JPH04174487A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent toner from being fixed to the inside of a holding pipe member even when toner is filled in a recovering container by providing released parts at an end part and a lower part of a middle part of the holding pipe member. CONSTITUTION:Toner T discharged from a cleaning means is transferred to a toner cartridge 35 to be dropped into the toner cartridge 35 from a slit 50 first. As the toner T is gradually stored to close the part of the slit 50, the toner T is discharged from an aperture 49 of the pipe 42. As discharge of the toner T continues to store it at the forward end of the pipe 42 also, a load on a toner recovering coil 40 becomes large, and a friction roller 44 and a rotary disc 45 stop, so its rotation is stopped. By replacing the toner cartridge 35 for an empty one, the toner T stored at the forward end is pushed by the spring force of the toner recovering coil 40, thereby the pipe 42 is automatically restored to an original condition to have no toner T in it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a non-impact printer using an electrophotographic process.

Prior Art The image forming apparatus described above includes a cleaning device that collects toner adhered to the surface of an image carrier after transfer, a conveyance screw that conveys the toner collected by the cleaning device to the outside, and a holding pipe member that holds the conveyance screw. Copying machines and the like are known that have a collection container that receives the toner transported by the transport screw. In this type of copying machine, the toner sometimes sticks inside the holding pipe, locking the conveying screw and making it impossible to convey the toner. In such a case, a service person must be called and the toner stuck inside the vibrator must be broken up with a screwdriver or the like and cleaned.

For this reason, in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 1-146261, a gap is provided between the distal end surface of the shaft provided with a spiral fin as a conveying screw and the inner wall surface of the bent discharge port of the guide tube opposing this. It is disclosed that the tip portion is formed into an inclined surface shape along a spiral fin.

Also, JP-A-64-586 and JP-A-1-133
Japanese Patent No. 088 discloses that the load on the conveying screw is detected and the machine is stopped.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, even if the shape of the tip of the screw is devised as in the former case, when toner accumulates, the toner sticks to the inside of the guide cylinder. In addition, with the latter type of load detection, the load is mainly detected after the toner in the collection container is full, but when the full toner is removed, the toner sticks to the inside of the guide tube. Resulting in. In order to prevent this, it is possible to reduce the difference between the normal drive load and the abnormal load by detecting the load, but this requires increasing the accuracy of the load detection, resulting in a very high cost.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and provides an image forming apparatus that can prevent toner from sticking inside a holding vibrator even when a collection container is full of toner, with a simple configuration. It is an object.

Means to resolve issues The structure of the present invention that achieves the above object is as follows.

A cleaning device that collects the toner adhering to the surface of the image carrier after transfer, a transport screw that transports the toner collected by the cleaning device to the outside, a holding vibe member that holds the transport screw, and a toner that is transported by the transport screw. an image forming apparatus comprising a collection container for receiving collected toner; wherein the holding pipe member is open at an end portion and a gravity direction portion at an intermediate portion in the collection container; Forming device.

According to the above configuration, since the opening is provided at the end of the holding pipe member and the middle part in the direction of gravity, the transported toner is collected into the collection container from the opening in the middle part, and when the toner becomes full, the toner is collected. , by applying a brake to the conveying screw and removing the toner, the original state can be restored.

Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a copying machine showing an embodiment of the present invention. This copying machine is a full-surface simultaneous exposure type in which the front surface of a document 1 on a contact glass 2 is instantaneously irradiated with a light source, such as a Franche lamp 3, and the entire image on the surface of the document is simultaneously projected onto an endless belt photoreceptor 8. It is. The plain belt photoreceptor 8 includes a driving roller 9 and three driven rollers 10a,
10b, 10C and a tension spring 11 provide the hook.

In the photoreceptor unit, each roller shaft end is supported by front and rear unit side plates (not shown). A belt photoreceptor 8 is independently driven and controlled by a drive motor 12 on the rear unit side plate.

When starting the copying operation, first the drive motor 12. A main motor (not shown) rotates other units such as paper feeding, cleaning, etc., and the belt photoreceptor 8 rotates in the direction of the arrow. 13, the peripheral process equipment starts operating under the set timing conditions. Specifically, first, the surface of the photoreceptor is charged to a predetermined polarity by the charger 14. Since an organic semiconductor OPC photoreceptor is used in this example, the surface of the photoreceptor is charged to a negative polarity.

On the other hand, as described above, the light reflected from the original document that has been exposed to light from the front side by the light source 3 via the reflection plate 4 passes through the first mirror 5° lens 6 and the second mirror 7, and is irradiated onto the exposed surface of the belt photoreceptor 8 to form an image. be done. In this way, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image of the original is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor, and as the photoreceptor 8 rotates, this latent image reaches the developing device 15, and at this time, the latent image is transformed into a visible image by the toner. be converted into In this way, the formed visible image is transferred from the transfer charger 19 and the back side by feeding the transfer paper in the paper feeder corresponding to the paper size selected from the paper feeders 16a, 16b, 16c, and 17. The visible toner image on the photoreceptor is transferred to the transfer paper by the emitted static elimination lamp 20 . Note that the roller 10b has a small roller diameter φ and uses so-called curvature separation using the stiffness of paper. However, in order to simulate reliability, separate charger 21
This ensures separation.

Further, the paper on which the image has been transferred passes through the fixing device 23 via the conveyance vacuum belt 22, and is fixed on the paper output tray 24a.
Alternatively, the paper is discharged to the bin 24a of the printer 26. The toner remaining on the photoconductor after transfer is removed from the pre-cleaning charge 28.
The residual toner is then cleaned by a cleaning device 29.

This cleaning group [29, as shown in FIG. The cleaning device 29 has a roller 31, a cleaning blade 32 that scrapes toner off the surface of the collection roller 31, and a toner collection coil 33 that transports the toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 32. Transport outside of.

The toner conveyed from the cleaning device 29 is conveyed to a toner collection container. In this embodiment, the toner cartridge 35 of the developing device 15 is used as the toner collection container. This developing device 15, as shown in FIG.
The toner cartridge 3 includes a developing chamber 38 having three developing rollers 36 and two paddle wheels 37, and a toner tank 39 storing toner to be supplied to the developing chamber 38.
5 is provided on the toner tank 39.

After the toner cartridge 35 is installed in the developing device 15, a shutter (not shown) is opened, and the toner is dropped into the toner tank 39 and supplied. After toner is supplied, return the shutter to its original position to close the toner cartridge 3.
No. 5 is a sealed empty box, which is used as a waste toner collection container. Toner transport from the cleaning device 29 to the toner cartridge 35 is carried out by the toner collection coil 33 on the cleaning device 29 side and the toner collection coil 4 on the main body side, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
This is done by means of a conveying screw configured as 0. In this case, the toner collection coil 33 is provided in the pipe 41, and the toner collection coil 4 is connected to the cleaning device 29.
It has reached 0. Further, the toner collection coil 40 is connected to the toner cartridge 35 from the connecting portion of the toner collection coil 33.
At this time, the toner collection coil 40
is initially in a nearly vertical direction, but it curves halfway and enters the toner cartridge 35 in a nearly horizontal direction. The toner collection coil 40 is provided within a pipe 42 serving as a holding pipe member, and in this case, the pipe 42 is constructed of a flexible pipe so that the toner collection coil 40 described above can be bent. The toner recovery nail 40 is a spring with a certain degree of spring force, and its tip reaches the tip of the pipe 42.

The toner collection coil 40 is rotationally driven by a drive device 43 with load detection, and collects toner from the toner cartridge 35.
Transport inside. This drive device 143 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, a friction roller 44 drivingly connected to the main body drive source rotates a rotary disk 45 along with the frictional force, and the rotation of the rotary disk 45 is transmitted through a front train 46 to rotate a toner collection coil 40. . Therefore, if the toner collection coil 40 is subjected to a load exceeding a predetermined value due to accumulated toner or the like, the toner collection coil 40 will slip between the friction roller 44 and the rotating disk 45, and the rotational drive of the toner collection coil 40 will stop.

When the rotation of the toner collection coil 40 stops, the constant rotation of the filler 47 shown in FIG. 5 turns ON.

Since the toner collection coil 40 does not have to be turned off repeatedly,
The detector 48 detects that the rotation has stopped. Based on this detected signal, the machine will issue a message such as ``Please replace the toner cartridge in the main unit.'' or ``Empty the toner in the toner cartridge.'' A message such as J is displayed on the display of the operation unit (not shown) and notified to the user.

The tip of the pipe 42 enters into the toner cartridge 35, and when the toner cartridge 35 is full of toner, the toner collects at the tip of the pipe 2, causing the toner collection coil 40 to stop rotating. At this time, conventionally, the toner inside the pipe 42 is stuck, and even if the toner cartridge is emptied, the toner collection coil 4
A problem occurred where 0 did not rotate.

To solve this problem, the present invention takes the following measures.

As shown in FIG. 6, the tip side of the pipe 42 has two openings: an opening 49 at the tip and a long hole 50 on the side in the direction of gravity. Note that the size of the elongated hole 50 is set to such an extent that the toner T accumulated in the toner collection coil 40 comes into contact with the elongated hole 50 .

In the thus configured copying machine, as shown in Fig. 7<8),
The toner T discharged from the cleaning device 29 is conveyed to the toner cartridge 35, and is initially dropped into the toner cartridge 35 through the elongated hole 50. And Figure 7 (
As shown in b), when the toner T gradually accumulates and the elongated hole 50 is closed, the toner T is discharged from the opening 49 of the pipe 42. At this time, the load on the toner collection coil 40 touches the toner T at the position of the elongated hole 50, so as shown in FIG. 9, the load on the toner collection coil 40 is greater than during normal rotation in FIG. 40 has not yet reached the region where it stops rotating.Next, the discharge of the toner T progresses, and as shown in FIG. As the load increases, the friction rollers 44 and the rotary disk 45 slosh and stop rotating.At this time, the toner collection coil 40 is contracted by the toner T, as shown in FIG. 8(a).

Therefore, when the toner T in the toner cartridge 35 is replaced with an empty one, the toner T that was applying a brake to the toner collection coil 40 at the position of the elongated hole 50 disappears. For this reason,
As shown in FIG. 8(b), the toner T pool at the tip is pushed out by the spring force of the toner collection coil 40, and the pipe 42
It automatically returns to the initial state where there is no toner T inside.

Thus, by providing the elongated hole 50, it is possible to increase the difference between the detection area and the normal rotation.

Moreover, since the braking action on the toner collection coil 40 is created by the toner T reservoirs in the two openings, the amount of toner clogging between the tips 049 is also reduced. Further, when the brake action of the elongated hole 50 is released, the toner T in the opening 49 is also discharged by the spring force of the toner collection coil 4o, and the toner jam can be automatically cleared.

According to the above structure, the present invention provides an opening in the direction of gravity at the end and middle part of the holding pipe member.

The conveyed toner was collected into a collection container through an opening in the middle section, and when the toner was full, a brake was applied to the conveying screw from the opening, and simply by removing this brake, the container could be returned to its original state. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a copying machine showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed diagram of the cleaning device in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram of the developing device in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a toner conveying section that conveys toner, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the toner conveying section, and FIG. 7(a). 8(b) and 8(c) are explanatory diagrams showing the operation until the toner in the collection container is full; FIGS. FIG. 9 is a graph showing the displacement of the conveying screw when the load is detected. 8. Belt photoreceptor 29... Cleaning device 33.40... Toner collection coil 41.42 - Pipe 49... - Opening 50... Long hole T... Toner j〒-t〒-t〒T〒T〒T〒A Patent attorney Patent attorney Ito Takehisa - Ryo! -Payu・r Procedural amendment, Kae, February 18, 1991 1, Display of the case 1990 Patent Application No. 301588 26 Name of the invention Image forming device 3, Person making the amendment Relationship to the case Patent application Person's name (674) Ricoh Co., Ltd. 4, Agent 5, Date of amendment order Sending address: February 12, 1991 6, Column for a brief explanation of the drawings in the specification subject to amendment. 7. Contents of correction

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A cleaning device that collects toner attached to the surface of an image carrier after transfer, a conveyance screw that conveys the toner collected by the cleaning device to the outside, and a holding pipe member that holds the conveyance screw. , an image forming apparatus having a collection container for receiving toner transported by the transport screw, wherein the holding pipe member is open in the collection container at an end portion and an intermediate portion in the direction of gravity. image forming apparatus.