JP5347860B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a simple mechanism for preventing damage of a part when a cover section is closed by correctly retaining a moving guide section in a reference position while the cover section is closed in an image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus 1 which forms an image only on one side of a sheet material includes: a moving guide section (50) for guiding the sheet material that is conveyed to a sheet ejecting section (60) after the image is thermally fixed to a fixed path (302); a cover section (5) which is supported to have a region where the moving guide section (50) is arranged to be opened/closed; a roller (100) which is elastically supported to be freely rotated on the side opposite to a sheet guide member in the moving guide section (50); and a regulating member (90) which is attached inside the cover section (5) for moving close to or in contact with a roller (100) so as to limit the moving range of the moving guide section (50) in the reference position having the cover section (5) in a closed state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus characterized by a holding mechanism for a movable guide unit that guides a sheet material onto which an image is transferred to a predetermined path in a section from a fixing device to a discharge unit. Is.

  In general, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus transfers a toner image and heat-fixes a sheet material such as paper or PET sheet along the predetermined path while conveying the sheet material. At that time, the sheet material being conveyed is guided along the predetermined path by the guide portion. Further, a movable guide portion and a cover portion that is supported so as to be able to open and close an area where the movable guide portion is arranged is often provided at a position where the change in the sheet material conveyance direction is abrupt. . Hereinafter, such a movable guide portion is referred to as a movable guide portion.

  When the sheet material is conveyed to a path extending in a vertical direction from a horizontally tilted state, for example, in a section from the paper feeding unit to the image transfer unit, the direction is changed by about 90 ° with a relatively steep curve. Is done. Even in the section from the fixing device that heats and fixes the toner image transferred to the sheet material while being conveyed upward to the paper discharge roller that discharges the sheet material in the lateral direction, the sheet material has a relatively steep curve. A turn of about 90 ° is performed. Therefore, the movable guide unit is often arranged in a section from the paper feeding unit to the image transfer unit and a section from the fixing device to the discharge unit.

  The movable guide part is movable between a first position where the sheet guide part for guiding the sheet material to a predetermined path is along the predetermined path and a second position where the sheet guide part is separated from the predetermined path. Supported by Hereinafter, the first position is referred to as a reference position, and the second position is referred to as a retracted position. When the movable guide portion is moved to the retracted position, the sheet material path is released, so that the image forming apparatus can easily release the jammed sheet material.

  By the way, when a stiff sheet material such as thick paper is used, the position of the movable guide part is shifted from the reference position, and the sheet material is likely to be clogged. Therefore, it is important that the movable guide portion is correctly held at the reference position when the cover portion is closed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus including an urging member that urges the movable guide portion in a closing direction when the movable guide portion that opens and closes in conjunction with opening and closing of the cover portion is opened. Yes.

JP 2006-251470 A

  However, the image forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires a mechanism for interlocking the movable guide portion and the cover portion, which has a problem in that it increases assembly man-hours and costs.

  On the other hand, it is conceivable to provide a projecting portion for positioning the movable guide portion by contacting the movable guide portion inside the cover portion. The protrusion directly contacts the movable guide portion with the cover portion closed.

  However, in the configuration, there is a problem that the operation of closing the cover part is excessive, and the projection part collides with the movable guide part, and the movable guide part or the projection part is damaged. Usually, the cover part is provided with a lock mechanism for holding the closed state and releasing the state, and before being held by the lock mechanism, the cover unit is temporarily placed in the main unit more than the holding position in the closed state. This is because it has a structure that enters inside.

  Further, the movable guide disposed in the section from the fixing device to the discharge portion is often a member made of a resin mixed with glass fibers in order to improve heat resistance. Such a member having heat resistance has low flexibility and hardly bends. For this reason, when a member having heat resistance is adopted as the movable guide, the problem of damage due to collision of the protrusion with the movable guide becomes more prominent. In order to avoid the problem of breakage, if a large interval (play) is provided between the protruding portion and the movable guide portion, the movable guide cannot be correctly positioned.

  The present invention provides an image forming apparatus having a simple mechanism that can correctly hold a movable guide portion at a reference position in a state in which a cover portion is closed, and prevent damage to components when the cover portion is closed. For the purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image only on one surface of a sheet material, and includes the following constituent elements. The first component includes a sheet guide part that guides the sheet material conveyed to the sheet discharge unit after the image is thermally fixed to a predetermined path, and the sheet guide part is a first along the predetermined path. And a movable guide portion supported so as to be movable between a second position where the sheet guide portion is separated from the predetermined path. The second component is a cover portion that is supported so as to be able to open and close an area where the movable guide portion is disposed. The third component is a roller that is elastically supported rotatably on the opposite side of the movable guide portion with respect to the sheet guide portion. The fourth component is attached to the inside of the cover portion, and close to the roller so as to limit the movable range of the movable guide portion in the first position when the cover portion is closed. It is a regulation member which contacts.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a simple mechanism in which the movable guide portion is correctly held at the first position (reference position) when the cover portion is closed.

1 is a cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a first cross-sectional view in the vicinity of the fixing device 40 in the image forming apparatus 1. FIG. 3 is a second sectional view of the vicinity of the fixing device 40 in the image forming apparatus 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a cross section of a movable guide unit 50 and a cover unit 5 as viewed from above in the image forming apparatus 1. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a double-sided printing type image forming apparatus 100 having a configuration in which a part of the image forming apparatus 1 is modified.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings for understanding of the present invention. In addition, the following embodiment is an example which actualized this invention, Comprising: The thing of the character which limits the technical scope of this invention is not.

  First, an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to a cross-sectional view shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 is an electrophotographic image forming apparatus that forms a toner image on a sheet material such as paper or a PET sheet, which is a medium to which an image is transferred. The image forming apparatus 1 is a single-sided printing type image forming apparatus capable of forming a toner image only on one side of a sheet material.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a scanner unit 2, a paper feed cassette 3, a first paper feed roller 10, a registration roller 20, an image transfer unit 30, a fixing device 40, a movable guide unit 50, a discharge guide. A paper roller 60, a paper discharge tray 4, a cover unit 5, a second paper feed roller 70, and the like are provided. An image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a so-called multi-function machine that functions as a printer and a copying machine, and also functions as a facsimile machine.

  The scanner unit 2 is an apparatus that reads an image from a document and generates image data. The paper feed cassette 3 is a container for storing a plurality of sheet materials. The first paper feed roller 10 is a roller that feeds sheet materials stored in the paper feed cassette 3 one by one to a predetermined transport path. The registration rollers 20 are a pair of rollers that hold the sheet material fed by the first paper feed roller 10 and feed the sheet material to the image transfer unit 30 at a predetermined timing.

  The image transfer unit 30 is a device that transfers the toner image to the sheet material while further conveying the sheet material conveyed from the registration roller 20 to the fixing device 40 in the subsequent stage. The image transfer unit 30 includes a photosensitive drum as an image carrier and a plurality of devices arranged around the photosensitive drum. Around the photosensitive drum, a charging device, an exposure device, a developing device, a transfer device, a cleaning device, and the like are arranged.

  The fixing device 40 is a device that fuses the toner transferred to the sheet material to the sheet material while further conveying the sheet material conveyed from the image transfer unit 30 to the subsequent stage. Details of the fixing device 40 will be described later.

  The paper discharge roller 60 is a roller for discharging the sheet material conveyed from the fixing device 40 to the paper discharge tray 4. The paper discharge roller 60 is used only for discharging the sheet material in the single-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1. In the double-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1000, which will be described later, the paper discharge roller 60 may also be a turnback roller that reverses and conveys a sheet material having an image formed on one side for double-sided printing. Function.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a cover portion 5 that is supported so that its side surface can be opened and closed. More specifically, the cover portion 5 is rotatably supported by a support shaft (not shown) at the lower portion thereof. The cover unit 5 is turned to the open side 201 by being turned in the direction 201 from the closed state where the cover unit 5 is held upright to the outside. Further, the cover unit 5 includes a lock mechanism 7 that holds the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 in a closed state and releases the closed state.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a manual feed tray 6 supported so that the lower part of the cover 5 can be opened and closed. The manual feed tray 6 is a tray on which a sheet material is placed in an opened state. The sheet material placed on the manual feed tray 6 is sent out one by one to the conveyance path toward the registration roller 20 and the image transfer unit 30 by the second paper feed roller 70. A manual sheet guide 80 that guides the sheet material to a predetermined path is provided at the subsequent stage of the second paper feed roller 70.

  When functioning as a copying machine, the image forming apparatus 1 operates as follows under the control of a controller (not shown). First, the scanner unit 2 reads an image from a document, and the first paper feeding roller 10 and the registration roller 20 convey a sheet material to the image transfer unit 30. Next, the image transfer unit 30 transfers the toner image corresponding to the image data obtained by the scanner unit 2 to one surface of the sheet material. Next, the fixing device 40 heats and fixes the toner on the sheet material to the sheet material. Finally, the paper discharge roller 60 discharges the sheet material on which the image is formed to the paper discharge tray 4.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 functions as a printer, a communication interface (not shown) and a control unit execute a process of receiving image data from an external computer instead of the image reading process by the scanner unit 2. . Similarly, when the image forming apparatus 1 performs a reception process as a facsimile apparatus, a modem and a control unit (not shown) receive an incoming call from another facsimile apparatus through a telephone line instead of the image reading process by the scanner unit 2. Processing and image data reception processing are executed.

  Next, the fixing device 40 and its peripheral portion will be described in detail with reference to the cross-sectional views shown in FIGS. In FIG. 2, the manual feed tray 6 is not shown. Moreover, in FIG. 3, the description of the cover portion 5 and the manual feed tray 6 is omitted.

  The fixing device 40 includes a heating roller 41 that includes a heater and rotates, and a pressure roller 42 that rotates while being urged against the heating roller 41. A nip portion is formed at a portion where the heating roller 41 and the pressure roller 42 are in contact with each other, and the sheet material is heated by the heating roller 41 when passing through the nip portion. That is, the fixing device 40 conveys the sheet material and heats the toner on the sheet material by passing the sheet material through the nip portion.

  The sheet material onto which the toner image has been transferred enters the nip portion of the fixing device 40 along the first conveyance path 301 that extends from below to above. Further, the sheet material on which the toner image is fixed is carried out of the fixing device 40 along the second conveyance path 302 that is curved obliquely upward from below. The first conveyance path 301 and the second conveyance path 302 are predetermined sheet material conveyance paths.

  In the image forming apparatus 1, the sheet material has a relatively steep curve in the section from the fixing device 40 that heats the sheet material while conveying the sheet material upward to the sheet discharge roller 60 that discharges the sheet material in the horizontal direction. This is a section in which a direction change of about 90 ° is performed. Therefore, the section is a section in which jamming (clogging) of the sheet material is likely to occur. Therefore, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a movable guide portion 50 disposed in a section from the fixing device 40 to the paper discharge roller 60.

  The movable guide portion 50 includes a sheet guide portion 51 that guides a sheet material conveyed to the paper discharge roller 60 (sheet discharge portion) after the image is thermally fixed to the second conveyance path 302. . Further, the movable guide section 50 is between a reference position where the sheet guide section 51 is along the second transport path 302 and a retract position where the sheet guide section 51 is separated from the second transport path 302. It is supported movably.

  More specifically, the movable guide portion 50 is supported by the support shaft 52 so as to be rotatable between the reference position and the retracted position. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the movable guide portion 50 is in the reference position, and FIG. 3 shows a state in which the movable guide portion 50 is in the retracted position. As shown in FIG. 3, the movable guide portion 50 moves to the retracted position by being rotated in the direction 103 toward the cover portion 5, and rotates in the direction 104 toward the second transport path 302. It is positioned to the reference position by being moved.

  The movable guide portion 50 is positioned at the reference position by a supported portion 53 that is a part of the movable guide portion 50 being in contact with and supported by a fixed support portion 400. Thus, the movable guide part 50 is held at the reference position by at least its own weight.

  The cover 5 is supported so as to be able to open and close an area where the movable guide 50 is disposed and an area below the area. As shown in FIG. 3, when the movable guide portion is moved to the retracted position with the cover portion 5 being opened, the second transport path 302 is released. As a result, the image forming apparatus 1 is in a state in which it is possible to easily release the jammed sheet material in the second conveyance path 302.

  By the way, when the movable guide portion 50 is held at the reference position only by its own weight, when the stiff sheet material such as thick paper passes through the second transport path 302, the reference is made. Easy to deviate greatly from the position. Therefore, a mechanism for holding the movable guide portion 50 more firmly in the vicinity of the reference position when the cover portion 5 is closed is necessary.

  On the other hand, providing a direct contact type protrusion that positions the movable guide portion 50 by directly contacting the movable guide portion 50 inside the cover portion 5 causes the following inconvenience. In other words, the direct contact type protrusions collide with the movable guide part 50 due to the surplus momentum of closing the cover part 5 in the direction 202 toward the inside of the main body. Due to this collision, there is a possibility that the movable guide part 50 or the direct contact type projection part is damaged. This is because the cover 5 has a structure that enters the inside of the main body device from the holding position in the temporarily closed state before being held by the lock mechanism 7.

  Further, the movable guide portion 50 that comes into contact with the high-temperature sheet material immediately after being heated by the fixing device 40 is a member made of a resin mixed with glass fibers so as to have heat resistance. For example, a member in which glass fiber is mixed with resin such as polycarbonate or pet is employed as the movable guide portion 50. Since the movable guide part 50 containing glass fiber hardly bends, the problem of the breakage of the movable guide part 50 due to a collision is more likely to occur. In addition, in order to avoid the problem of breakage, if a large interval (play) is provided between the direct contact type protrusion and the movable guide portion 50, the movable guide portion 50 cannot be correctly positioned. .

  Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1, the driven roller 100 for the turnback sheet, which has been conventionally used only in the double-sided printing type image forming apparatus, is used as a part of the positioning mechanism of the movable guide unit 50. Here, the turnback sheet refers to a sheet material whose conveyance direction is reversed by the paper discharge roller 60.

  The driven roller 100 is a roller that is elastically supported rotatably on the opposite side of the movable guide portion 50 with respect to the sheet guide portion 51. Hereinafter, a positioning mechanism of the movable guide unit 50 using the driven roller 100 will be described.

  Most of the components in the single-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1 are common to the double-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1000 which is an equivalent model. As described above, the paper discharge roller 60 in the image forming apparatus 1 in the double-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1000 reverses the sheet material on which an image is formed for one-sided printing. It also functions as a roller for transporting.

  In the double-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1000, the sheet material whose conveyance direction is reversed by the paper discharge roller 60 is on the opposite side of the sheet guide portion 51 in the movable guide portion 50 as shown in FIG. It is transported to the third transport path 303. For convenience, the third transport path 303 is shown in FIG. 2, but the third transport path 303 is not used in the single-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1.

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a double-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1000 which is a model equivalent to the image forming apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 5, in the double-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1000, a drive roller 900 for the turnback sheet and the driven roller 100 are arranged in the third conveyance path 303. The driving roller 900 is driven by a motor. The driven roller 100 rotates following the driving roller 900. The driven roller 100 is rotatably supported with a coil spring 110 as a support shaft. Thus, the driven roller 100 is rotatably and elastically supported by a very simple support mechanism called the coil spring 110.

  On the other hand, the single-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1 does not include the driving roller 900 and a motor for driving the driving roller 900. Instead, the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a regulating member 90 for restricting the movable range of the movable guide portion 50 inside the cover portion 5. (See FIG. 2) The regulating member 90 approaches or contacts the driven roller 100 so as to limit the movable range of the movable guide 50 at the reference position when the cover 5 is closed. It is a member. The restriction member 90 is made of, for example, a resin member, and is attached to the cover portion 5 by a fixing tool such as a screw or a rivet (not shown).

  In the example shown in FIG. 2, when the movable guide portion 50 is at the reference position and the cover portion 5 is in the closed state, the regulating member 90 is slightly spaced from the driven roller 100. It is an example in the case of approaching each other. In addition, when the movable guide part 50 is in the reference position and the cover part 5 is in a closed state, a configuration in which the restriction member 90 contacts the driven roller 100 is also conceivable.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a cross section of the movable guide portion 50 and the cover portion 5 as viewed from above. As shown in FIG. 4, the driven roller 100 is provided at two locations in the longitudinal direction with respect to the movable guide portion 50. The two regulating members 90 are provided so as to be close to or in contact with the driven roller 100 at two locations in the longitudinal direction of the movable guide portion 50. The restricting member 90 has a protrusion 91 whose tip approaches or contacts the driven roller 100 and a pedestal 92 on which a fixing tool for attachment to the cover 5 is fixed. The restricting member 90 also has a reinforcing portion (not shown) for increasing the rigidity of the restricting member 90.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the restriction member 90 blocks the region that becomes the third conveyance path 303 when the restriction member 90 is replaced with the drive roller 900 for a turnback sheet. Be placed. As described above, the third conveyance path 303 is not used as a sheet material conveyance path in the single-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1.

  In addition, when the driving roller 900 is provided in the cover portion 5 instead of the regulating member 90, the driving roller 900 and the driven roller 100 function as a roller pair that conveys the turnback sheet. Further, the drive roller 900 also functions as a member that restricts the movement range of the movable guide portion 50, similarly to the restriction member 90. As described above, the drive roller 900 is a roller that contacts the driven roller 100 and drives the driven roller 100 in a state where the cover portion 5 is closed. The turnback sheet is a sheet material whose conveyance direction is reversed at the sheet discharge roller 60 (sheet discharge unit).

  Hereinafter, the operation of the restriction member 90 will be described. In the following description, a state where the movable guide portion 50 is at the reference position and the cover portion 5 is closed is referred to as a reference state.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 in the reference state, the restricting member 90 contacts the driven roller 100 when the movable guide portion 50 is about to be displaced. Accordingly, the restricting member 90 indirectly restricts the rotation range of the movable guide 50 via the driven roller 100 and the coil spring 110. As a result, even when a stiff sheet material passes through the second conveyance path 302, the movable guide unit 50 is correctly held in the vicinity of the reference position.

  The restricting member 90 collides with the driven roller 100 when the cover portion 5 is closed. The impact of the collision is absorbed by elastic deformation of the coil spring 110. Therefore, damage to the restriction member 90 and the driven roller 100 due to the collision can be prevented.

  In addition, the mechanism including the driven roller 100 and the components that support the driven roller 100 is simple in structure, and is also used in the duplex printing type image forming apparatus 1000. Therefore, adopting the driven roller 100 in the single-sided printing type image forming apparatus 1 contributes to standardization of parts and assembly man-hours, and has an advantage in terms of cost.

  The image forming apparatus 1 described above has a structure in which the movable guide 50 is rotatably supported by the support shaft 52, but other structures may be adopted. For example, it is conceivable that the movable guide 50 is supported so as to be linearly slidable between the reference position and a position where the sheet guide portion 51 is separated from the second conveyance path 303. A structure in which the driven roller 100 and the regulating member 90 are provided at three or more locations in the longitudinal direction of the movable guide 50 is also conceivable.

  The present invention is applicable to an image forming apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Scanner part 3 Paper feed cassette 4 Paper discharge tray 5 Cover part 6 Manual feed tray 7 Lock mechanism 10 First paper feed roller 20 Registration roller 30 Image transfer unit 40 Fixing device 41 Heating roller 42 Pressure roller 50 Movable guide part 51 Sheet guide part 52 Support shaft 53 Supported part 60 Paper discharge roller 70 Second paper feed roller 80 Manual sheet guide 90 Restricting member 91 Projection part 92 Base part 100 Driven roller 110 Coil spring 301 First transport path 302 Second transport path 303 Third transport path 400 Support unit 900 Drive roller 1000 Double-sided printing type image forming apparatus

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus capable of forming an image only on one side of a sheet material,
A sheet guide unit that guides the sheet material conveyed to the sheet discharge unit after the image is thermally fixed to a predetermined path, and the sheet guide unit includes a first position along the predetermined path and the sheet guide unit; A movable guide part supported so as to be movable between a second position spaced from the predetermined path;
A cover portion supported so as to be able to open and close the region where the movable guide portion is disposed;
A roller elastically supported rotatably on the opposite side of the movable guide portion with respect to the sheet guide portion;
A regulating member that is attached to the inside of the cover part and is close to the roller so as to limit a movable range of the movable guide part at the first position in a state where the cover part is closed;
An image forming apparatus comprising: An image forming apparatus capable of forming an image only on one side of a sheet material,
A sheet guide unit that guides the sheet material conveyed to the sheet discharge unit after the image is thermally fixed to a predetermined path, and the sheet guide unit includes a first position along the predetermined path and the sheet guide unit; A movable guide part supported so as to be movable between a second position spaced from the predetermined path;
A cover portion supported so as to be able to open and close the region where the movable guide portion is disposed;
A roller elastically supported rotatably on the opposite side of the movable guide portion with respect to the sheet guide portion;
A regulating member attached to the inside of the cover part and in contact with the roller so as to limit a movable range of the movable guide part at the first position in a state where the cover part is closed;
An image forming apparatus comprising: The roller is rotatably supported with a coil spring as a support shaft.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The movable guide part is a member made of a resin mixed with glass fibers.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

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