JP5556939B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a developer-filled container and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser printer using the container.

  Since a new image forming apparatus may cause toner contamination due to vibration during transportation, etc., the developing apparatus should be installed at the destination without being filled with developer, and then filled with developer. There are many things. When the developing device is filled with the developer, as described in Patent Document 1, the developing device is driven to fill the developing device with the developer. In addition, since providing the developer to be filled in the machine in advance hinders downsizing of the apparatus, recently, a developer filling container is separately prepared and the developer in the container is filled in the developing apparatus.

  Many of the devices adopting such a developer filling method use a system in which both the photosensitive member and the developing device are driven to fill the developer. At this time, if the speed at which the developer is charged into the developing device is slow, the time during which the developer is not supplied onto the developing sleeve becomes long, so that the toner cannot be supplied from the developing sleeve to the photoreceptor, and as a lubricant If the toner is not supplied, the photosensitive member cleaning blade may be twisted.

  In order to prevent the occurrence of this problem, it is necessary to fill the developing device in a short time with the developer. Filling the developer in a short time not only prevents problems such as the photoconductor cleaning blade from being swollen, but also improves serviceability because the developer filling time is short.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a developer filling container capable of filling a separately prepared developer in a short time and an image forming apparatus using the container.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a main storage portion in which a developer is stored, an intermediate filling passage communicating with the main storage portion via a throttle passage, and a lowermost portion of the intermediate filling passage. And a filling port connected to the developing device, and is perpendicular to the flow-down direction in which the developer flows down the throttle passage between the main storage portion and the intermediate filling passage when the developer is filled. A cross section of the passage cut by the plane is A, an intermediate filling passage is B by a plane perpendicular to the flow-down direction in which the developer flows down when the developer is charged, and a filling port is filled with the developer. When the cross section of the passage cut at a plane perpendicular to the flow-down direction in which the developer flows is C, the area of the cross-sections A, B, and C is set as passage cross-section B> passage cross-section A> passage cross-section C. and it has, has an inclined portion in which the throttle passage along the direction of gravity The inclined portion proposes a developer filling container, wherein the that maintains a constant angle in the flow-down direction of the developer.

  Furthermore, the present invention is effective when an open hole is provided in the upper wall of the main reservoir, and the space formed on the main reservoir is directly connected to the outside air.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises means for transporting the filled developer into the developing device using the developer-filled container according to any one of claims 1 to 4. A featured image forming apparatus is proposed.

  According to the present invention, the developer prepared in the developer filling container can be filled in a short time, and even when both the photosensitive member and the developing device are driven at the time of filling, the generation of the cleaning blade is prevented. can do.

It is a partial passage section schematic diagram showing an example of an image forming device. It is a perspective view which shows the developer filling container which concerns on this invention. It is a side view which shows the developer filling container. It is sectional drawing which shows the developer filling container. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. 4 which shows the channel | path shape of an aperture_diaphragm | restriction channel | path. It is a BB line sectional view showing the passage shape of an intermediate filling passage. It is CC sectional view taken on the line which shows the channel | path shape of a filling port. It is sectional drawing which shows the developer filling container which provided the hole in the main storage part. It is sectional drawing which shows the developer filling container of other embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional developer filling container.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The basic configuration of the image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be clarified.
FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional schematic view showing an example of an image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus shown here has an image carrier 1 configured as a drum-shaped photoconductor provided in the main body, and the image carrier 1 is shown in FIG. 1 as the image forming operation starts. It is rotationally driven in the clockwise direction (arrow direction). At this time, the surface of the image carrier is irradiated with light from the static elimination lamp 2, and the surface of the image carrier is subjected to a static elimination action, and the surface potential thereof is initialized. Further, the image forming apparatus is provided with a charging roller 3 which is an example of a charging device for charging the image carrier 1. The charging roller 3 rotates in the direction of the arrow while contacting the surface of the image carrier 1. Sometimes, the charging roller 3 is applied with a DC voltage or a charging voltage obtained by superimposing the DC voltage on the AC voltage, and the surface of the image carrier is charged with a predetermined polarity by a discharge generated thereby.

  The surface of the image carrier charged in this way is irradiated with light-modulated laser light L emitted from a laser writing device 5 which is an example of a latent image forming unit, and an image is applied to the charged image carrier. An electrostatic latent image corresponding to the signal is formed.

  The electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image by the developing device 6 as it passes through the developing device 6. The developing device 6 shown as an example here includes a developing case 7 containing a dry two-component developer D having toner and a carrier, a developing roller 8 that is disposed opposite to the image carrier 1 and rotates. However, the developer D has a screw 9 and 10 for conveying the developer D while stirring. The toner is charged to a predetermined polarity by friction with the carrier, in the example shown in the figure, minus polarity, and the developer D containing the toner is carried on the peripheral surface of the developing roller 8 and conveyed, and the developing roller 8 and the image carrier. To the development area between 1. At this time, a predetermined developing bias is applied to the developing roller 8, whereby the electrostatic latent image formed on the image carrier 1 is formed in the image carrier 1 with toner in the developer that is conveyed to the developing region and becomes a magnetic brush, That is, the image is electrostatically transferred to the image portion, and the electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image. A developing device using a powdery one-component developer containing no carrier can also be employed.

  The image forming apparatus is provided with a transfer device. The transfer device illustrated here has a transfer roller 4 as an example of a transfer member and a power supply (not shown) for applying a transfer voltage to the transfer roller 4. The transfer roller 4 is driven to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 1 while contacting the surface of the image carrier. Between the transfer roller 4 and the image carrier 1, the transfer material P fed from a paper feeding unit (not shown) and fed in the arrow direction at a predetermined timing by the rotation of the registration roller pair 11 passes. . At this time, the transfer roller 4 is applied with a reverse transfer voltage, that is, a positive transfer voltage in this example, to the toner of the toner image on the image carrier. As a result, the toner image is transferred onto the transfer material P sent out at a timing that can be aligned with the toner image formed on the surface of the image carrier. As described above, the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is configured to transfer the toner image formed on the image carrier directly onto the transfer material P to obtain a recorded image.

  The transfer material P passing between the transfer roller 4 and the image carrier 1 is separated from the image carrier 1 and passes through a fixing device (not shown). At this time, the transferred toner is caused by the action of heat and pressure. The image is fixed on the transfer material. Next, the transfer material P is discharged out of the image forming apparatus main body. As the transfer material P, for example, paper, a resin sheet, a resin film, or the like is used.

  The transfer residual toner adhering to the surface of the image carrier that has passed the transfer position where the toner image is transferred as described above is removed by the cleaning device 12 including the cleaning blade 13.

  By the way, when a new image forming apparatus is installed and the developing device 6 after the installation is filled with the developer D, the developer is filled while the developing device 6 is driven. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a developer filling container 20 is connected to one end of the screw 10, and the developer is driven while driving the image carrier 1 and the developing roller 8 and screws 9, 10 of the developing device 6. The developer D is filled from the filling container 20. At this time, if the filling speed of the developer D is low, there has been a possibility that problems such as the photoconductor cleaning blade 13 rolling may occur.

Therefore, in order to prevent the occurrence of such a problem, the present invention takes the following measures.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the developer filling container 20 according to this embodiment includes a main storage portion 21 for storing a developer to be filled in the developing device 6 using its own weight. The intermediate filling passage 23 communicates with the main storage portion 21 via the throttle passage 22 and the filling port 24 connected to the developing device provided at the lowermost portion of the intermediate filling passage 23. In this case, the main storage portion 21 is formed in the maximum volume portion in the developer filling container 20 formed in a substantially rectangular box shape, and is tapered toward the throttle passage 22 provided in the lower portion thereof. The shape, that is, the shape in which the opening area becomes smaller toward the throttle passage 22 is formed. Further, the upper wall surface 22a of the throttle wall 22 shown in FIG. 4 is greatly squeezed out, thereby forming a throttle shape. And is formed in an inclined portion 31 having a constant inclination angle. Furthermore, although the intermediate filling passage 23 is located immediately above the filling port 24 in the gravity direction, the connection port of the throttle passage 22 which is the upper surface of the intermediate filling passage 23 and the filling port 24 which is the lower surface are arranged in the gravity direction. Some of the overlapping parts are largely offset.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the developer filling container 20 formed in this way has a passage cross section of the throttle passage 22 between the main reservoir 21 and the intermediate filling passage 23 as shown in FIG. 5, and the intermediate filling passage 23 as shown in FIG. 7 is set such that the area of the passage sections A, B, C is passage section B> passage section A> passage section C, where B is the passage section and B is the passage section of the filling port 24 as shown in FIG. doing.

  When the developer filling container 20 is configured as described above, a space 30 is formed in the upper corner of the intermediate filling passage 23 on the side of the narrowed passage 22 as shown in FIG. In this space 30, an intermediate filling passage 23 having a passage section B larger than the passage section A of the restriction passage 22 and a passage section C of the filling port 24 is provided between the restriction passage 22 and the filling port 24, and this intermediate filling. The opening positions of the connection port of the throttle passage 22 which is the upper surface of the passage 23 and the opening position of the filling port 24 which is the lower surface are substantially shifted in the direction of gravity. Formed by.

  With this configuration, the developer pressure in the developer filling container 20 is dispersed at the filling port 24, and the developer weight just above the developing device filling portion is reduced, so that air and developing between the inside of the developing device 6 and the inside of the container. The replacement of the agent D is performed smoothly. Therefore, clogging due to the dense loading of developer D at the filling port 24 portion corresponding to the passage cross section C does not occur, and quick agent filling is obtained.

  Further, the passage section A of the throttle passage 22 is formed with an inclined portion 31 along the direction of gravity, so that a space is formed in the intermediate filling passage 23 on the opposite side of the inclined portion 31 in the direction of gravity during filling. As a result, the inclined upper side faces the space 30 side. Therefore, the air in the space 30 is easily moved to the space 32 on the main storage portion 21, and the pressure difference between the space 30 and the space 32 is reduced by the movement of the air. That is, if the pressure in the space 30 is P1 (P1> atmospheric pressure P0) and the pressure in the space 32 is P2 (P2 <atmospheric pressure P0), the pressure difference δP between P1 and P2 becomes small.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, the developer filling container 20 has a hole 33 (for example, about 1 mm in diameter) communicating with the upper wall surface of the main storage portion 21 in the space above the container and not filled with the developer. ), And the hole 33 directly connects the space 32 on the main storage portion 21 with the outside air. The open hole 33 may be covered with a filter (not shown) that does not pass the agent but allows air to pass.

  With this configuration, the pressure P2 of the space 32 is equal to the atmospheric pressure P0, and the pressure difference δP between P1 and P2 that serves as resistance during filling is reduced, and the air between the developing device 6 and the developer filling container 20 is reduced. The developer filling speed can be increased by smoothly changing the developer.

  FIG. 9 shows a developer filling container 40 according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, a space 30 formed in the intermediate filling passage 23 and a space 32 formed on the main storage portion 21 are connected to each other through a communication path 41. Are connected by

  By configuring in this way, the space 30 and the space 32 are connected by the communication path 41, so the pressure difference δP between P1 and P2 becomes almost zero, and the agent filling speed can be further increased.

Next, the present inventor conducted an experiment of filling a developing device with a developer using a plurality of different types of developer filling containers.
In the developing device 6 used in this experiment, the diameter of the developing roller 8 is 25 mm, the diameter of the screws 9 and 10 is 22 mm, the screw pitch is 25 mm, the rotational speed of the screw is 731 rpm, and the rotational speed of the developing roller is 430 rpm.

The following conditions were applied to all the developer-filled containers.
TC 7% new developer using polymerized toner as developer,
650 g developer loading capacity in the container,

There are 5 types of developer filling containers.
The container A has a conventional developer filling container 50 (funnel type) that directly passes from the main reservoir 51 shown in FIG.

The container A is the developer-filled container 20 of the first embodiment shown in FIGS.
The container c is a developer filling container 40 of the second embodiment shown in FIG.
Container D is a developer-filled container whose upper part is open to the atmosphere in Container A.
Container O is a developer-filled container in which the upper part of the container A is open to the atmosphere.

  In the measurement method, the developer-filled container is set in the developing device 6, and the time from when the developing device is driven until the developer in the developer-filled container becomes empty is measured.

And the result was made into the average of the result of having done the experiment by the same container 5 times. as a result,
Container a 23 seconds (2 data out of 5 measured data were excluded due to clogging)
Container A is 18 seconds Container C is 9 seconds Container D is 22 seconds Container A is 14 seconds

  From this experimental result, the developer-filled container 20 of the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. It was confirmed that clogging did not occur as compared with the filling container 50, the air was smoothly exchanged, and the agent filling speed was increased.

Furthermore, it was confirmed from the comparison between the container A and the container C that it is effective to connect the space 30 and the space 32 through the communication path 41.
Furthermore, it was confirmed that the agent filling speed was faster in the container A provided with the container A and the open hole.

6 Developing Device 20, 40 Developer Filling Container 21 Main Reservoir 22 Throttle Passage 23 Intermediate Filling Passage 24 Filling Port

JP 9-15958 A

Claims (3)

In a developer filling container that fills the developing device using its own weight,
A main storage portion storing developer, an intermediate filling passage communicating with the main storage portion via a throttle passage, and a filling port connected to the developing device provided at the lowermost portion of the intermediate filling passage. A cross section of the throttle passage between the main storage portion and the intermediate filling passage cut by a plane perpendicular to the flow-down direction in which the developer flows down when the developer is charged, A, intermediate filling passage B is a passage cross section cut by a plane perpendicular to the flow-down direction in which the developer flows down when the developer is filled, and the filling port is in the flow-down direction in which the developer flows down when the developer is filled. When the cross section of the passage cut by a vertical surface is C,
The area of the passage sections A, B, C is set as passage section B> passage section A> passage section C ;
The developer-filled container, wherein the throttle passage has an inclined part along the direction of gravity, and the inclined part maintains a constant angle in the flow-down direction of the developer.   2. The developer-filled container according to claim 1, wherein an open hole is provided in the upper wall of the main reservoir, and a space formed on the main reservoir is directly connected to the outside air. .   An image forming apparatus using the developer-filled container according to claim 1, further comprising means for transporting the filled developer into the developing device.

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