JPH04242268A - Electrophotographic recording/forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To offer the electrophotographic recording/forming device which can directly connect a formater board with a power unit only by a connector without using a connecting means such as a bundle of lines. CONSTITUTION:At least, the power unit 16 integrally housing an electrical substrate including an electrical system driving a printer control circuit, is horizontally arranged, and simultaneously, the formater board 20 is arranged in parallel with a driving system so as to be adjoined to the driving system vertically provided with respect to the electrical substrate. Therefore, the formater board 20 and the power unit 16 can be connected without using a cable, and the reduction of the number of parts and cost can be attained.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electrophotographic recording forming apparatus, and more specifically, it includes a drive system of a printer that forms images using an electrophotographic process, and a power supply for driving at least a printer control circuit. The present invention relates to the configuration of a power unit that houses an electrical board on one board, and a circuit board (hereinafter referred to as a formatter board) that includes a printer control circuit or an image signal processing circuit.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art As a specific example of the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of an example of an electrophotographic laser printer (LBP) using a laser beam scanning exposure type transfer method. In FIG. 7, 1 is the main body of the image forming apparatus (printer), 2 is a cassette that stores the transfer paper S, 3 is a paper feed roller that takes out the transfer paper S one by one from the cassette 2;
4 is a registration roller that controls the conveyance timing of the transfer paper S, 5 is a transfer charger, 6 is a process cartridge, which includes a photosensitive drum 7, a developing device (not shown), a charger (not shown), and cleaning of the drum 7. Devices etc. are built-in.

Further, 8 is a fixing device, 9a is a halogen heater,
10a is a fixing roller made of an aluminum pipe, and 10b is a pressure roller made of rubber. The developer on the transfer paper S is melted and fixed by the heat and pressure applied from the fixing roller 10a and the pressure roller 10b. 11 is a paper conveying section;
12 is a paper ejection roller, 12a and 12b are curl removal rollers,
13 is a paper discharge tray. 14a is a laser scanner unit which is a scanning optical system for scanning a laser; 15;
is a folding mirror that guides the laser beam to the photosensitive drum 7. Reference numeral 16 denotes a power unit in which a power input section, a low voltage power source, a high voltage power source, etc. are arranged independently in a vertical manner on the side of the main body of the apparatus. Further, a part indicated by U houses a board including a printer control circuit and an image signal processing circuit.

Next, the printing operation will be explained. When a signal is input from a host computer (not shown),
Transfer paper S is taken out from cassette 2 by paper feed roller 3. The transfer paper S is conveyed by the registration roller 4 in synchronization with the developed image on the photosensitive drum 7, and the developed image written on the photosensitive drum 7 by the laser beam L is transferred to the transfer paper S by the transfer charger 5. . Then, the transfer paper S on which the transferred image toner is placed passes over the surface of the paper conveying section 11 and is fixed by the fixing device 8.
The paper sheets are conveyed and unloaded by the printer and stacked on the paper discharge tray 13.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional technology has the following problems.

That is, conventionally, the formatter board, the DC controller for controlling image recording of the main body of the image forming and recording apparatus, and the power supply section were arranged separately from each other. Therefore, connection means such as bundled wires are always required to connect the formatter board, DC controller, and power supply unit, and the formatter board also requires
A special shield plate was purposely provided to prevent noise.

[0007] The present invention is an attempt to solve the above-mentioned problems. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic recording forming apparatus that can easily be cable-less, reduce noise, improve thermal efficiency, reduce the number of parts, and reduce costs. The purpose is to

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electrical system including an electrical system such as a power supply for driving at least a printer control circuit in an image recording apparatus body using an electrophotographic process. A surface in which a power unit including a board integrated therein is disposed horizontally, has a drive system provided perpendicularly to the electrical board, and is adjacent to the drive system and constitutes the drive system. parallel to,
A circuit board including at least one of a printer control circuit and an image signal processing circuit is arranged.

[0009]

[Function] According to the present invention, a power unit integrally housing an electrical board is arranged horizontally, and is adjacent to and parallel to a drive system provided perpendicularly to the electrical board. Since the formatter board is placed,
The formatter board and the power unit can be directly connected only by a connector without using a connecting means such as bundled wires.

0010

Embodiment FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of an electrophotographic recording forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, codes 1 to 4, 6 to 8, 11, 13, and 16 are
This member is almost the same as that shown in FIG. 9 is a transfer roller that transfers the developed image on the photosensitive drum 7 onto the transfer paper S;
14 is a laser beam scanning optical system that scans the laser beam L; 17
is a separation pad provided so that the transfer paper S is fed one by one. FIG. 1 is a detailed front view of the configurations of a drive system power unit and a formatter board in a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, 18 is a metal chassis for supporting the drive system (drive motor and drive gear train 19) of the main body, 20 is a formatter board, and 21 is a main power supply component (AC power input section, low voltage power supply, This is a power board (composite board) that includes a high-voltage power supply, etc.) and a DC controller that controls image recording of the main body of the device. A power unit 16 containing a power board 21 is placed horizontally under the metal chassis 18, and a formatter board 20 is placed parallel to the chassis 18. The power board 21 and formatter board 20 in the power unit 16 are directly and vertically connected by a connector.

Next, the printing operation will be explained. In FIG. 2, the operator first instructs the information to be printed from the host computer. Upon receiving the print command (signal), the printer performs a paper feeding operation, and the transfer paper S in the cassette 2 is conveyed to the transfer section. The developed image written on the photosensitive drum 7 by the laser beam L and developed by the developing device (not shown) of the process cartridge 6 is transferred to the transfer paper S by the transfer roller 9, passes through the paper conveyance section 11,
The image is fixed by the fixing device 8. Then, the paper is stacked on the paper discharge tray 13.

By adopting the configuration shown in FIG.
The power board 21 and the formatter board 20 can be easily connected without using bundled wires, and at the same time, the ease of assembly is improved. Furthermore, in the past, it was difficult to counteract noise from the formatter board, but in this embodiment, the component mounting surface of the formatter board 20 is provided on the metal chassis 18 side, so that the formatter board 20
I was also able to obtain a shield effect of 0.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the main parts of a second embodiment of the present invention. In this second embodiment, the metal chassis 18
The metal chassis 18 is configured to be connected to heat generating parts such as a heat generating drive system component (drive motor 22) and a formatter component, thereby adding the effect of a heat radiating plate (heat sink) to the metal chassis 18. Note that 28 is a heating element.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the main parts of a third embodiment of the present invention. In this third embodiment, the metal chassis 18
The formatter board 20 and the main drive parts (drive motor 22, drive gear train 19) are covered with a 100-degree shield, which provides an even greater shielding effect and also insulates noise from the drive system. A new effect was born.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the main parts of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this fourth embodiment, a display section 27 is provided directly on the front side of the apparatus main body of the formatter board 20. By doing this, it became possible to easily go cableless.

Here, the power board 21 of the power unit 16 shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 will be explained with reference to FIG. In FIG. 6, 23 is a DC controller unit that controls image recording of the main body of the recording apparatus, 24 is an AC power input unit that receives power supply from the outside, and 25 is the AC power input unit 2.
a low-voltage power supply unit that replaces the power input from 4 with a low voltage;
26 is a high-voltage power supply unit which is also replaced with a high-voltage power supply, and 26a is a high-voltage contact.

The detailed arrangement of parts on the power board 21 in the power unit 16 is as shown in FIG.
A DC controller section 23 is disposed near where the formatter board 20 is disposed, and a high voltage power supply section 26 is disposed near the opposite end thereof so that a contact point of the high voltage power supply to the process cartridge can be provided.

Further, a portion of the low-voltage power supply unit 25 that mainly generates heat is placed on the same side as the contacts of the high-voltage power supply unit 26 so as to be cooled by means (not shown) other than the formatter board 20 or the like. With this configuration, it is possible to cool the main power supply section separately from the formatter section by natural cooling or the like (not shown). The DC controller section 23
Since the apparatus also includes sensors 23a such as a paper presence/absence sensor, a registration sensor, and a paper feed solenoid in the main body of the apparatus, signal transmission loss can be reduced, and cable-less operation is easily possible here as well.

[0020]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
A power unit including an electrical board integrated therein is arranged horizontally, and a formatter board is adjacent to a drive system provided perpendicularly to the electrical board and parallel to a surface constituting the drive system. Because of this arrangement, the formatter board and the power unit can be directly connected only by the connector without using a connecting means such as bundled wires, that is, cable-less operation is easily possible. Furthermore, the number of parts is reduced, and costs can be reduced. Moreover, if the chassis is made of metal, there will be a seeding effect, reducing noise and improving thermal efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing essential parts of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing main parts of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing main parts of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing essential parts of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the power board of FIGS. 1, 3, and 4;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

16: Power unit
18: Metal chassis 19: Drive gear train
20: Formatter board 21: Power board
22: Drive motor 23: DC controller section 2
4: AC power input section 25: Low voltage power supply section
26: High voltage power supply section 27: Display section

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: In a main body of an image recording apparatus using an electrophotographic process, a power unit that integrally houses an electrical board including at least an electrical system for driving a printer control circuit is disposed horizontally, and is disposed horizontally with respect to the electrical board. It has a drive system installed vertically, and further includes at least one of a printer control circuit and an image signal processing circuit adjacent to the drive system and parallel to a plane forming the drive system. An electrophotographic recording and forming apparatus characterized in that a circuit board is arranged. 2. The electrophotographic recording and forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuit board and the power unit are directly connected to each other through connectors. 3. The electrophotographic recording forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the support for the drive system is made of metal.