JPH0338683A - Toner recovery device of image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make collected particulate toner into particles and to prevent the toner from scattering by employing double structure for a container where the toner is collected and admitting heating air from a fixing device to the internal hollow part of the container. CONSTITUTION:Toner which is not transferred to a transfer material at the time of transfer reaches the position of a cleaner 10 as a photosensitive body 1 rotates, removed from the photosensitive body, and stored in the recovery container 9. The heating air generated at the fixing device part circulates in the hollow part of the container 9 and is discharged from an exhaust port 9b. Consequently, the toner collected in the container is heated into a semifused state and particulates stick on one another into particles, which never scatter in the air.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (1) Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that utilizes an electrostatic transfer process, such as an electrostatic copying machine or a printer, and particularly to a waste toner collection device thereof. It is.

(Prior Art and Issues to be Solved) In a well-known image forming apparatus that transfers a transferable toner image formed on the surface of an image carrier to a transfer material such as paper, during the transfer, a toner image is transferred to the image carrier without contributing to the transfer. Since the generation of remaining residual toner cannot be avoided, it is necessary to reliably remove it.

Many methods have been proposed and put into practice as toner removal means for this purpose, but in any case, the removed toner is stored during the collection period, and when the container is full, it is discarded. It is normal to replace the container with a new one.

By the way, since toner is composed of extremely fine particles, it is necessary to completely collect the toner during the entire process of removing the toner from the image carrier, guiding and storing it in the collection stage, and then removing and processing the container. It is actually difficult to process the toner in a sealed state, and it is not easy to prevent contamination of various parts due to toner dissipation.

These problems can be solved by methods such as: (1) dissolving the collected toner in an organic solvent and turning it into a gel (Japanese Patent Publication No. 14617/1982); (2) pressing the collected toner in a container to form a lump. (Special Publication No. 57-16472),
■ A heater is installed to heat and melt the toner during the collection period (Special Publication No. 181081/1981); ■ A heater installed between the container and its toner outlet melts and drips the toner, solidifying it into a lump. A number of methods have already been proposed, such as Sasechino.

However, in the case of these products, for example, in the case of the above-mentioned item (■), the container must be kept unaffected by the solvent, and there are problems such as solvent volatilization and overflow. It is difficult to completely eliminate the part that remains in powder form, and the structure becomes complicated and impractical. There are problems such as cost and power consumption.

The present invention has been developed to deal with such a situation, and does not require a particularly complicated mechanism, and is capable of producing fine powder in the form of a fine powder recovered by utilizing the exhaust heat of a cooling means normally installed in an image forming apparatus. The purpose of this is to reliably prevent the toner from dissipating by granulating the toner, and to provide a cost-effective waste toner collection period.

(2) Structure of the Invention (Technical Means for Solving the Problems and Their Effects) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for removing residual toner on the surface of an image bearing member using a cleaner, and then transferring the toner to a toner collection stage. In a toner collection device of an image forming apparatus that guides and stores toner, the toner collection and storage period is formed on a double wall surface, and
The present invention is characterized in that the heated air generated in the fixing device portion is supplied to a hollow portion between the double wall surfaces of the container.

With this configuration, all of the collected toner can be reliably turned into particles using an extremely simple mechanism, so that post-processing of the toner can be simplified.

(Description of Embodiments) FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, in which the surface of a rotating cylindrical photoreceptor 1 is uniformly charged by a charger 2, image signal applying means 3 to
An electrostatic latent image is formed.

Next, toner is supplied to the latent image by the developing device 4 to form a toner image, and as the photoreceptor i rotates, this toner image arrives at a transfer site where a transfer charger 6 is arranged.
At this position, the toner image on the photoreceptor side is transferred to the transfer material that has been supplied to the transfer site by this time.

The transfer material carrying the toner image passes through the conveyance device 7 and reaches the fixing device 8, where it is subjected to heat and pressure by a pair of fixing rollers, and after the toner image is fixed and fixed on the transfer material, it is removed from the machine. It is discharged.

During transfer, some of the toner that was not transferred to the transfer material reaches the cleaner 10 as the photoreceptor 1 rotates and is removed from the photoreceptor, and this toner is removed by a cleaner (not shown) installed in the cleaner. The waste toner is conveyed perpendicularly to the plane of the paper by a conveyance screw or other suitable conveyance means, and is removed from the cleaner, and furthermore, as is well known, the waste toner collection and storage stage 9 is installed at an appropriate location in the image forming apparatus by a duct or the like. shall be stored in.

In such an image forming apparatus, as schematically shown in FIG. 2, a fan 11 is provided to prevent the surrounding area from being overheated by the heating roller of the fixing device. It shall be sent during collection period 9.

As shown in FIG. 3, the container 9 has a hollow structure with double walls as a whole, and has an inlet 9a at the top and an outlet 9b at the bottom. The inlet port 9a is connected to the outlet side of the inlet 9a.

With this structure, the heated air generated in the fixing device circulates through the hollow part of the container 9 and is discharged from the outlet 9b, so that the toner stored inside is heated to a semi-molten state. As a result, the particles adhere to each other and become granular with a certain size, and even if the container is moved a little, they will not be scattered and thrown up into the air, making post-processing easier.

Furthermore, since the entire container is heated, the toner hardly remains as fine particles in some parts, and problems caused by the particles scattering do not occur.

Furthermore, some toner containers of this type are configured to allow light to pass through the inside of the container to detect the amount of toner inside and know when to discard or replace the container. In addition, it is also possible to prevent false detection due to toner scattering inside the container.

Note that by providing an outlet 9b for discharging heated air at a diagonal position three-dimensionally with respect to an inlet 9a at the upper corner for introducing heated air into the hollow part between the walls of the container, the heated air can be drawn into the hollow part. By uniformly refluxing the toner, the entire toner can be heated uniformly, and local disturbances in the formation of large toner particles can be prevented as much as possible.

(3) As described in detail of the invention, by making the container for collecting toner double-layered and introducing heated air from the fixing device into the internal hollow part, ultrafine toner particles are appropriately collected inside the container. It becomes relatively large particles, and all of the toner in the container can be reliably granulated at this time, so it is easy to replace the container and dispose of the contents, and there is no need to add a particularly complicated mechanism. It is advantageous in terms of cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of an image forming apparatus that shows an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied; FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing how heated air is guided from the fixing device during the toner recovery period; FIG. 3 FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a toner collection period. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Photoreceptor, 9... Toner container, 10... Cleaner, 11... Fan, 12... Duct, 9a...
・Heated air inlet, 9b... same outlet. Diagram

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a toner recovery device of an image forming apparatus in which residual toner on the surface of an image carrier is removed by a cleaner and then the toner is guided and stored in a toner recovery container, the toner recovery container is formed with a double wall surface, and the toner is fixed. A toner recovery device that supplies heated air generated in the device portion to a hollow portion between the double walls of the container. (2) The toner collection and storage period is formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and an inlet for guiding heated air into the hollow part is provided in one corner of the container;
2. The toner recovery device according to claim 1, wherein the outlet for discharging the toner is arranged three-dimensionally diagonally with respect to the inlet.