42 so as to face the support roller 45a so as to face the conveyance path, and the toner image is transferred onto the conveyed paper. To do. Further, a belt cleaning device 44 for cleaning the belt surface is disposed at a portion facing the support roller 45b.
The image forming unit 2 is disposed below the intermediate transfer belt 42 by being disposed so as to face the lower running side. Each of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K includes an image carrier 3 that is in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 42. Around each image carrier 3, a charging device 21 having a charging roller, a developing device 30, and a cleaning device 50 are arranged.
Here, the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K include the image carrier 3, and at least one of the charging device 21, the developing device 30, and the cleaning device 50. Basically, they have the same structure, and only the structure of one image forming unit 11 is shown. The difference between the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K is that the color of toner as a developer stored in each developing device 30 is different. In addition, the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K may be configured to be integrally supported as they are as process cartridges so as to be detachable from the image forming apparatus 1.

In the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the linear velocity of the lubricant application brush roller 54 provided in the cleaning device 50, and the linear velocity described here, is the lubricant application. refers to a linear velocity at the position where the brush roller 54 is in contact with the surface of the image bearing member 3, is set to slightly different speed this for a linear velocity of the image bearing member 3.
Specifically, in the embodiment, the diameter of the lubricant applying brush roller 54 is 1 mm with respect to the image carrier 3 having a diameter of 12 mm and a diameter of 30 mm, so that the portion in contact with the image carrier 3 is used. The actual diameter of the lubricant application brush roller 54 is 10 mm, and the linear velocity is calculated by the diameter 30 mm of the image carrier 3 and the diameter 10 mm of the lubricant application brush roller 54. Naturally, even if the outer diameter of the lubricant application brush roller 54 alone is the same, if the setting of the biting amount (the distance between the centers of the image carrier 3 and the lubricant application brush roller 54) changes, the lubrication described here is performed. Since the linear velocity of the agent application brush roller 54 also changes, a preferable setting may be adopted as appropriate.
When the lubricant application brush roller 54 is made of acrylic fiber, nylon fiber, and PET fiber, solid zinc stearate is used as the lubricant, and the lubricant application brush roller 54 is pressed against the lubricant application brush roller 54 with an appropriate pressure. It is desirable to set the linear velocity of the lubricant application brush roller 54 to a range of about 0.8 ≦ X <1 or 1 <X ≦ 1.3 times the linear velocity of the carrier 3. In particular, it is more desirable to set a slightly faster range of 1 <X ≦ 1.3 times.
As shown in FIG. 2, the lubricant application brush roller 54 is positioned upstream of the cleaning blade 51 (in the rotation direction of the image carrier 3), and serves as an auxiliary means for cleaning the transfer residual toner on the image carrier 3. It is configured so that it can also fulfill its role. Therefore, the compact image forming unit 11 having excellent cleaning properties can be obtained.
In addition, before the illustrated lubricant application brush roller 54 comes into contact with the lubricant 53, a flicker (not illustrated) is arranged so that the brush roller 54 that collects the transfer residual toner from the image carrier 3 holds the toner. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently apply the lubricant 53 with less toner adhesion. The biasing member 55 that presses the lubricant 53 against the lubricant application brush roller 54 is provided, and the lubricant 53 is applied, so that it can be supplied uniformly. The biasing member 55 such as a coil spring is used as a means for determining the consumption amount of the lubricant 53, but a weight or the like may be used using gravity, and is not limited to this.

The exposure device 22 irradiates the surface of each image carrier 3 with light-modulated laser light L to form a latent image for each color on the surface of the image carrier. In this embodiment, the exposure unit 22 It is arranged below.
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the upper part of the image forming apparatus 1 has toner bottles 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K (hereinafter referred to as a toner bottle 31 unless it is particularly necessary to specify a color). The toner is replenished by replacing only the toner bottle 31, and the entire process cartridge is replaced only when the process cartridge 11 such as the image carrier 3 or the charging roller 21 is replaced.
In FIG. 1, the toner bottle 31 is arranged on the upper side of the machine for each color, and is configured to transport the toner to the process cartridge 11 for each color on the lower side to replenish the toner. With such a configuration, it is usually only necessary to replace the toner bottle 31, so that the cost of the user can be reduced. Further, since the number of times of opening, closing, and taking in and out other parts of the image forming apparatus 1 is reduced, it is possible to prevent toner scattering at the shutter portion and the like, thereby improving maintenance.

When the image forming operation starts, the image carriers 3 of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K are rotated in the clockwise direction by a driving device (not shown), and the surface of each image carrier 3 is predetermined by the charging roller 21. Charge uniformly to polarity. The surface of each charged image carrier 3 is irradiated with laser light L from the exposure device 22 to form an electrostatic latent image on each surface. At this time, for example, the image information exposed on each image carrier 3 by an arithmetic unit provided in the image forming apparatus 1 (not shown) is read from the image read by the reading device 4 as a desired full-color image of yellow, cyan, magenta. Then, it is decomposed into black color information to obtain image information for each color, and further, an arithmetic processing for calculating the image area ratio, the moving average of the job to be printed, and the like is performed. Thereby, the amount of toner to be developed on the image carrier 3 can also be calculated. Further, although not shown, a control unit provided in the image forming apparatus 1 determines the irradiation position, time, intensity, and the like of the laser beam of the exposure device 22 based on the image information for each color. The electrostatic latent image formed in this way is visualized as a toner image by toner stored in each developing device 30 when passing between each image carrier 3 and the developing device 30.
The image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention performs an image density adjustment operation. This image density adjustment operation is a toner adhesion amount for outputting a predetermined image density from information obtained by measuring the toner adhesion amount on the image carrier 3 or the transfer belt 42 using a sensor (P sensor). Charging potential and developing bias conditions are determined. In the above-described computing device, computation is performed including not only the image information of each color but also the development conditions such as the development bias for determining the toner adhesion amount to be developed.

One of the plurality of support rollers 45a and 45b around which the intermediate transfer belt 42 is wound is driven to rotate counterclockwise by a driving device (not shown), thereby driving the intermediate transfer belt 42 to travel. Then, the other rollers 45 are driven to rotate. The intermediate transfer belt 42 which runs in this manner, each of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, toner images of respective colors formed by 11K transfer roller 41Y, 41C, 41M, are sequentially transferred and overlaid by 41K, an intermediate transfer belt A full-color toner image is carried on the surface 42.
Residual toner adhering to the surface of each image carrier 3 after the toner image is transferred is removed from the surface of each image carrier 3 by the cleaning device 50, and the surface of the image carrier 3 is neutralized by a static eliminator (not shown). The surface potential is initialized to prepare for the next image formation.

On the other hand, the sheet fed from the sheet feeding cassette 70 is sent to the conveyance path, and the sheet feeding timing is taken by the registration roller pair 72 disposed on the sheet feeding side with respect to the secondary transfer roller 43, and the secondary transfer with the support roller 45a. The sheet is fed to a portion facing the roller 43. 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 42 is applied to the secondary transfer roller 43, whereby the toner images on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 42 are collectively collected on the sheet. Transcript. The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 60, and heat and pressure are applied when passing through the fixing device 60 to melt and fix the toner image. Then, the sheet on which the toner image is fixed, that is, the printed sheet, is conveyed to a discharge roller 73 positioned at the end of the conveyance path provided near the upper part of the image forming apparatus 1, and is configured at the upper part of the image forming apparatus 1. Discharged to the loading section. The toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 42 after the toner image is transferred onto the sheet is removed from the cleaning device 50.
The copying machine configured in this manner is provided with four image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K facing the intermediate transfer belt 42, and sequentially transfers the toner images of the respective colors onto the intermediate transfer belt 42. Compared to the type in which the image forming unit 11 has a four-color developing device, transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 42, and then transfers it onto the paper, the image forming time is greatly reduced. . In addition, since the stacking unit is formed on the upper portion of the image forming apparatus 1, the stacking unit does not jump out from the image forming apparatus 1, and the installation area and the occupied area are reduced.

  The above description is an image forming operation when a full-color image is formed on a sheet. A single color image using any one of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K of the image forming unit 2 is described above. Or an image of two colors or three colors may be formed. When monochrome printing is performed using the printer of this embodiment, an electrostatic latent image is formed only on the image carrier 3K of the black image forming unit 11K, and the developing device 30K of the black image forming unit 11K. The image is developed and transferred to a sheet of paper, and fixed by the fixing device 60.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention, the toner adhesion amount is calculated, but at the same time, the waste toner amount combined with the transfer residual toner amount and the reverse transfer toner amount is calculated. The waste toner means that the toner image formed on the image carrier 3 of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K remains on the image carrier 3 without being transferred to the transfer paper or the intermediate transfer belt 42. The toner is called transfer residual toner, and the toner collected by the cleaning device 50 is called waste toner. However, waste toner discharged from the cleaning devices 50 of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K of the tandem type image forming apparatus (for a color copying machine or a color printer) is a transfer residual toner. To the image forming unit 11, the reverse transfer toner of the toner image formed by the upstream image forming unit 11 from the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 42 or the transfer paper is input to the cleaning device 50, and the transfer residual toner and the reverse transfer toner are mixed. It will be a thing.

The reverse transfer toner in the tandem type image forming apparatus is generated by the following mechanism .
The toner image formed by the upstream image forming unit 11 is affected by the transfer bias every time it passes through the primary transfer roller 41 that is the transfer means of the downstream image forming unit 11 on the transfer paper or the intermediate transfer belt 42. . At this time, the charge amount of the toner on the transfer paper or the intermediate transfer belt 42 is weakly charged or reversely charged, so that it remains on the transfer paper or the intermediate transfer belt 42 at the transfer portion of the primary transfer roller 41 in the downstream image forming unit 11. On the contrary, the transfer bias is received and the toner adheres to the downstream side of the image carrier 3 to generate reverse transfer toner.
The transfer rate and reverse transfer rate from the image carrier 3 to the intermediate transfer belt 42 are obtained from the measurement results at the development stage. Therefore, in the arithmetic unit, the transfer rate and the reverse transfer rate are incorporated as information in advance. Here, the amount of waste toner is an amount by which the transfer residual toner and the reverse transfer toner are collected by the cleaning device 50 of the image carrier 3.

Therefore, the calculation method of the conveyance direction of the waste toner agitating unit 92 in the waste toner collecting container 90 is based on the transfer residual toner amounts of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K as Ty, Tc, Tm, Tk (mg / cm ² ), which can be calculated from the image density adjustment of the image forming apparatus 1. If the reverse transfer toner is Tgy, Tgc, Tgm (mg / cm ² ), these are also calculated from the image density adjustment of the image forming apparatus 1. Can be calculated. Here, the image forming order of the image forming apparatus 1 is yellow, cyan, magenta, and black. Further, there is no reverse transfer toner in the most downstream image forming unit 11.
The amount of waste toner (Thy, Thc, Thm, Thk) collected by the cleaning devices 50 of the respective image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K is expressed by the following equation. The product of the image area ratios (Sy, Sc, Sm, Sk) of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K is the amount of waste toner.
(Expression of waste toner amount)
Thy = Ty × Sy
Thc = Tgy × Sy + Tc × Sc
Thm = Tgy × Sy + Tgc × Sc + Tm × Sm
Thk = Tgy × Sy + Tgc × Sc + Tgm × Sm + Tk × Sk

FIG. 3 is a graph in which the horizontal axis represents each image forming unit, and the vertical axis represents the amount of transfer residual toner and reverse transfer toner collected by the cleaning device.
The toner adhesion amount on the image carrier 3 is 0.45 mg / cm ² , the transfer rate from the image carrier 3 to the intermediate transfer belt 42 is 10%, and the image carrier 3 downstream from the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 42. FIG. 3 shows the residual transfer toner and the reverse transfer toner amount collected by the cleaning device 50 for the image carrier 3 of each image forming unit 11 when the reverse transfer rate to 5% is set to 5%. As a result, the total amount of transfer residual toner and reverse transfer toner collected by the cleaning device 50K of the black toner image forming unit 11K located on the most downstream side in the image forming order becomes the largest. On the other hand, in the yellow toner image forming unit 11Y, only the residual transfer toner of yellow toner is collected by the cleaning device 50Y, so the amount of waste toner is the smallest.
At this time, the conveying direction of the waste toner stirring unit 92 in the waste toner collecting container 90 is rotated in the direction from the larger value of Thy + Thc and Thm + Thk to the smaller direction. Specifically, when Thy + Thc is large, the waste toner stirring unit 92 is moved from the upstream side to the downstream side in the image forming order. When Thm + Thk is large, the waste toner stirring unit 92 is moved from the downstream side in the image forming order. Rotate in the direction to move upstream.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the waste toner stirring means. Figure 5 is stirred at waste toner stirring means is a schematic diagram showing a state of conveying the waste toner.
As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus starts and starts a print job as an operation for forming an image (step S1).
Next, the image area ratio (Sy, Sc, Sm, Sk) of each color of the print job and the number of printed sheets are stored together in a pixel number storage unit (not shown) (step S2).
Next, the calculating means provided in the image forming apparatus 1 calculates a moving average from, for example, a certain number of image information of each color recorded in the pixel storage means of the image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention, and further, from the number of pixels, Calculation is performed so as to obtain an image area ratio (Sy, Sc, Sm, Sk) corresponding to A4 paper. Further, a transfer residual toner amount that is a product of an average image area of a predetermined number of printed sheets calculated from the number of pixels and a transfer rate of the image forming apparatus 1 and a reverse transfer toner amount that is reversely transferred from the transfer device to the image carrier 3 are calculated. Then, the amount of waste toner discharged from each image carrier 3 is calculated (step S3).
Next, the sum of the waste toner amount of the upstream side image carrier 3 and the sum of the waste toner amount of the downstream side image carrier 3 is calculated with respect to the recovered toner amount. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the upstream side is the yellow toner imaging unit 11Y and the cyan toner imaging unit 11C, and the downstream side is the magenta toner imaging unit 11M and the black toner imaging unit 11K. Thus, here, one is more or determines the total amount and the magenta toner over the total amount of the black toner of the computed yellow toner over which the cyan toner (step S4).
Then, when the direction of the total amount of the yellow toner over the cyan toner is determined to greater than the total amount of the magenta toner over the black toner conveying the toner from the upstream side image forming order that the image formed on the downstream side The waste toner stirring member 92 is rotated in the direction to move (step S5). As a result, waste toner that is largely recovered downstream is transported to the downstream side where less toner is recovered, so that the toner in the toner recovery container 90 is made uniform.
Conversely, when the direction of the total amount of the yellow Tona over the cyan toner is determined to not more than if weighing the magenta toner over a black toner, from the downstream side to the upstream side imaging order of the image forming The waste toner stirring member 92 is rotated in the direction in which the toner is conveyed (step S6). Similarly, the toner in the toner collection container 90 is made uniform by transporting the waste toner collected in the downstream side to the downstream side with a small amount of collected toner.
Shown in FIG. 5 shows the case where towards the total amount of the yellow toner and the cyan toner is determined to no more than a total amount of the magenta toner over the black toner, the rotational direction of the waste toner stirring means 92.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the configuration inside the waste toner collecting container.
Further, in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention, the waste toner agitating unit 92 has a screw shape, and is disposed in the same direction as the arrangement direction of the plurality of waste toner discharge ports 91Y, 91C, 91M, 91K in the waste toner collection container 90. Transport waste toner.
Thus, by disposing the conveying member in the same direction as the arrangement of the waste toner discharge ports 91Y, 91C, 91M, and 91K of the image forming units 11Y, 11C, 11M, and 11K, the waste toner stirring that is a single conveying member is performed. The waste toner in the waste toner collecting container 90 can be conveyed by the means 92.

Further, in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention, when the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 detects that a new waste toner collecting container 90 is newly disposed, the information stored in the pixel number storage unit is reset. This is because the pixel information can be correctly reflected from the initial time on the new waste toner collecting container 90 by resetting the pixel number information.
When it is detected that the amount of waste toner in the waste toner collection container 90 is full, the image forming apparatus 1 stops the image forming operation and displays on the display or the like that the waste toner collection container 90 is full. And inform service personnel. When it is detected that a new waste toner collection container 90 is set in the image forming apparatus 1, the pixel information stored in the pixel number storage unit is reset. When the image is printed, the number of pixels is newly stored.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a means for detecting the fullness of the waste toner collecting container. As shown in FIG. 7A, an optical sensor including a light emitting element 81 and a light receiving element 82 is shown. When a certain amount (height) is exceeded by using this optical sensor, the light sensor 81 and the light receiving element 82 are interposed. The fullness may be detected by detecting that no signal is input to the light receiving element 82 when the filler 84 enters and closes the light receiving portion.
FIG. 7B shows a method in which the rubber film 83 detects fullness by lifting the filler 84 with the waste toner pressure in the waste toner collection container 90. In addition, when the waste toner becomes full in the waste toner collection container 90, the fullness may be detected by entering the glass and preventing light from being input to the light receiving element 82. Further, as an example of a method for detecting that the waste toner collecting container 90 is new, it is detected that the image forming apparatus 1 is empty from the state where the image forming apparatus 1 is detected to be full. Further, the filler 84 between the light emitting element 81 and the light receiving element 82 moves and the light receiving portion is not blocked. Next, when a signal is input again to the light receiving element 82, a new waste toner collecting container 90 may be newly set.

First image forming apparatus 2 image forming unit 3 image carrier 4 reading equipment
1 1 Image forming unit (process cartridge)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Charging apparatus 22 Exposure apparatus 30 Developing apparatus 31 Toner bottle 40 Transfer apparatus 41 Primary transfer roller 42 Intermediate transfer belt 43 Secondary transfer roller 44 Belt cleaning apparatus 45 Support roller 50 Cleaning apparatus 51 Cleaning blade 52 Conveying roller 53 Lubricant 54 Brush roller 55 biasing member 60 fixing device 70 paper feed cassette 71 calling roller 72 registration roller 73 paper discharge roller 80 toner amount detection sensor 81 light emitting element 82 light receiving element 83 film 84 filler 90 waste toner collection container 91 waste toner discharge port 92 waste toner agitation Means 93 Motor 94 Controller

Claims (4)

A plurality of image carriers that carry latent images;
A plurality of cleaning devices for cleaning the surface of the image bearing member in contact with the image bearing member surface,
A plurality of waste toner discharge ports for introducing waste toner discharged from the plurality of cleaning devices, and one side and the other side in a direction parallel to a direction in which the plurality of waste toner discharge ports are aligned; met image forming apparatus and a waste toner collecting container having a conveying means for conveying the waste toner toward either,
For each image carrier, the amount of toner remaining after transfer, which is the product of the average image area of the predetermined number of prints calculated from the number of pixels and the transfer rate from the image carrier to the transfer medium, and the image from the transfer medium by calculating the inverse transfer amount of toner is reversely transferred to the body, an arithmetic means for calculating the amount of waste toner discharged from each of said cleaning device,
Waste toner is transported toward the smaller of the total amount of waste toner input from the waste toner discharge port on one side and the total amount of waste toner input from the waste toner discharge port on the other side An image forming apparatus characterized by controlling a transport direction of a transport unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
An image forming apparatus comprising: resetting information stored in a pixel number storage unit when detecting that a waste toner collection container is newly installed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The waste toner stirring means has a screw shape, and transports waste toner in the same direction as the arrangement of a plurality of waste toner discharge ports in a waste toner collection container. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The image forming apparatus includes an image carrier and a process cartridge that integrally includes at least one of a charging device, a developing device, and a cleaning device, and is detachable from the main body of the image forming device. .

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