JPH01267671A - Toner replenishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To put toner in a toner container smoothly without any toner clogging by providing a positioning means for an agitator which is stopped and held at a determined rotational position where the falling of toner is not impeded. CONSTITUTION:A toner end sensor 16 is provided at the bottom part of the toner container 2 and when the sensor detects the absence of toner, that is displayed on the operation part of an image forming device main body. When that is observed and a unit 10 is drawn out of the image forming device main body, an agitator driving gear 4A and a toner replenishing roller driving gear 5A leave an intermediate gear 13 to cut the driving transmission relation between both. Here, a lid 17 is opened to open an opening 3, a toner cartridge 18 which contains replenished toner is mounted, and its internal toner is fallen and charged in the toner container 2. Consequently, the agitator 4 stops at the position where the falling of the toner is not impeded, so the toner is replenished from a supplementary container such as a cartridge is replenished smoothly without being stopped harfway.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a toner supply device used in a dry type developing device.

In an image forming device such as an electrophotographic copying machine, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a latent image carrier such as a photoreceptor, and this electrostatic latent image is visualized using a powder developer. . Among dry-type developing devices that achieve such functions, those that use, for example, a two-component developer as the developer.

A toner replenishing device is attached to the developing device main body, and toner is supplied from there to the developing device main body side.

In this type of toner replenishment device, an agitator is provided in a container that stores toner (hereinafter referred to as a toner container), and by rotating the agitator, the toner for replenishment is stirred and pumped up. Toner is supplied to the developing device main body from the supply roller.

At this point, when the toner in the toner container runs out.

I have to replenish the toner, but 9! There are two ways to replenish this.

One is to load the entire unit into the image forming apparatus main body with the toner cartridge still attached to the upper part of the toner container integrated into the developing apparatus main body.

This method allows the toner in the cartridge to gradually fall naturally into the toner container.

Another method is to remove the unit that integrates the developing device main body and toner container from the image forming apparatus, install the toner cartridge on the top of the toner container, open the package, and store the toner inside. This method involves dropping the toner cartridge into a container, then removing the toner cartridge, and loading the unit into the image forming apparatus.

In the former method, the entire toner cartridge and development unit are loaded into the image forming apparatus body.
The toner cartridge requires more space inside, and the image forming apparatus itself becomes bulkier. In particular, in the case of obtaining a color image, since a plurality of developing devices are used, the size of the layer and the image forming device itself becomes large.

The latter method does not require the space that the toner cartridge occupies within the image forming apparatus body, so the image forming apparatus itself can be made smaller by that space, and it meets the recent demands for lighter, thinner, and smaller image forming apparatuses. It is.

However, with this method, if the 7-digitator for agitating and pumping the toner is stopped, for example, in a horizontal position, the unit is removed, the toner cartridge is placed on the toner container, and the toner cartridge is placed on the toner container. When toner is dropped, the fallen toner hits the agitator and becomes blocked, preventing it from falling into the toner container, resulting in almost no toner being replenished in the cartridge. Therefore, the toner is dropped by hitting the cartridge by hand.
If you do this, the toner will scatter or spill out.

On the other hand, in the former example, the toner gradually falls from the toner cartridge as the amount of toner in the developing device body decreases. Even if this occurs, the agitator rotates and the toner is crushed, so there is no blocking of the toner, but on the other hand, there is a drawback that the unit structure becomes bulky.

1) Even if toner is filled and supplied outside the image forming apparatus, the present invention is capable of smoothly putting the toner into the toner container without clogging the toner in the agitator part. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a toner replenishing device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a toner replenishment device according to the present invention, which includes a toner container that stores replenishment toner therein and has an opening for supplying the replenishment toner in its upper part, and a toner container that rotates. a toner replenishing member that replenishes the toner in the toner container to the side of the developing device main body, an agitator that rotates to agitate the toner in the toner container and send it out toward the toner replenishing member, and supplies the toner from the opening. The present invention is characterized by comprising an agitator positioning means for stopping and waiting the agitator at a predetermined rotational position that does not inhibit the falling of toner beforehand.

The present invention will be explained below based on one embodiment.

In FIG. 1, a toner container 2 that accommodates replenishment toner (not shown) inside and has an opening 3 for supplying replenishment toner at the top is integrally connected to a developing device main body 1. .

An agitator 4 is provided within the toner container 2 .

By rotating this in the direction of the arrow, the toner container 2
While the toner inside is stirred, it is pumped up toward the toner supply roller 5 and sent to the roller 5.

The toner replenishing roller 5 constitutes a configuration example of a toner replenishing member, and rotates in the direction of the arrow to supply the toner in the toner container 2 to the developing device main body 1 side.

The replenishment toner that falls from the toner replenishment roller 5 is mixed and agitated with a developer (not shown) by an agitation paddle 6, and this mixed and agitated material is pumped up by another agitation paddle 7 and sent to a developing roller 8. Supplied.

The g1 layer supplied and carried on the developing port roller 8 is used for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor 9.

Note that the developer carried on the developing roller 8 is transferred to the doctor 1.
1, the excess material is scraped off and the thickness is made suitable for development. Further, the scraped developer is returned into the main body of the developing device by the separator 12.

Here, the agitator 4 and the toner supply roller 5 have a third
As shown in Figure (A), an agitator drive gear 4A and a toner replenishment roller drive gear 5A are provided coaxially and integrally, and an intermediate gear 13 meshing with both of these gears is rotationally driven.

The agitator 4 and toner supply roller 5 are each rotated in the direction of the arrow. The intermediate gear 13 is shown in Fig. 4 (A
), it is pivotally supported on the side plate 14 of the main body of the image forming apparatus, and is driven by a drive source such as a motor (not shown).

Here, in FIG. 1, the developing device main body 1 and the toner container 2 are integrated into an integral unit, and this integrated unit is designated by the reference numeral 10.

A toner end sensor 16 is provided at the bottom of the toner container 2, and when this sensor detects that the toner in the toner container 2 has run out, a message to this effect is displayed on the operation section (not shown) of the main body of the image forming apparatus. It is now displayed.

When the unit 10 is removed from the main body of the image forming apparatus after seeing this, the agitator drive gear 4 appears as shown in FIG. 4(B).
A and the toner supply roller drive gear 5A are separated from the intermediate gear 13, and the drive transmission relationship between them is severed. In addition, the third
Figure (I3) shows the gear on the unit side when the unit is pulled out.

Now, with the unit 10 pulled out and taken out, M17 is opened to open the opening 3, as shown in FIG. In this state, the toner cartridge 18 containing replenishment toner is placed, and the seal is peeled off to cause the toner inside to fall and enter the toner container 2.

Thereafter, the cartridge 18 is removed, the M17 is closed, and the unit 10 is inserted and loaded into the main body of the image forming apparatus.

In this state, toner replenishment is completed.

In this embodiment, since there is no need to secure a space for the cartridge 18 within the image forming apparatus main body, the image forming apparatus can be made more compact.

Here, when replenishing toner, if the agitator 4 remains stopped at a horizontal position as shown by the imaginary line, the toner falling from the cartridge 18 will collide with the agitator part, resulting in a blocking state, and the toner container 2 It becomes difficult to feel depressed. In the case of M@, the toner in the cartridge is hardly replenished.

Therefore, the toner is dropped by hitting the cartridge or unit by hand, but when this is done, the toner scatters or spills out.

As shown in FIG. 4(B), the gear system of the unit 10 is removed from the intermediate gear 13 on the main body side.

Due to friction of the shaft portion of the agitator 4, etc., it remains stopped at an arbitrary stop position. As described above, the stopping position of the 7 agitator 4 is not fixed, and if the agitator remains stopped at a position where it obstructs the toner from falling, the above-mentioned problem will occur.

Here, as shown in FIG. 5, a fi 19 made of metal is fixed to the agitator 4, and an elastic film or sheet made of Mylar (trade name) 20 or the like is attached to this.

In FIG. 1, when the toner container 2 runs out of toner, the unit 10 is removed from the image forming apparatus main body. At this time, the gear system of the unit 1° and the intermediate gear 1
3 is cut off, the gear system becomes free, and moreover, there is no toner in the toner container 2.

The agitator 4 moves from any stop position to the second position using the weight of the weight 19.
Rotate to the downward hanging position as shown in the figure. This position is the best position that does not prevent the toner from falling from the cartridge 18.

By placing the agitator 4 in such a position, the toner from the cartridge 18 can be smoothly filled into the toner container 2. In other words, it is possible to facilitate toner replenishment when toner runs out, and it is possible to ensure a sufficient amount of toner replenishment.

In an image forming apparatus in which the unit 1° is loaded into the main body of the image forming apparatus with the cartridge 18 left open, even if the agitator 4 is stopped at a position that prevents toner from falling, the apparatus will not operate. Since the agitator 4 also starts rotating, the toner clogged in the agitator part will be removed.
The problem described above does not occur. However, as mentioned above, the image forming apparatus itself becomes bulky.

In the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size of the image forming apparatus, and toner can be replenished without any problem. The mylar 20 moves while elastically contacting the inner wall of the toner container 2 to achieve the function of scooping up the developer.6 A scraping member 30 made of polyurethane rubber or the like is also fixed to the toner container 2. It is recommended that the toner adhering to the Mylar 20 be removed by hitting the tip thereof against the Mylar 20 that rotates once.

The weight 19 constitutes an example of an agitator positioning means for stopping and waiting the agitator 4 at a predetermined rotational position that does not impede the toner falling when the toner is to be supplied from the opening 3 of the toner container. Although it is a thing,
In addition, the following means may be adopted.

For example, the agitator 4 is driven by a pulse motor or the like so that the stop position of the agitator 4 can be detected by a detection device consisting of an encoder or a photocoupler, and the agitator 4 is stopped at the position shown in FIG. 1 by this detection device. In other words, the agitator 4 may be driven by, for example, a pulse motor, and the position of the agitator 4 shown in FIG. The agitator 4 is controlled so that it always rotates at an integral multiple of the number of rotations from this position, and when the agitator 4 is stopped, it is always in the position shown in FIG. 1.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the agitator is configured to stop at a position that does not impede the falling of toner, toner can be refilled from a replenishment container such as a cartridge smoothly without getting stuck on the way. A sufficient amount of toner can be ensured.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing a state in which toner is being replenished by a toner cartridge, and Figs. 3 (A) and (B) explain the drive transmission relationship of the agitator. FIGS. 4A and 4B are side views thereof, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the agitator with a weight attached thereto.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a toner container that stores replenishment toner therein and has an opening for supplying the replenishment toner in its upper part; a toner replenishing member that rotates to replenish the toner in the toner container to the side of the developing device main body; an agitator that rotates to agitate the toner in the toner container and send it out toward the toner replenishing member; and when the toner is to be supplied from the opening, the agitator is placed in advance at a fixed rotational position that does not prevent the toner from falling. A toner replenishing device comprising: means for positioning an agitator for stopping and waiting.