JP5522294B1 - Sealing member, powder container and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent toner scattering and to reduce heat generation due to sliding contact with a nozzle.
A seal provided around an opening / closing member 332 that moves a tube insertion port 331 of a powder container 32 from a closed position to an open position by contacting a conveyance tube 611 provided on the image forming apparatus side. The stop member 333 is formed so that the foam density on the downstream side in the first movement direction is higher than that on the upstream side when the movement direction of the opening / closing member 332 from the closed position to the open position is the first movement direction. In addition, in the first movement direction, the opening / closing member 332 and the through-hole 333h provided outside the transfer pipe 611 can pass through, and the inner periphery of the through-hole 333h changes from the closed position to the open position. Slidably contact with the outer periphery of the opening / closing member 332 by the movement of the slidable contact surface 333a that rotates and slides relative to the outer periphery 612r of the transport tube opening / closing member 612 at the open position. The frictional force of the upstream side in the definitive first moving direction was formed to be lower than the downstream side.
[Selection] Figure 23

Description

  The present invention relates to a powder container for storing a developer as powder used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, or a multifunction machine having a plurality of functions, and the powder container. The present invention relates to a sealing member and an image forming apparatus.

  Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, a toner container is employed as a replaceable powder container. For example, the toner container disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a shutter that can move in and out of the toner container by contacting a nozzle that advances and retreats from the image forming apparatus side, and a nozzle receiving member that holds the shutter. When the nozzle is set in the forming apparatus, the nozzle enters the inside of the toner container, and the toner container rotates to supply toner inside the toner container. Further, in a toner container alone (for example, a toner container removed from the image forming apparatus or a toner container before the image forming apparatus is mounted), the shutter is in a position to close the opening of the toner container, and a sealing member is provided around the shutter. A seal member is provided.

The seal member desirably improves the close contact with the shutter in the toner container alone to prevent toner leakage, and reduces heat generation due to sliding contact with the nozzle when mounted on the image forming apparatus.
The present invention provides a sealing member that achieves both prevention of toner leakage and reduction of heat generation due to sliding contact with a nozzle, a powder container including the sealing member, and an image forming apparatus including the powder container. The purpose is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the sealing member according to the present invention moves the tube insertion port of the powder container from the closed position to the open position by coming into contact with the conveying tube provided on the image forming apparatus side. Provided around the opening / closing member, when the movement direction of the opening / closing member from the closed position to the open position is the first movement direction, the foam density on the downstream side in the first movement direction is higher than that on the upstream side. And is formed on the inner periphery of the penetrating portion through which the conveying pipe opening / closing member provided outside the opening / closing member and the conveying pipe in the first movement direction can pass. Slidably contact with the outer periphery of the opening / closing member by moving to the slidable contact surface to rotate and slide relative to the outer periphery of the transfer tube opening / closing member at the open position. Compared to the downstream friction force It is characterized in that it has formed to be lower.

  According to the present invention, the foaming density on the downstream side in the first movement direction of the opening / closing member from the closed position toward the open position is formed to be higher than that on the upstream side. Formed on the outer perimeter of the through-hole through which the transport pipe opening / closing member provided on the outside can penetrate, and in sliding contact with the outer periphery of the open / close member by moving from the closed position to the open position, and opening / closing the transport pipe in the open position A sliding contact surface that rotates relative to the outer periphery of the member to form a sliding contact is formed, and the frictional force on the upstream side in the first movement direction on the sliding contact surface is formed to be lower than that on the downstream side. Both prevention can be achieved and heat generation can be reduced by sliding contact with the nozzle.

Cross-sectional explanatory drawing of the powder conveying apparatus and powder container before mounting | wearing with the powder container according to the present invention. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating one configuration of an image forming unit of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which a powder container is installed in the powder conveyance device in the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2. The schematic perspective view which shows the state by which the powder container was installed in the powder conveying apparatus. The perspective explanatory view showing the composition of the powder container concerning the present invention. The perspective view of the powder conveying apparatus and the powder container before mounting the powder container. The perspective view of the powder conveying apparatus and the powder container in a state where the powder container is mounted. Cross-sectional explanatory drawing of the powder conveyance apparatus and powder storage container of the state which mounted | wore the powder storage container. The perspective explanatory view of the powder container in the state where the cover on the front end side is removed. The perspective explanatory view of the powder container in the state where the nozzle receiving member was removed from the container body. Cross-sectional explanatory drawing of the powder container in the state which removed the nozzle receiving member from the container main body. Sectional explanatory drawing of the powder container in the state which attached the nozzle receiving member to the container main body from the state of FIG. The perspective explanatory view of the nozzle receiving member seen from the container front end side . The perspective explanatory drawing of the nozzle receiving member seen from the container rear end side. FIG. 14 is a top sectional view of the nozzle receiving member in the state shown in FIG. 13. FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the nozzle receiving member in the state shown in FIG. 13. The disassembled perspective view of a nozzle receiving member. (A)-(d) is the top view seen from the top explaining the state at the time of mounting | wearing operation | movement of an opening-and-closing member and a conveyance pipe. (A) is a plan view of the sealing member, (b) is a BB cross-sectional view of the sealing member shown in (a), (c) is an explanatory diagram showing the virtual diameter of the nozzle shutter abutment rib, (d ) Is an explanatory view showing the relationship between the virtual diameter of the nozzle shutter abutment rib and the outer diameter of the sealing member. (A) is sectional drawing of the principal part around a sealing member in the state before a conveyance pipe contacted an opening-and-closing member in the process of mounting a powder container, (b) is a conveyance pipe in the process of mounting a powder container. FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view of the main part around the sealing member in a state where the opening and closing member is in contact with the distal end side of the opening / closing member, and FIG. The principal part sectional drawing of the sealing member periphery in the state which contact | abutted, (d) is principal part sectional drawing of the sealing member periphery of the state which mounted | wore with the powder container. The figure which shows the evaluation result of the toner leak by the drop test of the powder container which changed the form of the sealing member. The figure which shows the content of the drop test of a powder container. (a) is an expanded sectional view explaining the relationship between the outer diameter of a conveyance pipe opening / closing member, the inner diameter of the through-hole of a sealing member, and the outer diameter of an opening / closing member, (b) is an expanded sectional view of a sealing member. The figure which extracted and plotted the correlation of the thickness of a 1st layer and a 2nd layer, and a toner leak from the evaluation result shown in FIG. The figure which extracted and plotted the correlation of the amount of crushing of a sealing member, and a toner leak from the evaluation result shown in FIG. The figure which extracted and plotted the correlation of the layer structure of a sealing member, and a toner leak from the evaluation result shown in FIG. The figure which extracted and plotted the correlation with the sealing form of a sealing member, the amount of crushing, and a toner leak from the evaluation result shown in FIG. (A) is principal part sectional drawing of the sealing member periphery in the state of Fig.21 (a), (b) is the figure which expanded the area | region shown by (alpha) of (a). The figure which shows the result when it is made to operate continuously for 100 seconds about the layer structure of a sealing member, and the sliding heat at the time of powder container rotation. The figure which evaluated the temperature rise accompanying actual toner discharge operation | movement using layer structure T-3 of the sealing member shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the structure provided with the pumping-up rib as a pumping-up part, (a) is perspective explanatory drawing of a nozzle receiving member, (b) is the state which assembled | attached the nozzle receiving member shown to (a) to the container main body. Cross-sectional explanatory view, (c) is a side cross-sectional explanatory view of the entire toner container assembled with the nozzle receiving member shown in (a), and (d) is a container shutter provided in the powder container shown in (c). Perspective view.

Hereinafter, a plurality of embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each embodiment, the same member or a member having the same function is denoted by the same reference numeral, and description thereof is omitted in the subsequent embodiments. In addition, the following description is an example and does not limit a claim. In the figure, Y, M, C, and K are subscripts attached to components corresponding to (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black), and will be omitted as appropriate.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the copying machine 500 of the present embodiment. The copying machine 500 includes a copying machine main body (hereinafter referred to as a printer unit 100), a paper feed table (hereinafter referred to as a paper feed unit 200), and a scanner (hereinafter referred to as a scanner unit 400) mounted on the printer unit 100. Yes.

  A toner container storage unit 70 as a powder container storage unit provided in the upper part of the printer unit 100 has four toner containers 32 (Y as powder storage containers corresponding to each color (yellow, magenta, cyan, black)). , M, C, K) are detachably (replaceable). An intermediate transfer unit 85 is disposed below the toner container storage unit 70.

  The intermediate transfer unit 85 includes an intermediate transfer belt 48 as an intermediate transfer member, four primary transfer bias rollers 49 (Y, M, C, and K), a secondary transfer backup roller 82, a plurality of tension rollers, and an unillustrated An intermediate transfer cleaning device is used. The intermediate transfer belt 48 is stretched and supported by a plurality of roller members, and moves endlessly in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 by the rotational drive of the secondary transfer backup roller 82 which is one of the plurality of roller members.

  The printer unit 100 is provided with four image forming units 46 (Y, M, C, K) corresponding to the respective colors so as to face the intermediate transfer belt 48. Below the four toner containers 32 (Y, M, C, K), there are four toner replenishing devices 60 (Y, M, C, K) as powder conveying devices corresponding to the toner containers of the respective colors. It is arranged. The toner, which is a powder developer contained in the toner container 32 (Y, M, C, K), corresponds to each color by the corresponding toner replenishing device 60 (Y, M, C, K). The image forming unit 46 (Y, M, C, K) is supplied (supplied) into the developing device.

As shown in FIG. 2, the printer unit 100 includes an exposure device 47 that is a latent image forming unit below the four image forming units 46. The exposure device 47 exposes and scans the surface of a photoconductor 41 (Y, M, C, K), which will be described later, based on the image information of the original image read by the scanner unit 400, and electrostatic latent image on the surface of each photoconductor. Form an image. The image information may be image information input from an external device such as a personal computer connected to the copying machine 500 instead of reading from the scanner unit 400.
In the present embodiment, the exposure device 47 uses a laser beam scanner system using a laser diode, but other configurations such as an exposure unit using an LED array may be used.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of the image forming unit 46Y corresponding to yellow.
The image forming unit 46Y includes a drum-shaped photoreceptor 41Y that is an image carrier. The image forming unit 46Y has a configuration in which a charging roller 44Y as a charging unit, a developing device 50Y as a developing unit, a photoconductor cleaning device 42Y, a static eliminator (not shown), and the like are disposed around the photoconductor 41Y. Then, an image forming process (charging process, exposure process, development process, transfer process, cleaning process) is performed on the photoreceptor 41Y, whereby a yellow toner image is formed on the photoreceptor 41Y.

  The other three image forming units 46 (M, C, K) have substantially the same configuration as the image forming unit 46Y corresponding to yellow except that the color of the toner used is different. A toner image corresponding to each color toner is formed on the photoreceptor 41 (M, C, K). Hereinafter, description of the other three image forming units 46 (M, C, K) will be omitted as appropriate, and only the image forming unit 46Y corresponding to yellow will be described.

  The photoreceptor 41Y is rotationally driven in a clockwise direction in FIG. 3 by a drive motor (not shown). The surface of the photoreceptor 41Y is uniformly charged at the position facing the charging roller 44Y (charging process). Thereafter, the surface of the photoreceptor 41Y reaches the irradiation position of the laser beam L emitted from the exposure device 47, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to yellow is formed by exposure scanning at this position (exposure process). Thereafter, the surface of the photoreceptor 41Y reaches a position facing the developing device 50Y, and the electrostatic latent image is developed with yellow toner at this position to form a yellow toner image (developing step).

  The four primary transfer bias rollers 49 (Y, M, C, K) of the intermediate transfer unit 85 respectively sandwich the intermediate transfer belt 48 between the photoreceptor 41 (Y, M, C, K) and perform primary transfer. A nip is formed. A transfer bias reverse to the polarity of the toner is applied to the primary transfer bias roller 49 (Y, M, C, K).

  The surface of the photoconductor 41Y on which the toner image is formed in the developing process reaches a primary transfer nip that faces the primary transfer bias roller 49Y with the intermediate transfer belt 48 interposed therebetween, and the toner image on the photoconductor 41Y at this primary transfer nip. Is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 48 (primary transfer step). At this time, a small amount of untransferred toner remains on the photoreceptor 41Y. The surface of the photoconductor 41Y that has transferred the toner image to the intermediate transfer belt 48 at the primary transfer nip reaches a position facing the photoconductor cleaning device 42Y. The untransferred toner remaining on the photoreceptor 41Y is mechanically collected by the cleaning blade 42a provided in the photoreceptor cleaning device 42Y at this facing position (cleaning process). Finally, the surface of the photoconductor 41Y reaches a position facing a static eliminator (not shown), and the residual potential on the photoconductor 41Y is removed at this position. Thus, a series of image forming processes performed on the photoreceptor 41Y is completed.

  Such an image forming process is performed in the other image forming units 46 (M, C, K) similarly to the yellow image forming unit 46Y. That is, the laser beam L based on the image information from the exposure device 47 disposed below the image forming unit 46 (M, C, K) is a photoconductor of each image forming unit 46 (M, C, K). 41 (M, C, K). Specifically, the exposure device 47 emits a laser beam L from a light source, and scans the laser beam L with a polygon mirror that is rotationally driven, while each photoconductor 41 (M, C, K) via a plurality of optical elements. ) Irradiate the top. Thereafter, the toner images of the respective colors formed on the photoreceptors 41 (M, C, K) through the developing process are transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 48.

  At this time, the intermediate transfer belt 48 travels in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 and sequentially passes through the primary transfer nip of each primary transfer bias roller 49 (Y, M, C, K). As a result, the toner images of the respective colors on the respective photoreceptors 41 (Y, M, C, K) are primarily transferred while being superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 48, and a color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 48.

  The intermediate transfer belt 48 on which the toner images of the respective colors are transferred in a superimposed manner and the color toner image is formed reaches a position facing the secondary transfer roller 89. At this position, the secondary transfer backup roller 82 sandwiches the intermediate transfer belt 48 between the secondary transfer roller 89 and forms a secondary transfer nip. The color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 48 has a transfer bias applied to, for example, the secondary transfer backup roller 82 on the recording medium P such as transfer paper conveyed to the position of the secondary transfer nip. Transcribed by action. At this time, untransferred toner that has not been transferred to the recording medium P remains on the intermediate transfer belt 48. The intermediate transfer belt 48 that has passed through the secondary transfer nip reaches the position of an intermediate transfer cleaning device (not shown), untransferred toner on the surface is collected, and a series of transfer processes performed on the intermediate transfer belt 48 is completed. To do.

Next, the movement of the recording medium P will be described.
The recording medium P conveyed to the secondary transfer nip described above is fed from the paper feed tray 26 provided in the paper feed unit 200 disposed below the printer unit 100 to the paper feed roller 27, the registration roller pair 28, and the like. It is conveyed via. Specifically, a plurality of recording media P are stored in the paper feed tray 26 in an overlapping manner. When the paper feed roller 27 is driven to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 2, the uppermost recording medium P is conveyed toward a roller nip formed by the two rollers of the registration roller pair 28.

  The recording medium P transported to the registration roller pair 28 temporarily stops at the position of the roller nip of the registration roller pair 28 whose rotation drive has been stopped. The registration roller pair 28 is rotationally driven in accordance with the timing at which the color toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 48 reaches the secondary transfer nip, so that the recording medium P is conveyed toward the secondary transfer nip. . As a result, a desired color toner image is transferred onto the recording medium P.

  The recording medium P on which the color toner image is transferred at the secondary transfer nip is conveyed to the position of the fixing device 86. In the fixing device 86, the color toner image transferred onto the surface is fixed on the recording medium P by heat and pressure generated by the fixing belt and the pressure roller. The recording medium P that has passed through the fixing device 86 is discharged to the outside of the apparatus after passing between the rollers of the discharge roller pair 29. The recording media P discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the discharge roller pair 29 are sequentially stacked on the stack unit 30 as an output image. Thus, a series of image forming processes in the copying machine 500 is completed.

  Next, the configuration and operation of the developing device 50 in the image forming unit 46 will be described in more detail. Here, the image forming unit 46Y corresponding to yellow is described as an example, but the same configuration and operation are performed in the image forming units 46 (M, C, K) of other colors.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the developing device 50Y includes a developing roller 51Y as a developer carrier, a doctor blade 52Y as a developer regulating member, two developer conveying screws 55Y, a toner concentration detection sensor 56Y, and the like. Has been. The developing roller 51Y faces the photoconductor 41Y, and the doctor blade 52Y faces the developing roller 51Y. The two developer conveying screws 55Y are disposed in the two developer accommodating portions (53Y, 54Y). The developing roller 51Y includes a magnet roller fixed inside, a sleeve rotating around the magnet roller, and the like. In the first developer accommodating portion 53Y and the second developer accommodating portion 54Y, a two-component developer G composed of a carrier and toner is accommodated. The second developer accommodating portion 54Y communicates with the toner dropping conveyance path 64Y through an opening formed thereabove. The toner concentration detection sensor 56Y detects the toner concentration in the developer G in the second developer container 54Y.

  The developer G in the developing device 50Y circulates between the first developer accommodating portion 53Y and the second developer accommodating portion 54Y while being stirred by the two developer conveying screws 55Y. The developer G in the first developer accommodating portion 53Y is supplied and carried on the sleeve surface of the developing roller 51Y by the magnetic field formed by the magnet roller in the developing roller 51Y while being conveyed to one of the developer conveying screws 55Y. Is done. The sleeve of the developing roller 51Y is driven to rotate counterclockwise as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 3, and the developer G carried on the developing roller 51Y moves on the developing roller 51Y as the sleeve rotates. At this time, the toner in the developer G is charged on the potential opposite to that of the carrier due to frictional charging with the carrier in the developer G, and is electrostatically attracted to the carrier, and is formed on the developing roller 51Y. Along with the carrier attracted by the magnetic field, it is carried on the developing roller 51Y.

  The developer G carried on the developing roller 51Y is conveyed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3, and reaches the doctor portion where the doctor blade 52Y and the developing roller 51Y face each other. The amount of the developer G on the developing roller 51Y is regulated to an appropriate amount when passing through the doctor portion, and is then conveyed to the developing region that is the position facing the photoconductor 41Y. In the development area, the toner in the developer G is attracted to the latent image formed on the photoreceptor 41Y by the development electric field formed between the development roller 51Y and the photoreceptor 41Y. The developer G remaining on the surface of the developing roller 51Y that has passed through the developing region reaches above the first developer containing portion 53Y as the sleeve rotates, and is detached from the developing roller 51Y at this position.

  The developer G in the developing device 50Y is adjusted so that the toner density is within a predetermined range. Specifically, the toner stored in the toner container 32Y passes through the toner replenishing device 60Y, which will be described later, according to the consumption amount of the toner contained in the developer G in the developing device 50Y. 54Y is replenished. The toner replenished in the second developer accommodating portion 54Y is mixed and stirred together with the developer G by the two developer conveying screws 55Y, while the first developer accommodating portion 53Y, the second developer accommodating portion 54Y, Cycle between.

Next, the toner replenishing device 60 (Y, M, C, K) will be described.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state where the toner container 32Y is mounted on the toner replenishing device 60Y, and FIG. 5 illustrates a case where four toner containers 32 (Y, M, C, K) are mounted in the toner container housing portion 70. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the state made.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the toner in the toner container 32 (Y, M, C, K) attached to the toner container storage unit 70 of the printer unit 100 is developed in each color developing device 50 (Y, M, C, K). Each developing device 50 (Y, M, C, K) is appropriately replenished according to the toner consumption. At this time, the toner in the toner container 32 (Y, M, C, K) is supplied by a toner supply device 60 (Y, M, C, K) provided for each toner color. The four toner replenishing devices 60 (Y, M, C, K) and the toner containers 32 (Y, M, C, K) have substantially the same structure except that the colors of the toners used in the image forming process are different. . Therefore, only the toner replenishing device 60Y corresponding to yellow and the toner container 32Y will be described below, and the toner replenishing device 60 (M, C, K) and toner containers 32 (M, C, K) corresponding to the other three colors will be described. The description of K) will be omitted as appropriate.

The toner replenishing device 60 (Y, M, C, K) includes a toner container storage unit 70, a transport nozzle 611 (Y, M, C, K) as a transport tube, and a transport screw 614 (Y, M, K) as a transport member. C, K), a toner drop conveyance path 64 (Y, M, C, K), a container rotation drive unit 91 (Y, M, C, K), and the like.
For convenience of explanation, with reference to the mounting direction of the toner container 32Y to the toner replenishing device 60Y, the container opening 33a side of the container body 33 to be described later is defined as the container front end side, and the opposite side of the container opening 33a (described later). Let the handle part 303 side) be a container rear end side. When the toner container 32Y moves in the direction of arrow Q in FIG. 4 (hereinafter referred to as “setting direction Q”) and is mounted in the toner container storage section 70 of the printer unit 100, the toner container is interlocked with the mounting operation. The transport nozzle 611Y of the toner replenishing device 60Y is inserted from the tip end side of the 32Y container. As a result, the inside of the toner container 32Y communicates with the inside of the transport nozzle 611Y. Details of the configuration communicating in conjunction with the mounting operation will be described later.

  As a form of the toner container, the toner container 32Y is a substantially cylindrical toner bottle. The toner container 32Y mainly includes a container front end side cover 34Y that is non-rotatably held in the toner container storage unit 70, and a container body 33Y as a powder storage member integrally formed with a container gear 301Y. Is done. The container body 33Y is rotatably held with respect to the container front end side cover 34Y.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the toner container storage unit 70 mainly includes a container cover receiving unit 73, a container receiving unit 72, and an insertion port forming unit 71. The container cover receiving portion 73 is a part for holding the container front end side cover 34Y of the toner container 32Y. The container receiving part 72 is a part for supporting the container main body 33Y of the toner container 32Y. The insertion port forming portion 71 is a portion that forms an insertion port during the mounting operation of the container receiving portion 72 and the toner container 32Y. When the main body cover (not shown) installed on the front side of the copier 500 (the front side in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2) is opened, the insertion port forming portion 71 of the toner container storage portion 70 is exposed. Then, each toner container 32 (Y, M, C, K) can be attached / detached from the front side of the copier 500 in a state where the longitudinal direction of each toner container 32 (Y, M, C, K) is horizontal. An attachment / detachment operation in which the longitudinal direction of the toner container 32 is the attachment / detachment direction is performed. A set cover 608Y in FIG. 4 is a part of the container cover receiving portion 73 of the toner container housing portion 70.

The container receiving portion 72 is formed so that the length in the longitudinal direction is substantially equal to the length in the longitudinal direction of the container body 33Y. The container cover receiving portion 73 is provided on the container front end side in the longitudinal direction (detachment direction) of the container receiving portion 72, and the insertion port forming portion 71 is provided on one end side in the longitudinal direction of the container receiving portion 72. In FIG. 5, grooves extending from the insertion port forming portion 71 to the container cover receiving portion 73 are formed directly below the four toner containers 32 with the axial direction of the container main body 33 as the longitudinal direction. A pair of slide guides 361 (FIG. 7) are provided on both side surfaces of the lower portion of the container front end side cover 34 so as to fit in the groove and allow sliding movement. The groove of the container receiving portion 72 has a pair of slide rails protruding from both side surfaces thereof. The slide guide 361 is formed with a slide groove 361 a parallel to the rotation axis of the container body 33 so as to be sandwiched between the pair of slide rails from above and below. Further, the container front end cover 34 includes a container lock portion 339 that engages with a replenishing device side locking member provided on the set cover 608 when the toner replenishing device 60 is mounted.
Therefore, along with the mounting operation of the toner container 32Y, the container front end side cover 34Y slides on the container receiving portion 72 for a while after passing through the insertion port forming portion 71, and is thereafter mounted on the container cover receiving portion 73. .
Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the container tip side cover 34 is provided with an IC tag (ID tag, information storage device) 700 that records data such as the usage status of the toner container 32. Further, the container front end cover 34 is provided with a color non-compatible rib 34b for preventing the toner container 32 having a different toner color from being mounted on the set cover 608 of another color. When the slide guide 361 is engaged with the slide rail of the container receiving portion 72, the posture of the container tip side cover 34 on the replenishing device 60 is determined. Then, the positioning of the container lock portion 339 and the replenishment device side locking member 609 and the positioning of the IC tag 700 and the connector on the main body side can be performed smoothly.

  With the container front end side cover 34Y attached to the container cover receiving portion 73, the container rotation drive portion 91Y constituted by a drive motor, a drive gear, etc. as shown in FIG. The rotational drive is input to the container gear 301Y (FIG. 10) provided in the main body 33Y. Thereby, the container main body 33Y is rotationally driven in the arrow A direction in FIG. By rotating the container main body 33Y itself, the spiral protrusion 302Y (rotation conveyance unit) formed in a spiral shape on the inner peripheral surface of the container main body 33Y also rotates, and the toner contained in the container main body 33Y is transferred to the container main body 33Y. Along the longitudinal direction, the sheet is conveyed from one end (on the handle 303 side) located on the left side in FIG. 4 to the other end (on the container opening 33a side) located on the right side. As a result, the toner is supplied into the transport nozzle 611Y from the container front end side cover 34Y provided at the other end 33. In other words, the toner is supplied to the transport nozzle 611Y inserted into the nozzle receiving port 331Y by the rotation of the spiral protrusion 302Y.

A transport screw 614Y is disposed in the transport nozzle 611Y. The conveyance screw 614Y rotates when rotation drive is input from the container rotation driving unit 91Y to the conveyance screw gear 605Y, and conveys the toner supplied into the conveyance nozzle 611Y. The downstream end of the transport nozzle 611Y in the transport direction is connected to the toner dropping transport path 64Y. The toner transported by the transport screw 614Y falls in its own weight on the toner drop transport path 64Y and is replenished into the developing device 50Y (second developer accommodating portion 54Y).
Each of the toner containers 32 (Y, M, C, K) is replaced with a new one when it reaches the end of its life (when almost all of the contained toner is consumed and emptied). A grip portion 303 is provided at one end of the toner container 32 in the longitudinal direction opposite to the container front end side cover 34. When the toner container 32 is to be replaced, it is attached by grasping and pulling the handle portion 303. The toner container 32 can be removed.

In the toner replenishing device 60Y, the amount of toner supplied to the developing device 50Y is controlled by the rotational speed of the conveying screw 614Y. Therefore, the toner that has passed through the transport nozzle 611Y is directly transported to the developing device 50Y via the toner dropping transport path 64Y without controlling the supply amount to the developing device 50Y. As in the present embodiment, the toner replenishing device 60Y that inserts the transport nozzle 611Y into the toner container 32Y may be provided with a toner 1-time reservoir such as a toner hopper.
In the toner replenishing device 60Y of the present embodiment, the toner supplied into the transport nozzle 611Y is transported by the transport screw 614Y, but the transport member configured to transport the toner supplied into the transport nozzle 611Y is used. Is not limited to the screw member. For example, a configuration in which a conveyance force is applied by means other than a screw member, such as a configuration in which a negative pressure is generated at the opening of the conveyance nozzle 611Y using a known powder pump, may be used.

  Next, the toner container 32 (Y, M, C, K) and the toner supply device 60 (Y, M, C, K) of this embodiment will be described in more detail. As described above, the toner container 32 (Y, M, C, K) and the toner replenishing device 60 (Y, M, C, K) have substantially the same configuration except that the colors of the toners used are different. It has become. Therefore, in the following description, the subscripts Y, M, C, and K indicating the toner color are omitted.

FIG. 6 is a perspective explanatory view of the toner container 32. FIG. 7 is a perspective explanatory view of the toner replenishing device 60 before the toner container 32 is mounted and the front end side end portion of the toner container 32, and FIG. 8 is a toner replenishing device 60 in a state where the toner container 32 is mounted. FIG. 6 is a perspective explanatory view of the toner container 32 on the front end side of the container.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the toner replenishing device 60 before the toner container 32 is mounted and the end of the toner container 32 on the front end side of the container, and FIG. 9 is a toner replenishing state with the toner container 32 mounted. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the device 60 and an end portion of the toner container 32 on the container front end side.

  The toner replenishing device 60 includes a transport nozzle 611 that includes a transport screw 614 and a nozzle shutter 612. The nozzle shutter 612 closes the nozzle opening 610 formed in the transport nozzle 611 when the toner container 32 is not attached before the toner container 32 is attached (the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 7), and the toner shutter 32 is attached. At some time (the state shown in FIGS. 8 and 9), the nozzle opening 610 is opened. On the other hand, a nozzle receiving port 331 is formed in the center of the front end surface of the toner container 32 as a tube insertion port into which the transport nozzle 611 is inserted when mounted, and serves as an opening / closing member that closes the nozzle receiving port 331 when not mounted. The container shutter 332 is provided.

First, the toner container 32 will be described.
As described above, the toner container 32 mainly includes the container main body 33 and the container front end side cover 34. FIG. 10 is a perspective explanatory view of the toner container 32 with the container front end cover 34 removed from the state of FIG. The toner container 32 in the present invention is not limited to the one mainly composed of the container main body 33 and the container front end side cover 34. For example, when functions such as the slide guide 361 and the IC tag 700 included in the container front end side cover 34 are not provided, the container front end side cover 34 in FIG. 10 may be used as a toner container. Further, by providing functions such as the slide guide 361 and the IC tag 700 in the toner container, the toner container without the container front end cover can be obtained.
11 is a perspective explanatory view of the toner container 32 in a state in which the nozzle receiving member 330 as a tube insertion member is removed from the container main body 33 from the state of FIG. 10, and FIG. 12 shows the nozzle receiving member 330 from the container main body 33. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the toner container 32 in a removed state. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the toner container 32 with the nozzle receiving member 330 attached to the container main body 33 from the state of FIG. 12 (the toner container 32 with the container front end side cover 34 removed as in FIG. 10). is there.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the container main body 33 has a substantially cylindrical shape and is configured to rotate about the central axis of the cylinder as a rotation axis. Hereinafter, a direction parallel to the rotation axis is referred to as a “rotation axis direction”, and in the rotation axis direction, the side where the nozzle receiving port 331 is formed in the toner container 32 (the side where the container front end side cover 34 is disposed). Is called “container tip side”.
The side of the toner container 32 on which the handle portion 303 is disposed (the side opposite to the container front end side) will be referred to as “container rear end side”. The longitudinal direction of the toner container 32 described above is the rotational axis direction, and when the toner container 32 is attached to the toner supply device 60, the rotational axis direction is the horizontal direction. The container rear end side of the container main body 33 is larger in outer diameter than the container front end side, and a spiral projection 302 is formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof. When the container main body 33 rotates in the direction of arrow A in the figure, the toner in the container main body 33 is moved from one end side (container rear end side) to the other end side (container front end side) in the rotation axis direction by the action of the spiral protrusion 302. ) Is applied.

On the inner wall of the container main body 33 on the container front end side, the toner that has been conveyed to the container front end side by the spiral protrusion 302 when the container main body 33 rotates in the direction of arrow A in the figure is moved upward by the rotation of the container main body 33. A pumping unit 304 for pumping is formed. As shown in FIG. 13, the pumping portion 304 includes a convex portion 304h and a pumping wall surface 304f. The convex portion 304h is a portion that protrudes inside the container body 33 so as to form a ridge line of a mountain toward the rotation center of the container body 33 while forming a spiral. The pumping wall surface 304f is a wall surface on the downstream side when viewed from the container rotation direction among the wall surfaces of the abutting portions that connect from the convex portion 304h (ridge line) to the inner wall of the circumferential surface of the container body 33. When the pumping wall surface 304 f is below, the toner that has entered the internal space facing the pumping unit 304 by the conveying force of the spiral protrusion 302 is pumped upward by the pumping wall surface 304 f according to the rotation of the container body 33. As a result, the toner can be pumped up above the inserted transport nozzle 611.
Further, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 10 and the like, the pumping portion spiral projection formed in a spiral shape on the inner peripheral surface of the pumping portion 304 so as to convey the toner inside as well as the spiral projection 302. 304a is formed.

  A container gear 301 is formed further on the tip side of the container than the pumping portion 304 of the container body 33. The container tip side cover 34 is provided with a gear exposure opening 34a so that a part (the back side in FIG. 6) of the container gear 301 is exposed when attached to the container body 33. When the toner container 32 is attached to the toner replenishing device 60, the container gear 301 exposed from the gear exposure opening 34a is engaged with the container driving gear 601 on the toner replenishing device 60 side.

A cylindrical container opening 33 a is formed on the container tip side of the container body 33 further than the container gear 301. The nozzle receiving member 330 can be fixed to the container body 33 by press-fitting the receiving member fixing portion 337 of the nozzle receiving member 330 into the container opening 33a. The method for fixing the nozzle receiving member 330 is not limited to press-fitting, but may be fixing by an adhesive or fixing by screws.
The toner container 32 is configured to fix the nozzle receiving member 330 to the container opening 33 a of the container body 33 after filling the container body 33 with toner from the opening of the container opening 33 a.

  Further, a cover claw hooking portion 306 is formed at the end of the container opening 33 a of the container body 33 on the container gear 301 side. A container tip side cover 34 is attached to the toner container 32 (container body 33) in the state shown in FIG. 10 from the container tip side (lower left side in FIG. 10). Accordingly, the container main body 33 penetrates the container front end side cover 34 in the rotation axis direction, and the cover claw portion 341 provided on the upper portion of the container front end side cover 34 is hooked on the cover claw hooking portion 306. The cover claw hooking portion 306 is formed so as to make a round around the outer peripheral surface of the container opening 33a, and the container main body 33 and the container front end side cover 34 are relatively rotatable by being caught by the cover claw portion 341. It becomes the attachment.

  The container body 33 is formed by a biaxial stretch blow molding method. This biaxial stretch blow molding method generally comprises a two-stage process including a preform molding process and a stretch blow molding process. In the preform molding step, a test tubular preform is molded by injection molding using a resin. By the injection molding at this time, the container opening 33a, the cover claw hook 306, and the container gear 301 are formed in the mouth portion of the test tube. In the stretch blow molding process, the preform cooled after the preform molding process is heated and softened, and then blow molded and stretched.

In the container main body 33, the container rear end side is formed by the stretch blow molding process with respect to the container gear 301. That is, the pumping portion 304, the portion where the spiral protrusion 302 is formed, and the handle portion 303 are formed by a stretch blow molding process.
In the container main body 33, each part on the container tip side from the container gear 301 such as the container gear 301, the container opening 33a, and the cover claw hooking part 306 has a shape as it is an injection-molded preform, so that it is accurately molded. it can. On the other hand, since the pumping portion 304, the portion where the spiral protrusion 302 is formed, and the handle portion 303 are injection-molded and then stretched and molded in a stretch blow molding process, the accuracy of molding is a preform. It is inferior to the molding part.

Next, the nozzle receiving member 330 fixed to the container main body 33 will be described.
For convenience of explanation, with respect to the direction when the nozzle receiving member 330 is attached to the toner container 32Y as a reference, the direction in which the direction coincides with the above-mentioned container front end side is similarly set to the container front end side, Similarly, the direction in which the direction coincides with the end side is the container rear end side.
14 is a perspective explanatory view of the nozzle receiving member 330 viewed from the container front end side, and FIG. 15 is a perspective explanatory view of the nozzle receiving member 330 viewed from the container rear end side. 16 is a top sectional view of the nozzle receiving member 330 in the state shown in FIG. 13 as viewed from above. FIG. 17 is a side view of the nozzle receiving member 330 in the state shown in FIG. 13 (the back side in FIG. 13). FIG. Further, FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view of the nozzle receiving member 330.

The nozzle receiving member 330 includes a container shutter supporting member 340 as a supporting member, a container shutter 332, a container seal 333 as a sealing member, a container shutter spring 336 as an urging member, and a receiving member fixing portion 337. Has been. The container shutter support member 340 includes a shutter rear end support part 335 as a rear end part, a shutter side support part 335a as a side face part, a shutter support opening part 335b as a side face opening part, and a receiving member fixing part 337, and a container shutter spring. Reference numeral 336 is a coil spring.
The shutter side support portion 335a and the shutter support opening 335b provided in the container shutter support member 340 are arranged adjacent to each other in the toner container rotation direction, and the two shutter side support portions 335a facing each other form a part of a cylindrical shape. It is formed, and the shape of the cylindrical shape is largely cut off at the portion (two places) of the shutter support opening 335b. With such a shape, the container shutter 332 moves along the insertion direction of the transport nozzle 611 in the cylindrical space S1 (FIG. 16) formed inside the cylindrical shape, in other words, the nozzle receiving port 331 is opened. The movement to the open position and the movement to the closed position for closing the nozzle receiving port 331 can be guided.

  The nozzle receiving member 330 fixed to the container main body 33 rotates together with the container main body 33 when the container main body 33 rotates. At this time, the shutter side surface support portion 335a of the nozzle receiving member 330 serves as a transport nozzle on the toner supply device 60 side. Rotate around 611. For this reason, the rotating shutter side support portion 335 a and the shutter support opening 334 b alternately pass through the space immediately above the nozzle opening 610 formed in the upper portion of the transport nozzle 611. As a result, even if the toner is momentarily accumulated above the nozzle opening 610, the accumulated toner is broken across the shutter side support portion 335a, so that the accumulated toner is aggregated when left, and the toner is conveyed at the time of restart. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of defects. On the other hand, at the timing when the shutter side surface support portion 335a is positioned on the side of the transport nozzle 611 and the nozzle opening 610 and the shutter support opening 335b face each other, as shown by the arrow β in FIG. Then, the toner in the container body 33 is supplied into the transport nozzle 611.

The container shutter 332 includes a tip cylindrical portion 332c as a closing portion, a sliding portion 332d, a guide rod 332e, and a shutter removal preventing claw 332a. The distal end cylindrical portion 332 c is a portion on the distal end side of the container that is in close contact with the cylindrical opening (nozzle receiving port 331) of the container seal 333. The sliding portion 332d is a cylindrical portion that is formed on the container rear end side with respect to the front end cylindrical portion 332c, has a slightly larger outer diameter than the front end cylindrical portion 332c, and slides on the inner peripheral surfaces of the pair of shutter side surface support portions 335a. is there.
The guide rod 332e is a bar that stands up from the inside of the front end cylindrical portion 332c toward the rear end of the container and is inserted into the coil of the container shutter spring 336 so as to prevent the container shutter spring 336 from buckling. It is a rod part.
The guide rod sliding portion 332g is formed with a pair of flat surfaces on both sides of the central axis of the guide rod 332e from the middle of the cylindrical guide rod 332e. Further, the container rear end side of the guide rod sliding portion 332b is broken into two to form a pair of cantilever beams 332f.
The shutter slip-off preventing claws 332a are provided at the end of the cantilever 332f on the side opposite to the standing base of the guide rod 332e and prevent the container shutter 332 from dropping off from the container shutter support member 340. It is the nail part.

  As shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, the front end side end of the container shutter spring 336 hits the inner wall surface of the front end cylindrical portion 332 c, and the rear end side end portion of the container shutter spring 336 hits the wall surface of the shutter rear end support portion 335. At this time, since the container shutter spring 336 is in a compressed state, the container shutter 332 receives an urging force in a direction away from the shutter rear end support portion 335 (the right direction in FIGS. 16 and 17 and the container front end direction). However, the shutter slip-off preventing claw 332 a formed on the container rear end side of the container shutter 332 is caught on the outer wall surface of the shutter rear end support 335. Accordingly, the container shutter 332 is prevented from moving in a direction away from the shutter rear end support portion 335 than in the state shown in FIGS.

  Positioning is performed by the hook of the shutter slip-off preventing claw 332a with respect to the shutter rear end support portion 335 and the urging force of the container shutter spring 336. Specifically, the distal end cylindrical portion 332 c that exhibits the toner leakage preventing function of the container shutter 332 and the container seal 333 are positioned with respect to the container shutter support member 340 in the axial direction. Positioning is performed in such a manner that the two come into close contact with each other, and toner leakage can be prevented.

  The receiving member fixing portion 337 has a cylindrical shape in which the diameters of the outer peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface are gradually reduced toward the container rear end side. The diameter decreases in order from the container front end side to the container rear end side. As shown in FIG. 17, the outer peripheral surface has two outer diameter portions (outer peripheral surfaces AA and BB in order from the container front end), and the inner peripheral surface has five inner diameter portions (outer peripheral surfaces CC and DD in order from the container front end. , EE, FF, GG). The boundary between the outer peripheral surface AA and the outer peripheral surface BB is connected by a tapered surface. The boundary between the fourth inner diameter portion FF and the fifth inner diameter portion GG on the inner peripheral surface is similarly connected by a tapered surface. The inner diameter portion FF of the inner peripheral surface and the tapered surface connected to the inner surface correspond to a seal member entanglement prevention space 337b described later, and a ridge line of these surfaces corresponds to a side of a pentagonal cross section described later.

  As shown in FIGS. 16 to 18, a pair of shutter side surface support portions 335 a which are opposed to each other from the receiving member fixing portion 337 to the rear end side of the container and are in the form of a piece obtained by cutting a cylinder in the axial direction protrude. . The ends of the two shutter side surface support portions 335a on the container rear end side are connected to a cup-shaped shutter rear end support portion 335 having a round hole in the center of the bottom. The two shutter side surface support portions 335a are opposed to each other to form a columnar space S1 that can be recognized by the inner wall cylindrical surface and the virtual cylindrical surface extending from the inner wall cylindrical surface. The receiving member fixing portion 337 has a fifth inner diameter portion GG from the tip as a cylindrical inner peripheral surface having an inner diameter that is the same as the diameter of the columnar space S1. The sliding portion 332d of the container shutter 332 slides on the columnar space S1 and the cylindrical inner peripheral surface GG. The third inner circumferential surface EE of the receiving member fixing portion 337 is a virtual circumferential surface that passes through the longitudinal tops of the nozzle shutter abutment ribs 337a arranged at equal intervals of 45 [°] distribution. Corresponding to the inner peripheral surface EE, a cylindrical (circular tubular) container seal 333 having a rectangular cross section (the cross section in the cross sectional views of FIGS. 16 and 17) is disposed. The container seal 333 is fixed to a vertical surface connected from the third inner peripheral surface EE to the fifth inner peripheral surface FF by an adhesive or a double-sided tape. The exposed surface on the opposite side (the right side in FIGS. 16 and 17) from the attachment of the container seal 333 forms the inner bottom of the cylindrical opening of the cylindrical receiving member fixing portion 337 (container opening).

  As shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, a seal member entanglement prevention space 337 b (a pinching prevention space) is formed corresponding to the inner peripheral surface FF of the receiving member fixing portion 337 and the tapered surface connected thereto. The seal member entanglement prevention space 337b is a ring-shaped sealed space surrounded by three different members. That is, the inner peripheral surface (fourth inner peripheral surface FF and a tapered surface connected thereto) of the receiving member fixing portion 337, the vertical surface on the application side of the container seal 333, and the sliding portion 332d from the tip cylindrical portion 332c of the container shutter 332 It is a ring-shaped space surrounded by the outer peripheral surface. The section of the ring-shaped space (the section in the sectional views of FIGS. 16 and 17) has a pentagonal shape. The angle formed between the inner peripheral surface of the receiving member fixing portion 337 and the end surface of the container seal 333 and the angle formed between the outer peripheral surface of the container shutter 332 and the end surface of the container seal 333 are both 90 °.

The function of the seal member entanglement prevention space 337b will be described. When the container shutter 332 moves from the state of shielding the nozzle receiving port 331 toward the container rear end, the inner peripheral surface of the container seal 333 slides with the tip cylindrical portion 332 c of the container shutter 332. For this reason, the inner peripheral surface of the container seal 333 is elastically deformed so as to be pulled by the container shutter 332 and moved toward the container rear end.
At this time, when there is no seal member entanglement prevention space 337b and the vertical surface (the attachment surface of the container seal 333) connected from the third inner peripheral surface and the fifth inner peripheral surface GG are connected so as to be orthogonal, There is a risk of such a situation. That is, the elastically deformed portion of the container seal 333 may be caught between the inner peripheral surface of the receiving member fixing portion 337 that slides with the container shutter 332 and the outer peripheral surface of the container shutter 332. There is. When the container seal 333 is caught between the portion where the receiving member fixing portion 337 and the container shutter 332 slide, that is, between the distal end cylindrical portion 332 c and the inner peripheral surface GG, the container shutter 332 with respect to the receiving member fixing portion 337. May be locked and the nozzle receiving port 331 may not be opened or closed.

  On the other hand, the nozzle receiving member 330 of the present embodiment has a seal member entanglement preventing space 337b formed on the inner peripheral portion thereof. Since the inner diameter of the seal member entanglement prevention space 337b (the inner diameter of each of the inner peripheral surface EE and the tapered surface connected thereto) is smaller than the outer diameter of the container seal 333, the entire container seal 333 enters the seal member entanglement prevention space 337b. Never come. In addition, there is a limit to the region of the container seal 333 that is elastically deformed by being pulled by the container shutter 332, and is restored by the elasticity of the container seal itself before reaching the inner peripheral surface GG. This action can prevent the nozzle receiving port 331 from being opened and closed due to the container shutter 332 being locked with respect to the receiving member fixing portion 337.

As shown in FIGS. 16 to 18, a plurality of nozzle shutter abutment ribs 337 a extend radially on the inner peripheral surface of the receiving member fixing portion 337 and adjacent to the outer periphery of the container seal 333. Is formed. As shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, in a state where the container seal 333 is fixed to the receiving member fixing portion 337, the vertical surface (contact surface) on the container tip side (first movement direction Q <b> 1 described below) of the container seal 333. 3332b) protrudes slightly in the rotation axis direction from the end of the nozzle shutter abutment rib 337a on the container front end side. The contact surface 3332b forms a contact surface that comes into contact with the nozzle shutter collar 612a serving as the protruding portion of the conveyance tube opening / closing member when the toner container 32 is attached to the toner supply device 60.
As shown in FIG. 9, when the toner container 32 is attached to the toner replenishing device 60, the nozzle shutter collar 612 a of the nozzle shutter 612 on the toner replenishing device 60 side is urged by the nozzle shutter spring 613 to The protruding portion is crushed in the first movement direction Q1. The nozzle shutter collar 612a further enters and hits the container distal end side end of the nozzle shutter abutment rib 337a, covers the distal end side end surface of the container seal 333, and blocks from the outside of the container. Accordingly, it is possible to secure the sealing around the transport nozzle 611 at the nozzle receiving port 331 at the time of mounting, and to prevent toner leakage.

  The back side of the nozzle shutter spring receiving surface 612f of the nozzle shutter collar 612a biased by the nozzle shutter spring 613 abuts against the nozzle shutter abutment rib 337a, whereby the position of the nozzle shutter 612 in the rotational axis direction with respect to the toner container 32 is determined. . Thereby, the end surface on the container front end side of the container seal 333 and the end surface on the container front end side of the front end opening 305 (internal space of a cylindrical receiving member fixing portion 337 disposed in a container opening 33a described later), The positional relationship with the nozzle shutter 612 in the rotation axis direction is determined.

Next, operations of the container shutter 332 and the transport nozzle 611 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 9, and 19 (a) to 19 (d). Before the toner container 32 is attached to the toner replenishing device 60, the container shutter 332 is urged by the container shutter spring 336 toward the closed position where the nozzle receiving port 331 is closed as shown in FIG. The external appearance of the container shutter 332 and the conveyance nozzle 611 at this time is shown in FIG. When the toner container 32 is attached to the toner replenishing device 60, the transport nozzle 611 is inserted into the nozzle receiving port 331 as shown in FIG. When the toner container 32 is further pushed into the toner replenishing device 60, the end surface 332 h (hereinafter referred to as “container shutter end surface 332 h”) serving as the end surface of the container shutter 332 is positioned in the insertion direction of the transport nozzle 611. The end surface 611a (hereinafter referred to as “the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle”) comes into contact. When the toner container 32 is further pushed in from this state, as shown in FIG. 19C, the container shutter 332 is pushed inward relative to the toner container 32, as shown in FIG. 19D. The transfer nozzle 611 is inserted into the shutter rear end support 335 from the nozzle receiving port 331. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 9, the transport nozzle 611 is inserted into the container main body 33 to reach the set position. At this time, as shown in FIG. 19D, the nozzle opening 610 is in a position overlapping the shutter support opening 335b.
Thereafter, when the container body 33 rotates, the toner pumped up by the pumping unit 304 above the transport nozzle 611 is dropped and introduced into the transport nozzle 611 from the nozzle opening 610. The toner introduced into the transport nozzle 611 is transported through the transport nozzle 611 toward the toner dropping transport path 64 by the rotation of the transport screw 614, and is dropped and supplied from the toner dropping transport path 64 to the developing device 50. Is done.

Hereinafter, the container seal 333 as a sealing member will be described in more detail.
As shown in FIG. 20B, the container seal 333 has two layers of a first layer 3331 and a second layer 3332 made of materials having different foam densities.
As shown in FIG. 20A, the container seal 333 has a through hole 333h as a circular through part at the center, and has a ring shape. The container seal 333 is attached to the nozzle receiving member 330 on the first layer 3331 side using a double-sided tape 333g. As a method for attaching the container seal 333 to the nozzle receiving member 330, known means can be used as appropriate. In this embodiment, the through-hole 333h is formed by punching in the thickness direction (overlapping direction) after the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 are bonded together. However, the present invention is not limited to this method. Alternatively, the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 may be formed by bonding together after forming through holes having the same diameter.

As shown in FIGS. 20C and 20D, the container seal 333 has a plurality of nozzle shutter abutment ribs (contact portions, convex portions) 337a of the nozzle receiving member 330 in contact with each other in the radial direction. Yes. The virtual diameter L of the virtual circle that can be formed by connecting the inner peripheral surfaces EE (FIG. 17) of the nozzle shutter abutment rib 337 a is set to be slightly smaller than the outer diameter D of the container seal 333. Therefore, when the container seal 333 is attached to the nozzle receiving member 330, the container seal 333 is attached by being slightly compressed from the radial direction.
FIG. 21A is a cross-sectional view of the periphery of the container seal 333 before the conveyance nozzle 611 contacts the container shutter 332 in the process of mounting the toner container 32 on the image forming apparatus. FIG. 21B shows a container seal 333 in a state where the conveyance nozzle 611 is in contact with a seal member 350 provided on the front end side (container front end side) of the container shutter 332 in the process of mounting the toner container 32 on the image forming apparatus. FIG. FIG. 21C is a cross-sectional view of the periphery of the container seal 333 in a state in which the flange 612 a of the nozzle shutter 612 is in contact with the distal end side of the container seal 333 in the process of mounting the toner container 32 in the image forming apparatus. FIG. 21D is a cross-sectional view of the periphery of the container seal 333 with the toner container 32 mounted on the image forming apparatus.

Here, from the closed position where the container shutter 332 seals the through-hole 333h of the container seal 333 shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B, the container seal 333 shown in FIG. The moving direction toward the open position inside the toner container 32 through the through hole 333h will be described below as the first moving direction. This first moving direction is Q1.
As shown in FIG. 21A, the nozzle receiving port 331 (the through hole 333 h of the container seal 333) is sealed by the nozzle shutter 612 until the transport nozzle 611 is attached to the toner container 32. The through hole 333h forming the inner peripheral surface 333a of the container seal 333 and the outer peripheral surface 332r of the distal end cylindrical portion 332c of the container shutter 332 are set to have a close contact diameter relationship. That is, as shown in FIG. 24, the diameter (inner diameter) of the through hole 333h is W1, the outer diameter 612r of the nozzle shutter 612 is W2, and the diameter (outer diameter) of the outer peripheral surface 332r of the tip cylindrical portion 332c in the container shutter 332 is set. When the diameter is W3, it is set to satisfy W1 <W2 <W3.
Specifically, W1 = 13.7 mm, W2 = 15 mm, and W3 = 15.9 mm. 22 indicates the diameter (outer diameter) of the outer peripheral surface 332u of the sliding portion 332d formed continuously with the inclined surface 322t extending outward from the tip cylindrical portion 332c of the container shutter 332.

  The through-hole 333h forms at least a part of the nozzle receiving port 331, and the container seal 333 has the first layer 3331 inside the toner container 32 (downstream in the first movement direction Q1) and the second layer 3332 as the toner. The first layer 3331 is attached to the receiving member fixing portion 337 (nozzle receiving member 330) so as to be located outside the container 32. Specifically, the container seal 333 includes a first layer 3331 on the downstream side in the first movement direction Q1, and a second layer 3332 on the upstream side. The first layer 3331 has an inner peripheral surface 3331a, Each of the two layers 3332 includes an inner peripheral surface 3332a. These inner peripheral surfaces 3331a and 3332a form the inner peripheral surface 333a of the container seal 333 by the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 being bonded together and bonded together.

Regarding such a layer structure of the container seal 333, the downstream side in the first movement direction Q1 has a foaming density by setting the downstream side in the first movement direction Q1 to the first layer 3331 having a higher foaming density relative to the upstream side in the first movement direction Q1. Compared with the case where the second layer 3332 is low, toner leakage and toner scattering can be prevented on the inner side where the toner is accommodated. That is, when the toner container 32 is not attached to the image forming apparatus, the inner peripheral surface 3331 a of the first layer 3331 is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface 332 r of the container shutter 332, so that the outer surface of the first layer 3331 is outside the first layer 3331. The toner does not move up to (in the direction of arrow Q in the figure). For this reason, even when the toner container 32 is transported, the toner shutter 32 332 is likely to be displaced with respect to the container seal 333 due to an inertial force acting on the container shutter 332 due to an unexpected drop of the toner container 32. Scattering can be prevented.
More specifically, the container seal 333 can further enhance the above-described toner scattering preventing function by increasing the adhesion of the inner peripheral surface 3331a to the outer peripheral surface 332r at the innermost position of the toner container.

  As shown in FIG. 21A, in this embodiment, a seal member 350 made of an elastic material such as polyurethane foam is disposed in a non-contact region R of the end surface 332h of the container shutter 332 with the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle. As shown in FIG. 21B, when the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle and the seal member 350 come into contact with each other, the seal member 350 is compressed and deformed, and a gap between the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle and the end surface 332h of the container shutter is formed. fill in. For this reason, in FIG. 21D, the risk of toner entering between the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle and the end surface 332h of the container shutter can be extremely reduced.

  As shown in FIG. 21C, when the toner container 32 is further moved in the setting direction Q of the toner container relative to the image forming apparatus, the container shutter 332 comes into contact with the transport nozzle 611 so that the toner container 32 is not moved. , And move inward (downstream in the first movement direction Q1). At this time, the transport nozzle 611 is inserted into the toner container together with the nozzle shutter 612 covering the outside. Specifically, the transport nozzle 611 and the nozzle shutter 612 follow the movement of the container shutter 332 while maintaining the contact state between the seal member 350 provided on the end surface 332h of the container shutter 332 and the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle. And inserted into the through-hole 333 h of the container seal 333. Further, from the relationship shown in FIG. 24, the outer peripheral surface 612r of the nozzle shutter 612 and the inner peripheral surface 333a of the container seal 333 are in close contact so that the toner does not leak from between the surfaces.

  When the toner container 32 is further moved in the setting direction Q with respect to the image forming apparatus, the nozzle shutter collar 612a as a contacted member contacts the tip side (upstream side in the first movement direction) of the nozzle shutter abutment rib 337a. Touched. A plurality of nozzle shutter abutment ribs 337 a are provided on the inner peripheral surface of the tip opening 305 that is a cylindrical internal space of the nozzle receiving member 330.

  Further, when the toner container 32 is further moved in the setting direction Q with respect to the image forming apparatus, the end surface 332h of the container shutter 332 is in contact with the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle 611 via the seal member 350, so that the toner container 32 further moves inward (downstream in the first movement direction). Further, the nozzle shutter collar 612 a of the nozzle shutter 612 is in contact with the plurality of nozzle shutter abutment ribs 337 a of the nozzle receiving member 330. For this reason, the nozzle shutter 612 moves in the root direction (set direction Q) with respect to the transport nozzle 611 following the movement of the toner container 32. As the nozzle shutter 612 moves, the nozzle opening 610 of the transport nozzle 611 is opened. Thereafter, the container opening 33a of the toner container 32 reaches the container setting portion of the image forming apparatus and is rotatably held, whereby the setting of the toner container 32 to the image forming apparatus is completed (FIG. 21D).

On the other hand, when the toner container 32 is removed from the set portion of the image forming apparatus, the operation is opposite to that in the case of attachment. First, the state shown in FIG. 21D is changed to the state shown in FIG. 21C, then the state shown in FIG. 21B is changed to the state shown in FIG. Is removed from the image forming apparatus.
Specifically, first, the toner container 32 moves in the direction opposite to the setting direction Q (the first movement direction Q1) from the state shown in FIG. 21D to the state shown in FIG. The container seal 333 attached to the nozzle receiving member 330 fixed to the main body 33 moves in the direction opposite to the setting direction Q (first movement direction Q1). Along with this movement, the nozzle shutter 612 also moves in the direction opposite to the setting direction Q. The transport nozzle 611 and the container shutter 332 move in the direction (withdrawal direction) in which the toner container 32 is withdrawn from the through hole 333 h of the container seal 333.

  Next, since the toner container 32 is further moved in the direction opposite to the setting direction Q from the state shown in FIG. 21C to the state shown in FIG. 21B, the nozzle receiving unit fixed to the container body 33 is received. The container seal 333 attached to the member 330 further moves in the direction opposite to the setting direction Q. The nozzle shutter 612 is in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface 333a of the container seal 333 and the outer peripheral surface 612r of the container seal 333 during the movement in the above-described extraction direction, and the toner container 32 is set in the image forming apparatus. The toner adhering to the outer peripheral surface 612r is wiped off by the container seal 333. In particular, the inner peripheral surface 3332a of the second layer 3332 of the container seal 333 has this cleaning action. Then, the container shutter 332 reaches a closed position for sealing the through hole 333h of the container seal 333.

  Subsequently, from the state shown in FIG. 21B to the state shown in FIG. 21A, the toner container 32 further moves in the direction opposite to the setting direction Q, and a seal member provided on the end surface 332h of the container shutter. 350 is separated from the end surface 611a of the transport nozzle. As described above, the toner container 32 is removed from the setting unit of the image forming apparatus.

  Now, when the toner container 32 is rotated in the set state in which the toner container 32 has been set, the container seal 333 rotates relative to the nozzle shutter 612, so the inner peripheral surface 333 a of the container seal 333 and the nozzle The outer peripheral surface 612r of the shutter 612 is in sliding contact. That is, the inner peripheral surface 333a of the container seal 333 forms a sliding contact surface. Even when the toner container 32 rotates, it is preferable that the inner peripheral surface 333a of the container seal 333 and the outer peripheral surface 612r of the nozzle shutter 612 are in close contact with each other from the viewpoint of preventing toner leakage. Heat may be generated between the inner peripheral surface 333a and the outer peripheral surface 612r of the nozzle shutter 612.

  Therefore, when the container seal 333 is configured so that the frictional force on the upstream side in the first movement direction Q1 of the inner peripheral surface 333a serving as the sliding contact surface is lower than that on the downstream side, heat generation due to the sliding contact is improved. I was able to. In the present embodiment, as described above, the container seal 333 is composed of two layers of the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 made of materials having different friction coefficients, and the inner peripheral surface 3331a and the second layer of the first layer are formed. The inner peripheral surface 3332a is configured to be in sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface 612r of the nozzle shutter 612. The frictional force can be specified based on the measurement result obtained by measuring the load torque when the toner container rotates in FIG. 21D with a torque gauge.

As the first layer 3331, for example, a microcell polymer having a very delicate and uniform cell structure, such as Polon (registered trademark) (manufactured by Inoac Corporation), and a microcell polymer having excellent slidability can be suitably used. The sliding layer is formed. Poron has a low foaming ratio (high foaming density) and each bubble is independent, so that it has a toner sealing property, but heat is not easily released. Here, the expansion ratio indicates how many times the volume of the foamed plastic having the same mass compared to the solid (value obtained by dividing the apparent density of the foamed plastic by the density of the resin before foaming).
For the second layer 3332, for example, foamed polyurethane (so-called sponge material, for example, a polyester-based polyurethane foam) having a lower friction coefficient than that of the first layer, such as Moltoprene (registered trademark) (manufactured by Inoac Corporation), is preferably used. And a low friction layer is formed. Maltoprene has a high expansion ratio (low expansion density), and since each bubble is connected, heat is easily released and the contact area with the nozzle shutter 612 is small, which is advantageous for heat.
For bonding the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332, known means can be used as appropriate. For example, in the present embodiment, bonding is performed using an adhesive.
Therefore, for example, heat generation on the sliding contact surface can be reduced as compared with a single-layer seal configuration in which the entire width (total layer thickness) of the container seal 333 is formed only by the first layer 3331 (polon layer). Specifically, the width (layer thickness) of the first layer 3331 is reduced with respect to the entire width (total layer thickness) of the container seal 333, and the inner peripheral surface 3331a of the first layer 3331 and the outer peripheral surface 612r of the nozzle shutter 612 slide. By reducing the contact area, heat generation at the sliding contact surface 333a can be reduced.

  Here, in order to further reduce the heat generation on the inner peripheral surface 333 a (sliding contact surface) of the container seal 333 during the rotation of the toner container 32, the container seal 333 has a width (thickness) of the first layer 3331. It is effective to further reduce the thickness of the second layer 3332 and further increase the width (thickness) of the second layer 3332. However, if the width (thickness) of the first layer 3331 is made too thin, toner scattering is prevented by bringing the outer peripheral surface 332r of the container shutter 332 and the inner peripheral surface 3331a of the first layer 3331 into close contact during transportation. There is a possibility that the above-mentioned effect cannot be sufficiently exhibited.

Therefore, further examination and testing were performed on the width (thickness) of the first layer 3331, the width (thickness) of the second layer 3332, the amount of crushing of the container seal 333, and the sealing form of the container seal 333. The test results are shown in FIG.
FIG. 22 shows a drop test by creating a toner container having the seal form of the container seal 333, the amount of crushing of the container seal 333, and the thickness (ratio) of the first layer 2331 and the second layer, and changing these parameters. It is an evaluation table at the time of performing. In FIG. 22, twelve types of toner containers are formed with one set of horizontal parameters. In the drop test, as shown in FIG. 23, each type of toner container 32 was placed in a storage case, and toner leakage was evaluated. The drop condition of the drop test is that the toner container 32 is set in the storage case from the height of 90 cm with the container shutter 332 facing downward, and is dropped 10 times for each toner container from the corner of the storage case against the collision target. The toner leakage at that time was confirmed visually. In the storage case, the container main body 33 was stored with the container front end side cover 34 attached.

<About the seal configuration of FIG. 22>
In FIG. 22, the seal form is the XX cross section of FIG. 16, and shows a contact state between the inner peripheral surface GG of the receiving member fixing portion 337 and the sliding portion 332 d of the container shutter 332. Further, in the XX sectional view described in the seal form, the outer circle indicates the inner peripheral surface GG.
The all-round surface receiver described below the cross-sectional view indicates a state in which the inner peripheral surface GG of the receiving member fixing portion 337 and the sliding portion 332d of the container shutter 332 are in surface contact in the entire circumferential direction. Here, the inner circle adjacent to the outer circle indicating the inner peripheral surface GG indicates the outer periphery of the sliding portion 332d. Actually, the inner circumferential surface GG and the sliding portion 332d are almost overlapped to such an extent that they can slide, but for the sake of convenience of description, they are described with a gap in the radial direction. In addition, the sliding part 332d in an all-round surface bearing is shown in FIG. The sliding portion 332d is formed along the inner peripheral surface GG.
The point receiver described below in the cross-sectional view is different from the entire peripheral surface receiver in the cross-sectional shape and outer diameter of the sliding portion 332d of the container shutter 332, and is provided on the outer periphery of the sliding portion 332d as shown in the figure. The state which the point rib and the internal peripheral surface GG of the receiving member fixing | fixed part 337 are in point contact at four points (● mark of a table | surface) is shown. The rib has a substantially semicircular cross section and is provided in a direction penetrating the paper surface. Here, it is assumed that the outer periphery of the sliding portion 332d is smaller than the outer shape of the sliding portion 332d when the entire circumferential surface is received.
The partial surface receiver described below in the cross-sectional view is different from the entire peripheral surface receiver and spot receiver in the shape of the sliding portion 332d of the container shutter 332, and is provided on the outer periphery of the sliding portion 332d as illustrated. The state which the outer peripheral surface of two fan-shaped ribs and the inner peripheral surface GG of the receiving member fixing | fixed part 337 are in surface contact is shown. That is, the outer peripheral surfaces of the two fan-shaped ribs are formed along the inner peripheral surface GG. Here, it is assumed that the outer shape of the sliding portion 332d where the outer peripheral surface is not formed is smaller than the outer shape of the sliding portion 332d when the entire peripheral surface is received.
As described above, the contact area between the sliding portion 332d of the container shutter 332 and the inner peripheral surface GG of the receiving member fixing portion 337 has a relationship of all-surface receiving> partial receiving> point receiving.

<About the inner diameter of the seal in FIG. 22>
The inner diameter of the seal shown in FIG. 22 is the diameter (inner diameter) W1 of the through hole 333h of the container seal 333, as shown in FIG. Here, when the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 are bonded together as described above and punched in the thickness direction (overlapping direction), the inner peripheral surface 333a is formed as shown in FIG. Bend. In this case, the minimum diameter of the inner peripheral surface is W1.

<About the shutter tip diameter in FIG. 22>
The shutter tip diameter is the diameter (outer diameter) W3 of the outer peripheral surface 332r of the tip cylindrical portion 332c in the container shutter 332 shown in FIG.
<About seal crushing amount of FIG. 22>
22 is the difference between the diameter (inner diameter) W1 of the through hole 333h and the shutter tip diameter W3, and indicates the amount of deformation of the container seal 333 from the through hole 333h in the radial direction of the container seal.

<Polon thickness and maltoprene thickness in FIG. 22>
22 is the thickness of the boron used for the first layer 3331 (the thickness in the Q direction in FIG. 24). Further, the maltoprene thickness shown in FIG. 22 is the thickness of the maltoprene used for the second layer 3332 (the thickness in the Q direction in FIG. 24). Here, the total thickness in the axial direction of the container seal 333 is 7 mm, and the thickness in the axial direction of the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 is changed within the range of 7 mm. As a combination of thicknesses, there are two combinations of the case where the first layer 3331 is 2 mm and the second layer 3332 is 5 mm, and the case where the first layer 3331 is 3 mm and the second layer 3332 is 4 mm.

<Regarding Toner Leakage in FIG. 22>
In FIG. 22, the evaluation of toner leakage is ◎ if there is no leakage, and there is no leakage during the drop test, but ○ when the environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity are changed (over time) and the leakage is confirmed. A case where slight leakage was confirmed from the time of the test was indicated by Δ, and a case where leakage was caused to the outside of the container tip side cover 34 by the drop test was indicated by ×. For evaluation, ◎, ○, and Δ are acceptable ranges, and x is NG.

<Sliding heat in FIG. 22>
For the evaluation of sliding heat, a thermocouple was attached to the inside of the transfer nozzle 611, and the rotation operation for rotating the toner container 32 for 0.9 sec and stopping for 0.1 sec was continuously performed for 100 sec, and the temperature at that time was confirmed. . When this temperature was lower than the temperature at which the toner was fixed or melted, it was evaluated as ◯. At this time, the evaluation was performed without rotating the conveying screw in the conveying nozzle 611 and storing the toner in each toner container 32.

<About test results>
As shown in FIG. 22, the second layer (Mortoprene layer) 3332 is thicker than the first layer (Polon layer) 3331. When the thickness is 2 mm: 5 mm to 3 mm: 4 mm, a problem due to sliding heat occurs. do not do. This is presumed that the sliding resistance is reduced by lowering the ratio of the first layer (polon layer) 3331 as compared with the case where the container seal 333 is formed of the first layer (polon layer) 3331 alone.

Next, in order to verify the relationship between each predetermined parameter from the test result of FIG. 22, it demonstrates using FIG. 25 thru | or FIG.
FIG. 25 is a plot of the correlation between the thickness of the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 and toner leakage at each seal crushing amount, based on the test results of FIG. The number written beside the plot is the amount of seal crushing.
As shown in FIG. 25, regarding toner leakage, the amount of seal crushing is even when the relationship between the thicknesses of the first layer (polon layer) 3331 and the second layer (maltoprene layer) 3332 is 2 mm: 5 mm to 3 mm: 4 mm. Except for 0.6 mm and 1.0 mm, it was an allowable range. When the seal crushing amount is 0.6 mm and 1.0 mm, it is inferred that a gap is formed between the through-hole 333 h and the container shutter 332 when the container seal 333 is moved by an impact at the time of dropping. Is done.

  Although not shown in FIG. 22, 3.0 in FIG. 25 is a case where the seal crushing amount is 3 mm. In this case, although there is no toner leakage, there is a phenomenon that the sliding resistance by the container seal 333 with respect to the outer peripheral surface 332r of the container shutter 332 is large and the container shutter 332 does not self-close. As described above, the urging force of the container shutter spring 336 acts on the container shutter 332 when the toner container 32 is in a single state, and the nozzle shutter 612 in addition to the urging force of the container shutter spring 336 when attached to the apparatus. The urging force of the nozzle shutter spring 613 that urges also acts. In order to hold the toner container 32 at the set position (attached state) of the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus has a holding force against the two spring forces of the container shutter spring 336 and the nozzle shutter 612. A lock member 609 is provided.

When the toner container 32 is removed after this mounted state, the container shutter 332 needs to be closed by the urging force of the container shutter spring 336.
Here, when only the single state of the toner container 32 is assumed, the idea is to increase the urging force of the container shutter spring 336. However, if the urging force of the container shutter spring 336 is increased, the toner container 32 is moved in the setting direction Q. In the mounting operation to move, the force pushed back by the reaction force generated in the first moving direction Q1 when the container shutter spring 336 is compressed increases. As a result, the holding force required on the image forming apparatus side to hold the toner container 32 in the set position (attached state) of the image forming apparatus is also increased. For this reason, it is not preferable to increase the urging force of the container shutter spring 336 in view of the container mounting property and the container holding property.
Therefore, it is desirable that the upper limit value of the seal collapse amount in the radial direction of the container seal 333 be less than 3 mm.
In this embodiment, the urging force of the container shutter spring 336 is 5 ± 0.5 N, and the urging force of the nozzle shutter spring 613 is 3.8 ± 0.4 N.

Next, FIG. 26 is a plot in which the correlation between the amount of crushing of the container seal 333 and the toner leakage is extracted from the evaluation results shown in FIG.
From FIG. 26, the amount of seal crushing of the container seal 333 is the state where there is no toner leakage when it is 2.2 mm, then when it is 1.6 mm and 1.8 mm, and then 1.8 mm and 2 mm. Is marked with △. Moreover, it is x when the seal crushing amount is 0.6 mm, 1.0 mm, or 3.0 mm, which is an NG crushing amount.
Here, assuming that the relationship between the seal crushing amount and the toner leakage has a proportional relationship, the state between the state where the seal crushing amount is 2.2 mm and the toner leakage is least, and the seal crushing amount is 3.0 mm until NG × is reached. Can be expected to have a value * 3 that satisfies toner leakage Δ. This value * 3 may be the maximum allowable value of the seal crushing amount.
Similarly, it can be expected that there will be a value * 2 that satisfies the toner leakage Δ from the state where the seal collapse amount is 2.2 mm and no toner leaks until it becomes NG × when the seal collapse amount is 3.0 mm. . This value * 2 may be the maximum allowable value of the seal crushing amount.
In FIG. 26, there is a value * 1 satisfying the toner leakage Δ between the state ○ where the seal collapse amount is 1.6 mm and there is no toner leakage and the state where the seal collapse amount is 1.0 mm and the toner leakage ×. Can be expected. This value * 1 may be the minimum allowable value for the amount of crushing seal. That is, the range of crushing amount is * 1 or more and less than * 2 or * 3 (greater than 1.0 mm and less than 3.0 mm), and more preferably 1.6 mm or more and less than 2.2.
Further, if the thickness of the first layer 3331 is too thick, the sliding resistance increases, and if it is too thin, it is difficult to ensure the sealing performance. Therefore, the amount of seal collapse of the first layer 3331 is suitably 1 to 4 mm. As shown in FIG. 21C, the container seal 333 is attached to the nozzle shutter 612 when set in the image forming apparatus. Therefore, it is desirable that the container seal 333 has a length that does not close the nozzle opening 610 at the time of attachment. In this embodiment, it is estimated that the range of 4 to 30 mm is an appropriate range in consideration of such points.

Next, FIG. 27 is a plot of the relationship between the layer structure of the container seal 333 composed of the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332 and the toner leakage from the test results of FIG. In FIG. 27, “single” means a conventional one-layer container seal made of one kind of material, and “double 2: 5” means that the first layer 3331 of the container seal 333 of this embodiment is 2 mm and the second layer 3332 is 5 mm and double 3: 4 indicate that the first layer 3331 of the container seal 333 of this embodiment is 3 mm and the second layer 3332 is 4 mm.
From FIG. 27, the structure of the container seal is better than the single layer (single layer) in the double structure, which has better sealing performance with respect to the toner. I understand that

Next, FIG. 28 is a plot of the relationship between the seal form and the crushing amount extracted from the test results of FIG. In the figure, the entire circumference indicates the seal form of the entire peripheral face bearing, the part (surface) indicates the seal form of the partial face bearing, and the part (point) indicates the seal form of the spot bearing.
From FIG. 28, regardless of the seal form, if the amount of crushing of the container seal 333 is 1.6 mm or more, the toner leakage is in an acceptable rank (Δ ○). Further, since the seal form of the all-around surface receiver has a higher (leakage-free) toner leakage evaluation rank than the seal form of the one-part receiver, the seal form is the all-around surface than the one part receiver. It can be said that receiving is preferable.

  In consideration of these situations, the seal form of the container seal 333 is preferably an all-round surface bearing with no backlash, and the amount of crushing is preferably 1.6 mm or more and less than 3 mm. More preferably, it is 1.9 mm or more and 2.2 mm. Further, regarding the thicknesses of the first layer 3331 and the second layer 3332, a range of 3 mm: 4 mm is preferable to 2 mm: 5 mm.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, with respect to the layer structure of the container seal 333, the first layer 3331 has a high foaming density inside the toner container on the downstream side in the first movement direction Q1 and excellent slidability. In addition, the outer side of the toner container on the upstream side in the first movement direction Q1 is the second layer 3332 having a lower foaming density and lower friction coefficient than the first layer 3331, so that the toner container 32 is transported. The toner container 32 can be prevented from scattering even if an inertial force acts on the container shutter 332 due to an impact of dropping the toner container 32 unexpectedly, and the toner seal 32 is likely to be displaced. The effect that heat generation at the sliding contact surface 333a can be reduced during rotation can be achieved.

Next, the temperature rise of the container seal 333 with respect to the elapsed time will be described with reference to FIGS. 30 and 31. FIG.
For the evaluation of sliding heat, three types of container seals 333 (T-1, T-2, T-3) are prepared, and each is attached to the nozzle receiving member 330 of the toner container 32, and the three types of toner containers 32 are provided. It was created. Then, FIG. 30 shows a result obtained by continuously performing a rotation operation for 100 seconds by attaching a thermocouple to the inside of the transport nozzle 611 and rotating the toner container 32 for 0.9 sec and stopping for 0.1 sec. T-1 used a container seal in which the first layer 3331 was 7 mm maltoprene and the second layer 3332 was a 0.1 mm Mylar sheet (registered trademark) with a crushing amount of 1 mm. T-2 is the configuration of the seal form 7 in FIG. 22, and is a container seal in which the first layer 3331 is 2 mm of poron and the second layer 3332 is 5 mm of maltoprene. T-3 is the configuration of seal form 3 in FIG. 22, and is a container seal in which the first layer 3331 is 3 mm of poron and the second layer 3332 is 4 mm of maltoprene. T-2 and T-3 were used at a crushing amount of 1.8 mm, respectively. And T-1 thru | or T-3 was made into the perimeter surface bearing shown in FIG. At this time, the evaluation was made without rotating the conveying screw in the conveying nozzle 611 and containing no toner in each toner container 32.
From FIG. 30, the temperature using the container seals T-2 and T-3 is higher with time than T-1, and the temperature of T-3 is higher than that of T-2. It can be seen that the temperature rises when using poron, and the temperature rises more depending on the thickness of the poron.

  Next, with respect to the T-3 container seal with the highest temperature rise, a toner container with the seal attached and filled with toner was mounted on an actual machine, and the temperature rise when an actual toner discharging operation was performed was evaluated. Specifically, a thermocouple was attached to the outer peripheral surface of the transport nozzle 611, and an increase in temperature due to continuous printing of 100 pages per job was evaluated at an image area ratio of 20% in an environment of 32 ° C. and humidity of 54%. In the evaluation, when the temperature detected by the thermocouple becomes stable, the bottle is replaced with an empty bottle and end stop control is performed, and the front cover of the image forming apparatus is opened and closed for 100 seconds until the toner end recovery control fails. After that, it was replaced with a new toner container 32 and toner end recovery control was performed. Then, continuous printing of 100 pages per job is resumed at an image area ratio of 20%, then the power is turned off for about 300 seconds to overshoot, and again, continuous printing of 100 pages per job is resumed at an image area ratio of 20%. I did it.

  As shown in FIG. 31, it was found that the temperature increased to about 40 ° C. even when the T-3 container seal with the highest temperature was used. Therefore, when using the T-2 container seal or the T-1 container seal, it can be estimated that the temperature is lower than the T-3 because the temperature is lower than the T-3. .

  Next, with respect to a modification of the configuration shown in FIG. 21A in which the outer peripheral surface 332r of the container shutter 332 and the inner peripheral surface 3331a of the first layer of the container seal 333 are in close contact with each other, FIGS. Will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 29A, the container seal 333 of the present modified example has a downstream end portion in the first movement direction Q1 of the inner peripheral surface 3331a of the first layer 3331 at the inclined surface 332t of the container shutter 332 t3. It is configured to contact about [mm] and to be compressed and deformed following the inclined surface 332t. In this modification, t3 = 0.1 [mm].

  FIG. 29B is an enlarged view of the area indicated by α in FIG. The inner peripheral surface 3331a of the first layer 3331 of the container seal 333 has an inner peripheral surface portion 3331a1 in close contact with the outer peripheral surface 332r of the container shutter 332 and an inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2 in close contact with the tapered surface 332t of the container shutter 332. ing. Since the tapered surface 332t of the container shutter 332 is formed in the direction in which the outer diameter of the container shutter 332 is increased, the relationship of tan θ = t3 / t4 is satisfied. By configuring in this manner, the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2 of the first layer is compressed and deformed following the tapered surface 332t, so that the density becomes higher than the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a1 of the first layer, and the container shutter 332 Adhesiveness to is further improved.

  As described above, the container seal 333 has the same effect as the toner scattering prevention by the close contact between the inner peripheral surface 3331a1 and the container shutter outer peripheral surface 332r as described in the above-described embodiment, and further, the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2 and the container. Since the toner scattering preventing action by the close contact with the tapered surface 332t of the shutter 332 can be obtained, the toner scattering preventing action can be further enhanced.

  Since the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2 is the most downstream portion of the first layer 3331 in the first movement direction Q1, the toner contained in the toner container 32 has moved to the position of the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2. However, it can be made harder to move outward than this. Further, the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2 is an inclined surface following the tapered surface 332t of the container shutter 332, and compared to the case where the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2 is a surface along the first movement direction like the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a1. The area in close contact with the container shutter 332 can be increased. Therefore, it is possible to make it difficult for the toner stored in the toner container 32 to move outward from the position of the inner peripheral surface portion 3331a2, and to further enhance the toner scattering prevention effect.

  According to the examination result, the width (thickness) of the first layer 3331 that is the downstream layer in the first movement direction Q1 is 1 mm to 4 mm, and the second layer 3332 that is the upstream layer in the first movement direction Q1. The width (thickness) of 1 mm to 2.6 mm is preferable because good effects can be obtained. When the collapse amount of the first layer 3331 in the container shutter 332 is L3 and the collapse amount of the second layer 3332 is L4, it is preferable that L3 / L4 = 1 is satisfied. Specifically, as the crushing amount (bite-in amount), good results can be obtained when L3 is 1.6 mm to 2.2 mm and L4 is 1.9 mm to 2.2 mm.

  In the above embodiment, the vertical surface on the container front end side of the container seal 333 has been described as protruding slightly in the rotational axis direction from the end of the nozzle shutter abutment rib 337a on the container front end side. It is not limited. For example, the vertical surface on the container front end side of the container seal 333 may not protrude from the end on the container front end side of the nozzle shutter abutment rib 337a. In this case, since the nozzle shutter flange 612a does not crush the container seal 333, the adhesion between the outer periphery of the transport nozzle 611 and the inner peripheral surface 333a of the container seal 333 decreases. Accordingly, it is considered that if the inner diameter W1 of the through-hole 333h of the container seal 333 is reduced to increase the amount of crushing of the container seal 333, the portion that the container seal 333 cannot be crushed by the nozzle shutter collar 612a can be covered.

<Embodiment 2>
Although the component cost is higher than that of the toner container 32 in FIG. 1, the container body 33 is made of a resin cylindrical member (for convenience, the container body 1033 is distinguished from the container body of the above-described embodiment), and an internal conveying member. Let's consider a configuration in which a pumping function is provided in a part of the screen.

  FIG. 32A is a perspective view of the nozzle receiving member 330 integrated with a pumping rib 304g corresponding to the pumping wall surface 304f (hereinafter referred to as a nozzle receiving member 1330). FIG. 32B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the relationship with the transport nozzle 611 in which the nozzle receiving member 1330 of FIG. FIG. 32C is an explanatory side sectional view of the entire toner container 1032 on which the nozzle receiving member 1330 shown in FIG. 32A is mounted. FIG. 32D is a part of the toner container 1032. It is a perspective view of the container shutter 1332.

The nozzle receiving member 1330 shown in FIG. 32 includes the pumping rib 304g as described above, and is integrated with the transport blade holding portion 1330b to which the transport blade 1302 made of a flexible material such as a resin film is fixed. It is configured. The rotary conveyance blade 1302 and the conveyance blade holding unit 1330b correspond to the rotation conveyance unit.
A nozzle receiving member 1330 shown in FIG. 32 includes a container seal 1333, a nozzle receiving port 1331, a container shutter 1332, and a container shutter spring 1336. As the container seal 1333, the container seal 333 described in the above embodiment is used. The nozzle receiving port 1331 is an opening into which the transfer nozzle 611 is inserted, and the container shutter 1332 is a shutter member that opens and closes the nozzle receiving port 1331. The container shutter spring 1336 is a biasing member that biases the container shutter 1332 toward a position where the nozzle receiving port 1331 is closed.
32, the nozzle receiving member 1330 includes a nozzle receiving member outer peripheral surface 1330a that is slidably fitted to the container set portion inner peripheral surface 615a on the copier 500 main body side. A separate container gear 1301 is fixed to the nozzle receiving member 1330 so that the drive can be transmitted.
In this manner, a configuration in which the toner up to the pumping inner wall surface, the bridge portion, and the shutter support opening 1335b is poured into the nozzle opening 610 can be integrated. The container seal 1333 in this modification can also have the same configuration as in the above-described embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 32D, the container shutter 1332 includes a contact portion 1332a that contacts the transport nozzle 611 and a pair of guide pieces 1332b having a shape different from that of the guide rod 332 of the above embodiment. The guide piece 1332b extends from the contact portion 1332a in the longitudinal direction of the container main body 1033, and a pair of hook portions 1332c that prevent the container shutter 1332 from dropping from the nozzle receiving member 1330 by the bias of the container shutter spring 1336. Have
The guide piece 1332b has a shape in which a claw (hook) serving as a hooking portion 1332c is provided at an end portion of a shape like a remaining portion obtained by cutting the cylinder in the axial direction. Therefore, the outer surface of the guide piece 1332b and the inner surface facing the shutter spring 1336 are curved surfaces.

On the other hand, the rear end support 1335 of the shutter in FIG. 32A is provided with a rear end opening 1335d as a through hole so that the guide piece 1332b can move in the longitudinal direction. Although the guide piece 1332b can move in the longitudinal direction with respect to the shutter rear end support portion 1335, it cannot be rotated relative to the guide piece 1332b. Thereby, the container shutter 1332 rotates as the nozzle receiving member 1330 rotates.
Further, as shown in FIG. 32D, a seal member 1350 is provided at a location corresponding to the front end side of the toner container of the container shutter 1332.

Next, details of the toner container 1032 provided with the pumping rib 304g will be described.
As shown in FIG. 32C, the toner container 1032 includes a container front end cover 1034, a container main body 1033, a bottom lid 1035, a nozzle receiving member 1330, and the like. The container front end cover 1034 is provided on the front end side in the mounting direction of the toner container 1032 with respect to the copying machine 500 main body, and the container main body 1033 has a substantially cylindrical shape. The bottom cover 1035 is provided on the rear end side in the mounting direction of the toner container 1032, and the nozzle receiving member 1330 is rotatably held by the above-described substantially cylindrical container main body 1033.

  The container front end cover 1034 is provided with a gear exposure opening 1034a (not shown) similar to the gear exposure opening 34a for exposing the container gear 1301 fixed to the nozzle receiving member 1330. The container body 1033 having a substantially cylindrical shape rotatably holds the nozzle receiving member 1330, and the container front end side cover 1034 and the bottom lid 1035 are fixed (by a known method such as heat welding or adhesive). The bottom cover 1035 has a rear end side bearing 1035a that supports one end of the above-described conveyance blade holding portion 1330b, and a grip portion 1303 for a user to hold when the toner container 1032 is attached to and detached from the copying machine 500 main body. Have

Next, an assembling method for assembling the container front end side cover 1034, the bottom lid 1035, and the nozzle receiving member 1330 to the container main body 1033 will be described.
First, the nozzle receiving member 1330 enters the container main body 1033 from the rear end side of the container, and the nozzle receiving member 1330 is positioned so as to rotatably support the front end side bearing 1036 on the front end side of the container main body 1033. . Next, the rear end side bearing 1035a provided on the bottom lid 1035 is aligned so as to rotatably support one end of the conveying blade holding portion 1330b of the nozzle receiving member 1330, and the bottom lid 1035 is fixed to the container body 1033. To do. Thereafter, the container gear 1301 is fixed to the nozzle receiving member 1330 from the front end side of the container. After the container gear 1301 is fixed, the container front end cover 1034 is fixed to the container main body 1033 so as to cover the container gear 1301 from the container front end side.
In addition, regarding the fixation between the container main body 1033 and the container front end side cover 1034, the fixation between the container main body 1033 and the bottom lid 1035, and the fixation between the nozzle receiving member 1330 and the container gear 1301, a known method (for example, heat welding, An adhesive or the like can be used.

Next, a configuration for conveying toner from the toner container 1032 to the nozzle opening 610 will be described.
The pumping rib 304g is projected from the downstream end 1335c in the rotation direction of the shutter side support 1335a to the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface of the container body 1033 so that the rib surface is connected. The middle of the rib surface is bent at one place to be close to a curved surface. However, this configuration is not necessarily required depending on the compatibility with the toner, and a simple flat rib without bending may be used. With such a configuration, it is not necessary to form a raised portion on the container body 1033. Further, since the pumping rib 304g is erected integrally from the shutter support opening 1335b, the effect of bridging can be exhibited as in the case where the shutter side surface support portion 335a and the convex portion 304h are brought into close contact with each other.
That is, when the nozzle receiving member 1330 rotates when the toner container 1032 is mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus, the conveying blade rotates, and the toner received in the toner container 1032 is provided with the nozzle receiving member 1330 from the rear end side. It is conveyed toward the leading end. Then, the toner conveyed by the conveying blade 1302 is received by the pumping rib 304g, and is rotated to be pumped upward from below, and the toner can be poured into the nozzle opening 610 using the rib surface as a slide.
As described above, also in the toner container in the second embodiment, the same effect can be obtained by using the container seal 333 described in the above embodiment as the container seal 1331.

32 (Y, M, C, K) Toner container (powder container)
33 Container body (powder container)
33a Container opening 60 (Y, M, C, K) Toner conveying device (powder conveying device)
305 Tip opening 330 Nozzle receiving member (tube insertion member)
331 Nozzle receiving port 332 Container shutter (opening / closing member)
332r Container shutter outer periphery 332f Cantilever 332h Container shutter end face 333 Container seal (sealing member)
333a Sliding contact surface 333h Through hole (through portion)
3331 Downstream layer 3332 Upstream layer 3332b Vertical surface (contact surface)
337a Nozzle shutter abutment rib (convex part)
611 Conveying nozzle (conveying pipe)
612 Nozzle shutter (conveyance pipe opening / closing member)
612a Nozzle shutter collar (conveying pipe opening / closing member protrusion)
L Diameter of inner circumference by convex part D Outer diameter of container seal Q1 First moving direction W1 Inner diameter of through hole W2 Outer diameter of nozzle shutter W3 Outer diameter of container shutter

JP 2012-133349 A

Claims (15)

A sealing member provided around an opening / closing member that moves a tube insertion port of the powder container from a closed position to an open position by contacting a conveyance tube provided on the image forming apparatus side,
When the moving direction of the opening and closing member from the closed position to the open position is the first moving direction, the foam density on the downstream side in the first moving direction is formed to be higher than the upstream side, and the In the first movement direction, the opening and closing member and a transport pipe opening and closing member provided outside the transport pipe has a penetrating part that can pass through,
The inner periphery of the penetrating portion is in sliding contact with the outer periphery of the opening / closing member by moving from the closed position to the open position, and is in sliding contact with the outer periphery of the transfer tube opening / closing member in the open position. None,
The sliding contact surface is formed so that the frictional force on the upstream side in the first movement direction is lower than that on the downstream side.   The sealing member according to claim 1, wherein the downstream layer in the first movement direction is made of a microcell polymer, and the upstream layer in the first movement direction is made of polyurethane foam. It is composed of two layers, an upstream layer in the first movement direction and a downstream layer in the first movement direction, and the combined thickness of the downstream layer and the upstream layer is 4 to 30 mm. The sealing member according to claim 1, wherein the downstream layer has a thickness of 1 to 4 mm.   The crushing amount of the downstream layer in the first moving direction is 1.6 mm to 2.2 mm, and the crushing amount of the upstream layer in the first moving direction is 1.9 mm to 2.2 mm. The sealing member according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   5. When the inner diameter of the penetrating portion is W1, the outer diameter of the transfer pipe opening / closing member is W2, and the outer diameter of the opening / closing member is W3, W1 <W2 <W3 is satisfied. The sealing member according to any one of the above.   6. The sealing member according to claim 1, wherein a downstream layer in the first movement direction contacts an inclined surface that spreads outward from an outer periphery of the opening / closing member.   The vertical surface on the upstream side in the first movement direction of the sealing member forms a contact surface that comes into contact with a projecting portion of the transport pipe opening / closing member projecting outward from an outer peripheral surface of the transport pipe opening / closing member. Item 7. The sealing member according to any one of Items 1 to 6.   The sealing member according to claim 7, wherein the sealing member is crushed in the first movement direction by contact with the contact surface by the protruding portion of the transport pipe opening / closing member. A powder containing member for containing powder to be supplied to the image forming apparatus;
A tube insertion member for inserting a conveyance tube provided in the image forming apparatus is formed, and a tube insertion member attached in the opening;
An opening / closing member provided on the tube insertion member, biased toward a closed position for closing the tube insertion port, and opening the tube insertion port with the insertion of the transport tube;
The sealing member according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The powder container characterized by having. The tube insertion member has a sealing member accommodating portion that arranges the sealing member in a cylindrical internal space,
The sealing member accommodating portion abuts on the outer periphery of the sealing member and has a plurality of convex portions provided along the outer periphery.
The vertical surface on the upstream side in the first movement direction of the sealing member protrudes toward the upstream side in the first movement direction from the end face on the upstream side in the first movement direction of the convex portion. The powder container according to claim 9. The tube insertion member has a sealing member accommodating portion that arranges the sealing member in a cylindrical internal space,
The sealing member accommodating portion abuts on the outer periphery of the sealing member and has a plurality of convex portions provided along the outer periphery.
The powder container according to claim 9, wherein an outer diameter of the sealing member is larger than an inner diameter of the convex portion. The closing member includes a distal cylindrical portion which is in contact with the sliding surface of the sealing member, and a sliding portion formed on the outer side than the distal cylindrical portion the distal cylindrical portion provided in the first moving direction lower stream side from Have
The powder according to claim 9, wherein at least a part of the outer periphery of the sliding portion has a contact surface in surface contact with the inner peripheral surface along an inner peripheral surface formed on the pipe insertion member. Body container.   The powder containing member includes a rotary conveyance unit capable of conveying powder contained therein by rotating from the one end side in the rotation axis direction to the other end side provided with an opening. The powder container according to claim 9.   The powder accommodating member has a conveying member that is rotatable with respect to the powder accommodating member inside, and an opening is provided from one end side in the rotation axis direction for the powder accommodated therein by rotation of the conveying member. The powder container according to claim 9, wherein the container can be conveyed to the other end. The powder container according to any one of claims 9 to 14,
A conveyance tube for conveying the toner in the powder container to the image forming apparatus;
An image forming unit that forms an image on an image carrier using toner conveyed by the conveyance tube;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

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