JP5633229B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that collects a developer removed from an image carrier or the like in a collection container.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile, a printer, and a copying machine, a cleaning member is provided on the surface of an image carrier such as a photosensitive member or an intermediate transfer belt to remove a developer remaining without being transferred. The developer removed from the image carrier by the cleaning member is transported and stored in a collection container via a transport pipe. When the collection container is filled with the collected developer or the like, the collection container is removed from the apparatus main body and replaced with a new collection container.

  Normally, a seal member is provided at the opening of the collection container into which the discharge port of the transport pipe is inserted so that the developer in the collection container is not scattered outside. For example, in Patent Document 1, two types of seal members are collected so that the developer in the collection container is not scattered outside when the collection container is attached to the apparatus body and removed from the apparatus body. Techniques have been proposed for providing at the opening of a container.

JP 2006-145873 A

  By the way, in recent years, full-color imaging and apparatus miniaturization have rapidly progressed, and in response to market demands for higher image quality, high positional accuracy is required for mounting photoreceptor units, development units, and the like. It was. On the other hand, with respect to the attachment position of the collection container and the position where the opening is formed, the positional accuracy is not as high as that for each unit. For this reason, when the sealing property of the opening of the recovery container is improved by providing two types of seal members as in the proposed technique, the recovery container seal member and the transport pipe when the recovery container is attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. There is a concern that this contact resistance force is transmitted to each unit via the transport pipe and affects the position accuracy.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and the purpose thereof is to prevent the developer from scattering from the recovery container to the outside, and when the recovery container is attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that does not affect the positional accuracy of each unit.

According to the present invention, the apparatus includes a collection container that is detachable from the apparatus main body, and a transport pipe that conveys the developer removed from the image carrier or the developing apparatus to the collection container, and the collection container is attached to the apparatus main body. In the image forming apparatus in which the transport pipe enters the opening formed in the collection container, the first seal member that seals the opening and allows the transport pipe to be moved in and out is provided in the opening. At least one of the recovery containers is provided with a second seal member made of an elastically deformable material so as to surround the opening, and when the recovery container is attached to the apparatus main body, the apparatus main body and the recovery container around the opening are An image forming apparatus is provided in which the gap is sealed by a second seal member.

  Here, when a plurality of openings are formed in the recovery container, a first seal member is provided in each of the openings, and a second seal member is provided so as to surround all of the plurality of openings. Is preferably provided.

  The first seal member is preferably one that is elastically deformable and has a slit.

  Furthermore, when the collection container is mounted on the apparatus main body, the first seal member and the second seal member may contact different members of the apparatus main body. Alternatively, when the collection container is mounted on the apparatus main body, the first seal member may not contact the apparatus main body, and the second seal member may contact the apparatus main body.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the first seal member that seals the opening of the collection container and allows the discharge port of the transport pipe to enter and exit is provided, and at least one of the apparatus main body and the collection container surrounds the opening. Provided with a second seal member made of an elastically deformable material, and when the collection container is attached to the apparatus main body, the gap between the apparatus main body and the collection container around the opening is sealed by the second seal member. Therefore, the developer collected in the collection container does not scatter to the outside, and the position accuracy of each unit such as the photosensitive unit and the development unit is affected when the collection container is attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. Never give.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a schematic diagram of a belt cleaning device. It is a schematic diagram of a photoreceptor unit. FIG. 3 is a front view of the image forming apparatus with a waste toner collection container removed. It is a perspective view of a waste toner collection container. FIG. 6 is a state diagram when the waste toner collecting container of FIG. 5 is attached to the apparatus main body. FIG. 10 is a state diagram showing another mounting mode of the waste toner collecting container with respect to the apparatus main body.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The image forming apparatus D in FIG. 1 is a so-called tandem color printer. Of course, in addition to a printer, the present invention can also be applied to a copying machine having a scanner, a facsimile, or a multi-function machine having these functions combined. Further, the image forming method is not limited to the tandem method, and other methods, for example, four developing devices are arranged around the rotation shaft, and these are sequentially opposed to the electrostatic latent image carrier to be full color. A so-called four-cycle method of creating an image or a monochrome method of creating a monochrome image with one developing device may be used.

  The image forming apparatus D includes an endless intermediate transfer belt 33 having conductivity. The intermediate transfer belt 33 is hung on a pair of rollers 31 and 32 disposed on both the left and right sides in the drawing. The roller 32 is connected to a motor (not shown), and the roller 32 rotates counterclockwise by driving the motor, whereby the intermediate transfer belt 33 and the roller 31 in contact therewith are driven to rotate. A secondary transfer roller 34 is in pressure contact with the outside of the belt portion supported by the roller 32. The toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 33 at the nip portion (secondary transfer region) between the secondary transfer roller 34 and the intermediate transfer belt 33 is transferred onto the conveyed paper P.

  A cleaning blade 92 that cleans the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 33 is provided outside the belt portion supported by the roller 31. The cleaning blade 92 removes and collects untransferred residual toner at a contact portion with the intermediate transfer belt 33. The belt cleaning device 9 (shown in FIG. 2) provided with the cleaning blade 92 will be described in detail later.

  Below the intermediate transfer belt 33 suspended between the rollers 31 and 32, yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), black ( K) four image forming units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K (hereinafter may be collectively referred to as “image forming unit 2”) are detachably arranged with respect to the apparatus main body 10. In these image forming units 2, corresponding color toner images are created using the respective color developers.

  The image forming unit 2 includes a cylindrical photoconductor 20 as an electrostatic latent image carrier. A charging device 21, a developing device 23, a primary transfer roller 24, and a cleaning blade 62 are arranged around the photoconductor 20 in order along the rotation direction (clockwise direction). Then, one end side of the cleaning blade 62 comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the photoconductor 20, and the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 20 is removed and collected. The primary transfer roller 24 is in pressure contact with the photoconductor 20 with the intermediate transfer belt 33 interposed therebetween to form a nip portion (primary transfer region). An exposure device 22 is disposed below the image forming unit 2. As will be described later, the photoconductor 20, the cleaning blade 62, and the charging device 21 are integrally configured as the photoconductor unit 6. The photoreceptor unit 6 will be described in detail later.

  In the embodiment shown in this figure, a roller charging type is used as the charging device 21, but the type of the charging device 21 is not particularly limited, and a corona discharge charging charger, a blade-shaped charging member, Of course, a brush-like charging member or the like may be used. However, the present invention is preferably applied to a contact charging method such as a roller charging device in which a large amount of discharge products adhere to the photoreceptor.

  Above the intermediate transfer belt 33, hoppers 4Y, 4M, 4C, and 4K (hereinafter sometimes collectively referred to as “hopper 4”) containing toner to be supplied to the developing devices 23 of the respective colors are arranged. A paper feed cassette 50 is detachably disposed as a paper feed device below the exposure device 22. The sheets P stacked and accommodated in the sheet cassette 50 are sent out one by one to the conveyance path in order from the uppermost sheet by the rotation of the sheet feed roller 51 disposed in the vicinity of the sheet cassette 50. The paper P sent out from the paper feed cassette 50 is conveyed to the registration roller pair 52 and is sent out to the secondary transfer area at a predetermined timing.

  The image forming apparatus D can be switched between a monochrome mode in which a monochrome image is formed using one color toner (for example, black) and a color mode in which a color image is formed using four color toners.

  An image forming operation example in the color mode will be briefly described. First, in each image forming unit 2, the outer peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 20 that is rotationally driven at a predetermined peripheral speed is charged by the charging device 21. Next, light corresponding to image information is projected from the exposure device 22 on the surface of the charged photoconductor 20 to form an electrostatic latent image. Subsequently, the electrostatic latent image is made visible by toner as a developer supplied from the developing device 23. When the toner image of each color formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 20 in this way reaches the primary transfer region by the rotation of the photoreceptor 20, the toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor 20 to the intermediate transfer belt in the order of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. 33 is transferred (primary transfer) and superimposed.

  Residual toner remaining on the photoconductor 20 without being transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 33 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 62 and removed from the outer peripheral surface of the photoconductor 20.

  The superimposed four color toner images are conveyed to the secondary transfer region by the intermediate transfer belt 33. On the other hand, the paper P is conveyed from the registration roller pair 52 to the secondary transfer area in accordance with the timing. Then, the four color toner images are transferred (secondary transfer) from the intermediate transfer belt 33 to the paper P in the secondary transfer region. The paper P on which the four color toner images are transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 1. In the fixing device 1, the paper P passes through the nip portion between the fixing roller 11 and the pressure roller 12. During this time, the paper P is heated and pressurized, and the toner image on the paper P is melted and fixed on the paper P. The paper P on which the toner image is fixed is discharged to a paper discharge tray 54 by a discharge roller pair 53.

  On the other hand, residual toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 33 without being transferred onto the paper P is scraped off by the cleaning blade 92 and removed from the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt 33. Thereafter, the rotational drive of each photoconductor 20 and the intermediate transfer belt 33 is stopped.

  FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional configuration diagram of the belt cleaning device 9. The belt cleaning device 9 in this figure includes a housing 91, a cleaning blade 92, a blade holder 93 that supports the cleaning blade 92, and a screw member 95. The free end side tip of the cleaning blade 92 is in contact with the counter transfer direction with respect to the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer belt 33 that rotates counterclockwise. The contact direction of the cleaning blade 92 with respect to the intermediate transfer belt 33 may be the trail direction, but the removal of residual toner from the intermediate transfer belt 33 and the surface polishing of the intermediate transfer belt 33 are efficiently performed. From the viewpoint, it is preferable that the contact is made in the counter direction. The residual toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 92 is conveyed to a waste toner collection container 7 (shown in FIG. 5) by a screw member 95.

  FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional configuration diagram of the photoconductor unit 6. The photoreceptor unit 6 in this figure includes a housing 61, a photoreceptor 20 attached to the housing 61, a charging device 21 and a cleaning blade 62 provided around the photoreceptor 20. The cleaning blade 62 is attached to the housing 61 via a blade holder 63, and a screw member 66 is provided on the back side of the cleaning blade 62. The free end side tip of the cleaning blade 62 contacts the counter direction with respect to the rotation direction of the photosensitive member 20 that rotates clockwise, and scrapes off residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive member 20. Then, the scraped residual toner is conveyed to a waste toner collecting container 7 (shown in FIG. 5) by a screw member 66.

  FIG. 4 is a front view of the apparatus main body 10 with the waste toner container 7 removed. A discharge pipe 97 connected to the belt cleaning device 9 and four discharge pipes 67 connected to each of the four photoreceptor units 6 protrude in the front direction. A discharge port 68 (shown in FIG. 6) is formed at the tip of the discharge pipe 97 and the discharge pipe 67, and residual toner conveyed by the screw members 95 and 66 from the belt cleaning device 9 and the photosensitive unit 6 is here. To the waste toner collecting container 7 (shown in FIG. 5).

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the waste toner collecting container 7. The waste toner collecting container 7 has a thin rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has an opening 71 (shown in FIG. 6) at a position facing the discharge pipe 97 and the discharge pipe 67 on the surface side to be mounted on the apparatus main body 10 (shown in FIG. 4). ) Is formed. The size of the opening 71 is larger than the diameters of the discharge pipe 97 and the discharge pipe 67. And the 1st seal member 81a, 81b is attached to the opening part 71 so that the opening part 71 may be sealed. The first seal members 81a and 81b are made of an elastically deformable material, and a plurality of slits 811 are formed at equal angles from the center to the circumferential direction. As shown in this figure, when the waste toner collecting container 7 is detached from the apparatus main body 10, the opening 71 is sealed by the first seal members 81a and 81b. As will be described later, if the contact pressure of the first seal members 81a and 81b when the discharge pipes 67 and 97 push open the first seal members 81a and 81b and enter the waste toner collecting container 7 is high, Since this contact resistance force is transmitted to the photosensitive unit 6 (shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) and the position accuracy may be affected, the material of the first seal members 81a and 81b is a film that is easily elastically deformed. A sheet or the like is preferable. From the viewpoint of reducing the contact resistance of the first seal members 81a and 81b, it is preferable to form a large number of slits 811.

  In addition, a second seal member 82 is attached to the waste toner collection container 7 so as to surround the entire opening 71. The second seal member 82 is made of an elastically deformable material such as sponge or rubber. The thickness of the second seal member 82 is such that when the waste toner collection container 7 is attached to the apparatus main body 10 and the second seal member 82 is compressed between the waste toner collection container 7 and the apparatus main body 10, the first seal member 81a , 81b or more.

  FIG. 6 shows a state diagram when the waste toner collecting container 7 is attached to the apparatus main body 10. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. When the waste toner collecting container 7 is attached to the apparatus main body 10, the discharge pipe 67 comes into contact with the first seal member 81 a attached to the opening 71 of the waste toner collecting container 7. Since the first seal member 81a has a plurality of slits 811 (shown in FIG. 5), the discharge pipe 67 pushes open the first seal member 81a and enters the waste toner collecting container 7. A discharge port 68 is formed at the tip of the discharge pipe 67, and the residual toner conveyed from the photoreceptor unit 6 is discharged from here into the waste toner collection container 7.

  When the waste toner collecting container 7 is mounted on the apparatus main body 10, the waste toner collecting container 7 is sandwiched between the waste toner collecting container 7 and the apparatus main body 10 by being compressed and deformed, and the apparatus around the opening 71 is compressed. A gap between the main body 10 and the waste toner collecting container 7 is sealed. As a result, even if the first seal member 81a is bent and a gap is formed by the entrance of the transport pipe 67, the second seal member 82 prevents the airflow in the apparatus main body 10 from flowing into the first seal member 81a. Thus, the toner collected in the waste toner collecting container 7 is not scattered outside from the gap of the first seal member 81a by the air flow in the apparatus main body 10.

  In order to increase the airtightness of the second seal member 82, it is desirable to strongly press the waste toner collection container 7 against the apparatus main body 10. However, when the waste toner collection container 7 is strongly pressed against the apparatus main body 10, the photosensitive unit. 6 and the position accuracy of the developing unit may be affected. Therefore, as the part on the apparatus main body 10 side with which the second seal member 82 contacts, the exterior member 10a other than the photoreceptor unit 6 and the developing unit is desirable. Since the exterior member 10a is fixed to the main body frame, even if a strong pressing force is applied to cause deformation or displacement, the photoreceptor unit 6 and the development unit are not affected.

  In addition, the second seal member 82 is provided in the waste toner collection container 7 in the above embodiment, but may be provided on the apparatus main body 10 side, or may be provided on both the waste toner collection container 7 and the apparatus main body 10 side. Also good. Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the 2nd seal member 82 was provided so that the circumference | surroundings of the opening part 71 might be enclosed, in the range which the inflow of the airflow to the 1st seal members 81a and 81b is prevented, an opening part You may make it provide in a part of 71 circumference | surroundings.

  FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the waste toner collecting container. The waste toner collection container 7 shown in this figure is different from the waste toner collection container 7 shown in FIG. 6 in that the thickness of the second seal member 82 is increased and the waste toner collection container 7 is attached to the apparatus main body 10. In some cases, the first seal members 81 a and 81 b are not in contact with the photosensitive unit 6. Thereby, the contact pressure applied to the photosensitive unit 6 by the first seal members 81a and 81b can be further reduced, and the influence on the positional accuracy of the photosensitive unit 6 and the developing unit can be reduced.

  In the embodiment described above, the residual toner scraped off by the photosensitive unit 6 and the belt cleaning device 9 is collected in the waste toner collecting container 7, but the developer used in the developing unit is used in the collecting container. Even in the case of recovery, the effect of the present invention can be obtained by the same configuration as in the above embodiment.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the developer collected in the collection container does not scatter to the outside, and the position accuracy of each unit such as the photosensitive unit when the collection container is attached to or detached from the apparatus main body. It is useful without affecting.

6 Photosensitive unit 7 Waste toner collection container (collection container)
9 Belt cleaning device D Image forming device 10 Device body 20 Photosensitive drum (image carrier)
33 Intermediate transfer belt (image carrier)
67, 97 Conveying pipe 68 Discharge port 71 Opening portion 81a, 81b First seal member 82 Second seal member 811 Slit

Claims (5)

A collection container which is detachable from the apparatus body;
A transport pipe for transporting the developer removed from the image carrier or the developing device to a collection container;
In the image forming apparatus in which the transport tube enters the opening formed in the collection container when the collection container is attached to the apparatus main body,
While providing the first seal member in the opening to seal the opening and enable the transfer pipe to enter and exit,
When at least one of the apparatus main body and the recovery container is provided with a second seal member made of an elastically deformable material so as to surround the opening, and the recovery container is attached to the apparatus main body, the apparatus main body and the recovery around the opening are recovered. An image forming apparatus, wherein a gap between the container and the container is sealed by a second seal member.   2. A plurality of openings are formed in the recovery container, a first seal member is provided in each of the openings, and a second seal member is provided so as to surround all of the plurality of openings. Image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first seal member is elastically deformable and has a slit.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the collection container is attached to the apparatus main body, the first seal member and the second seal member contact different members of the apparatus main body.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the collection container is attached to the apparatus main body, the first seal member does not contact the apparatus main body, and the second seal member contacts the apparatus main body.