JPH04194957A - Electrophotographic copying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an electrophnotographic copying device where a developing device is easily attached and which is excellent in maintenance by arranging a color discriminating tool or a color discriminating device for discriminating the color of developer in the respective attaching parts of the developing device and the machine main body where the developing device is attached without specifying the attaching position of the developing device to the machine main body. CONSTITUTION:The developer corresponding to each of plural colors by which electrostatic latent images corresponding to the plural colors which are formed on an image carrier are developed is used. The color discriminating device 56 for discriminating the color of the developing device is provided in the respective attaching parts of the plural developing devices where the developer is stored and the machine main body. Then, the attaching position of each developing device in the machine main body is not specified with respect to each color. Furthermore, the selecting order of the plural developing devices is previously set corresponding to the respective colors, and the color discriminating device 56 is constituted of a reflection type photosensor 57 disposed on the machine main body, and one reflector 58 which is stuck to the outer surface of the developing device to be opposed to the sensor 57 and has different reflectance. Thus, the device in which the developing device is easily attached and which is excellent in the maintenance is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention applies 1 kI to an electrophotographic apparatus that forms a color image (image) on a copy by superimposing and transferring a plurality of single-color toner particles (images).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, electrophotographic devices that use dry toner have become mainstream, and have been put into practical use as many copiers, laser printers, and the like, and have made remarkable progress.

Recently, there has been an increasing demand for color copiers in the market in addition to monochrome copiers, and color copiers are now on the market.

An electrophotographic device, which forms color images by applying electrophotographic process technology, selectively irradiates light beams corresponding to each color onto an image carrier having a photosensitive layer. A method has been adopted in which a color image is formed on a single copy by developing one electrostatic latent image with toner of each color and aligning the monochromatic toners I'll to 1'. For example, U.S. Pat. A section 41 is provided, and a composite image is obtained by overlapping and transferring toner images of different colors formed individually on the image carrier onto an intermediate transfer section 2 at any time.
A method has been proposed in which images are transferred all at once onto a single copy.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7, a conventional ``800'' photographic apparatus will be explained.

In Fig. 3, 1 is an image of a resin belt made of polyethylene telecrate or the like, with four photosensitive receptor layers such as selenium (Se) or organic photoconductor 4 (OPC) coated on the outer peripheral surface of the belt. It is a carrier. This (image carrier 1 is 2
The image carrier transport rollers 2, 3 of the book are supported so that a vertical plane is formed between the image carrier transport rollers 2.3, and the image carrier transport rollers 2, 3 are driven by a drive morph (not shown).
3 in the direction of the arrow. A belt-shaped (IK! 411.411.
Cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) (D) developers 6B, 6C, 6M, 6Y for each color, an intermediate private photographing member unit, an image carrier cleaning device 8, and a static eliminator 9 are provided. The charger 4 is composed of a charging wire 10 made of a tungsten wire or the like, a shield plate 11 and a grid plate 12 made of a metal plate.By applying a high voltage to the charging wire 1o, the charging wire 10 causes a coro-two discharge. 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, the exposure light beam 13 is controlled by a signal from a host computer (not shown) and is applied to a specific component among a plurality of predetermined color components on the image carrier 1, respectively. A plurality of corresponding electrostatic latent images are formed.

As shown in FIG. 4, each color developing device 6B, 6C, 6M, and ay stores toner for development corresponding to each color, and the following description will be given by taking the developing device 6B as a representative example. The developing device 6B includes a toner hopper 15 that stores toner 14, and a developing vat 18 that stores developer 17, which is a mixture of toner 145 and carrier 16 made of magnetic particles such as iron powder. The other color developing units have the same structure as this developing unit 6B, and are placed on the vertical plane of the image carrier 1, which is stretched from the bottom to the image carrier conveying rollers 2 and 3 so as to form a vertical plane. Developing devices 6B, 6C, 6M, and 6Y for each color, including plaque (B), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y), are arranged in a removably stacked manner upwards in a storage section provided in the main body of the machine. has been done. Reference numeral 19 denotes a toner discharge roller made of a highly elastic synthetic resin foam that supplies the toner 14 in the toner hopper 15 into the developing vat 18. The discharge port 20 is blocked.

21 is a first roller disposed adjacent to the toner discharge roller 19;
The toner conveying member has a first conveying shaft 21a which is rotatably supported at both ends at its center and has a flat plate between the sides of the toner hopper 15, and a minute interval from the bottom surface 15a of the toner hopper 15. The first conveying member 2 is held and fixed to the flat plate portion 21b of the first conveying shaft 21a.
1c. 22 is a toner discharge roller 19
a second 1-ner conveying member disposed adjacent to the
A second conveyance shaft 22a with both ends rotatably supported in the center thereof and a flat plate between the sides of the toner hopper 15, and a second conveyance shaft 22a with a minute interval from the bottom surface 15a of the toner hopper 15. A second conveying member 22C made of a combustible sheet-like elastic body is fixed to a flat plate portion 22b of the shaft 22a. Reference numeral 23 denotes a third toner conveying member disposed adjacent to the toner discharge roller 19, and the third conveying member has both ends rotatably supported in the center thereof, and a flat plate is formed between the sides of the toner hopper 15. The third conveyance member 23C is made of a flexible sheet-like elastic body fixed to the flat plate portion 23b of the third conveyance shaft 23a with a small distance from the bottom surface 15a of the toner hopper 15. ing.

Further, the flat plate portion 21b of the first conveyance shaft 21a, the flat plate portion 22b of the conveyance shaft 22a of fPJ2, and the third conveyance shaft 23a
The rotation trajectories of the flat plate portions 23b are arranged in such a way that they are similar to each other. This means that if the trajectories overlap at the same time, the rotation directions at the overlapping parts will be opposite to each other. This is to prevent this from happening because there is a risk that the toner conveying member will be damaged due to contact with each other and stop rotation, which in turn drives the toner conveying member.However, the first conveying member 21c and the second conveying member 21c
The rotation loci of the conveying member 22c and the third conveying member 23c overlap with each other. This is for each toner conveying member 2.
The toner 14 in the space formed by the rotation locus between 1°22.23 and the bottom surface 15a of the toner hopper 15 is substantially fixed and remains stationary without being discharged outside the toner hopper 15. Therefore, this curve should be made as narrow as possible, and the bottom surface 15a of the toner hopper 15 should be
toner conveying member 2 along the trajectory of toner conveying member 21.
1 and a minute interval!・It is made to protrude into the inside of the Naho Sopar 15. This allows the 1-ner 14 to be used effectively. Moreover, even if the first conveying member 21c, the second conveying member 22c, and the third conveying member 23c are made of combustible sheet-like elastic bodies and come across each other at a portion where their movement trajectories overlap, they will not become stuck.

24a and 24b are rotatably supported at both ends by the developing bath I/18, and are connected to the toner hopper 15 and the toner discharge port 20.
This stirring roller mixes and stirs the toner 14 and carrier 16 supplied through the toner 14, charges the 1-toner 14, and conveys it to the developing roller 25. The toner 14 and carrier 16 conveyed in the direction of the developing roller 25 are attracted onto the outer periphery of the developing roller 26 by the magnetism of the magneto roller 26 fixed within the developing roller 25, forming a magnetic brush. In Doctor Blade 2, the height of the spike is limited.

As the developing roller 25 rotates, the magnetic brush of the developer 17 comes into contact with the image carrier 1, and toners corresponding to the respective color components are deposited on the portions of the image carrier 1 where the electrostatic latent images are formed. A color toner image is formed. In FIG. 5(a), 28 indicates developing units 6B, 6C, 6M corresponding to each color;
This is a color identification connector for identifying the color of 6Y, and the first connector 29 disposed on the main body of the machine and the second connector 30 disposed on the outer surface of each developing unit are fitted. I'm making a good judgment. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5 0)), the positions of the pins of the second connector 30 arranged on the side surface of the developing device are changed for each color, and colors are discriminated based on this. The presence or absence of each developing device is still being determined at the same time. As a result, if a developer of a different color is not attached to a predetermined position on the main body of the machine for each color, an error message is displayed to the outside.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 31 is a main drive gear for transmitting power from a driving source (not shown) to the developing device 6B. If so, the developing roller gear 32 attached to one end of the shaft of the developing roller 25 is rotationally driven.

In FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b), 33 is a developing device, for example 6B, which is in contact with the image carrier 1 and contributes to the development while the machine is operating, and a developing device 33 which is separated from the image carrier 1 and contributes to the development. In order to rotate the stirring rollers 24a and 24b of the developing units 6C, 6M, and 6Y that are not connected to each other, the stirring drive gear transmits the power from the driving 1Q drive source (not shown) to the developing units via the stirring driven gear 34. The power is transmitted to the idler gear 35 and stirring roller gear 36 located at 6B. The developing roller gear 32 and the stirring roller gear 36 are not connected. Reference numeral 37 denotes a support member that supports the stirring driven gear 34, and is configured so that the stirring driven gear 34 swings around the axis of the stirring driving gear 33. Also, the support member 3
A moment is applied in the direction of arrow C by a tension spring 38 to the end on the side where the stirring driven gear 34 of No. 7 is supported and on the side opposite to ij. The toner color is selected by a color selection signal from a host computer (not shown) when it is determined that each developer 6 is installed in a preset position based on an identification signal from the color identification connector 28. In response to this, the rotation of the line separation cam 34, which corresponds to each color and is rotatably supported at both ends by the main body of the machine, is started, and the rotation is completed by bringing the selected developing device, for example 6B, into contact with the image carrier 1. . As shown in FIG. 4, the unselected remaining developing units 6C, eM, and 6Y are separated from the opening 1 of the image carrier 11 by the tensile force of a separation spring (not shown). . 40 is the toner 14 and carrier 1 in the developing vat 18;
It is a toner concentration detector that detects the mixing ratio of 6.
The toner concentration is adjusted together with the stirring rollers 24a and 24b.

Returning to FIG. 3 again, the middle m transfer unit 7 includes a belt-shaped intermediate transfer member 41 made of conductive resin or the like, and two wooden intermediate transfer member conveyance rollers 42 that support the intermediate transfer member 41. 43, and an intermediate transfer roller 44 disposed opposite to the image carrier 1 with the intermediate transfer member 41 in between to transfer the toner image on the image carrier 1 to the intermediate transfer member 41. There is. Here, the surface length of the intermediate transfer member 41 is nominally equal to the surface circumference of the image carrier 1. 45 is an intermediate transfer member cleaning device for scraping off residual toner on the intermediate transfer member 41, and is separated from the intermediate transfer member 41 while a composite image is being formed on the intermediate transfer member 41; Contact only when using for cleaning. 46
is a copy cassette containing a copy 47. The copies 47 are fed one by one from a copying gutter 46 to a copy transport path 49 by a half-moon-shaped paper feed roller 48. Reference numeral 60 denotes a registration roller for temporarily stopping and waiting the copy 47 in order to align the positions of the copy 47 and the composite image formed on the intermediate member 41, and is in pressure contact with the driven roller 51. 52 is middle school 1) lJi photo member 41
This is a copy body transfer roller for transferring the composite image formed on the copy body 47, and rotates in contact with the intermediate transfer member 41 only when transferring the composite image to the copy body 47. A fixing device 53 is composed of a heat roller 54 having an internal heat source and a pressure roller 55, and the composite image transferred to the copying material 47 is fixed by pressure and heat as the heat roller 54 and pressure roller 65 rotate. It is fixed on a copy 47 to form a color image.

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

As shown in FIG. 3, first, a high 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 10 is uniformly charged. Charge to about Qv~-800v. Next, the image carrier 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and an exposure light beam such as a laser beam corresponding to a predetermined plaque (B)K among the plurality of color components is applied onto the uniformly charged surface of the image carrier 10. 1
3, the irradiated portion on the image carrier 1 loses its charge and an electrostatic latent image is formed. On the other hand, the developing device 6B containing the black toner 14 contributing to development is pushed in the direction of arrow B by the rotation of the separation cam 39B by the color selection No. 11 from the host computer (not shown), and the image carrier 14 is pushed in the direction of the arrow B. comes into contact with. this,! , li! As the image H+>6B moves, as shown in FIG. 6, the developing roller gear 32 connects with the main drive gear 31 and the developing roller 25 starts rotating.

The toner performance detection means consisting of the stirring roller 24 and the toner concentration detector 40 is constantly driven. Other developing device 6
C, 6M, and 6Y are separated from the image carrier 1 and do not contribute to development. The respective developing rollers 25u in the developing units 6c, 6M, and eY are stopped, and the respective stirring rollers 24 are stirred, and the driving gear 33 and the stirring driven The idler gear 35 is rotated through the drive transmission path of the gear 34 through an idler gear 35, and also drives the toner density adjusting means. The toner 14 and carrier 16 in the developing vat 18 are mixed and frictionally charged by the stirring roller 24.
The developing roller 25 is attracted by the magnetic force of the magnet roller 26 to form a magnetic brush, and as the developing roller 25 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the developing roller 25 is transported to a contact position between the north pole of the magnet roller 26 facing the image carrier 1 . When the magnetic brush of the developer 17 is brought into contact with the image carrier 1 at this contact position and a potential difference is applied to l741 between the developing roller 25 and the image carrier 1, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier 1. The toner 14 adheres to the area to form a toner image, and development is completed. The toner 14 is applied to the image carrier 1. When the toner concentration detector 40 detects that the mixing ratio of toner 14 and carrier 16 in the developing vat 18 is lower than a preset value, the detection signal is sent to a host computer (not shown). This drives and rotates the toner discharge roller 19. Due to this rotation, the toner 14 adhering to the surface of the toner discharge roller 19 is removed from the toner discharge port 2.
It is shaken off by the edge of o. Therefore, the toner 14 in the toner hopper 15 is replenished onto the stirring roller 24 in the developing vat 18 through the 15-benon I/toner discharge port 2o to restore the predetermined mixing ratio and maintain a constant mixing ratio.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first toner conveying member 21, the second toner conveying member 22, and the third toner conveying member 23 arranged in the toner hopper 15 move as indicated by the dashed line as the toner discharge roller 19 rotates. The toner 14 is stirred by drawing an elliptical locus, and the toner 14 is conveyed onto the toner discharge roller 19. Here, for example, even if the first toner conveying member 21 and the second toner conveying member 22 meet at an overlapping part as shown in FIG. 4, the first conveying member 21C and the second conveying member 22c are Therefore, they pass each other while bending to maintain smooth rotation.

! ! The same applies to the second toner conveying member 22 and the third toner conveying member 23.

After the development is completed, the developing device 6B moves from the contact position with the image carrier 1 to the separation position by the 180 degree rotation of the separation cam 39B and the tensile force of the separation spring (not shown), and the image carrier 1 is moved from the contact position to the separation position. The contact between the magnetic brush and the magnetic brush is eliminated, the connection between the developing roller gear 32 and the main drive gear 31 is released, and the rotation of the developing roller 25 is stopped. However, since the stirring roller 24 is configured so that the connection between the idler gear 35 of the developing unit 6B and the stirring driven gear 34 is not released in order to constantly apply frictional charge to the toner 14 and immediately perform printing, the stirring driving gear 33 The power is transmitted to it and it continues to rotate. At this time, the toner concentration 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 member 41 for each color by applying high pressure to an intermediate transfer roller 44 disposed in contact with the image carrier 1.

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. Its operation is exactly the same as in the case of plaque (B). In the case of a copying machine or a printer that uses four colors, the 4-color development operation is repeated 17 times in the same sequence, and the four colors B, C, lvf are transferred onto the intermediate transfer member 41.
, Y toner images are superimposed to form a composite image. The composite image formed in this way is transferred all at once to the copies 42 that are sent from the copy cassette 46 along the copy transport path 49 by applying high pressure to the copy transfer roller 52, and then The image is sent to a fixing device 53, where it is formed into a mud layer by heat and the clamping pressure of a heat roller 54 and a pressure roller 55, and is output as a color image.

When the toner concentration detector of the developer 6Y detects that the yellow toner 14 has run out due to long-term use, the developer 6Y is pulled out toward the front in FIG. 3 and replaced with a new developer. Become.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In such conventional electrophotographic devices, the locations for mounting on the body of the machine corresponding to a plurality of colors are predetermined. 181.- It was difficult to increase work efficiency because it was necessary to be very careful when installing the device to make sure that the installation position was correct. In addition, since colors are identified by the position of the pin arrangement of the color identification connector, for example, when using four types of color developing units, it is necessary to arrange four types of connectors, which takes time and costs to assemble. was high. moreover,
The connector for color identification must also slide when each developing unit is brought into contact with and separated from the other, making the construction for this complicated.

The present invention is intended to solve the dual problems, and aims to provide an electrophotographic apparatus that is easy to install and easy to maintain.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention does not specify the mounting position of a plurality of developing devices storing each color developer (9 colors) in the main body of the machine. (A color identification tool or a color identification device for identifying the color of the ψ agent is disposed at each attachment part of the body to which the image mold is attached.Also,
Multiple current Ig! The selection order of the developing device is preset corresponding to each color, and the identification device 1 is located on the outer surface of the developing device, facing the reflective optical sensor and the reflective optical sensor disposed on the main body of the device. It is made up of a single reflector plate with different reflectances attached to each other.

Effects of the present invention - Due to the configuration described in section 2, there is no need to pay special attention to the mounting position when mounting the developing device on the main body of the machine, making mounting very easy and improving maintainability. . Furthermore, the color identification device becomes simpler and the ease of assembly is improved.

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Here, the same components as those of the conventional electrophotographic apparatus described above are given the same numbers and detailed explanations will be omitted.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 56 denotes a color identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a reflection type optical sensor 57 disposed on the body of the aircraft and a color identification device located opposite to the reflection type optical sensor 57 are used to identify each color. It consists of one reflective plate 58, each having a different reflectance, which is attached to the outer surface of the instrument 6. Colors are determined by differences in reflectance. Also, the current state of this reflecting plate 68 (
The dimension of the image mold 6 in the direction toward and away from the image carrier 1 is
It's more fancy than that. This makes it possible to prevent malfunctions in color identification even if the dimensional precision of the regular fitting is poor when fjfil is used.

Furthermore, by providing an operation control signal to each developing device through identification by the color identification device 66, color selection at the time of development 11@i.e. For example, the configuration is such that the order of B −+ C→M−)Y is not changed. This is due to the characteristics of the developing toner material used to form a color image (elephant) by overlapping four colors. be.

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

Similarly to the conventional electrophotographic apparatus described with reference to FIG. 3, in the same figure, a high voltage is applied to the charging wire 10 in the charger 4 connected to the high voltage power source to cause corona discharge. , (the surface of the Φ carrier 1 is uniformly 70
Charge to about 0V to -800V.

Next, the image carrier 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and a predetermined black (B) among the plurality of color components is uniformly distributed on the surface of the image carrier 10 according to a preset color selection type.
When the exposure light beam 13, such as a laser beam, corresponding to
A latent image is formed. - On the other hand, the image mold 6B containing the black toner 14 that contributes to the image quality is different from the conventional electrophotographic apparatus.
Since it has been determined in step 6 which of the four storage areas in the main body of the aircraft it is placed in, it is pushed in the direction of arrow B by rotating the separation cam 39E in response to a color selection signal from the host computer (not shown). and comes into contact with the image carrier 1. The following operation is the same as that of a conventional electrophotographic apparatus, so a description thereof will be omitted. 'In this way, the development of the black (B) toner is completed by the developer 6B, and then the color identification device 56 develops the 22. The toner T1 images of each color are sequentially identified and selected, and the toner T1 images of each color are developed and superposed and transferred to obtain a color image.

As described above, the electrophotographic apparatus of the above embodiment includes an image carrier coated with a photosensitive layer and a plurality of electrostatic latent images corresponding to a plurality of colors formed on the image carrier. Using developing devices corresponding to each color, a plurality of developing devices are used to store the developing agent (a color identification device is installed in each attachment part of the image mold and the main body of the machine to identify the color of the developing device, and each of the plural developing devices The installation position of one phenomenon device on the aircraft body is not specified for each color, and the selection order of multiple phenomenon devices is set in advance corresponding to each color, and the color identification device is attached to the aircraft body. The reflective optical sensor installed in
Colors can be easily distinguished even if each developing device is installed in any position, and printing operations are performed according to preset color selections, making it extremely easy to install the developing device to the main body of the device. 23. Maintainability is greatly improved.

In addition, in this embodiment, a developer using a two-component developer (ψ) was explained as an example, but it is a non-magnetic one-component developer.

Magnetic one-component development (image type, etc.) can be similarly carried out.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the second embodiment, according to the present invention, each color image (image type) can be easily identified by a reflective plate attached to the outer surface of the image type. The removal position can be freely selected, and colors can be reliably identified no matter where the developing device is installed, greatly improving maintenance work efficiency.In addition, the toner inside the developing device can be In devices where the developing unit is disposable instead of replenishing only toner when the toner runs out, it is only necessary to attach a defective plate compared to a connector, which can significantly reduce the number of man-hours required to assemble the developing unit.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a partial perspective view showing the main parts of an F+ffi photographic device according to one embodiment of the Kikyo Mimaki, Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged front cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the main parts, and Fig. 3 is a conventional electronic Figure 4 is a side sectional view showing the outline of the photographic apparatus. FIG. 5(b) is a perspective view showing the structure, FIG. 5(b) is a layout explanatory diagram showing the pin arrangement of the color identification connector, and FIG. Partial side sectional view, FIG. 7(a). (1)) is also a partial side sectional view showing the state of the gears in the developing unit being moved toward and away from each other. 1...(elephant carrier, 6B, 6C, 6M, 6Y)
Development (image type, 14... toner, 17... developer, 3
9B. 39C, 391vi, 39Y... disengagement cam, 56
・ ・Color identification device, 57... Reflective optical sensor,
58...Reflector. Name of agent: Patent attorney Akira Okaji and two others Figure 2 Figure 5

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) an image carrier coated with a photosensitive layer; a developing agent corresponding to a plurality of colors for developing electrostatic latent images corresponding to a plurality of colors formed on the image carrier; a machine main body having a plurality of developing devices for storing developing agents, a mounting portion to which the plurality of developing devices are respectively attached, and a device disposed in each of the mounting portions of the machine main body to identify the color of the developing device. 1. An electrophotographic apparatus, comprising a color identification device, wherein the mounting position of each of the plurality of developing devices on the main body is not specified for each color. (2) The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection order of each color developing device when developing a color image is preset corresponding to each color. (3) The color identification device is characterized by comprising a reflective optical sensor disposed on the main body of the machine, and reflective plates each having a different reflectance attached to the outer surface of a developing device facing the reflective optical sensor. An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1.