JP5843216B2 - Structure for image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a structure for an image forming apparatus and an image forming apparatus using the same.

  A general console type high-speed image forming apparatus has an upper skeleton that houses and holds a document reading unit, an image forming unit, and the like, and a lower skeleton that houses and holds a paper feed unit and the like. Further, the lower skeleton body includes a base portion, four corner support portions, a channel-shaped skeleton member having a U-shaped cross section, and a reinforcing member. As an example of the base part, a sheet metal member is arranged in the center, square pipe members that form rectangular frames on the four sides thereof are joined by arc welding, and caster mounting members in which sheet metal is formed in a box shape at the four corners are arc welded. There is what was joined at.

  Since the base unit needs to place and fix the paper feed unit and the like with high positional accuracy, high dimensional accuracy is required, and high rigidity is required to receive the weight of the image forming apparatus. Conventionally, many parts are joined by arc welding with their positions fixed by jigs. However, high dimensional accuracy is required for each pressed part and welding jig, and several tens of welding locations are required, and robot welding is essential. Therefore, there is a problem that the contractors that can be processed are limited, and the cost reduction of the base member does not proceed.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, a base member and a plurality of channel-like skeleton members are fixed by welding to form a skeleton body, and the base member joins two upper and lower sheet metal members by welding, An image forming apparatus having a lower surface as a caster mounting surface has been proposed.

  In Patent Document 2, in a structure composed of a plurality of channel-shaped skeleton members and a base portion, skeleton members are erected at the four corners of the base portion, and caster mounting members are also arranged at the four corners. An image forming apparatus in which a caster mounting member is fastened by a base member provided with a flange has been proposed.

  Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a housing frame composed of at least a side plate, a support column, a top plate, and a bottom plate. The bottom plate is composed of two members, and a planar portion and a wall portion are formed on both members. There has been proposed an electric device in which a plurality of protruding portions are provided on a flat surface portion of one member of a bottom plate and a connecting portion with a protruding portion is provided on the other side, which are overlapped in a box shape so that the inside is hollow.

  However, since the base member of Patent Document 1 joins a plurality of upper and lower sheet metal members by welding at a plurality of locations, robot welding is essential, and there is a problem that the number of processors is limited.

  Moreover, the base part of patent document 2 has joined the caster mounting member arrange | positioned in four corners to the base member which provided the flange by spot welding etc., but the notch and the hole are formed in the flange part, and a high-speed layer There is a problem that the rigidity required for the image forming apparatus cannot be secured.

  Furthermore, the bottom plate of Patent Document 3 is fitted with two upper and lower sheet metal members, and robot welding is essential when the side portions are joined by welding, and it is not projected from the side portion even in the case of other joining methods. Since processing is required, there exists a subject that a joining method is limited.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a structure for an image forming apparatus that can be manufactured without using a jig with high dimensional accuracy, a robot welding machine, or the like, and an image forming apparatus using the same.

The structure for an image forming apparatus of the present invention is a thin metal plate that has been drawn, each of which includes a first structural member and a second structural member each having a plurality of planar portions, and the first structure members are those forming a plurality of projections to the four corners respectively of the widest aperture of the four corners of the flat portion of the area processed to flat portion in the plurality of flat portions, and said plurality of flat portions A plurality of protrusions are formed on each of the four side surfaces, and the second structural member has four corners of the flat surface portion having the largest area among the plurality of flat surface portions. four-corner each drawing to flat portion is intended to form a protrusion that can fit with the projection of the first structural member, and, by a drawing process the side surface portion of the periphery of the plurality of flat portions The four side surfaces are fitted into the protrusions of the side surfaces of the first structural member. That Yes with a plurality of projections formed, the first overlay disposed said second structural member on the underside of the structural member, the second with the projection of the four corners of the first structural member fitting the projection of the four corners of the structural member, the side surfaces of the corresponding with joining flat portions are crimped, said second structural member the the impact force of the side surface portion of the first structural member by superposition It is characterized in that the first structural member and the second structural member are configured in a plate shape by fitting the protrusions of the part and press-fastening.

  According to the present invention, two thin plate press parts are joined by press fitting caulking at a plurality of overlapping planes, and a plurality of side faces are joined by press fastening, so that a highly accurate welding jig or robot welding machine is not required. Therefore, it becomes possible to create a structure with high dimensional accuracy without selecting a processor.

1 is a cross-sectional view of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The perspective view of the structure of an image forming apparatus provided with the structure by this invention The perspective view of the lower skeleton of an image forming apparatus provided with the structure by this embodiment Similarly, an exploded perspective view of the base portion Similarly, a perspective view of the base portion showing the caulking location and the press fastening location A conceptual cross-sectional view showing the press fastening location

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the base portion is constituted by two thin plate pressed parts. The press part has a drawn plane, the four corners of the surface portion having the widest area are projected by drawing, and the side faces are formed by drawing. One of the two thin plate pressed parts is a first structural member in which a plurality of wedge-shaped protrusions are arranged on the side surface. The other sheet is a second structural member having a drawn plane, having four corners of the surface portion having the largest area projected by drawing, and a plurality of columnar protrusions arranged on the side surface. A plurality of these overlapping planes are joined together by press-fitting caulking called TOX (registered trademark) (hereinafter referred to as TOX (registered trademark) caulking), and the wedge-shaped projections on the side surface are cylindrical projections. Press the part. Then, two thin plate press parts are comprised as one plate-shaped member. High-precision welding jigs and robot welders are unnecessary. Therefore, a structure with high dimensional accuracy can be created without selecting a processor.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated image forming apparatus 100 is irradiated with light by the optical device 200, and the four color toner images formed by the four image forming devices 100Y, 100C, 100M, and 100Bk are respectively transferred to the toner of each color by the transfer device 300. Are stacked and transferred to the sheet material P. On the other hand, the sheet material P stacked on the sheet material supply device 400 is picked up by the sheet feeding roller 410 and conveyed from the registration roller 420 to the transfer device 300, and the toner image is transferred to the sheet material P. Thereafter, the sheet material P is heated and fixed by a fixing device 500 that fixes a toner image, conveyed to the sheet material discharge roller 600, and the sheet material is stacked on the sheet material stacking unit 700. In the image forming apparatus 100, an image is formed on the sheet material through the above-described steps. In this image forming apparatus, various devices are arranged and fixed at predetermined positions of a housing as shown in FIG. 2 described later, and the positional relationship between the devices is determined.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the structure of the image forming apparatus including the structure according to the present invention. The illustrated structure includes an upper skeleton body 1 and a lower skeleton body 2, and the upper skeleton body 1 includes a document reading device, a writing optical device, and an image forming device (photosensitive member, developing unit, transfer unit, image forming apparatus). Cleaning unit and the like, and a fixing device and the like. The lower skeleton 2 supports a sheet material supply device (a paper feed unit, a paper feed tray, etc.) of the image forming apparatus. The upper skeleton 1 has a structure in which positioning is performed by positioning pins provided on the lower skeleton 2.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the lower skeleton of the image forming apparatus including the structure according to the present embodiment. The upper skeleton 1 is positioned by two positioning pins provided on the lower skeleton 2. Further, the lower skeleton body 2 is composed of a base portion 3 located at the bottom, support columns 4 arranged at the four corners, and a skeleton member 5 formed by combining a plurality of members formed in a channel shape, and is fixed integrally by welding. It is a thing. Of course, fixing may be performed by means other than welding.

  FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the base portion 3 described above, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the base portion 3. As shown in the drawing, the upper first structural member 6 is a thin plate pressed part and has a plurality of drawn planes. In the illustrated example, four flat portions are formed. Then, the four corners of the surface portion (the surface portion 6d of the second step from the top in the figure in the figure) having the largest area and forming the outer periphery are projected by drawing, thereby four island-like shapes having a small area. The protrusions 6a having a flat surface are formed, and the side surfaces of the protrusions 6a that are continuous with the second-stage surface 6d are formed into slopes by drawing. Further, a rounded rectangular opening 61 is provided in the central portion. As the shape of the opening 61, various shapes such as a circle, a rounded corner, and the like can be adopted.

  Further, the lower second structural member 7 is a thin plate pressed part like the first structural member 6 and has a plurality of drawn planes. The four corners of the surface portion 7d having the widest area and the outermost peripheral surface are protruded by drawing, thereby providing four columnar protrusions 7a having a small area of the top flat surface. The number and position of the protrusions 7 a correspond to the four island-shaped protrusions 6 a of the first structural member 6. The bottom 61 e corresponds to the opening 61.

  Moreover, the side surface connected to the outermost surface portion 7d of each protrusion 7a is formed into a sloped shape by drawing, and can be fitted to the protrusion 6a of the first structural member 6 from below. Yes. The other surface portions of the first structural member 6 and the second structural member 7 and the respective side surfaces connected to them are also formed in a slope shape.

  Then, the first structural member 6 and the second structural member 7 are fitted to each other, the projecting portion 7a of the second structural member 7 is fitted to the lower surface side of the projecting portion 6a of the first structural member 6, and the rounded rectangular ring shape is fitted. The flat surface portion 7b of the second structural member 7 having the same shape is positioned on the lower surface side of the flat surface portion 6b. Further, the planar portion 6c of the first structural member 6 is superposed on the planar portion 7c of the second structural member 7, and then joined by, for example, TOX (registered trademark) caulking performed in a pressing step.

  The protrusion 6a and the protrusion 7a are caster attachment parts. In order to keep the overall height of the image forming apparatus as low as possible, the projecting portion 6a and the flat surface portion 7a are projected upward, and are projected into the space formed by the column portions 4 arranged at the four corners. In addition, since it shape | molds by drawing, the rigidity is improved.

  As described above, the other flat portions 6b and 7b are also formed by drawing to increase the rigidity as a structure. Then, a cavity is formed between the first structural member 6 and the second structural member 7 by joining the planar portion 6b and the planar portion 7b and fastening each side surface. Therefore, it is possible to increase the rigidity of the base portion 3. In FIG. 5, an X mark indicated by reference numeral 31 indicates a TOX (registered trademark) crimped portion, and an O mark indicated by reference numeral 32 indicates a press fastening position.

  FIG. 6 is a conceptual cross-sectional view showing the press fastening location. As described above, the side surface 60 of the first structural member 6 is formed by drawing, and a plurality of wedge-shaped projections 8 are arranged on four surfaces. The side surface 70 of the second structural member 7 is formed by bending, and a plurality of columnar protrusions 9 are arranged on four surfaces. In this embodiment, the first structural member 6 is combined so as to cover the second structural member 7, the wedge-shaped protrusion 8 is fitted to the columnar protrusion 9, and is fastened by pressing.

  That is, a plurality of wedge-shaped projections 8 formed by joining the overlapping planes of the first structural member 6 and the second structural member 7 with a plurality of TOX (registered trademark) caulking and molding the side surfaces of the first structural member 6. And the base part 3 is comprised as one plate-shaped member by press-fastening the some cylindrical protrusion 9 shape | molded on the side surface of the 2nd structural member 7. FIG. At this time, the bottom surface portion 7e of the second structural member 7 is seen from above corresponding to the opening 61 of the first structural member 6 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). In addition, in the experiment which the inventor performed, the joining location of the overlapping plane portions is joined by, for example, 42 or more TOX (registered trademark) caulking, and the side surface portion is pressed at, for example, 10 to 14 locations per surface. By joining by fastening, the rigidity equivalent to the conventional structure joined by arc welding for the image forming apparatus could be secured.

  Note that TOX (registered trademark) used in the present specification is a registered trademark of Tox Pressotechnik Co., Ltd.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in other embodiments by making appropriate changes. That is, the first structural member 6 and the second structural member 7 can be fastened with rivets. Alternatively, the first structural member 6 and the second structural member 7 can be fastened by slit burring.

  As described above, the first structural member 6 can be reduced in weight by having a large opening 61 in the surface portion having the widest area, and two thin plate presses are not shown in the drawing. It is possible to dispose a dehumidifying heater or the like of the paper feed bank in the space formed between the parts without interfering with other parts.

  In the image forming apparatus in which the structural member is disposed so as to form a bottom surface as an apparatus main body of the image forming apparatus, a highly accurate and highly rigid structural member is disposed on the bottom surface of the apparatus, so that the paper feeding unit Thus, the rigidity of the entire apparatus is increased, so that high-quality image quality can be finally maintained.

  Many further modifications will be possible to those skilled in the art within the technical idea of the present invention.

1: Upper skeleton body 2: Lower skeleton body 3: Base part 4: Strut part 5: Skeletal member 6: Structural member 6a: Projection part 6b: Plane part 6c: Plane part 6d: Surface part 7 constituting the outer periphery 7: Structural member 7a : Projection 7b: Plane part 7c: Plane part 7d: Surface part 7e constituting outer periphery: Bottom part 8: Projection 9: Projection 60: Side surface 61: Opening 70: Side surface 100: Image forming apparatuses 100Y to 100Bk: Image forming apparatus 200 : Optical device 300: Transfer device 400: Sheet material supply device 410: Paper feed roller 420: Registration roller 500: Fixing device 600: Sheet material discharge roller 700: Sheet material stacking part P: Sheet material

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-175419 JP 2004-264705 A JP 2002-16384 A

Claims (8)

Each of the drawn metal thin plates is composed of a first structural member and a second structural member both having a plurality of planar portions,
Wherein the first structural member is intended to form a plurality of projections to the four corners respectively of the widest aperture of the four corners of the flat portion of the area processed to flat portion in the plurality of flat portions, and, A plurality of projections are formed on each of the four side surface portions by drawing the side surface portions around the plurality of flat surface portions,
It said second structural member, to the four corners respectively of the processing to the flat surface portion squeezed four corners of the flat portion of the largest area among the plurality of flat portions may fit the protruding portion of the first structural member A plurality of protrusions that can be fitted into the protrusions of the side surface portion of the first structural member on each of the four side surface portions by drawing a side surface portion around the plurality of flat surface portions. A protrusion is formed,
The second structural member is arranged on the lower side of the first structural member and overlapped, and the protrusions at the four corners of the second structural member are fitted into the protrusions at the four corners of the first structural member. , By caulking and joining the corresponding flat parts by overlapping,
It said second fitted the protrusion of the side surface portion of the structural member, and pressed fastened to the impact force of the side surface portion of the first structural member,
A structure for an image forming apparatus, wherein the first structural member and the second structural member are configured in a plate shape.   The joining of planes corresponding to each other in the superposition is performed by joining two or more planes having different heights of each of the first structural member and the second structural member. A structure for an image forming apparatus.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first structural member has a large opening having a substantially circular shape or a rectangular shape with rounded corners on the innermost surface portion of the plurality of surface portions. Structure for the device.   4. The structure for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the overlapping planes are joined by press fitting.   4. The structure for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the overlapping planes are joined by rivet caulking.   4. The structure for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the overlapping planes are joined by slit burring.   7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein another part for the image forming apparatus can be disposed in a space formed between the two thin plate press parts. Structure. 8. An image forming apparatus comprising: a bottom surface portion of a main body of an image forming apparatus comprising the structure for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1;