JP6187865B2 - Clutch mechanism and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a clutch mechanism that performs driving connection and disconnection of a rotational driving force of a driving source to a driven body, and an image forming apparatus including the clutch mechanism.

Conventionally, during operation of a drive source that rotationally drives a rotating body or a driven gear train that is drivingly connected to the rotating body (hereinafter referred to as a driven body), the driving system gear train that is drivingly connected to the driving source. Etc. (hereinafter referred to as a drive transmission member) and a clutch mechanism for connecting and disconnecting a driven body are known. In addition, the drive connection of high rotation and high torque than the electromagnetic clutch mechanism using friction, etc., which has the same size when projected onto a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis direction of the rotational drive force for driving connection and disconnection. A planetary gear clutch mechanism is also known as a clutch mechanism that can be shut off.
For example, Patent Document 1 describes an image forming apparatus provided with the following planetary gear clutch mechanism.

  It is a planetary gear clutch mechanism that assigns input to rotation of the internal gear, which is the three rotating elements of the planetary gear mechanism, assigns output to rotation of the planet carrier holding the planetary gear, and assigns fixation to rotation of the sun gear. . Further, the sun gear is integrally provided with a ratchet portion that is a rotation restricting member. Then, in the contact state (engagement state) where the restriction protrusion of the restriction lever that is the rotation restriction member contacts (engages) the restricted protrusion of the ratchet portion, the rotation of the sun gear is fixed and the driven body and the drive source side The drive transmission member is connected. On the other hand, in a separated state (non-engaged state) in which the rotation restriction protrusion and the restriction protrusion are separated (unengaged), the rotation of the sun gear is changed from the fixed state to the freely released fixed state, and the driven body and the drive source side The drive connection of the drive transmission member is cut off. A solenoid as switching means for moving (rotating) the regulating lever so that the regulating projection of the regulating lever is in either the contact state or the separated state with respect to the regulated projection of the ratchet portion is also provided. Yes.

However, in the planetary gear clutch mechanism described in Patent Document 1, the regulated projection of the ratchet portion and the regulating projection of the regulating lever come into contact (engagement), and the drive connection between the driven body and the drive transmission member on the drive source side After starting the operation of performing the operation, the operation of performing the drive connection is completed in a very short time. For this reason, there is a possibility that the following inconvenience may occur due to a larger impact force acting on the drive transmission member on the drive source side than the electromagnetic clutch mechanism using friction.
Cracks occur in the vicinity of the bottom fillet portion of the gear that is connected to and disconnected from the planetary gear clutch mechanism, causing damage to the gear, etc., and deformation of the support shaft that supports the gear, etc. Damage or deformation may occur and normal drive transmission may not be possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a clutch mechanism that can suppress damage and deformation of a drive transmission member on a drive source side that is connected to and disconnected from a driven body. .

  Rotation restricted member that performs drive connection between the drive transmission member on the driving source side that is rotating and the driven body when rotation is restricted and rotation is stopped, and that cuts off the drive connection by rotating after rotation restriction is released And a rotation having a restricting protrusion for restricting rotation of the rotation restricting member in a contact state with the restricting protrusion provided on the rotation restricting member and releasing the rotation restriction of the rotation restricting member in a separated state. In the clutch mechanism including a restriction member and a switching unit that moves the rotation restriction member so as to be in either the contact state or the separated state, the rotation restriction member is provided with the restriction protrusion. A rotating member and an elastic body that resists a force to rotate the rotating member, and rotates the rotating member around the rotation center of the rotation restricting member in the contact state. Specially held It is an.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can provide a clutch mechanism that can suppress damage and deformation of a drive transmission member on a drive source side that is connected to and disconnected from a driven body.

1 is an overall schematic explanatory diagram of a printer that is an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a driving gear train of a photosensitive member and a developing roller at the time of forward rotation of an image forming unit corresponding to black. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a driving gear train of a photoconductor and a developing roller when an image forming unit corresponding to black is rotated in reverse. The perspective explanatory drawing of a planetary gear clutch mechanism. Explanatory drawing of the operation principle of a planetary gear clutch mechanism. Explanatory drawing of the example of the rotation control part of the planetary gear clutch mechanism of a prior art example. The perspective explanatory drawing of the rotation control part of a prior application example. Explanatory drawing of meshing | engagement of the to-be-regulated protrusion of a prior application example and a control protrusion. Explanatory drawing of the rotation control part of the planetary gear clutch mechanism of Example 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view of a rotation restricting portion of the planetary gear clutch mechanism of the first embodiment. Operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of restricting rotation at the time of forward rotation of the ratchet of Example 1. FIG. Explanatory drawing of meshing | engagement of the to-be-regulated protrusion of Example 1, and a control protrusion. Explanatory drawing of the load torque which acts on each gear of the planetary gear part at the time of drive connection cancellation | release and drive connection. The schematic diagram of the profile of the electric current value which flows into a drive motor at the time of drive connection. The graph which compared the impact force when not having provided the structure which eases an impact force. Explanatory drawing of the rotation control part of the planetary gear clutch mechanism of Example 2. FIG. Operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of restrict | rotating the ratchet of Example 2 at the time of forward rotation. Operation | movement explanatory drawing at the time of restricting rotation at the time of reverse rotation of the ratchet of Example 2. FIG. Explanatory drawing of the rotation member of Example 3. FIG.

Hereinafter, as an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus, an example in which the present invention is applied to an intermediate transfer tandem type color printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer 200) will be described with reference to a plurality of examples.
First, the outline of the printer 200, the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 provided in the printer 200, and the problems of the conventional planetary gear clutch mechanism will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall schematic explanatory diagram of a printer 200 that is an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the drive gear train 70 of the photosensitive member 1K and the developing roller 4K when the image forming unit 10K corresponding to black is rotated forward. FIG. 2A is a diagram when the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in the drive transmission state. (B) is explanatory drawing at the time of the interruption | blocking state. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the drive gear train 70 of the photosensitive member 1K and the developing roller 4K when the image forming unit 10K corresponding to black is rotated in reverse, and (a) is when the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in the drive transmission state. (B) is explanatory drawing at the time of the interruption | blocking state. 2 (a), 2 (b) and FIGS. 3 (a), 3 (b), the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is shown as an internal gear from a ratchet portion 112 provided integrally with the sun gear 111. The cross section which looked at the 101 side is shown. In the drawing, the outer shapes of the introduction gear 116, the driving roller 22, the photosensitive member 1K, and the developing roller 4K arranged on the front side are also indicated by broken lines.

  4 is a perspective explanatory view of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the operation principle of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100. 6 is an explanatory view of an example of a rotation restricting portion of a planetary gear clutch mechanism of a conventional example, FIG. 7 is a perspective explanatory view of a rotation restricting portion of a prior application example, and FIG. 8 is a regulated protrusion and restriction of the prior application example. It is explanatory drawing of a meshing with protrusion. In FIGS. 6, 7, and 8, some names and symbols are changed and described for the sake of description of the present embodiment. In addition, the same structural members as those of the planetary gear clutch mechanism of the present embodiment and the structural members that perform the same function will be referred to by the same names and will be described with the same reference numerals.

  Moreover, about the gear part of each said figure, a tooth profile is abbreviate | omitted and it has only stopped describing the reference | standard pitch circle. Further, in the following description, unless otherwise specified, with respect to the rotation direction of the rotating bodies such as the gears and the intermediate transfer belt 24, the rotation direction in the rotation direction at the time of image formation is the normal rotation direction, and is opposite to that at the time of image formation. The rotation in the direction is called the reverse rotation direction. In addition, when it is necessary to indicate the absolute rotation direction instead of the relative rotation direction in this way, except for the rotation direction shown in the perspective view of FIG. It is simply called clockwise or counterclockwise.

First, the overall configuration and operation of the printer 200 of this embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the printer 200 includes image forming units 10K, 10M, and 10C corresponding to four color toners of black (K), magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow (Y), respectively. 10Y. Each image forming unit 10 is arranged so as to come into contact with the driving roller 22, the driven roller 23, which is also a corresponding roller of the secondary transfer roller 25, and the intermediate transfer belt 24 spanned by a plurality of stretching rollers from below. ing. Further, the image forming units 10Y, 10C, 10M, and 10K are arranged in this order from the upstream side in the endless movement direction of the intermediate transfer belt 24 (the driven roller 23 side).

  Each image forming unit 10 is provided with drum-shaped photoreceptors 1K, 1M, 1C, and 1Y, which are image carriers corresponding to the respective colors. Around each photoconductor 1, a charging device 2, a developing device 3, a photoconductor cleaning device 7 and the like are provided. When image information is transmitted from a personal computer or the like, each photoconductor 1 is driven to rotate, and each charging device 2 uniformly charges each photoconductor 1. Thereafter, the optical writing device 30 disposed below each photoconductor 1 irradiates the surface of each photoconductor 1 with a laser beam based on image information transmitted from a personal computer or the like to form an electrostatic latent image. . The electrostatic latent images are visualized as toner images by attaching toner with the developing devices 3 provided respectively.

  Each color toner image formed on the surface of each photoconductor 1 is opposed to each other through an intermediate transfer belt 24 that moves endlessly in the clockwise direction as the photoconductor 1 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. Is conveyed to the position of the primary transfer roller 21 provided on the surface. Then, the primary transfer bias applied to the primary transfer roller 21 causes primary transfer so that the images are sequentially superposed on the surface of each photoconductor 1 from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 24 so that the color is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 24. A toner image is formed. The color toner image primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 24 is subjected to a secondary transfer in which the secondary transfer roller 25 is disposed opposite to the driving roller 22 via the intermediate transfer belt 24 by the endless movement of the intermediate transfer belt 24. It is transported to the position. Further, a transfer path 41 indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1 from the sheet feeding device 40 provided below the optical writing device 30 in accordance with the timing at which the color toner image is transferred to the secondary transfer position. Is fed along. Then, the color toner image is collectively transferred by the secondary transfer bias applied to the secondary transfer roller 25 onto the transfer paper P conveyed to the secondary transfer position by the registration roller pair 42.

  The transfer paper P onto which the color toner images are collectively transferred is transported along the transport path 41 to the fixing device 11 provided downstream of the secondary transfer position in the transfer paper transport direction, and the color paper is transferred onto the transfer paper P. The toner image is fixed. Then, the fixed transfer paper P is discharged from the paper discharge port 43 and stacked on the paper discharge tray 44. Further, the untransferred toner that has not been completely transferred from the photoreceptor 1 to the intermediate transfer belt 24 at the primary transfer position is provided downstream of the primary transfer position of the photoreceptor 1 in the photoreceptor rotation direction. The photosensitive member cleaning device 7 cleans it. The transfer residual toner that could not be completely transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 24 to the transfer paper P at the secondary transfer position is also cleaned by the intermediate transfer belt cleaning device 26 to prepare for image formation again.

  Here, when the developing roller 4 and the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 included in the photosensitive member 1 and the developing device 3 of each image forming unit 10 are rotationally driven, a driving motor as a driving source is individually provided. Also good. However, the printer 200 according to the present embodiment is configured to transmit the rotational driving force from one driving motor to the plurality of image forming units 10 in consideration of cost, consumed energy, and the like.

  Specifically, the image forming units 10Y, 10C, and 10M that are operated during color image formation share one drive motor, and the image forming unit 10K that supports the frequently used black uses one drive motor. Yes. In each image forming unit 10, the developing roller 4 and the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 included in the photosensitive member 1 and the developing device 3 are configured to transmit the rotational driving force by the driving gear train. ing. In the drive motor provided for the image forming unit 10K corresponding to black, the drive gear train is configured so that the rotational drive force can be transmitted to the drive roller 22 that rotationally drives the intermediate transfer belt 24. In this way, by configuring the rotation drive system, the printer 200 is reduced in cost and energy.

  Further, as in each image forming unit 10 of the present embodiment, in the configuration provided with rotating members such as the photosensitive member 1, the developing roller 4 in the developing device 3, the developer stirring and conveying screws 5, 6, etc. There is a tendency for the deterioration with the operation time of the developing roller 4 to proceed faster. For this reason, it is desirable to keep the rotation of the developing roller 4 to the minimum necessary.

  In addition, after image formation is performed in each image forming unit 10, a plurality of developers are exposed on the top surfaces of the developers of the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 that are driven simultaneously with the developing roller 4. Small developer blocks may be scattered and remain. Such developer lumps are more likely to condense than the developer not exposed from the upper surface of the developer. When image formation is repeated with the developer lumps left unattended, the initially small developer lumps condense and grow. Will be repeated. As a result, a phenomenon such as white streaks (like drawing a white line at a place where an image should be) occurs, and the image quality deteriorates. In order to suppress the development of such white streaks, the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 in the developing device 3 after the image formation are slightly rotated in the direction opposite to that at the time of image formation to It is effective to remove the developer mass in the exposed portion. This is because condensation and growth of the developer mass can be suppressed.

  Therefore, in the printer 200 of the present embodiment, in each image forming unit 10, the driving gear train of the photosensitive member 1, the developing roller 4 in the developing device 3, and the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 is branched. Then, a planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is provided as a clutch mechanism corresponding to bidirectional rotation driving in the driving gear train that transmits the rotational driving force to the developing roller 4 and the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 in the developing device 3. With this configuration, the rotation of the developing roller 4 can be kept to a minimum, and the adhesion of the developer mass to the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 in the developing device 3 and the developer condensation can be suppressed. This makes it possible to perform drive control that can also perform bidirectional rotation.

  Next, the configuration of the drive gear train of each image forming unit 10 and the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 provided in the printer 200 of the present embodiment will be described. Here, since the configuration of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 provided in each image forming unit 10 is the same, in the following description, the image forming unit 10K will be described, and symbols K, M, C and Y will be omitted as appropriate.

The planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 assigns an output to the rotation of the internal gear 101, which is the three rotational elements of the planetary gear mechanism, assigns an input to the rotation of the carrier 104 holding the planetary gear 105, and An example in which fixed rotation is assigned will be described. That is, the rotating element that functions as an input gear to which input is assigned is the carrier 104, the rotating element that functions as a fixed gear to which fixing is assigned is the sun gear 111, and the rotating element that functions as an output gear to which output is assigned is included. An example in which the tooth gear 101 is used will be described.
However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the input is assigned to the rotation of the internal gear 101, the output is assigned to the rotation of the sun gear 111, and the rotation of the carrier 104 holding the planetary gear 105 is performed. A configuration in which fixed is assigned to may be used. That is, the rotating element that functions as an input gear to which input is assigned is the internal gear 101, the rotating element that functions as a fixed gear to which fixing is assigned is the carrier 104, and the rotating element that functions as an output gear to which output is assigned. The sun gear 111 may be used.

  First, the drive gear train 70 of the image forming unit 10K will be described with reference to FIGS. The drive gear train 70 includes a photoreceptor drive gear train 80 that rotates the photoreceptor 1 on the left side of the drive gear 71 formed directly on the output shaft of a drive motor (not shown), and the developing roller 4 on the right side in the drawing. Is branched to a developing roller drive gear train 90 that rotationally drives. The photosensitive member drive gear train 80 includes an idler gear train 83 including a plurality of idler gears that transmit rotational drive force to a drive roller gear 84 connected to a drive roller 22 that rotationally drives the intermediate transfer belt 24. It also has. A planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is provided in the developing roller drive gear train 90. Further, screw gears (not shown) for respectively rotating the developer agitating and conveying screws 5 and 6 (not shown) are provided downstream in the driving force transmission direction of the developing roller driving gear 94 for rotating the developing roller 4. .

  Here, the image forming units 10Y, 10C, and 10M corresponding to the other colors are different in that the photoreceptor drive gear train 80 is not provided with the idler gear train 83 and the drive roller gear 84. In addition, each image forming unit in which driving gears that transmit driving force to the photosensitive member driving gear train 80 and the developing roller driving gear train 90 are connected to motor driving gear trains (not shown) of the image forming units 10Y, 10C, and 10M. The difference is that it is a drive gear (not shown) for the unit. However, the configurations of the photosensitive member driving gear train 80 and the developing roller driving gear train 90 that transmit the rotational driving force to the photosensitive members 1 of the image forming units 10Y, 10C, and 10M are the same except for the above differences.

  The photoconductor drive gear train 80 of the image forming unit 10K includes a first photoconductor gear 81 that meshes with the drive gear 71 from the left side in the drawing, and a photoconductor drive gear 82 that meshes with the first photoconductor gear 81 from the lower left side in the drawing. ing. An idler gear train 83 that meshes with the first photoconductor gear 81 from the upper left side in the drawing is also provided.

Further, the developing roller driving gear train 90 includes a planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 having a first developing roller gear 91 that meshes with the driving gear 71 from the right side in the drawing and an introduction gear 116 that meshes with the first developing roller gear 91. . Then, the second developing roller gear 92 that meshes with the external gear portion 103 formed on the outer periphery of the internal gear 101 that functions as an output gear included in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100, and the third development that meshes with the second developing roller gear 92. A roller gear 93 is also provided. Further, a developing roller driving gear 94 that meshes with the third developing roller gear 93 and rotationally drives the developing roller 4 is also provided.
Here, the internal gear 101 (external gear portion 103) that functions as an output gear of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 and the external gear introduction gear 116 are driven to rotate in either direction in the case of a drive transmission state. Are also configured to rotate in the same direction.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, when the photosensitive member 1 and the developing roller 4 are rotated in the positive rotation direction which is the rotation direction at the time of image formation while the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in the drive transmission state, the drive gear 71 is used. Rotates counterclockwise. When the driving gear 71 rotates counterclockwise, in the photosensitive member driving gear train 80, the driving roller gear 84 that rotationally drives the driving roller 22 via the first photosensitive member gear 81 and the idler gear train 83 is in the forward rotation direction. It rotates clockwise. Then, the photosensitive member drive gear 82 also rotates counterclockwise, which is the normal rotation direction, through the first photosensitive member gear 81.

  In the developing roller drive gear train 90, the first developing roller gear 91 rotates clockwise, and the introduction gear 116 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 rotates counterclockwise. And the external gear part 103 formed in the outer periphery of the internal gear 101 which functions as an output gear of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 rotates counterclockwise which is a normal rotation direction. The counterclockwise rotation of the external gear 103 is transmitted via the second developing roller gear 92 and the third developing roller gear 93, and the developing roller driving gear 94 rotates clockwise in the forward rotation direction.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in the disconnected state, the counterclockwise rotational driving force of the introduction gear 116 is not transmitted to the internal gear 101 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100. . Therefore, the internal gear 101 that functions as an output gear does not rotate in any direction. That is, when the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in the disconnected state, when the drive motor is driven to rotate in the forward rotation direction, the intermediate transfer belt 24 and the photoreceptor 1 are driven to rotate in the forward rotation direction. However, the developing roller 4 and the developer stirring and conveying screws 5 and 6 in the developing device 3 do not rotate in either direction.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in a drive transmission state, the photosensitive member 1 and the developing roller 4 are rotated in a reverse rotation direction that is opposite to the rotation direction during image formation. In the meantime, the drive gear 71 rotates clockwise. When the driving gear 71 rotates clockwise, in the photosensitive member driving gear train 80, the driving roller gear 84 that rotates the driving roller 22 rotates counterclockwise via the first photosensitive member gear 81 and the idler gear train 83. To do. Then, the photosensitive member driving gear 82 also rotates in the counterclockwise direction through the first photosensitive member gear 81.

  In the developing roller drive gear train 90, the first developing roller gear 91 rotates counterclockwise, and the introduction gear 116 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 rotates clockwise. And the external gear part 103 formed in the outer periphery of the internal gear 101 which functions as an output gear of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 rotates clockwise that is a reverse rotation direction. The clockwise rotation of the external gear 103 is transmitted through the second developing roller gear 92 and the third developing roller gear 93, and the developing roller driving gear 94 rotates counterclockwise in the reverse rotation direction.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, when the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in the disconnected state, the clockwise rotational driving force of the introduction gear 116 is not transmitted to the internal gear 101 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100. Therefore, the internal gear 101 that functions as an output gear does not rotate in any direction. That is, when the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is in the disconnected state and the drive motor is driven to rotate in the reverse rotation direction, the intermediate transfer belt 24 and the photoreceptor 1 are driven to rotate in the reverse rotation direction. However, the developing roller 4 and the developer stirring and conveying screws 5 and 6 in the developing device 3 do not rotate in either direction.

  Next, an outline of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 that can cope with bidirectional rotation of the present embodiment with one planetary gear clutch mechanism will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 used in the printer 200 of the present embodiment includes a planetary gear unit 110 that is a planetary gear mechanism provided with an introduction gear 116 and a ratchet unit 112 that is a rotation restricting member. I have. Moreover, the rotation control part 120 which has the control lever 121 which is a rotation control member is also provided. In addition, a switching unit 130 having a solenoid 131 that is a switching unit that switches between a rotation restricted state and a rotation restriction released state of the ratchet part 112 that is a member to be rotated by the restriction lever 121 described later in detail.

  The planetary gear unit 110 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 includes an introduction gear 116, an internal gear 101 that functions as an output gear, three planetary gears 105, and a member that holds each planetary gear 105 rotatably and revolving. And the carrier 104. A sun gear 111 that meshes with each planetary gear 105 is also provided. In addition, an input shaft 109 that connects the introduction gear 116 and the carrier 104 so that the introduction gear 116 and the carrier 104 holding each planetary gear 105 operate integrally is also provided. Further, the sun gear 111 is provided with a ratchet portion 112 which is a rotation restricting member so as to operate integrally. The internal gear 101, the carrier 104, the sun gear 111, the ratchet portion 112, the input shaft 109, and the introduction gear 116 are arranged on the same axis.

  Here, the planetary gear unit 110 performs the following rotational motion. While the rotational driving force is transmitted to the introduction gear 116 via the first developing roller gear 91 (not shown in FIG. 4), the carrier 104 operating integrally with the introduction gear 116 and each planetary gear 105 are always Perform a rotational motion. However, the internal gear 101 having the internal gear portion 102 meshed with each planetary gear 105 rotates only under certain conditions.

The planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 has a drive transmission function of the planetary gear mechanism that transmits the rotational driving force to the downstream drive unit of the planetary gear unit 110 under certain conditions, and the downstream drive unit under other conditions. And a shut-off function for shutting off the drive transmission. For this reason, the internal gear 101 that functions as an output gear also performs rotational movement only under certain conditions.
Next, the principle of the drive transmission function and the cutoff function of the planetary gear mechanism of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the drive transmission unit of the planetary gear unit 110 mainly includes three types of gears, that is, the internal gear unit 102 of the internal gear 101, the planetary gear 105, and the sun gear 111. . The elements that can rotate coaxially with the rotation shaft of the internal gear 101 include the internal gear 101, the carrier 104 that holds the planetary gear 105 so as to rotate and revolve, and the sun gear 111. And the planetary gear part 110 becomes effective for the drive transmission function for the first time by allocating the rotatable input, the output, and the fixed to which the rotation is restricted to the three rotatable elements.

  Therefore, in the planetary gear unit 110 of the present embodiment, the drive transmission function of the planetary gear mechanism is validated by assigning the output to the internal gear 101, the input to the carrier 104, and the fixed to the sun gear 111. Then, the sun gear 111 allocated to the fixed state is switched to a fixed state in which the rotation is restricted, thereby bringing the planetary gear unit 110 into a drive transmission state in which the rotational driving force can be transmitted to the downstream drive unit. Further, by switching to the rotatable fixed release state, the drive transmission function of the planetary gear mechanism is lost, that is, the cutoff state in which the rotation of the internal gear 101 stops and the rotational drive force is not transmitted to the downstream drive unit. To.

  As described above, the external gear 103 is formed coaxially on the outer periphery of the internal gear 101, and the rotational driving force transmitted to the internal gear 101 by meshing with the second developing roller gear 92 is the first. 2 is transmitted to the developing roller gear 92. Further, the carrier 104 has a reference side plate 106 on the side away from the introduction gear 116, a pin 108 that is supported by the reference side plate 106 and rotatably supports the planetary gear 105, and an end side plate that supports the other end side of the pin 108. 107 (not shown in FIG. 5). The reference side plate 106 is connected to an input shaft 109 that transmits the rotational driving force from the introduction gear 116. The cross section of the portion of the input shaft 109 that fits into the introduction gear 116 is provided with a rotation preventing process so that the rotational driving force can be reliably transmitted to the introduction gear 116.

  In addition, the end side plate 107 is provided with a hole for allowing the sun gear 111 to face in a rotatable state. The sun gear 111 and the ratchet portion 112 (not shown in FIG. 5) provided coaxially and integrally with the sun gear 111 are formed with holes through which the input shaft 109 can rotate.

Next, before describing the configuration of the rotation restricting portion 120 provided in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100, which is a characteristic part of the present application, in detail with reference to a plurality of embodiments, the rotation restricting portion provided in the conventional planetary gear clutch mechanism is described. Will be described (Patent Document 1: hereinafter referred to as a conventional example). Further, one configuration of a control lever provided in the rotation control unit proposed by the applicant for suppressing the impact sound and vibration generated at the time of drive connection or shut-off of the conventional example (Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-224951: hereinafter referred to as the prior application example) ) Is also explained.
In the conventional example and the prior application example, the input to the internal gear, the output to the carrier, and the fixed to the sun gear are allocated, but in the following description, the output to the internal gear and the input to the carrier are the same as in this embodiment. Next, an example in which fixing is assigned to the sun gear will be described. Similarly to the present embodiment, the configuration of the rotation restricting portion 120 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 provided in the photoconductor 1K of the image forming unit 10K corresponding to black and the drive gear train 70 of the developing roller 4K is similar to the conventional example and the previous one. A case where the configuration of the application example is applied will be described. The description of the same configuration as the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment described above will be omitted as appropriate.

(Conventional example)
As shown in FIG. 6, the ratchet portion 112 that is a rotation restricting member provided coaxially and integrally with the sun gear 111 has a plurality of restricting protrusions that mesh with either of the two protrusions provided on the restriction lever 121. The regulated protrusions 113 are provided at equal intervals over the entire circumference. The ratchet portion 112, that is, the rotation restricting portion 120 that restricts the rotation of the sun gear 111, includes a restriction lever 121 provided with two protrusions that mesh with the restricted protrusion 113, and a support shaft 123 that supports the restriction lever 121 in a swingable manner. It is composed of The restriction lever 121 has a lever output part 122 on the tip side where restriction protrusions 126a and 126b are provided from the support shaft 123, and a lever input part 124 on the opposite side of the protrusion from the support shaft 123. Further, the switching portion 130 for switching between a fixed state in which the restricting protrusions 126a and 126b provided on the lever output portion 122 of the rotation restricting portion 120 are engaged with the restricted protrusion 113 of the ratchet portion 112 and a fixed release state separated from each other is provided in the switching portion 130. An elastic body 135 is provided.

  The solenoid 131 is provided with a plunger 132 which is a cylindrical member that moves substantially horizontally in FIG. An engagement pin 133 that passes through a long hole (not shown) provided in the lever input portion 124 of the restriction lever 121 is provided at the tip of the plunger 132, and the restriction lever 121 is supported by the support shaft 123 by movement in the substantially horizontal direction. Is rocked around the rocking center. Further, a notch 125 for directly supporting the elastic body 135 (tensile coil spring) is formed at the distal end of the regulating lever 121 on the side away from the support shaft 123 of the lever input portion 124. The other end side of the elastic body 135 whose one end is supported by the end notch 125 is supported by a notch 137 formed in an elastic body holding member 136 attached to the apparatus main body. And it is comprised so that the notch part 125 of the lever input part 124 may be pulled in the right direction (arrow A direction) in FIG.

  By configuring the switching unit 130 in this manner, the plunger 132 moves to the right in FIG. 6 due to the action of the elastic body 135 when the power of the solenoid 131 is turned off. With this movement, the regulating lever 121 swings about the support shaft 123 and swings counterclockwise (arrow C direction) in the figure. Then, any side surface of the projection provided at the tip of the lever output portion 122 comes into surface contact with any side surface of the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112 to be in a fixed state. In other words, the planetary gear unit 110 is in a drive transmission state in which the rotational driving force can be transmitted to the downstream drive unit.

  When the power of the solenoid 131 is turned on, the plunger 132 moves in the left direction (arrow B direction) in FIG. With this movement, the regulating lever 121 swings around the support shaft 123 and swings in the clockwise direction (arrow D direction) in the figure, and the protrusion provided at the tip of the lever output portion 122 is formed on the ratchet portion 112. It is separated from the regulated protrusion 113 and is in a fixed release state. In other words, the planetary gear unit 110 is in a drive transmission state in which the rotational driving force can be transmitted to the downstream drive unit. Then, the rotation of the internal gear 101 is stopped, and a cut-off state is established in which the rotational driving force is not transmitted to the downstream drive unit.

However, in this conventional example, after the operation of driving connection is started after either of the regulated projection 113 provided on the ratchet portion 112 and the regulating projections 126a and 126b provided on the lever output portion 122 are engaged, The operation of performing drive connection in a short time is completed. For this reason, when the operation for performing the drive connection is completed, an impact force larger than that of an electromagnetic clutch using friction acts, and an impact sound is generated, or the support shaft 123 and the like freely vibrate (hereinafter referred to as vibration). Or
Further, if the rotational driving force for driving and coupling is high rotation or high torque, the impact force is further increased. As a result, a large impact force acts on the first developing roller gear 91 (hereinafter referred to as a drive transmission member) that is drivingly connected to the driving motor that is drivingly connected by the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100. In addition, the drive transmission member may be damaged or deformed, such as a crack generated near the bottom fillet portion of the first developing roller gear 91 or the like, or a support shaft that supports the gear or the like may be deformed. There is also a fear that normal drive transmission cannot be performed.

(Prior application example)
In the prior application example, the restriction lever 121 of the rotation restricting portion 120 is configured as shown in FIG. 7 in order to suppress the impact sound caused by the impact force of the conventional example described above and the vibration of the support shaft 123 and the like. . Except for the configuration of the regulating lever 121, the configuration related to the other planetary gear clutch mechanisms is substantially the same as that of the above-described conventional example, and the description thereof will be omitted.
As shown in FIG. 7, the base 143 is located on the support shaft 123 side of the lever output part 122, and the movable part 144 has a restricting projection 126 and is configured to move forward and backward with respect to the base 143. It is said. Note that a forward rotation side surface 128 and a reverse rotation side surface 129 corresponding to the forward and reverse rotations of the drive motor are formed at the tip of the restricting protrusion 126.

  The base portion 143 has a protruding portion 145 that protrudes toward the movable portion 144, and the protruding portion 145 is a coil spring that is an elastic body that absorbs vibrations that are transmitted to the support shaft 123 from the restricting projection 126 that supports forward and reverse rotation. 146 (compression spring) is inserted. In addition, the movable portion 144 is formed with a recess 147 that receives the protruding portion 145. One end of the coil spring 146 in the axial direction is fixed at an appropriate position of the base 143, and the other end is fixed at an appropriate position of the movable portion 144.

Further, a pair of holding portions 148 protrudes from the base portion 143 side of the movable portion 144 so as to extend toward the support shaft 123, and each holding portion 148 guides the movable portion 144 so that the movable portion 144 can move forward and backward. A long hole 149 that functions as a through hole is formed. The long holes 149 are inserted with bosses 150 projecting from the side surfaces of the base portion 143 toward the respective holding portions, and guide the movable portion 144 so as to advance and retreat in the longitudinal direction in the drawing.
In other words, the movable portion 144 advances and retreats along the direction in which the regulated projection 113 tends to move when the regulating projection 126 comes into contact with (engages with) the regulated projection 113.

The coil spring 146 elastically restricts the forward / backward movement of the movable portion 144 within a range in which the contact state (hanging state) between the restricting protrusion 126 and the restricted protrusion 113 is not released.
The coil spring 146 absorbs vibration energy that is transmitted from the restricting projection 126 to the support shaft 123 at the moment when the rotation of the sun gear 111 is fixed or released, as the coil spring 146 is deformed. The vibration transmitted to the support shaft 123 can be reduced. Here, the coil spring 146 as an elastic body exhibits the effect of reducing the vibration in the longitudinal direction in the drawing to the maximum due to its property. However, even when an external force other than the longitudinal direction (for example, an external force in the short direction) is applied, it can be deformed in that direction. The stretchable portion 141 of the preceding example can be deformed other than in the longitudinal direction within a predetermined play range. The coil spring 146 that has received an external force is deformed and exhibits an effect of reducing vibrations other than in the longitudinal direction.

In this way, by reducing the vibration transmitted to the support shaft 123 of the restriction lever 121, the moment of driving connection due to the engagement of the restriction protrusion 126 and the restricted protrusion 113 corresponding to the forward and reverse rotation and the momentary force due to the release of the engagement. Can be mitigated and noise reduction can be achieved. Further, the side surfaces of the regulated protrusion 113 and the regulated protrusion 126 that are the contact surfaces and the side surfaces of the regulated side face can be reduced in wear after a long period of use, and high durability can be realized. It is.
In addition, since the impact force that is the force acting on the regulating lever 121 at the moment of the drive connection where the restriction protrusion 126 and the restricted protrusion 113 are engaged as described above, the drive transmission on the drive source side is completed when the drive connection is completed. It is considered that the impact force acting on the member can be alleviated to some extent.

  However, in the example of the prior application, as described above, in the predetermined play range, the deformation can be performed in a direction other than the longitudinal direction. However, if the play range is too large, the restriction protrusion 113 and the restriction protrusion 126 may There is a possibility that the meshing may not be performed normally. For this reason, for example, when the movable portion 144 moves in the longitudinal direction due to the deformation of the coil spring 146, the side surfaces of the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126 that are in contact with each other are in surface contact with each other as shown in FIG. The state shifts from the state to the state of line contact (point contact) shown in FIG.

As described above, when the meshing between the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126 shifts from the surface contact to the line contact, not only the projections are worn and the durability is lowered, but also the meshing is easily released. Therefore, it is difficult to secure a sufficient amount of movement of the movable portion 144. For this reason, compared with the above-described conventional example, although it is possible to suppress the impact sound caused by the impact force at the time of driving connection and the vibration of the support shaft 123, etc., the occurrence of breakage and deformation of the drive transmission member on the drive body side is suppressed. Therefore, there is a possibility that the amount of movement of the movable part 144 necessary for this cannot be ensured. In other words, the amount of elastic deformation of the coil spring 146 provided between the movable portion 144 and the base portion 143 cannot be sufficiently secured, and there is a possibility that the breakage or deformation of the drive transmission member on the drive body side cannot be suppressed.
In addition, the pair of bosses 150 provided on the base 143 are configured to fit into the long holes 149 respectively. If the range of play is too large, the bosses 150 can move around the bosses 150 as shown by arrows E in FIG. The part 144 may rotate, and normal engagement may not be achieved.

Therefore, the inventors have studied to suppress the occurrence of each problem of the above-mentioned prior application example, and when the drive connection is completed, the impact force acting on the drive transmission member on the drive body side is alleviated. The configuration of the rotation restricting portion 120 (the lever output portion 122 of the restricting lever 121) was found. After the regulating projection 126 comes into contact with the regulated projection 113, the regulating projection 126 is provided on the rotating member 161 that rotates about the axis of the input shaft 109 that is the rotation center of the ratchet portion 112. It is the structure which provides the elastic body which resists the force which is going to rotate.
Hereinafter, the configuration of the rotation restricting unit 120 found by the inventors will be described with reference to a plurality of examples. The planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment is compatible with bidirectional rotation driving of the driven body, but the present invention is not limited to such a configuration, and the planetary gear of one-way rotation driving is used. It can also be applied to a clutch mechanism.
Therefore, in the first embodiment described below, the drive source when the drive connection is completed when the drive gear 71 to which the drive motor is drive-connected is rotating in the positive rotation direction that is the rotation direction during image formation. A configuration for reducing the impact force acting on the drive transmission member on the side will be described.

Example 1
First, Example 1 of the rotation restricting unit 120 provided in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the rotation restricting portion 120 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is an explanatory perspective view of the rotation restricting portion 120 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment. FIG. 10A is a perspective view of the regulating lever 121 viewed from the back side of the ratchet portion 112. FIG. 10B is a perspective view of the regulating lever 121 positioned from the front side of the ratchet portion 112. It is a perspective view.

  FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram for restricting rotation of the ratchet portion 112 of this embodiment during normal rotation. 11A turns off the solenoid 131, and switching of the posture of the regulating lever 121 is started to a position where the regulating projection 126 can mesh with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112. FIG. FIG. 11B is an explanatory diagram of a state immediately after the posture of the regulating lever 121 is switched to a position where the rotating member 161 and the regulating projection 126 can engage with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the state at the time of the control protrusion 126 meshing with the to-be-controlled protrusion 113. FIG. And FIG.11 (d) is explanatory drawing when the rotation control of the ratchet part 112 is completed.

  FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the engagement of the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 12A is an explanatory diagram when the regulated projection 126 is engaged with the regulated projection 113. FIG. FIG. 8B is an explanatory diagram when the rotating member 161 provided with the regulation protrusion 126 is rotating. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of load torque acting on each gear of the planetary gear unit 110 at the time of drive connection release and at the time of drive connection, and FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a profile of a current value flowing through the drive motor at the time of drive connection. FIG. 15 is a graph comparing the impact force when the configuration for reducing the impact force is provided and when the configuration is not provided.

  As shown in FIGS. 9, 10 (a), and 10 (b), the rotation restricting portion 120 provided in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment is composed of a plurality of members, and is mainly as follows. It is composed of things. The control lever 121 and the output holding portions 171 and 172 which are holding portions constituting the lever output portion 122 of the control lever 121 are sandwiched from both sides in the axial direction of the input shaft 109 which is the rotation center of the ratchet portion 112. The rotating member 161 is rotatably held.

Two pairs of boss portions 162 and 163 provided on the rotation member 161 are fitted to the output holding portions 171 and 172 to guide the rotation member 161 with the rotation center of the ratchet portion 112 as the rotation center. Guide holes 173 and 174 are provided. The guide holes 173 and 174 are provided so as to draw a locus on the concentric circumference of the ratchet portion 112 and face each other in a state where the restricting protrusion 126 is in contact with the restricted protrusion 113. In other words, the guide holes 173 and 174 allow the rotating member 161 to ratchet 112 while the restricting lever 121 swings to a contact state where the restricting protrusion 126 of the rotating member 161 can contact the restricted protrusion 113. It is provided so as to be guided as the rotation center.
In addition,

  Further, at the end of the output holding portion 171, when the solenoid 131 provided in the switching portion 130 is turned off, a swinging spring 175 that is a tension spring that swings the regulating lever 121 to the contact state by its elastic force. A swinging spring support portion 176 that supports one end side is provided. The other end side of the swing spring 175 is supported by a notch formed in a swing spring holding member (not shown).

The rotating member 161 has a forward rotation side surface 128 that comes into contact with any one of the plurality of regulated protrusions 113 provided on the ratchet portion 112 so as to mesh with each other during normal rotation, and a reverse rotation side surface 129 that comes into contact with each other during reverse rotation. A restricting projection 126 having Here, the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112 is also formed with side surfaces that are in surface contact with the forward rotation side surface 128 and the reverse rotation side surface 129 of the regulation projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161.
Also provided is a rotation spring support 164 that supports one end of a rotation coil spring 165 as a tension spring made of spring steel, which is an elastic body that resists the force to rotate the rotation member 161. ing. Note that the other end side of the rotating coil spring 165 is supported by an input spring support portion 177 provided in a lever input portion 124 described later.
In addition, two pairs of boss portions 162 and 163 are provided to be fitted in the two pairs of guide holes 173 and 174 of the output holding portions 171 and 172 provided in the lever output portion 122 described above.

The regulating lever 121 is provided with a lever input portion 124 on the opposite side of the lever output portion 122 via the support shaft 123, and the lever input portion 124 is provided with the input spring support portion 177 as described above. It has been.
Further, the vicinity of the end of the lever input unit 124 is fitted into a notch formed in the plunger 132 of the solenoid 131 provided in the switching unit 130, and a long hole (not shown) provided in the lever input unit 124 is provided in the plunger 132. An engagement pin 133 that passes through the hole is provided. Then, the movement of the plunger 132 caused by the solenoid 131 being turned on / off causes the regulating lever 121 to swing around the support shaft 123 as a swing center.

In the rotation restricting portion 120, the solenoid 131 is turned on, and the restricting lever 121 swings clockwise in FIG. 9, and the positive rotation side surface 128 of the restricting protrusion 126 provided on the rotating member 161 and the ratchet portion 112. It will be in the separation state which the side surface of the to-be-restricted protrusion 113 provided in will separate. When the drive motor is driven, the ratchet portion 112 is released from the rotation restriction state, that is, the sun gear 111 integrally provided with the ratchet portion 112 is turned to the rotation restriction release state, and the drive connection is released. Is done.
On the other hand, when the solenoid 131 is turned off, the restricting lever 121 swings counterclockwise in FIG. 9 due to the elastic force of the swinging spring 175 as described above, and the positive rotation side surface 128 of the restricting protrusion 126. And the side surface of the regulated protrusion 113 come into contact with each other. When the drive motor is driven, the ratchet portion 112 is in the rotation restricted state, that is, the sun gear 111 in which the ratchet portion 112 is integrally provided is in the rotation restricted state, and drive connection is performed.

Here, with reference to FIG. 11, the operation of each part when the positive rotation side surface 128 of the regulating projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 and the side surface of the regulated projection 113 provided on the ratchet portion 112 are brought into contact with each other. This will be described more specifically.
As shown in FIG. 11A, when the drive motor is driven in the forward rotation direction, the ratchet portion 112 (sun gear 111) in the rotation restriction release state rotates counterclockwise as indicated by an arrow in the drawing. When the solenoid 131 is on, the plunger 132 is pulled into the main body of the solenoid 131, and the regulating lever 121 (the rotating member 161) is in a separated state in which the regulating projection 126 is separated from the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112. It has become. That is, the drive connection between the first developing roller gear 91 and the like, which is a drive transmission member on the drive motor side, and the second developing roller gear 92 and the like, which is a driven body, is cut off.
When the solenoid 131 is turned off, the force for pulling the plunger 132 toward the main body of the solenoid 131 disappears, and the regulating lever 121 swings counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow in the figure by the elastic force of the swing spring 175. Then, the plunger 132 operates to extend.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11B, the regulating lever 121 swings to a contact state where the regulating projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 can come into contact with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112, and the regulated projection The end surface of 113 comes into contact with the ratchet portion 112 and stops.
Further, the ratchet portion 112 continues to rotate counterclockwise even after the restriction lever 121 is stopped, and as shown in FIG. 11C, the positive rotation side face 128 of the restriction projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161. (See FIG. 9), the side surface of the regulated protrusion 113 of the ratchet portion 112 contacts. Even after such contact, the ratchet portion 112 continues to rotate counterclockwise, and the rotating member 161 provided with the restricting projection 126 is positioned at the center of rotation of the ratchet portion 112 as indicated by an arrow in the figure. Starts counterclockwise rotation about the rotation center. More specifically, the two pairs of boss portions 162, 163 provided on the rotating member 161 are guided by the two pairs of guide holes 173, 174 of the output holding portions 171, 172 of the regulating lever 121, and the ratchet portion 112. The counterclockwise rotation about the rotation center of is started.
While the surface contact between the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112 and the regulating projection 126 of the rotating member 161 is maintained, the rotational speed is attenuated by the elastic deformation (elastic force) of the swing spring 175. The rotating member 161 rotates on a track concentric with the ratchet portion 112.

After that, as shown in FIG. 11 (d), the rotating member 161 includes a pair of boss portions 162 and 163 provided on the side surface, and one boss portion 162 is a view of the guide hole 173 of the output holding portion 171. By contacting the downstream end in the counterclockwise direction, the rotation is restricted and stopped.
Thus, each constituent member of the rotation restricting portion 120 operates from the start to the completion of the operation of driving and connecting the regulated protrusion 113 of the ratchet portion 112 and the restricting protrusion 126 of the rotating member 161 in contact with each other. Thus, the following effects different from the above-described previous example are obtained.

As shown in FIG. 12, unlike the movable part 144 of the previous example described with reference to FIG. 8, the rotating member 161 of this embodiment has a restricting protrusion 126 on the restricted protrusion 113 shown in FIG. While rotating (moving) after the surface contact, the surface contact can be maintained as shown in FIG. For this reason, the contact area between the side surface of the regulated projection 113 and the positive rotation side surface 128 of the regulation projection 126 decreases with the movement of the movable portion 144 or is different from the previous example that shifts to line contact. During rotation, it is always kept constant.
Therefore, the configuration of this embodiment can suppress the wear of the regulated protrusion 113 and the restricting protrusion 126 and improve the durability as compared with the prior application example. Moreover, it can suppress suitably that mesh | engagement of the to-be-regulated protrusion 113 and the control protrusion 126 is cancelled | released with rotation (movement), and the rotation member 161 rather than the movable part 144 of an example of a prior application. It is also possible to widen the range of motion that is the amount of rotation (movement). For this reason, the amount of elastic deformation of the swinging spring 175 can be made larger than that of the coil spring 146 of the prior application example which is an elastic body, and the operation of drivingly connecting the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126 is started. The time from completion to completion can be extended, and the speed immediately before stopping can be reduced.

In the example of the prior application, the movable portion 144 is supported by sandwiching both side surfaces of the base portion 143 substantially perpendicular to the swinging direction of the regulating lever 121 with a pair of holding portions 148, a pair of bosses 150, and long holes. 149 and the protrusion 145 of the base 143 and the recess 147 of the movable part 144. As described above, in the prior application example, the extendable portion 141 can be deformed in the direction other than the longitudinal direction which is the main moving direction of the movable portion 144 (for example, the short direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction). It is considered that a predetermined range of play is set for each fitting portion. As a result, as described above, if the range of play is too large, the movable portion 144 rotates around the boss 150 as indicated by an arrow E in FIG. is there.
In contrast to the support method of the prior application example, in this embodiment, the rotation member 161 is supported by holding the side surfaces of the rotation member 161 between output holding portions 171 and 172 parallel to the rotation direction, and two pairs. This is done by fitting the boss portions 162, 163 and the two pairs of guide holes 173, 174 together.

Specifically, the restriction lever 121 according to the present embodiment includes output holding portions 171 and 172 that hold the rotation member 161 so as to be rotatable from both sides of the ratchet portion 112 in the rotation axis direction. Further, the output holding portions 171 and 172 are provided with guide holes 173 and 174 that face each other and draw a locus on the concentric circumference of the ratchet portion 112 in a contact state. And the boss | hub parts 162 and 163 provided in the both sides of the rotating shaft direction of the ratchet part 112 of the rotation member 161 fit in the guide holes 173 and 174, and the rotation member 161 rotates.
With this configuration, in the configuration of this embodiment, the rotation center of the rotation member 161 and the rotation center of the ratchet portion 112 can be made to coincide with each other with high accuracy. The rotating member 161 can be rotated in a state of being in surface contact.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the regulated projection 113 and the regulation projection 126 from making a line contact, and to distribute the impact load when the drive connection is completed over the entire contact surface between the regulated projection 113 and the regulation projection 126. Can increase the durability.

The guide holes 173 and 174 are provided with two pairs having different radii from the rotation center of the ratchet portion 112 in the contact state of the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126, and two pairs of bosses provided on the rotating member 161. The parts 162 and 163 are fitted in the respective guide holes.
With this configuration, in the configuration of this embodiment, even if the boss portions 162 and 163 have a cylindrical shape with little frictional resistance, the centers of the boss portions 162 and 163 are the rotation centers. As a result, it is possible to prevent the rotating member 161 from rotating with a simple configuration.
Therefore, unlike the prior application example, it is possible to suppress the rotation member 161 from rotating and being unable to perform normal engagement.

In the configuration of the present embodiment, as described above, the boss portion 162 fitted to the end portion of the pair of guide holes 173 out of the two pairs of guide holes 173 and 174 provided in the output holding portions 171 and 172 is provided. By contacting, the rotation range of the rotation member 161 is regulated. By configuring in this way, the following effects can be achieved in the configuration of the present embodiment. With only one pair of guide holes 173, the rotation range of the rotation member 161 can be restricted, and the processing costs of the molds used when forming the output holding portions 171 and 172 of the restriction lever 121 are reduced. It becomes possible. Therefore, the cost reduction of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 can be contributed.
Further, the elastic member that resists the force to rotate the rotation member 161 is made of a spring steel material that is elastically deformed according to the rotation of the rotation member 161, so that the rotation member included in the regulating lever 121 is used. The force for rotating 161 can be attenuated with a simple configuration.

  Moreover, the following effects can be produced by using the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 including the planetary gear unit 110 as the clutch mechanism as in the present embodiment. If the size of the rotational driving force for driving connection and disconnection projected on a plane perpendicular to the rotational axis direction is about the same, the rotational speed is higher than that of an electromagnetic clutch using friction, and a higher driving torque is obtained. Drive connection and disconnection can be performed. Further, the rotational driving force from the rotational driving source can be shifted and transmitted to the driven body.

  Next, it is possible to suppress damage and deformation of the first developing roller gear 91, which is a drive transmission member on the drive source (drive motor) side, which is the most characteristic effect that can be achieved by the rotation restricting unit 120 of the present embodiment. Explain why you can do it. That is, the reason why the impact force applied to the drive transmission member on the drive source side such as the first developing roller gear 91 at the time of driving connection can be reduced will be described. Here, the “drive transmission member on the drive source side” indicates the first developing roller gear 91 on the upstream side in the drive transmission direction with respect to the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 as described above. It includes gears directly fixed to the shaft, directly formed tooth profiles (gears), and the like.

As shown in the upper right diagram of FIG. 13, the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment is driven on the drive source side such as the developing roller 4, the second developing roller gear 92, etc., which are driven bodies, and the first developing roller gear 91, etc. When the transmission member is cut off, the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126 are in a separated state. That is, when the second developing roller gear 92 and the like, which are driven bodies, and the drive transmission member on the driving source side such as the first developing roller gear 91 are shut off, the ratchet portion 112 and the ratchet portion 112 operate integrally. The sun gear 111 thus provided is in a non-rotation restricted state.
At this time, the rotational driving force of a driving source such as a driving motor is transmitted (input) to the carrier 104 which is a planetary carrier from the first developing roller gear 91 and the like upstream of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 in the driving transmission direction. As shown in the upper right diagram, the carrier 104 rotates counterclockwise. That is, the rotation of the carrier 104, which is one of the three rotating elements of the planetary gear unit 110, is assigned to the input for obtaining the drive transmission function of the planetary gear unit 110, and the carrier 104 serves as the input gear of the planetary gear unit 110. Function.

A driven member such as the second developing roller gear 92 and the developing roller 4 (image forming unit 10) outside the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is connected to the internal gear 101 in which the planetary gears 105 rotatably held by the carrier 104 mesh. Are drive-coupled and have a load torque.
On the other hand, the sun gear 111 in the non-rotation restricted state in which the planetary gears 105 mesh with each other has no load torque that acts from outside the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100.
For these reasons, the rotational driving force transmitted from the carrier 104 is transmitted only to the sun gear 111 having no load torque acting from outside the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100, and the sun gear 111 is counterclockwise as shown in the upper right diagram. The internal gear 101 does not rotate. Here, the sun gear 111 and the ratchet portion 112 provided so as to operate integrally with the sun gear output the rotational driving force transmitted from the carrier 104 by rotating itself, but the planetary gear clutch mechanism. Since it is not connected to a rotating body outside of 100, it rotates idly.

As shown in the lower diagram of FIG. 13, the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 includes a developing roller 4, which is a driven body, a second developing roller gear 92, and the like, a drive transmission member on the driving source side such as the first developing roller gear 91, and the like. In the case of driving connection, the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126 are in contact with each other. In other words, when the second developing roller gear 92 as the driven body and the drive transmission member on the driving source side such as the first developing roller gear 91 are drivingly connected, the ratchet portion 112 and the ratchet portion 112 operate integrally. The sun gear 111 provided to do so is in a rotation restricted state.
At this time, the rotational driving force of a driving source such as a driving motor is transmitted (input) to the carrier 104 which is a planetary carrier from the first developing roller gear 91 and the like upstream of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 in the driving transmission direction. As shown in the lower right diagram, the carrier 104 rotates counterclockwise.

A driven member such as the second developing roller gear 92 and the developing roller 4 outside the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 is drivably coupled to the internal gear 101 with which the planetary gears 105 rotatably held by the carrier 104 mesh. There is load torque.
However, the sun gear 111 with which each planetary gear 105 meshes is in a rotation restricted state, and a load torque that is much larger (≈∞) than the internal gear 101 acts on the sun gear 111.
For these reasons, the rotational driving force transmitted from the carrier 104 is transmitted only to the internal gear 101 having a smaller load torque acting than the sun gear 111, and the sun gear 111 does not rotate as shown in the lower right diagram. (Fixed), the internal gear 101 rotates counterclockwise. Then, the rotational driving force of the internal gear 101 that rotates counterclockwise is output downstream in the drive transmission direction, and the second developing roller gear 92 and the developing roller outside the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 that are drivingly connected. A driven body such as 4 is driven to rotate.

That is, at the time of driving connection, the rotation of the internal gear 101 which is one of the three rotating elements of the planetary gear unit 110 is assigned to the output for obtaining the drive transmission function of the planetary gear unit 110, and the internal gear 101 is connected to the planetary gear unit 110. It functions as an output gear of the gear unit 110.
On the other hand, at the time of driving connection, the rotation of the sun gear 111, which is one of the three rotating elements of the planetary gear unit 110, is assigned to the fixed to obtain the drive transmission function of the planetary gear unit 110, and the sun gear 111 is 110 functions as a fixed gear.

Then, while the first developing roller gear 91 that is drivingly connected to the driving motor is rotating, the planetary gear from when the regulated projection 113 comes into contact with the regulating projection 126 to start the driving coupling operation until the completion is completed. Each component of the clutch mechanism 100 operates as follows.
First, a transition is made to a contact state where the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112 and the regulating projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 of the regulating lever 121 are in contact (engaged). When the state shifts to the contact state, the rotation is restricted by the restriction projection 126 between the sun gear 111 and each planetary gear 105 held by the carrier 104 rotating counterclockwise as shown in the upper right view of FIG. A force acts to rotate the sun gear 111 counterclockwise. That is, when shifting to the contact state, a force acts to rotate the sun gear 111 and the ratchet portion 112 whose rotation is restricted by the restriction protrusion 126 counterclockwise.

This force is approximately proportional to the change in the absolute value of the elastic force generated by the elastic deformation of the rotating coil spring 165 that resists the rotation of the rotating member 161, and as shown by the arrow in FIG. As 161 is rotated counterclockwise and the amount of elastic deformation of the rotating coil spring 165 is increased, the amount of damping is attenuated. This increase in the amount of elastic deformation of the rotating coil spring 165 continues until the rotating member 161 stops by the boss 162 provided on the rotating member 161 reaching and contacting the end of the guide hole 173. When the rotating member 161 stops, the rotation of the sun gear 111 is completely fixed.
The sun gear 111 and the planetary gears 105 from when the force is applied between the sun gear 111 and the planetary gears 105 (the rotation member 161 moves) until the rotation member 161 stops. The force acting between and corresponds to the elastic force of the rotating coil spring 165. Then, the elastic force of the rotating coil spring 165 is gradually increased until the rotating member 161 is stopped, and the driving on the driving source side that is drivingly connected to the carrier 104 before the driving connecting operation is completed. The impact force acting on the first developing roller gear 91 or the like that is the connecting member can be reduced.

Further, by providing a rotating coil spring 165 that resists the force to rotate the rotating member 161 included in the regulating lever 121, the rotating speed of the rotating member 161 is attenuated by elastic deformation of the elastic body. It has come out. Further, the rotating speed of the rotating member 161 is attenuated, and as described above, the time from the start of the operation of performing the drive connection by the contact between the regulated projection 113 and the regulating projection 126 can be extended. .
When the drive connection with the second developing roller gear 92 or the like as the driven body is completed, the driving force is applied to the impact force applied to the first developing roller gear 91 or the like as the drive transmission member on the drive source side. This is approximately proportional to the speed of the rotating member immediately before the rotation. In addition, it is approximately proportional to the above, and is approximately inversely proportional to the time required from the immediately preceding speed until the speed of the rotating member 161 in the rotating direction becomes “0”.

Therefore, when the drive connection with the second developing roller gear 92 or the like that is the driven body is completed, the first development that is the drive transmission member on the drive source side that is drive-connected to the ratchet portion 112 before the completion of the drive connection. The impact force applied to the roller gear 91 or the like can be reduced (damped).
Therefore, by providing the rotation restricting portion 120 of the present embodiment, the first developing roller gear 91 or the like which is a drive transmission member on the driving source side which is connected to and disconnected from the second developing roller gear 92 or the like which is a driven body. The planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 that can suppress breakage and deformation can be provided.
Further, it is possible to suppress the impact sound caused by the impact force when the drive connection with the second developing roller gear 92 or the like is completed, and the vibration of the support shaft 123 or the like, as compared with the configuration of the conventional example or the prior application example.

On the other hand, when the rotation member 161 stops and the rotation of the sun gear 111 is completely fixed, the transmission of the rotational driving force from each planetary gear 105 (carrier 104) is switched from the sun gear 111 to the internal gear 101, The rotational driving force from each planetary gear 105 starts to act on the internal gear 101. Then, the rotational driving force is transmitted from the carrier 104 to the internal gear 101, and the internal gear 101 starts to rotate.
At this time, the rotation (drive connection) of the internal gear 101 by the transmission of the rotational driving force between the internal gear 101 and each planetary gear 105 is instantly started, so the second developing roller on the driven body side. The impact force acting on the gear 92 or the like cannot be reduced (damped).

Next, in order to verify that the inventors can alleviate the impact force applied to the first developing roller gear 91 or the like which is the drive transmission member on the drive source side of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 which is the clutch mechanism of the present embodiment. The verification test conducted in Section 1 will be described.
In the case where the configuration for reducing the impact force of the present embodiment is applied and, as a comparative example, the configuration in which the configuration for reducing the impact force is not provided, the first developing roller gear 91 that is a drive transmission member on the drive source side, etc. Such impact force was determined.

In addition, since it is difficult to directly measure the impact force applied to the first developing roller gear 91 or the like that is a drive transmission member on the drive source side, in this verification test, the current flows to the drive motor that is a drive source that increases or decreases depending on the rotational load. The profile of the current value was measured to determine the impact force (impact load).
Specifically, the fluctuation of the rotational load torque at the drive motor position was calculated from the measured current value, and a) the load torque at the time of drive connection and b) the steady torque after the drive connection.
Then, a) the impact torque applied to the first developing roller gear 91 or the like, which is the drive transmission member on the drive source side, that is, the impact load, is obtained by subtracting the steady torque after the drive connection from the load torque at the time of drive connection. Was determined as the value of.

(Test conditions)
As specific test conditions, a developing roller drive that connects and disconnects the image forming unit 10K and the drive motor of a test machine for a tandem type color printer to which the configuration of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of this embodiment is applied. A drive motor is drivingly connected only to the gear train 90.
In the comparative example, the output holding portions 171 and 172 of the restriction lever 121 provided in the rotation restriction portion 120 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 and the rotation member 161 are fixed at the position where the rotation coil spring 165 is most contracted, The rotating coil spring 165 was removed.
And the verification test was conducted under the same conditions for all other conditions.
As a tester, Ricoh MP-C305SP Kai was used, and a developing roller corresponding to black was used as an object to be connected and disconnected.

The profile of the drive motor current value obtained in the above verification test is the case where there is no impact mitigation, which is a comparative example in which the configuration of this embodiment is not applied, even when there is impact mitigation applying the configuration of this embodiment Also, a profile as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 14 was obtained.
In the schematic diagram of the profile shown in FIG. 14, the vertical axis represents the current value, and the horizontal axis represents the measured time.
Here, the current value of the drive motor is proportional to the motor load torque of the drive motor. That is, the schematic diagram of the profile shown in FIG. 14 represents the variation of the load torque on the drive motor shaft.

As shown in FIG. 14, the drive transmission direction of the first developing roller gear 91 and the like as the drive transmission member on the drive source side with a predetermined rotation and the planetary gear clutch mechanism until the start of the drive connection for starting the drive connection operation. The sun gear 111 and the ratchet portion 112 are rotationally driven. For this reason, the current value until the start of drive connection shows a certain constant current value that is lower than when a steady torque load is applied after drive connection.
However, when the drive connection start is started, a) when a load torque load at the time of drive connection is applied, that is, when an impact at the time of drive connection is applied, a) larger than when a steady torque load after the drive connection is applied. It rises in a short time to the peak of the current value. After that, the amount of change in substantially the same unit time is reduced to the current value when a steady torque load is applied after drive connection.
The peak described above indicates the moment of drive connection, and this impact force (impact load) causes the first developing roller gear 91, which is a drive transmission member on the drive source side of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100, and the like on the driven body side. 2 There is a possibility that the developing roller gear 92 or the like may be broken or deformed.

Calculated from each current profile obtained by measurement in the above test, a) load torque at the time of drive connection, a) steady torque after drive connection, and a) load torque at the time of drive connection, a) after drive connection The value of the impact load obtained by subtracting the steady torque is shown in the graph of FIG. Here, each torque value has shown the value which truncated the decimal point.
As shown in the graph of FIG. 15, in the case of impact reduction with the application of the configuration of the present embodiment and in the case of no impact relaxation of the comparative example not applied, a) the value of the steady torque after drive connection is 123 [mN · m].

Further, a) The load torque at the time of driving connection was 232 [mN · m] in the case of no impact mitigation in the comparative example in which the configuration of the present example was not applied, whereas in the present example, In the case of impact mitigation with the configuration applied, it was significantly reduced to 188 [mN · m].
And a) The impact load value obtained by subtracting the steady torque after drive connection from the load torque at the time of drive connection is 108 [mN · m] in the case of no impact reduction in the comparative example, and there is an impact reduction. In the case, it was greatly reduced to 64 [mN · m].
With respect to the configuration without impact relaxation, the damping rate of the configuration with impact relaxation was about -40% with respect to the impact load value of "A) -I)" above.
Therefore, it was verified that the impact force applied to the first developing roller gear 91, which is the drive transmission member on the drive source side, can be reduced by applying the configuration of the present embodiment.

(Example 2)
Next, Example 2 of the rotation restricting unit 120 provided in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of the rotation restricting portion 120 of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment.

  FIG. 17 is an operation explanatory diagram for restricting rotation of the ratchet portion 112 of this embodiment during normal rotation. Then, FIG. 17A turns off the solenoid 131, and switching of the posture of the regulating lever 121 is started to a position where the regulating projection 126 can mesh with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112. FIG. FIG. 17B is an explanatory diagram of a state immediately after the posture of the regulating lever 121 is switched to a position where the rotating member 161 can be engaged with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the state at the time of the control protrusion 126 meshing with the to-be-controlled protrusion 113. FIG. And FIG.17 (d) is explanatory drawing when rotation control of the ratchet part 112 is completed.

  FIG. 18 is an operation explanatory diagram for restricting rotation of the ratchet portion 112 of the present embodiment during reverse rotation. 18A turns off the solenoid 131, and switching of the posture of the regulating lever 121 is started to a position where the regulating projection 126 can engage the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112 with the rotating member 161. FIG. FIG. 18B is an explanatory diagram of a state immediately after the posture of the regulating lever 121 is switched to a position where the rotating member 161 can be engaged with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the state at the time of the control protrusion 126 meshing with the to-be-controlled protrusion 113. FIG. FIG. 18D is an explanatory diagram when the rotation restriction of the ratchet portion 112 is completed.

  The rotation restricting portion 120 provided in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment is configured to relieve the impact force with the rotation restricting portion of the first embodiment described above, and the drive gear 71 to which the drive motor is drivingly connected is bidirectional. The only difference is that it corresponds to rotation. Specifically, the rotation restricting unit 120 according to the first embodiment can relieve only the impact force when the drive connection is performed during forward rotation, whereas the rotation restricting unit 120 according to the present embodiment is configured to rotate during forward rotation. The only difference is that the impact force at the time of drive connection during reverse rotation can also be reduced in addition to the drive connection. Therefore, the configuration similar to that of the above-described first embodiment and the operations and effects thereof will be omitted as appropriate. In addition, the same constituent members or constituent members that perform the same function will be described with the same reference numerals unless particularly distinguished.

  The rotation restricting portion 120 of this embodiment shown in FIG. 16 has a reverse rotation side surface 129 of the restricting projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 at the time of reverse rotation with any one of the plurality of restricted projections 113 provided on the ratchet portion 112. It shows the state when is in contact (engaged). That is, the external force is not acting on the rotating member 161 held by the output holding portions 171 and 172 provided in the lever output portion 122 of the regulating lever 121.

The rotation restricting unit 120 according to the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9 and the like has a configuration in which only the impact force during forward rotation is reduced. For this reason, a tension spring is used as the rotating coil spring 165, and the two pairs of guide holes 173 and 174 provided in the output holding portions 171 and 172 are rotated to the ends near the support shaft 123 in the separated state. The two pairs of boss portions 162 and 163 of the member 161 are positioned.
On the other hand, in the rotation restricting portion 120 of this embodiment, a coil spring that can handle both tension and compression is used as the rotating coil spring 165. In the separated state, the rotating coil spring 165 has a natural length, and the two pairs of boss portions 162 and 163 of the rotating member 161 are rotated in the two pairs of guide holes 173 and 174 provided in the output holding portions 171 and 172. Two pairs of boss portions 162 and 163 are positioned approximately at the center of the moving range.
With this configuration, the two pairs of boss portions 162 and 163 of the rotating member 161 can correspond to the rotation direction from the approximate center of the rotation range in both the forward rotation and the reverse rotation. A drag force against the pulling force or compression force of the rotating coil spring 165 can be applied.

  Moreover, since the coil spring which can respond also to tension | pulling and compression is used as the rotation coil spring 165, and the elastic displacement amount is enlarged, there is a possibility of suppressing buckling of the rotation coil spring 165 at the time of compression. is there. For this reason, in the rotation restricting portion 120 of the present embodiment, the rotation spring support portion 164 and the input spring support portion 177 that support the rotation coil spring 165 are made to be hard to buckle when compressed by increasing the shape of the input spring support portion 177. ing. Further, when the rotating coil spring 165 is compressed, both ends are treated so that the elastic force starts to act from the initial deformation.

Here, at the time of forward rotation and at the time of reverse rotation, each side surface of the regulating projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 of this embodiment and each side surface of the regulated projection 113 provided on the ratchet portion 112 come into contact with each other. The operation of each part in the contact state will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, as described above, the coil spring 165 can be used for both the tension and compression of the rotating coil spring 165. However, in FIGS. It describes as an aspect of.
First, referring to FIG. 17, a contact state in which the positive rotation side surface 128 of the restricting protrusion 126 provided on the rotating member 161 at the time of normal rotation and the positive rotation side surface of the restricted protrusion 113 provided on the ratchet portion 112 are in contact with each other. The operation of each unit when doing so will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 17A, when the drive motor is driven in the forward rotation direction, the ratchet portion 112 (sun gear 111) in the rotation restriction release state rotates counterclockwise as indicated by an arrow in the figure. When the solenoid 131 is on, the plunger 132 is pulled into the main body of the solenoid 131, and the regulating lever 121 (the rotating member 161) is in a separated state in which the regulating projection 126 is separated from the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112. It has become. That is, the drive connection between the first developing roller gear 91 and the like, which is a drive transmission member on the drive motor side, and the second developing roller gear 92 and the like, which is a driven body, is cut off. At this time, since the rotation member 161 has a natural length of the rotation coil spring 165, the rotation range of the two pairs of guide holes 173 and 174 provided in the output holding portions 171 and 172 is almost the same. There are two pairs of bosses 162 and 163 at the center (hereinafter referred to as initial positions).

When the solenoid 131 is turned off, the force for pulling the plunger 132 to the main body side of the solenoid 131 disappears, and the regulation lever 121 swings counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow in the figure by the elastic force of the swing spring 175. Then, the plunger 132 operates to extend.
After that, as shown in FIG. 17B, the regulating lever 121 swings to a contact state where the regulating projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 can come into contact with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112, and the regulated projection The end surface of 113 comes into contact with the ratchet portion 112 and stops.
Further, even after the restriction lever 121 is stopped, the ratchet portion 112 continues to rotate counterclockwise, and the forward rotation side face 128 of the restriction projection 126 provided on the rotation member 161 as shown in FIG. The side surface of the regulated protrusion 113 of the ratchet portion 112 contacts (see FIG. 16). Even after such contact, the ratchet portion 112 continues to rotate counterclockwise, and the rotating member 161 provided with the restricting projection 126 is positioned at the center of rotation of the ratchet portion 112 as indicated by an arrow in the figure. Starts counterclockwise rotation about the rotation center.

More specifically, the two pairs of boss portions 162, 163 provided on the rotating member 161 are guided by the two pairs of guide holes 173, 174 of the output holding portions 171, 172 of the regulating lever 121, and the ratchet portion 112. The counterclockwise rotation about the rotation center of is started.
Further, the rotating member 161 maintains the surface contact between the restricting protrusion 126 and the restricted protrusion 113 of the ratchet portion 112, and the rotating speed is attenuated by the elastic deformation in the pulling direction of the swinging spring 175. The ratchet part 112 and the concentric circle are rotated.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 17D, the rotating member 161 includes a pair of boss portions 162 and 163 provided on the side surface, and one boss portion 162 is a view of the guide hole 173 of the output holding portion 171. By contacting the downstream end in the counterclockwise direction, the rotation is restricted and stopped.

  Next, referring to FIG. 18, a contact state in which the reverse rotation side surface 129 of the restriction projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 at the time of reverse rotation and the reverse rotation side surface of the regulated protrusion 113 provided on the ratchet portion 112 are in contact with each other. The operation of each part will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 18A, when the drive motor is driven in the reverse rotation direction, the ratchet portion 112 (sun gear 111) in the rotation restriction release state rotates clockwise as indicated by an arrow in the figure. When the solenoid 131 is on, the plunger 132 is pulled into the main body of the solenoid 131, and the regulating lever 121 (the rotating member 161) is in a separated state in which the regulating projection 126 is separated from the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112. It has become. That is, the drive connection between the first developing roller gear 91 and the like, which is a drive transmission member on the drive motor side, and the second developing roller gear 92 and the like, which is a driven body, is cut off. At this time, the rotating member 161 is in the initial position because the rotating coil spring 165 has a natural length.

When the solenoid 131 is turned off, the force for pulling the plunger 132 toward the main body of the solenoid 131 disappears, and the regulating lever 121 swings counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow in the figure by the elastic force of the swing spring 175. Then, the plunger 132 operates to extend.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 18B, the regulating lever 121 swings to a contact state where the regulating projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 can come into contact with the regulated projection 113 of the ratchet portion 112, and the regulated projection 121 The end surface of 113 comes into contact with the ratchet portion 112 and stops.
Further, even after the restriction lever 121 stops, the ratchet portion 112 continues to rotate clockwise, and as shown in FIG. 18C, the reverse rotation side surface 129 of the restriction projection 126 provided on the rotating member 161 ( The side surface of the regulated protrusion 113 of the ratchet portion 112 is in contact with (see FIG. 16). Even after such contact, the ratchet portion 112 continues to rotate clockwise, and the rotating member 161 provided with the restricting protrusion 126 rotates around the rotation center of the ratchet portion 112 as indicated by an arrow in the figure. Starts clockwise rotation around the center of movement.

More specifically, the two pairs of boss portions 162, 163 provided on the rotating member 161 are guided by the two pairs of guide holes 173, 174 of the output holding portions 171, 172 of the regulating lever 121, and the ratchet portion 112. Starts clockwise rotation with the center of rotation as the center of rotation.
Then, while maintaining the surface contact between the regulated protrusion 113 of the ratchet portion 112 and the restricting protrusion 126 of the rotating member 161, the rotating speed of the swinging spring 175 is rotated while being attenuated by the elastic deformation in the compression direction. The moving member 161 rotates on a track concentric with the ratchet portion 112.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 18D, the rotating member 161 includes a pair of boss portions 162 and 163 provided on the side surface, and one boss portion 162 is a view of the guide hole 173 of the output holding portion 171. By contacting the downstream end in the clockwise direction, the rotation is restricted and stopped.

By configuring as described above, the rotation restricting portion 120 of the present embodiment is a drive transmission member on the drive source side at the time of driving connection in any direction of rotation of the driving gear 71 to which the driving motor is drivingly connected. The impact force applied to the first developing roller gear 91 and the like can be reduced.
In the above-described embodiment, the rotation range of the rotation member 161 in the output holding portions 171 and 172 is restricted by the boss portion 162 coming into contact with either end portion of the pair of guide holes 173. An example was described. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the rotation member 161 may be configured such that the rotation range is restricted by the elastic deformation of the rotation coil spring 165.

  By configuring as described above, it becomes possible to reduce the processing cost of a mold or the like used when forming the output holding portions 171 and 172 for providing the two pairs of guide holes 173 and 174 of the regulating lever 121, This can contribute to cost reduction of the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100. Moreover, the impact sound when the boss part such as the boss part 162 collides with the end part of the guide part such as the guide hole 173 can be further reduced. Moreover, the impact sound when the boss part 162 or the like collides with the end part of the guide hole 173 or the like can be further reduced.

In addition, as a specific structure, the following structure is also mentioned besides using the coil spring which can respond to tension | pulling and compression as the rotation coil spring 165. FIG.
At the end of the output holding portions 171 and 172 on the side where the swinging spring support portion 176 is provided, a support portion for supporting the rotating coil spring 165 is provided, and the newly provided support portion and the rotating member 161 are provided. A rotating coil spring corresponding to compression is provided between the rotating spring support 164 and the rotating spring support 164. Then, the rotating coil spring 165 provided between the rotating spring support portion 164 and the input spring support portion 177 is changed to a compression-compatible one.
By configuring as described above, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of the following problems. When a force in the pulling direction larger than the force assumed at the time of design is applied, one of the rotating coil springs exceeds the elastic region and deforms to the plastic region, which shortens the life of the coil spring. The desired elastic force cannot be obtained.

(Example 3)
Next, Example 3 of the rotation restricting portion 120 provided in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of the rotating member 161 according to the third embodiment. FIG. 19A is a perspective view of the rotating member 161 viewed from the lower side on the output holding portion 171 side, and FIG. It is the front view seen from the rocking spring support part 176 side of the holding parts 171 and 172.

  The rotation restricting portion 120 provided in the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 according to the present embodiment is different from the rotation restricting portions according to the first and second embodiments described above only in respect of the shape of the rotating member 161 provided in the rotation restricting portion 120. Specifically, linear protrusions that are linear protrusions on the surface of the rotating member 161 sandwiched by the output holding portions 171 and 172 from both sides in the axial direction of the input shaft 109 that is the rotation center of the ratchet portion 112. The only difference is that 168 is provided. Therefore, the same configuration as in the first and second embodiments and the operation and effect thereof will be omitted as appropriate. In addition, the same constituent members or constituent members that perform the same function will be described with the same reference numerals unless particularly distinguished.

As shown in FIG. 19 (a), the rotation member 161 provided in the rotation restricting portion 120 of this embodiment has an output holding portion 171 and 172 in the axial direction of the input shaft 109 that is the rotation shaft of the ratchet portion 112. Linear protrusions 168 are provided on both side surfaces sandwiched from both sides.
And the vertex part of the linear protrusion 168 is comprised so that it may slide with the side surface of the output holding parts 171 and 172 which oppose.
By providing the linear protrusion 168 on the rotating member 161 as described above, the sliding area between the side surfaces of the output holding portions 171 and 172 and the rotating member 161 is reduced. Accordingly, it is possible to improve the slidability of the rotating member 161 with respect to the output holding portions 171 and 172, and to suppress the deterioration of the side surfaces of the rotating member 161 and the output holding portions 171 and 172 due to sliding friction.

  In this embodiment, a pair of linear protrusions 168 are formed on both side surfaces so as to draw a locus concentric with the ratchet portion 112 when the regulating lever 121 is in contact. The invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, a boss-shaped protrusion may be provided instead of a linear protrusion.

In addition, the printer 200 of the present embodiment described above includes the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 provided with the rotation restricting portion 120 of each of the above-described embodiments, so that the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of each of the above-described embodiments and Similar effects can be achieved.
In the present embodiment, the tandem color printer 200 has been described as the image forming apparatus including the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100, which is a clutch mechanism to which the present invention is applied. However, the present invention has such a configuration. It is not limited to. For example, the present invention can be applied to a copying machine, a multifunction machine, and the like, and can also be applied to a monochrome-compatible image forming apparatus.

What has been described above is merely an example, and the present invention has a specific effect for each of the following modes.
(Aspect A)
When the rotation is restricted and the rotation is stopped, the drive transmission member such as the first developing roller gear 91 on the driving source side such as the rotating driving motor and the driven body such as the developing roller 4 and the second developing roller gear 92 are connected. A rotation-restricting member such as a ratchet portion 112 that performs drive connection and releases the rotation restriction and blocks the drive connection by rotating, and a regulated protrusion such as a regulated protrusion 113 provided on the rotation-restricted member, A rotation restricting member such as a restricting lever 121 having a restricting protrusion such as a restricting protrusion 126 that restricts the rotation of the rotation restricting member in the contact state and releases the rotation restriction of the rotated restricting member in the separated state; In the clutch mechanism including a switching unit that moves the rotation restricting member so as to be in either the contact state or the separated state, the rotation restricting member is provided with the restricting protrusion. A rotating member such as the rotating member 161 and an elastic body such as a rotating coil spring 165 that resists a force to rotate the rotating member. The rotation restricting member is rotatably held with the rotation center as a rotation center.

According to this, as described in the first embodiment (to 3), the following effects can be obtained.
By providing an elastic body that resists the force to rotate the rotation member included in the rotation restriction member, the rotation speed of the rotation member is attenuated by the elastic deformation of the elastic body, and the regulated protrusion and the restriction are regulated. It is possible to extend the time from the start of the operation of performing the drive connection by contact with the protrusion until the completion.
When the drive connection with the driven body is completed, the impact force applied to the drive transmission member on the drive source side is approximately proportional to the speed of the rotating member immediately before the drive connection is completed, and the speed immediately before that Is approximately inversely proportional to the time required for the rotational speed of the rotating member to become “0”.
Therefore, when the drive connection with the driven body is completed, the impact force applied to the drive transmission member on the drive source side that is drive-connected to the rotation restriction member before the completion of the drive connection can be reduced (attenuated). it can.
Therefore, it is possible to provide a clutch mechanism that can suppress damage and deformation of the drive transmission member on the drive source side that is connected to and disconnected from the driven body.

(Aspect B)
In (Aspect A), the elastic body is a spring steel material such as a rotating coil spring 165 that elastically deforms according to the rotation of the rotating member such as the rotating member 161.
According to this, as described in the first embodiment (to 3), the force to rotate the rotation member included in the rotation regulating member such as the regulating lever 121 is attenuated with a simple configuration. I'm going.

(Aspect C)
In (Aspect A) or (Aspect B), the rotation restricting member such as the restricting lever 121 is a rotating member 161 or the like from both sides in the rotation axis direction such as the input shaft 109 of the rotation restricting member such as the ratchet portion 112. It has holding parts such as output holding parts 171 and 172 that hold the rotating member so as to be rotatable, and draws a locus on the concentric circumference of the rotation restricting member in the contact state in the holding part. Guide portions such as guide holes 173 and 174 facing each other are provided, and boss portions such as boss portions 162 and 163 provided on both sides in the rotation axis direction of the rotating member are fitted to the guide portions, and the rotation is performed. The moving member rotates.
According to this, as described in the first embodiment (to 3) described above, the rotation center of the rotation member and the rotation center of the rotation-restricting member can be made to coincide with each other with high accuracy, and the regulated protrusion The rotating member can be rotated in a state where the regulating protrusion is in surface contact.
Therefore, the regulated projection and the regulation projection can be prevented from making line contact (point contact), and the impact load when the drive connection is completed is distributed over the entire contact surface between the regulated projection and the regulation projection. The durability of these can be increased.

(Aspect D)
In (Aspect C), the guide portions such as the guide holes 173 and 174 are rotated by the rotation regulating member such as the ratchet portion 112 in the contact state such as a contact state where the regulated projection 113 and the regulation projection 126 are in contact. Two pairs having different radii from the center are provided, and a pair of bosses such as two pairs of bosses 162 and 163 provided on the rotating member such as the rotating member 161 are fitted in the respective guide parts. It is characterized by this.
According to this, as described in the first embodiment (to 3), even when the boss portion has a cylindrical shape with little frictional resistance, the center of the boss portion is set as the rotation center. It is possible to prevent the rotating member from rotating with a simple configuration.

(Aspect E)
In (Aspect D), among the guide portions such as the two pairs of guide holes 173 and 174 provided in the holding portions such as the output holding portions 171 and 172, it is fitted to the end portions of the guide portions such as the pair of guide holes 173. The rotation range of the rotation member such as the rotation member 161 is restricted by the contact of the boss portion such as the matching boss portion 162.
According to this, as described in the first embodiment (to 3), the following effects can be obtained.
The die used for forming the holding portions such as the output holding portions 171 and 172 of the rotation restricting member such as the restricting lever 121 can be controlled by only one pair of guide portions. It is possible to reduce the processing cost. Therefore, it is possible to contribute to cost reduction of the clutch mechanism such as the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100.

(Aspect F)
In any one of (Aspect A) to (Aspect D), the rotation range of the rotation member such as the rotation member 161 is restricted by elastic deformation of the elastic body such as the rotation coil spring 165. It is a feature.
According to this, as described in the second embodiment (to 3), the following effects can be obtained.
It is possible to reduce the processing cost of a mold or the like used when forming the holding portions such as the output holding portions 171 and 172 of the rotation restricting member such as the restricting lever 121, and the clutch mechanism such as the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 can be reduced. This can contribute to cost reduction. Moreover, the impact sound when the boss part such as the boss part 162 collides with the end part of the guide part such as the guide hole 173 can be further reduced.

(Aspect G)
In any one of (Aspect C) to (Aspect F), the rotation member such as the rotation member 161 is provided on both side surfaces perpendicular to the rotation axis direction of the input shaft 109 of the rotation regulating member such as the ratchet portion 112. A linear protrusion such as a linear protrusion 168 is provided, and a vertex portion of the linear protrusion slides with the holding portions such as the output holding portions 171 and 172.
According to this, as described in the third embodiment, the sliding area between the side surface of the holding portion and the rotating member is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to improve the slidability of the rotating member with respect to the holding portion and to suppress deterioration of the side surfaces of the rotating member and the holding portion due to sliding friction.

(Aspect H)
In any one of (Aspect A) to (Aspect G), a sun gear such as the sun gear 111, a planetary gear such as the planetary gear 105, a planetary carrier such as the carrier 104 that rotatably holds the planetary gear, and an internal gear. A planetary gear mechanism such as a planetary gear unit 110 having an internal gear such as 101, and the sun gear, the planet carrier, and the internal gear are alternatively driven by the first developing roller gear 91 or the like. An input gear such as the carrier 104 that is drivingly connected to the transmission member, an output gear such as the internal gear 101 that is drivingly connected to the driven member such as the developing roller 4 and the second developing roller gear 92, and a ratchet portion 112. The rotation restricting member is configured to function as a fixed gear such as a sun gear 111 provided so as to operate integrally.
According to this, as described in the first embodiment (to 3), the following effects can be obtained.
If the size of the rotational driving force for driving connection and disconnection projected on a plane perpendicular to the rotational axis direction is about the same, the rotational speed is higher than that of an electromagnetic clutch using friction, and a higher driving torque is obtained. Drive connection and disconnection can be performed. Further, the rotational driving force from the rotational driving source can be shifted and transmitted to the driven body.

(Aspect I)
In an image forming apparatus such as a printer 200 having a clutch mechanism for drivingly connecting and disconnecting a rotational driving force of a driving source such as a driving motor to a driven body such as the photosensitive member 1, the clutch mechanism (Aspects A to A) A clutch mechanism such as the planetary gear clutch mechanism 100 of (Aspect H) is provided.
According to this, as described in the first embodiment (to 3), it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can achieve the same effects as any one of the clutch mechanisms of (Aspect A) to (Aspect H). .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photoconductor 2 Charging device 3 Developing device 4 Developing roller 5, 6 Developer stirring conveyance screw 7 Photoconductor cleaning device 11 Fixing device 21 Primary transfer roller 22 Drive roller 23 Drive roller 24 Intermediate transfer belt 25 Secondary transfer roller 26 Intermediate Transfer belt cleaning device 30 Optical writing device 40 Paper feeding device 41 Conveying path 42 Registration roller pair 43 Paper discharge port 44 Paper discharge tray 70 Drive gear train 71 Drive gear 80 Photoconductor drive gear train 81 First photoconductor gear 82 Photoconductor drive Gear 83 83 Idler gear train 84 Drive roller gear 90 Development roller drive gear train 91 First development roller gear 92 Second development roller gear 93 Third development roller gear 94 Development roller drive gear 100 Planetary gear clutch mechanism 101 Internal gear 102 Internal teeth Gear part 103 External gear part 104 Carrier 05 planetary gear 106 reference side plate 107 end side plate 108 pin 109 input shaft 110 planetary gear portion 111 sun gear 112 ratchet portion 113 restricted projection 116 introduction gear 120 rotation restriction portion 121 restriction lever 122 lever output portion 123 support shaft 124 lever input portion 126 Restriction protrusion 126 Restriction protrusion 128 Forward rotation side surface 129 Reverse rotation side surface 130 Switching portion 131 Solenoid 132 Plunger 133 Engaging pin 135 Elastic body (conventional example)
136 Mounting part (conventional example)
136 Elastic body holding member (conventional example)
137 Notch (conventional example)
141 Extendable part (prior application example)
143 Base (prior example)
144 Movable part (example of prior application)
145 Protrusion (prior application example)
146 Coil spring (prior application example)
147 recess (example of prior application)
148 Holding part (example of prior application)
149 long hole (example of prior application)
150 boss (prior application example)
161 Rotating members 162, 163 Boss portion 164 Rotating spring support portion 165 Rotating coil spring 168 Linear protrusions 171, 172 Output holding portions 173, 174 Guide hole 175 Swing spring 176 Swing spring support portion 177 Input spring support portion 200 printer

JP 2013-100956 A

Claims (9)

Rotation restricted member that performs drive connection between the drive transmission member on the driving source side that is rotating and the driven body when rotation is restricted and rotation is stopped, and that cuts off the drive connection by rotating after rotation restriction is released And a rotation having a restricting protrusion for restricting rotation of the rotation restricting member in a contact state with the restricting protrusion provided on the rotation restricting member and releasing the rotation restriction of the rotation restricting member in a separated state. In a clutch mechanism comprising a regulating member and switching means for moving the rotation regulating member so as to be in any one of the contact state and the separated state,
The rotation restricting member includes a rotating member provided with the restricting protrusion and an elastic body that resists a force to rotate the rotating member, and the rotating member is moved in the contact state. A clutch mechanism characterized in that it is rotatably held around the rotation center of the rotation restricting member. The clutch mechanism according to claim 1,
The clutch mechanism, wherein the elastic body is a spring steel material that is elastically deformed in accordance with the rotation of the rotating member. The clutch mechanism according to claim 1 or 2,
The rotation restricting member has a holding portion that is rotatably held with the turning member sandwiched from both sides of the rotation restricting member in the rotation axis direction.
The holding portion is provided with guide portions facing each other that draw a locus on a concentric circumference of the rotation restricting member in the contact state,
A clutch mechanism, wherein boss portions provided on both sides of the rotation member in the rotation axis direction are fitted to the guide portion, and the rotation member rotates. The clutch mechanism according to claim 3,
In the contact state, the guide portion is provided with two pairs having different radii from the rotation center of the rotation restricting member,
A clutch mechanism, wherein a pair of two boss portions provided on the rotating member is fitted in each guide portion. In the clutch mechanism according to claim 4,
Of the two pairs of guide portions provided in the holding portion, the pivot range of the pivot member is restricted by contact of the boss portions fitted to the end portions of the pair of guide portions. Clutch mechanism. In the clutch mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The clutch mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a rotation range of the rotating member is restricted by elastic deformation of the elastic body. The clutch mechanism according to any one of claims 3 to 6,
The rotation restricting member has a holding portion that is rotatably held with the turning member sandwiched from both sides of the rotation restricting member in the rotation axis direction.
The rotating mechanism has a linear protrusion on both side surfaces perpendicular to the rotation axis direction of the rotation restricting member, and a top part of the linear protrusion slides with the holding part. The clutch mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
A planetary gear mechanism having a sun gear, a planetary gear, a planet carrier that rotatably holds the planetary gear, and an internal gear;
An input gear in which the sun gear, the planet carrier, and the internal gear are alternatively driven and connected to the drive transmission member, an output gear that is driven and connected to the driven body, and the rotation restriction member A clutch mechanism configured to function as a fixed gear provided to operate integrally. In an image forming apparatus provided with a clutch mechanism for connecting and disconnecting rotational driving force of a driving source to a driven body,
An image forming apparatus comprising the clutch mechanism according to claim 1 as the clutch mechanism.

Images