JPH04115269A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make toner quantity fed in smaller than toner quantity fed out from toner carrying member and to prevent flocculation of toner by delaying rotational speed of a multiple number of toner carrying members feeding toner from a toner hopper to a developing means by rotation, more in carrying members in positions further apart from the developing means. CONSTITUTION:An electrostatic latent image is formed by irradiating a surface of a uniformly electrified image carrier 1 with exposure beam for black(B), for example. Then, a developing device 6 containing a black toner 14B is abutted to an image carrier, and a toner image is formed by attracting the toner 14B to an electrostatic latent image part. A first toner carrying member 21 installed in the toner hopper 15B, a second toner carrying member 22, and a third toner carrying member 59 are rotated with the rotation of a toner ejecting roll 19, and the toner 14B is carried to the ejecting roll 19 while being agitated. Then, when the rotational speed of the ejecting roll 19 is v1, the rotational speed of the carrying member 2 is v2, the rotational speed of the carrying member 22 is v3, and the rotational speed of the carrying member 59 is v4, they are constituted to be v1>v2>v3>v4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic device in which an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor is visualized using toner particles, transferred to paper, and fixed by heat or pressure. It is something.

2. Description of the Related Art Since the past, electrophotographic devices have been the mainstream of devices that use dry toner, and have been put into practical use in many copying machines, laser printers, etc., and have made remarkable progress. Recently, there has been a growing demand for color copiers in the market in addition to monochrome copiers, and color copiers have also been introduced.

This electrophotographic apparatus is a device that applies electrophotographic process technology, and uses toner particles to visualize an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor having a photosensitive layer.

An electrophotographic apparatus that employs a two-component development method that uses a mixture of toner and carrier as a developer generally has a development bat filled with developer and a toner hopper that stores replenishment toner. The toner in the toner hopper falls into the developing vat by the rotation of the toner discharge roller, and is controlled so that the mixing ratio of toner and carrier in the developing vat is always kept constant. The toner filled in the toner hopper decreases as it is used, and some of the toner may adhere to the inner wall of the toner hopper and cause toner blocking (solidification) or may accumulate in stagnation areas. Ta. Remaining toner in the toner hopper will substantially reduce the capacity of the toner hopper. Therefore, the amount of toner remaining in this stagnation area is reduced and the toner is removed.

Various attempts have been made to completely replenish the toner in the bar to the outside and to effectively use the volume of the toner hopper.

A conventional electrophotographic apparatus will be described below.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional electrophotographic apparatus, and FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of main parts of the conventional electrophotographic apparatus.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, 1 has a resin belt made of polyethylene terephthalate or the like as a base material, and selenium (
The image carrier is coated with a photosensitive receiving layer such as Se) or organic photoconductor (OPC) in the form of a thin film. The image carrier 1 is wound and stretched so as to have a vertical plane by two image carrier transport rollers 2.3, and a drive motor (not shown) drives the image carrier transport rollers 2.3. When driven, it rotates in six directions indicated by arrows. A charger 4, an exposure optical system 5, black (B), and cyan (C) are arranged on the circumferential surface of the heald-like image carrier 1 in the order of the rotation direction of the image carrier shown by arrow A.
, macenta (M), yellow (Y) color developing device 6B
, 6C1if, 6Y, an intermediate transfer member unit 7, an image carrier cleaning device 8, and a static eliminator 9 are provided. The charger 4 includes a charging wire 10 made of tag stainless wire or the like, a shield plate 11 made of a metal plate, and a grid plate 12. By applying a high voltage to the charging line IO, a corona discharge is caused in the charging line 10, and the image carrier 1 is uniformly charged via the grid plate 12. Reference numeral 13 denotes an exposure light beam for image data emitted from the exposure optical system 5.

In the case of a laser printer, this exposure light beam 13
is controlled by a signal from a host computer (not shown) to form electrostatic latent images on the image carrier l, each corresponding to a specific one of a plurality of predetermined color components. Each color developer 6 has toner 14B, 14 corresponding to each color.
Toner hopper 15B that stores C114M and 14Y,
15c, 15M, 15Y and toner 1.4B, 14C1
Carrier 1 consisting of 14M, I4Y and magnetic particles such as iron powder
Developer 17B, 17C117M, 1 which is a mixture with 6
Developing vats 18B, 18C, 18M, 1 that accommodate 7Y
Black (B), cyan (C), and macenter (M) are placed in order from the bottom on the vertical plane of the image carrier l, which is stretched so as to have a vertical plane by the image carrier transport roller 2.3. , yellow (Y) color developing devices 6B and 6C1.
6M and 6Y are arranged in a stacked manner. 19 is toner 14B in toner hopper 15B, 15C, 15M, 15Y
, +4C114M, 14Y in developing bat 18B, 18C
1IBM, +8Y is provided with a toner discharge roller made of a highly elastic synthetic resin foam, which is rotatably supported at both ends on both sides of each of the toner hoppers 15B, 15C115M, and 15Y, and blocks the toner discharge port 20. ing. 2] is the first toner conveying member, and as shown in FIG. 10, the toner conveying member 21a and the toner conveying member 21
b and a toner conveying member return spring 21c, and a rotating shaft 2 provided at both ends of the toner conveying member 21a.
Toner hopper 15B, 15C115M, 1 by 1d
It is rotatably supported on both sides of each 5Y. A rotating shaft 21e provided at both ends of the toner transporting member 21a is connected to a rotating bearing 21f provided at both ends of the toner transporting member 21b, and the toner transporting member 21b rotates around the rotating shaft 21e toward the toner transporting member 21a. freely supported. In addition, a spring 21c for restoring the toner conveying portion connects the toner conveying member 2+a and the toner conveying member 21b, and the toner conveying member 21c rotates around the rotation shaft 21e.
b in a predetermined state. Reference numeral 22 denotes a second toner conveying member, which is made of wire or the like and is bent into a rectangular shape, with both ends connected to the toner hoppers 15B, 15c, and 15M.
. The first toner conveying member 21 and the second toner conveying member 22 are connected to the toner hopper 15.
Toner 14B, 14C in B, 15C115M, 15Y
, 14M, 14Y and prevents the toners 14B, 14C1] 4M, 14Y from the toner outlet 2.
Transport to 0. Here, the reason why the first toner conveyance section shrine 21 is made up of two members and bent in the middle as described above is to increase the capacity of the toner hopper 15 without increasing the height of the main body. However, the purpose is to utilize the capacity effectively, and this is particularly effective when the developing units are used in a stacked manner, such as in a color electrophotographic apparatus. 27
The toner hoppers 15B, +5 are rotatably supported at both ends by the developing bats 18B, 18c, 18N1.18Y, respectively.
The toners 14B, +4C114M, 1.1) supplied from c, 15M, +5Y through the toner discharge port 20 are mixed and stirred with the carrier 16 to produce the toners 14B, 14C,
This is a stirring row that charges the toners 14M and 14Y and conveys them to the developing roller 28. Toners 14B, 14C114M, 14)' and carrier transported toward the developing roller 28]6
is a magnet roller 29 fixed inside the developing roller 28.
Due to the magnetic force, the magnetic brush is drawn onto the outer periphery of the developing roller 28 to form a magnetic brush, and the height of the brush is limited by the doctor blade 30. As the developing roller 28 rotates, the magnetic blades of the developers 17B, 17C, 117, 1, and +7Y come into contact with the image carrier 1, and the respective color components are applied to the portion where the electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier 1. Toner 1 compatible with
4B, 14c, 14M, and 14Y are attached to form a toner image. The selection of toners 14B, 14C, 114M, and 14Y is achieved by using separation cams 39B, 39C, 39N5.39Y rotatably supported at both ends on the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus in response to a color selection signal from a host computer (not shown). The selected developing device 6B is brought into contact with the image carrier 1. The remaining unselected developing devices 6C16M and 6Y are separated from the image carrier 1 by the tensile force of a separation spring (not shown). 40 is the toner 1 in the developing hats 18B, 18c, 18N, i, 18)'
4B, 1. This is a t:th toner concentration detector that detects the mixing ratio of IC514N1.14Y and carrier 16. The intermediate transfer member unit 7 includes a belt-shaped intermediate transfer member 41 made of conductive resin or the like, two intermediate transfer member conveying rollers 42 and 43 supporting the intermediate transfer member 41, and an intermediate In order to transfer the toner image on the image carrier 1 to the transfer member 41, an intermediate transfer roller 44 is provided to face the image carrier 1 with the intermediate transfer member 41 in between. Here, the surface circumference of the intermediate transfer member 41 is equal to the surface circumference of the image carrier 1. Reference numeral 45 denotes an intermediate transfer member cleaning device for scraping off residual toner on the intermediate transfer member 41, and while a composite image is being formed on the intermediate transfer member 41, it is separated from the intermediate transfer roller and is used for cleaning. It comes into contact only when

46 is a copy cassette that stores a copy 47. The copies 47 are sent out one by one from the copy center 46 to the paper conveyance path 49 by a half-moon-shaped paper feed roller 48 . Reference numeral 50 refers to the copying material 4 which is temporarily attached to the copying material 47 in order to match the position of the composite image formed on the intermediate transfer member 41.
A registration roller is provided for stopping and waiting the roller 7, and is in pressure contact with the driven roller 51. Reference numeral 52 denotes a paper transfer roller for transferring the composite image formed on the intermediate transfer member 41 to the copying body 47, and rotates in contact with the intermediate transfer member 4 only when transferring the composite image to the copying body 47. 53 is a fixing device consisting of a heat roller 54 having an internal heat source and a pressure roller 55, which applies pressure and heat to the composite image transferred onto the copying material 47 as the heat roller 54 and pressure roller 55 rotate. The image is fixed on the copy 47 by the following steps.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the main parts of the drive system of the toner discharging roller I9, the first toner conveying member 21, and the second toner conveying member 22, and 23 is a toner discharging roller drive gear that rotationally drives the toner discharging roller I9. It is. A first toner conveying member drive gear 24 rotationally drives the first toner conveying member 21, and is connected to the toner discharge roller drive gear 23 via an idler gear 25a.

26 is a second toner conveying member gear that rotationally drives the second toner conveying member 22; the first toner conveying member driving gear 2;
4 through idler gears 25b and 25c. Here, the driving gear train that rotationally drives the toner (JF output crawler 19, first toner conveying member 2I, and second toner conveying member 22) is a drive gear train that rotationally drives the toner discharge roller 19, the first toner conveying member 2I, and the second toner conveying member 22. The rotational speeds of the members 22 are set to be equal to each other.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing the operating states of the developing units 6B, 6C16M, and 6Y, and Fig. 9 is a diagram showing the operating states of the developing units 6B, 6C16N, and 1.6Y.
31 is a drive source (not shown)
The main drive gear for transmitting the power from to the developing devices 6B, 6C16M, 6Y (I), the respective developing devices 6B, 6C
When contributing to development, the developing roller gear 32 attached to one end of the shaft of the developing roller 28 is rotationally driven. 33 is a stirring drive gear, which is connected to a drive source (not shown) while the electrophotographic device is operating.
The power from the developing devices 6B and 6 is transmitted through the stirring driven gear 34.
It is transmitted to the stirring idler gear 35 and stirring roller gear 36 arranged in C16M and 6Y, and the developing device 6C16N1.6Y
The stirring roller 27 is rotated. Here, the developing roller gear 32 and the stirring roller gear 36 are not connected. 37
is a support member that supports the agitation driven gear 34, and is rotatably supported by the electrophotographic apparatus main body around the axis of the agitation drive gear 33. Further, the end of the support member 37 is given a moment in the direction of arrow C by a tension spring 38 on the opposite side to the side on which the stirring driven gear 34 is supported.

The operation of the electrophotographic apparatus configured as described above will be described below.

First, a voltage is applied to the charging wire 10 in the charger 4 connected to a high-voltage power source to cause corona discharge, and the surface of the image carrier 1 is uniformly charged to about -700V to -800V. Next, the image carrier 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and a predetermined color among the plurality of color components, for example, corresponding to black (B), is applied onto the uniformly charged surface of the image carrier 1. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier 1 by irradiating an exposure light beam 13 such as the above. On the other hand, the developer 6B containing the blackt+-11B contributing to development is pushed in the direction of arrow B by rotating the separation cam 39B in response to a color selection signal from a host computer (not shown), and 1. This developer 6
As the developing roller gear 32 moves as shown in FIG.
The developing roller 28 is connected to the main drive gear 31 and begins to rotate. The toner concentration adjusting means consisting of the stirring roller 27 and the toner concentration detector 40 is constantly driven. The other developing devices 6C16M and 6Y are spaced apart from the image carrier I, and the respective developing rollers 28 in the developing devices 6C16M and 6Y are stopped. On the other hand, each of the stirring rollers 27 in the developing units 6C16M and 6Y has a stirring drive gear 33 and a stirring driven gear 34.
The drive is rotated from the drive transmission path through the stirring idler gear 35, and also drives the toner concentration adjusting means consisting of the stirring roller 27 and the toner concentration detector 40. The toner 14B and carrier 16 in the developing vat 18B are mixed and frictionally charged by the stirring roller 27, and attracted by the magnetic force of the magnet roller 29 to form a magnetic brush, which faces the image carrier 1 by rotation of the developing roller 28 in the direction of arrow H. The magnet roller 29 is transported to a contact position with the north pole of the magnet roller 29. While bringing the magnetic brush of the developer 17B into contact with the image carrier 1 at this contact position, the developing roller 28 and the image carrier 1 are
When a potential difference is applied between them, the toner 1B adheres to the electrostatic latent image portion formed on the image carrier I, forming a toner image, and the development is completed. With this development, the toner 148 adheres to the image carrier 1 and is consumed, and when the toner concentration detector 40 detects that the mixture ratio of the toner 14B and the carrier 1G in the developing vat 18B becomes lower than a preset value. The detection signal causes the toner discharge roller 19 to rotate.

Due to this rotation, the toner 14B attached to the surface of the toner discharge roller I9 is scraped off by the edge portion of the toner discharge port 20, and passes through the toner discharge port 20 to the toner hopper 15.
The toner 14B in B is replenished onto the stirring roller 27 in the developing vat 18B to restore the predetermined mixing ratio and maintain a constant mixing ratio. As shown in FIG. 7, the first toner conveying member 2I and the second toner conveying member 22 disposed in the toner hopper 15B draw a circular locus shown by a dashed line along with the rotation of the toner tJF output roller 19. While stirring the toner 161B, the toner 14B is conveyed onto the toner JF output roller I9. Toner discharge roller 1
The first toner conveying member 21 adjacent to 9 carries the toner 14B in the toner hopper 15B onto the toner discharge roller I9.
To supply the toner hopper, for example, when the toner hopper is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow from the state 1 to the state j, the toner hopper curved portion 6a
The toner conveying member 21b comes into contact with the toner conveying member 21b, and rotates around the rotating shaft 2]e. As the rotation progresses further, the contact between the toner hopper curved portion 6a and the toner conveyance member 21b is released, and the toner conveyance member 21b returns to a predetermined state due to the restoring force of the toner conveyance member return spring 21c, resulting in the state k. Thereafter, the above operation is repeated to continue supplying the toner 14B in the toner hopper 15B to the toner discharge roller 19.

When the development is completed, the developing device 6B moves to 18 of the separation cam 39B.
Due to the 0 degree rotation and the tensile force of the separation spring (not shown), the image carrier 1 moves from the contact position with the image carrier 1 to the separated position.
The contact with the magnetic plano is lost, and at the same time, the connection between the developing roller gear 32 and the driving gear 31 is released, and the developing roller 2
8 rotation or stop.

On the other hand, since the stirring roller 27 always applies frictional charge to the toner 14B and immediately responds to printing, the stirring roller 27 is configured so that the connection between the stirring eyeler gear 35 and the stirring driven gear 34 of the developing device 6B is not released, so that the stirring drive is not performed. The power from the gear 33 is constantly transmitted to keep the rotation, and the toner concentration detector 40 is also driven to adjust the toe h-a degree. Developer device 6
The toner image formed on the image carrier l by B is transferred to the intermediate transfer member 41 for each color by applying a voltage to the intermediate transfer roller 44.

Next, when the color cyan (C), for example, is selected, the separating cam 39C rotates and pushes the developing device 6C in the direction of the image carrier 1 against the tensile force of a separating spring (not shown). It is brought into contact with the image carrier 1 and cyan development is started. In the case of a copying machine or a printer that uses four colors, the above-mentioned developing operation is repeated four times sequentially to transfer the four colors B, C, and M onto the intermediate transfer member 41.
, Y toner images are superimposed to form a composite image. The composite image formed in this way is produced by applying a voltage 10 to the paper transfer roller 52.
At the same time, the image is transferred all at once by pressure to the copies 17 placed along the paper transport path 49 from the 46 copy cassettes, and then by the heat of the heat roller 54 and the clamping pressure of the pressure roller 55 by the fixing device 53. It is fixed and output as a color image.

However, in the above conventional configuration, the toner discharge roller 1
9, the first toner transport member 21, and the second toner transport member 22 are rotated at the same speed, the amount of toner supplied from the toner discharge port 20 to the developing bats 18B, 18c, 18M, and I8Y is greater than that of the toner The problem is that the amount of toner conveyed onto the discharge roller 19 by the first toner conveyance member 21 and the second toner conveyance member 22 is larger, and as the toner is consumed, the toner aggregates on the toner discharge roller 19. It had a point.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a plurality of rotating means for supplying toner from a toner hopper that stores toner to a developing means that applies toner to a toner adhering member according to image information. Among the toner conveying members, the rotational speed of the toner conveying member that is located farther from the developing means is lowered.

Effect of the present invention With the above-described configuration, the amount of toner sent in can be made smaller than the amount of toner sent out by the toner conveying member.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electrophotographic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of main parts of an electrophotographic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the driving operation state of the electrophotographic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the electrophotographic apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of main parts of the drive system of FIG.

Here, the same components as in the conventional electrophotographic apparatus are given the same numbers and detailed explanations are omitted.

In FIGS. 2 and 4, 56 is the toner discharge roller 19.
a first transmission gear that transmits driving force from the toner discharge roller drive gear 23 disposed at the end of the first toner conveyance member 21 to the first toner conveyance member drive gear 2.1 disposed at the end of the first toner conveyance member 21; , 57 is a second transmission gear that transmits the driving force from the first toner conveying member driving gear 24 to the second toner conveying member driving gear 60 disposed at the end of the second toner conveying member 22; 58 is a second transmission gear; This is a third transmission gear that transmits the driving force from the second toner conveyance member drive gear 60 to the third toner conveyance member drive gear 61 disposed at the end of the third toner conveyance member 59 . These drive gear trains set the rotation speed of the toner discharge roller 19 to vl, the rotation speed of the first toner conveyance member 2I to v2, the rotation speed of the second toner conveyance member 22 to v3, and the rotation speed of the third toner conveyance member 59 to v1. When the rotational speed is v4, the structure is such that the following relationship holds: v ] > v 2 > v 3 > v4.

The operation of the electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention configured as described above will be described below.

First, the charging wire 10 (
: A voltage is applied to cause corona discharge, and the surface of the image carrier 1 is uniformly charged to about -700V to -800V.

Next, the image carrier 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and the uniformly charged surface of the image carrier 1 is exposed to a laser beam or the like corresponding to a predetermined color among a plurality of color components, for example, black (B). A light beam 13 is irradiated to form an electrostatic latent image on the image carrier 1. On the other hand, the developing unit 6B containing the blank LIB that contributes to development is pushed in the direction of arrow B by rotating the separation cam 39B in response to a color selection signal from the host computer (not shown), and the image carrier l comes into contact with. This developer 6
As B moves, the developing roller gear 32 moves as shown in FIG.
The developing roller 28 is connected to the main drive gear 31 and begins to rotate. The toner concentration adjusting means consisting of the stirring roller 27 and the toner concentration detector 40 is constantly driven. The other developing devices 6C16M and 6Y are spaced apart from the image carrier 1, and the respective developing rollers 28 in the developing devices 6C16M and 6Y are stopped. On the other hand, each of the stirring rollers 27 in the developing units 6C16M and 6Y has a stirring drive gear 33 and a stirring driven gear 34.
The toner concentration adjusting means consisting of the stirring roller 27 and the toner concentration detector 40 is also driven.

The toner 14B and the carrier 1G in the developing hunt 18B are mixed and frictionally charged by the stirring roller 27, attracted by the magnetic force of the magneto roller 29 to form a magnetic plan, and the rotation of the developing roller 28 in the direction of arrow H causes the image carrier 1 to be mixed and frictionally charged. The magnet roller 29 is conveyed to a contact position with the N pole portion of the magnet roller 29 facing the magnet roller 29 . When a potential difference is applied between the developing roller 28 and the image carrier 1 without bringing the magnetic blank of the developer 17B into contact with the image carrier 1 at this contact position, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier 1. The toner 14B adheres to the area to form a toner image, and development is completed. During this development, the toner 14B adheres to the image carrier 1 and is consumed, and when the toner concentration detector 40 detects that the mixture ratio of the toner 14B and the carrier 16 in the developing vat 18B becomes lower than a preset value. The detection signal causes the toner discharge roller 19B to rotate. Due to this rotation, the toner 14B adhering to the surface of the toner discharge roller 19 is scraped off by the edge portion of the toner discharge port 20, and the toner 148 in the toner bar 15B is developed through the toner discharge port 20.

The mixture is replenished onto the stirring roller 27 in the tray 18B to restore the predetermined mixing ratio and maintain a constant mixing ratio.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first toner conveying member 21, the second toner conveying member 22, and the third toner conveying member 59 arranged in the toner hopper 15B move as indicated by the dashed line as the toner discharge roller 19 rotates. The toner 14B is agitated by drawing the circular locus shown, and the toner 14B is conveyed onto the toner discharge roller 19. When conveying this 1 toner 14B onto the toner discharge roller 19, the toner discharge roller 1
The drive gear train is configured such that the rotational speeds of the toner transporting member II, the second toner transporting member 22, and the third toner transporting member 59 are slower than the rotational speed of the toner transporting member II. By configuring the drive gear train to reduce this rotational speed, excess toner is not transported onto the toner discharge roller 19B and aggregated. Furthermore, since the rotational speed is slowed down, the generation of fine toner due to the impact between the first toner conveying member 2I, the second toner conveying member 22, the third toner conveying member 59 and the toner 14B is reduced, and the first toner conveying The driving force of the member 21, the second toner transport member 22, the third toner transport section 1', and the 59th member can also be reduced. L・ner U "first toner conveying member 21 adjacent to output roller I9
In order to supply the toner 14B in the toner popper 15B onto the toner discharge roller I9, for example, when it rotates in the direction of the arrow from the state 1 to the state shown in FIG. 21e, and rotate around the rotating shaft 21e. As the rotation progresses further, the toner hopper curved portion 6a and the toner conveying member 2
1b is released, and the toner conveying member return spring 21
Due to the restoring force c, the toner conveying member 21b returns to the predetermined state and enters the state k. Thereafter, the above operation is repeated to continue supplying the toner 14B in the toner hopper 15B to the toner discharge roller 19.

When the development is completed, the developing device 6B moves to 180 of the separation cam 39B.
Due to the degree of rotation and the tensile force of the separation spring (not shown), the image carrier 1 moves from the contact position to the separation position, and the image carrier I is no longer in contact with the magnetic brush, and at the same time, the developing roller gear 32 The developing roller 28 is disconnected from the main drive gear 31.
rotation or stop. On the other hand, the stirring roller 27
In order to constantly apply frictional charge to B and immediately respond to printing,
Stirring eye gear 35 and stirring driven gear 31 of developing device 6B
Since the connection between the stirring drive gear 33 and the drive gear 33 is configured so as not to be released, the power from the agitation drive gear 33 is always transmitted and the rotation continues, and the toner consistency detector 40 is also driven to adjust the toner concentration. The toner image formed on the image carrier 1 by the developing device 6B is transferred to the intermediate transfer roller 44 for each color.
The image is transferred by applying a voltage to the image.

Next, when the color cyan (C), for example, is selected, the separating cam 39C rotates and pushes the developing device 6C in the direction of the image carrier 1 against the tensile force of a separating spring (not shown). It is brought into contact with the image carrier 1 and cyan development is started. In the case of a copying machine or a printer that uses four colors, the above-mentioned developing operation is repeated four times in sequence, and the four colors B, C, M,
The Y toner images are superimposed to form a composite image. When a voltage is applied to the paper transfer roller 52, the composite image formed in this manner is transferred all at once to the copy material 47 that is placed along the paper conveyance path 49 from the copy material cassette 16 by pressure. The image is then fixed by the fixing device 53 using the heat of the heat roller 51 and the clamping pressure of the pressure roller 55, and is output as a color image.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention provides a developing means which rotates and supplies toner from a toner hopper storing toner to a developing means which applies toner to a toner adhering member according to image information. By slowing down the rotational speed of the toner conveying member located further away from the means, the amount of toner sent by the toner conveying member can be made smaller than the amount of toner sent out by the toner conveying member, and it is possible to prevent toner agglomeration. becomes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electrophotographic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of essential parts of an electrophotographic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an electrophotographic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a diagram showing the driving operation state of the electrophotographic apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the driving operation state of the electrophotographic apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention. A perspective view of the main parts of the system, Fig. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional electrophotographic apparatus, Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the main parts of a conventional electrophotographic apparatus, and Fig. 8 shows the separation and separation of the developing units 6B, 6C16hl, and 6Y. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the driving operation state of the developing units 6B, 6C16M, and 6Y. FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of the first toner conveying member 2. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the toner discharging roller I9. 1st
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a drive system for a toner conveying member 21 and a second toner conveying member 22; 1... Image carrier, 2, 3... Image carrier transport roller, 4... Charger, 5... Exposure optical system, 686C, 6M , 6Y...Developer,
6a... Toner hopper curved part, 7...
- Intermediate transfer member unit, 8... Image carrier cleaning device, 9... Static eliminator, 10...
・Charged wire, 11... Shield plate, 12...
...Grid plate, 13...Exposure light beam, 14B,
14C, 14M, 14Y...Toner, 15
B, 15c, 15M, +5Y... Toner phone bar, ) 6... Carrier,! 7B, 17c,
171~1°+7Y...Developer J, Ill!
B, 18c, 18M street, 18"l' river...
Developing vat, 19... Toner discharge roller, 2G...
...Toner discharge port, 21...First toner transport member, 21a...Toner transport member, 21b...
Toner conveying member, 21C... Toner conveying member return spring, 21d... Rotating shaft, 21e...
Rotating shaft, 21f...Rotating bearing, 22...Second toner conveying member, 23...Toner discharge roller drive gear, 24...First toner conveying member Drive gear, 27... Stirring roller, 28... Developing roller, 29... Magnet roller, 30...
Doctor blade, 31... Main drive gear, 32.
...Development roller gear, 33...Agitation driving gear, 34...Agitation driven gear, 35...
Stirring idler gear, 36... Stirring roller gear,
37...Support part shrine, 38...Tension spring, 39B, 39C, 391vi, 39Y...
・Detachment cam, 40...l・Na concentration detector, 4
1...Intermediate transfer member, 42.43...
Intermediate transfer member conveyance roller, 44... Intermediate transfer roller, 45... Intermediate transfer member cleaning device, 46... Copy cassette, 47... Copy, 48...Paper feed roller, 49...Paper transport path, 5゜・', 7 Stroller, 51...Followed roller, 52...Paper transfer roller, 53...Joseki , 51... heat low =, 5s--IJO pressure roller, 56... first transmission gear, 57... second transmission gear, 58... third transmission gear, 59...
Third toner conveyance member, 60...Second toner conveyance member drive gear, 61...Third toner conveyance member drive gear Name of agent: Patent attorney Haruaki Koka and two others Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] A toner adhering member to which toner adheres in accordance with image information, a developing means that applies toner to the toner adhering member, a toner hopper that stores toner, and a plurality of toner conveyors that rotate to supply toner from the toner hopper to the developing means. 1. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising: a toner transporting member, wherein the rotational speed of the toner transporting member is made slower as the toner transporting member is disposed farther from the developing means.