JPH04277778A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve operability in maintenance for replenishing toner and exchanging a photosensitive body sheet and simultaneously, to offer an image forming device which can effectively and practically use a part. CONSTITUTION:A cartridge inserted from a cartridge insertion window 692 is carried forward up to a hopper 101 by a roller 610, etc., to discharge a developer, and backward when the cartridge empties, and dropped/stored in an accumulating part 551 formed on a housing box for an empty cartridge, etc., 550 which can be detached/attached to a main body. A photosensitive body sheet housing part 599 is formed on the lower part of a box, as well, and when the photosensitive body sheet has the limit of services, or a storage part is full, the sheet is exchanged and the necessity of the exchanging of the box is informed to an operator. When the box is exchanged, an electrifying potential, etc., are detected, and a developing bias, etc., are initialized to output corresponding to a new sheet.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and facsimile machines.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, which are widely used in general, use a cursor process (electrophotographic process) to form a visible image on a recording medium (sheet). This visible image is created by fine particles called toner stored in a developing device, but toner is a consumable item that is consumed each time an image is formed. Therefore, when the amount of toner falls below a predetermined amount, toner must be replenished each time, which is the most troublesome operation for maintaining the image forming apparatus. In addition, the photoreceptor, which is an electrostatic latent image carrier, needs to be replaced when its characteristics deteriorate due to repeated image forming operations or when stains appear on the image due to increased scratches on the surface. Furthermore, in the case of an image forming apparatus in which untransferred toner is removed from the photoreceptor by a cleaning device and the untransferred toner is collected as waste toner in a waste toner bottle, which is a waste toner storage means provided in the apparatus, the waste toner bottle is It is necessary to dispose of waste toner before it is full. Various proposals have been made for toner replenishment methods in the past, but the typical methods include a method of directly replenishing toner to the toner replenishment section of the developing device, or a method of directly replenishing toner to the toner replenishing section of the developing device, or a method in which a toner cartridge containing toner is attached to the developing device. A known method is to load toner into a toner replenishing unit of a toner cartridge and replenish toner from a toner cartridge. However, in these methods, when the amount of toner falls below a predetermined amount, the operator must replenish toner each time, resulting in extremely poor convenience and operability. When removing an empty toner cartridge from the device after replenishing toner, toner scatters inside and outside the device, staining the device and staining the operator's hands and clothing, which may impair cleanliness, convenience, and operation. There was a problem that the quality was extremely poor.

[0003] Therefore, in order to improve the operability of maintaining the device, such as toner replenishment, photoreceptor replacement, and waste toner disposal, the photoreceptor drum and the waste toner bottles and toner storage located around it have been developed. A technology has been put into practical use in which mechanisms such as parts are integrated into a unit and the entire unit is replaced when the stored toner is consumed.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, although this technology eliminates the trouble of replenishing toner using a cartridge or the like every time the toner is consumed, it still has a limited lifespan when the stored toner runs out. Even the developing rollers, chargers, cleaning blades, etc. that are used are thrown away. In other words, in pursuit of ease of maintenance,
Many usable parts are also thrown away. Although operability is an extremely important factor for a product, when considering the effective use of resources, it is not desirable to throw away something that can still be used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to provide an image forming apparatus that achieves good maintenance operability and allows effective use of parts. It is to be.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 includes an electrostatic latent image carrier and an electrostatic latent image carrier on the electrostatic latent image carrier. A developing means for developing an image, an electrostatic latent image carrier replacing means for replacing the electrostatic latent image carrier, and an electrostatic latent image that accommodates the electrostatic latent image carrier that has been replaced after reaching its service life limit. A carrier accommodating means, a developer accommodating means for accommodating developer for replenishment, a loading section in which the developer accommodating means is loaded, and a developer replenishing section for storing the developer accommodating means loaded in the loading section. a replenishing means for replenishing the replenishing section with the developer stored in the developer accommodating means transferred to the developer replenishing section; storage means for storing the empty developer storage means that has become empty; a transfer means for transporting the empty developer storage means from the developer replenishing section to the storage means; When the total number of empty developer storage containers stored in the storage means and the storage means that are integrally provided with the storage means and configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body reaches the upper limit that can be stored in the storage means. or when the number of image forming operations using the electrostatic latent image bearing member reaches the service life limit of the electrostatic latent image bearing member. The apparatus is characterized in that it is provided with a first control means that determines the replacement timing of the storage means, and a second control means that initializes the image forming authority of the main body of the apparatus in response to the replacement operation of the storage means. The invention of claim 2 provides an electrostatic latent image carrier, a developing means for developing an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image carrier, and an electrostatic latent image for replacing the electrostatic latent image carrier. A carrier replacement means, an electrostatic latent image carrier accommodating means for accommodating the electrostatic latent image carrier which has been replaced after reaching its service life limit, and a cleaning means for collecting untransferred toner from the electrostatic latent image carrier. a waste toner accommodating means for accommodating toner collected by the cleaning means; a developer accommodating means for accommodating replenishing developer; a loading section into which the developer accommodating means is loaded; A transport means for transporting the loaded developer storage means to a developer replenishment section, and a replenishment means for replenishing the developer contained in the developer storage means transferred to the developer replenishment section into the replenishment section. a storage means for storing the empty developer storage means that has been refilled with developer in the developer replenishment section; and a transfer means for transporting the empty developer storage means from the developer replenishment section to the storage means. , a storage means in which the electrostatic latent image carrier storage means, the waste toner storage means, and the storage means are integrally provided and configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body; A state in which the total number of empty developer storage containers has reached the upper limit that can be stored in the storage means, a state in which the amount of toner stored in the waste toner storage means has reached the upper limit of the storage capacity, and a state in which the total number of empty developer storage containers has reached the upper limit that can be stored in the waste toner storage means. When detecting at least one of the states in which the number of image forming operations using the electrostatic latent image carrier has reached the service life limit of the electrostatic latent image carrier, the timing for replacing the storage means is determined. The apparatus is characterized in that it is provided with a first control means for initializing the image forming authority of the main body of the apparatus in response to the exchange operation of the storage means.

[0007]

[Operation] The present invention allows the developer accommodating means loaded in the loading section to be transferred to the developer replenishing section by the transfer means, thereby facilitating the loading of the developer accommodating means, and in the developer replenishing section. The developer accommodating means that has been refilled with developer and is now empty is transferred from the developer replenishing section to a storage means provided in the apparatus, and the empty developer accommodating means is stored there. As a result, until the storage means is full, developer can be refilled by simply loading the developer storage means into the main body, saving the trouble of taking out the empty developer storage means each time it is refilled. there was. Further, this storage means is configured to removably house a waste toner storage means for storing the toner collected by the cleaning means and an electrostatic latent image carrier storage means for storing the used electrostatic latent image carrier. This means that the empty developer accommodating means and the like that are no longer needed due to use can be discarded in one disposal operation. The first control means determines that the total number of empty developer storage containers stored in the storage means has reached the upper limit that can be stored in the storage means and that the number of image forming operations using the electrostatic latent image carrier is determined. When detecting at least one of the states in which the electrostatic latent image carrier has reached its service life limit, the timing for replacing the storage means is determined, and thereby the operator can accurately determine the timing for replacing the storage means. It is possible to notify etc. Further, the second control means initializes the image forming conditions of the main body of the apparatus in response to the replacing operation of the storage means, thereby making it possible to form an image under image forming conditions corresponding to the new latent image carrier after replacement. do it like this.

[0008]

Embodiment A digital copying machine which is an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, this digital copying machine includes a reading device (scanner) 10 that is a document reading means, and a copying device (printer) 9 that executes a series of processes for copying the read document information onto paper.
It consists of 0. The reading device 10 includes a contact glass 306 on which a document is placed, a document scale 305 provided at the edge of the contact glass, and a contact glass 30.
6, a fluorescent lamp 301 that illuminates the original below the contact glass 306, first to third mirrors 302 that reflect light reflected from the original,
303, 304, a lens 308 covered with a cover 309 through which the reflected light from the third mirror enters, a CCD 310 placed at the imaging position of the lens 308, an image reading plate 311 to which the CCD 310 is attached and has a built-in A/D converter.
, a substrate 312 on which an image processing circuit is formed, a cooling fan 313 for cooling the inside of the apparatus, and the like. Then, when the original is set on the contact glass 306 and the copy start button on the operation panel is turned on, the fluorescent lamp 306
An optical system such as 01 is moved below the contact glass 306 to scan the original, and reflected light from the original is imaged on the CCD 310 via a lens 308 or the like to read the original information. The original image formed on the CCD 310 is converted into a digital signal. This digital signal is processed by an image processing circuit, converted into digital recorded image information, and outputted to the image information storage device of the copying device 90.

Next, the copying apparatus 90 will be explained. In FIG. 1, a photosensitive drum 140, which is an image carrier, is rotated clockwise. As will be described later, the photosensitive drum 140 is constructed by wrapping a replaceable photosensitive sheet around a support drum. Near the top of the photosensitive drum 140, a transfer charger 350 is provided facing each other to form a transfer section. A conveyance path consisting of a conveyance guide plate 383, a first relay roller pair 327, and an intermediate roller pair 328, 329 is formed between this transfer section and a paper tray 349 which is provided horizontally at the top of the device and accommodates transfer paper. has been done. This paper tray 349 has a pickup roller 32.
4. A paper feed roller 325 and a reverse roller 326 are arranged to constitute a paper feed device 390. Further, a pair of registration rollers 330 is provided near the transfer portion of the conveyance path. Furthermore, between this transfer section and the paper ejection port, a conductor separation conveyance belt 351 is provided, and a fixing heater of about 700 W is provided inside.
A fixing device consisting of a Teflon-coated fixing roller 335 and a pressure roller 334 is provided. A cleaning device 130 is installed on the right side of the photoreceptor drum 140.
A agent collection bottle 117 is provided below the cleaning device 130 to collect and store the deteriorated agent. At the upper left of this agent collection bottle 117 is a static elimination lamp 341 facing the surface of the photoreceptor drum 140.
and a charger 342 provided with a grid 343. This charger 342 is connected to a high voltage generator of negative voltage, and uniformly charges the surface of the photoreceptor drum 140 to -600 volts. The photosensitive drum 140 has a writing optical system unit 38 installed horizontally at the bottom of the device.
An exposure section is formed to which the laser beam from 5 is irradiated. Inside this writing optical system unit 385, a semiconductor laser and a cylinder lens, which are not shown here, are included.
A polygon mirror 344 rotationally driven by a polygon mirror motor 345, an f-theta lens (not shown), and a reflecting mirror 3
46 etc. are provided. Above the writing optical system unit 385 is a developing device 10 equipped with a magnet roller 102 facing an upward movement area of the surface of the photoreceptor drum 140.
A developing device 386 consisting of a toner hopper 101 and a toner hopper 101 is provided. In addition to the magnet roller 102, as shown with reference numerals in FIG.
A developing doctor 105 that regulates the amount of developer on the magnetic roller 102, a separator that guides the developer that is regulated by the developing doctor 105 and is returned to the lower part, and is provided with a rectifying plate 109, and a magnetic roller in the developing device 100. 10
a conveying member 103 that stirs the developer in a direction perpendicular to the axis of 2; and a mixing and stirring member 104 that mixes the toner supplied from the toner hopper 101, which is a toner replenishing unit, with the developer.
etc. are provided. Further, the toner hopper 101 has an opening at its lower part to the developing device 100, a toner replenishing roller 108 is provided in this opening, and an agitator 106 for stirring the toner inside is provided. The upper part of the bookmark is opened upward, and this opening (hereinafter referred to as a hopper opening) serves as a cartridge 50 containing toner.
0 is installed as a toner replenishment unit. On the front side of the toner hopper 101 in the drawing, there is provided an empty cartridge storage box 550 that constitutes an empty cartridge storage section that stores the empty cartridge 500 that has been refilled with toner in the toner hopper 101 (see FIG. 2). .

Note that on the upper wall of the copying device 90, paper trays 347, 348 and pickup rollers 314, 3 are installed inside.
19, paper feed rollers 315, 320, reverse roller 316,
Additional (optional) paper feed device 391 with 321 etc.
, 392 are arranged. And this paper feeding device 39
1 is provided with a third relay roller pair 317, and the paper feed device 392 is provided with a second relay roller pair 322, respectively. Each of the paper trays 349, 348, and 347 can be freely pulled out, and is also provided with a set detection sensor and a size detection sensor (not shown). When the set detection sensor detects the set state, a lift motor (not shown) is driven to remove the paper. The transfer paper in the tray is raised to a position where it contacts the pickup rollers 324, 314, and 319. In addition, in order to detect the conveyance status of the transfer paper within the conveyance path, a first relay sensor 318,
A second relay sensor 323 and a registration sensor 331 are provided.

In the above configuration, the semiconductor laser in the writing optical system unit 385 is activated to emit light in response to digitally recorded image information, which is a binary signal of 1 bit (recording/non-recording) per pixel. The laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser is reflected by the polygon mirror 344 and
The light passes through a lens (not shown), is reflected by a reflection mirror 346, and is irradiated onto the photoreceptor drum 140 to form an image. The polygon mirror 344 is rotationally driven at a constant speed by a polygon motor 345, and the aforementioned laser beam is scanned in the horizontal direction, which is a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the photoreceptor drum 140.

The surface of the photosensitive drum 140 is connected to the charger 34.
2, it is uniformly charged to minus 600 volts. When the uniformly charged surface of the photoreceptor is irradiated with laser light emitted based on digitally recorded image information, the charge on the surface of the photoreceptor is transferred to the device via the conductive layer of the photoreceptor drum 140 due to a photoconductive phenomenon. It flows to earth and disappears. Here, the laser is not turned on in areas where the original density is low (the binary signal is at a non-recording level), and the laser is turned on in areas where the original density is high (the binary signal is at the recording level). As a result, the portion of the surface of the photoreceptor drum 140 corresponding to the light density portion of the original has a potential of approximately -600 volts, and the high density portion of the original has a potential of approximately -100 volts, which corresponds to the density of the original. An electrostatic latent image is formed. This electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing device 386 to form a toner image on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 140. Furthermore, the developing device 10
The toner in the developing device 100 is negatively charged by stirring, and the toner in the developing device 100
The inner magnet roller 102 is biased to about -450 volts by a developing bias generator, and adheres to areas of the photoreceptor drum 140 where the surface potential is higher than the developing bias, forming a toner image corresponding to the original image.

On the other hand, the transfer paper is stored in three paper trays 349.
. The toner image is transferred. The transfer paper on which the toner image has been transferred is attracted by the conveyor belt 351 and separated from the surface of the photoreceptor drum. Thereafter, the transfer paper passes between the fixing roller 335 and the pressure roller 334 to which the toner is fixed, and the transfer paper is separated by the separating claw 333 and discharged onto a paper discharge tray (not shown). After the toner image has been transferred to the transfer paper, the surface of the photoreceptor drum 140 is cleaned by cleaning device 1.
After the residual toner is removed by step 30, it is ready for the next uniform charging.

An outline of the construction and operation of the toner and agent replenishment mechanism will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. developer 100
The toner in the device is supplied to the photoreceptor drum 140 by the magnet roller 102 and agent, and the latent image on the photoreceptor is visualized. The consumed toner is stored in the toner hopper 10.
The toner stored in 1a is transferred to the toner supply roller 108.
This is compensated for by supplying it into the developing device 100. Further, as the number of copies increases, the agent deteriorates and needs to be replaced, which is automatically done in the apparatus of the present invention. New agent required at the time of replacement is stored in a agent hopper 101b, and is supplied to the developing device by a agent replenishing roller 107. In FIG. 2, in this replenishment mechanism, the cartridge 500 inserted by the user into the loading section 690 on the front side of the image forming apparatus main body is placed under the conveyor belt 603, on the first conveyor roller 610, on the second conveyor roller 611, and on the third conveyor roller. Upper 61
2, the toner and agent are transferred to the upper part of the hopper 101 to the replenishment position, the cartridge seal 504 sealing the cartridge 500 is removed at the replenishment position, and the toner and agent are refilled into the hopper 101. The empty cartridge 500 that has been refilled is transferred from the refilling position to the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 of the empty cartridge storage box 500 after the refilled toner is consumed and before the next cartridge is inserted. The automatic exchange of agents using replenished agents will be described in detail later. Furthermore, the replacement timing when the empty cartridges 500 become full in the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 will be described in detail later.

First, the cartridge 50 used in this embodiment
0 will be explained. FIG. 5 is a perspective view thereof. This cartridge 500 has an upper cartridge upper plate 501 and a lower cartridge lower plate 503 at the bottom, and a cartridge film 502 at the side connecting these upper and bottom parts, and a cartridge film 502 inside.
A toner accommodating section 502a and a developer accommodating section (hereinafter referred to as "agent accommodating section") 502b are formed by partitions made of a double layer of film made of the same material as 02. A guide wing portion 501a is formed on each of the left and right flanges of the cartridge top plate 501 that extend outward from the side surface, and extend further outward from the front end toward approximately the center in the front-rear direction. A timing groove 501b is formed on the upper surface of the cartridge upper plate 501 from the front end to the rear end approximately at the center in the left-right direction. The cartridge film 502 needs to be soft, and for example, a film-like member such as a polyester film or an elastic member such as polyurethane rubber is used. This is to enable storage in the empty cartridge accommodating portion 551 (see FIG. 2) in a vertically collapsed state, as will be described later. On each of the left and right flanges extending to the outside of the side surface of the cartridge lower plate 503, a pair of guide wing portions 503a extending further outward are formed at the same position in the front-rear direction and spaced apart from each other by a certain distance. There is. A timing groove 503b is formed on the upper surface of a pair of guide wings 503a formed on the left flange.
is formed. Further, the outer end surface of the guide wing portion 503a formed on the left flange portion and the cartridge film 502
The distance from the left side surface of the cartridge film 502 is the distance between the outer end surface of the guide wing 503a formed on the right flange and the cartridge film 502.
is larger than the distance from the right side of the Furthermore, an opening is formed in a portion of the cartridge lower plate 503 surrounded by the lower edge of the cartridge film 502, and this opening serves as an outlet for toner and agent. This opening is sealed by a cartridge seal 504 with toner and developer stored in the toner storage portion 502a and the agent storage portion 502b. Cartridge seal 504 seals hopper opening 12
4, the seal removal mechanism described later is located on the right flange side of the cartridge 500, so for example, after adhesive is applied to the flange of the cartridge lower plate 503, the inside of the flange on the front, rear, left and right sides is removed. , the pasting starts from the right flange, and after being pasted to the left flange, it is folded back and the free end is attached to the right flange 5.
03a, and the edge of this free end is glued to the right flange.

In this example, the cartridge upper plate 501
The cartridge lower plates 503 each have a thickness of 3 mm, and the overall height of the cartridge 503 is set to 86 mm. Further, when the cartridge 500 falls into the empty cartridge accommodating section 551, which will be described later, in order to prevent problems such as a portion of the cartridge 500 other than the cartridge lower plate 503 coming into contact with the member that was guiding the cartridge lower plate 503 until just before the cartridge falls, It is desirable to set the side and top surfaces of the cartridge lower plate 503, which is the bottom part, so that the upper part of the cartridge 500 can be projected thereon.

The weight ratio of toner and agent contained in this cartridge 500 is preferably in the range of 1:1 to 3:1. In this example, since the agent is automatically replaced in accordance with the loading of the cartridge 500 every time the toner runs out, it is necessary to consume all of the toner in the cartridge 500 before the agent reaches the end of its life. In this example, the cartridge contains 150g of drug.
The lifespan of this agent is approximately 10,000 sheets. Therefore, for safety reasons, the amount of toner consumed is assumed to be the amount consumed by making 8,000 copies. The amount of toner consumed varies depending on the black area of the document, and the amount of toner consumed is 150 g when the average black area of the document is 3%, and 450 g when the average black area of the document is 9%. Therefore, the weight ratio of consumed toner to agent is 1: when the average black area of the document is 3%.
1. When the average black area of the document is 9%, the ratio is 3:1. Generally, the black area of a document is 3% to 9%, so the preferred ratio of toner to agent storage is 1:1 to 3 as described above.
:1. In this example, the toner and agent storage sections have capacities of 1200 cc and 100 cc, respectively.

Next, the mechanism of the main body of the apparatus regarding replenishment of toner and developer will be explained. FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the vicinity of the developing device 100. The main body of the device includes
A cartridge insertion part consisting of an insertion window 692 for inserting a cartridge 500 formed in an exterior part (hereinafter referred to as front exterior part) 690 on the front side of the apparatus, a toner and developer replenishment part consisting of a hopper 101 located on the back side of the apparatus, and a hopper. An unsealing means (replenishing means) for the cartridge 500 having an unsealing roller 680 disposed on the right side of the opening, an unsealing roller 68
a sealing member storage section (see FIG. 3) consisting of a seal storage box 681 disposed opposite to the hopper 101; an empty cartridge storage section consisting of an empty cartridge storage box 550 disposed between the hopper 101 and the front exterior part 690; A transfer means having a lower conveyor belt 603, a lower conveyor rail 631, etc. is provided. In addition to the insertion window 692, a window 694 for inserting and removing the empty cartridge storage box 550 is also formed in the front exterior portion 690. The insertion window 692 of the insertion section is formed in a shape that is slightly larger than the cross-sectional shape when the cartridge 500 is cut perpendicularly to the insertion direction, and as a result, the insertion window 692 is used for guiding the cartridge 500. The length of the passage portion such as the wing portion 501a is also set to match the length of the guide wing portion 501a and the like. This allows the cartridge 50 to
This prevents the cartridge 500 from being inserted sideways or the cartridge 500 being inserted in the wrong direction.

Inside the front exterior part 690, there is an insertion window door 693 whose lower part is rotatably supported on a horizontal shaft 693b parallel to the exterior part, and which can cover the entire insertion window 692 in a closed state.
is provided. This insertion window door 693 is normally kept in a closed state by applying a rotational force in the closing direction by a biasing means (not shown), and by pushing the insertion window door 693 toward the inside of the device against this rotational force, it can be horizontally It can be rotated up to about 90 degrees around the axis 693b. and,
In the closed state, a protruding plate 693b having a protruding portion extending outward from the tip edge is provided on the upper part of the surface of the insertion window door 693 facing inside the device (hereinafter referred to as the inner surface) (FIG. 4). reference).

Above the insertion window 692 on the inner surface of the front exterior part 690 is a door sensor 70 equipped with a light emitting element and a light receiving element.
1, a lock mechanism including a lock release solenoid 700 and a lock plate 700a fixed to the plunger thereof. The door sensor 701 is inserted into the window door 6
The protrusion plate 693b is attached at a position where the protrusion portion of the protrusion plate 693b is interposed between the light emitting element and the light receiving element when the protrusion plate 93 is closed;
The locking mechanism is such that when the plunger is pulled out with the insertion window door 693 closed, the locking plate 700a is inserted into the protruding plate 6.
93b from the side opposite to the front exterior part 690, and when the plunger is sucked, the lock plate 700a is engaged with the protruding plate 6.
It is attached at a position where it does not engage with 93b.

As shown in FIG. 3, a sealing member 662 is attached to the upper surface of the periphery of the hopper opening of the toner replenishing section to prevent a gap from forming between the upper surface of the periphery and the lower surface of the flange of the cartridge 500. It has been set up. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a hopper guide part 660 extending from the peripheral edge is formed on the side of the front exterior part 690 from the hopper opening, and a cartridge 500 is placed on the back side of the apparatus from the hopper opening. A cartridge abutment wall 661 is provided that is tilted forward toward the insertion window 692 for positioning, and the cartridge abutting wall 661 is opened toward the insertion window 692 by its inclined lower surface and the upper surface of the peripheral edge to which the sealing member 662 is attached. A wedge-shaped void is formed.

The unsealing roller 680 of the unsealing means is comprised of upper and lower rollers 680 having a constant length corresponding to the gap between the front and rear guide wings 503a on the right side of the cartridge 500, and the sealing member 504 that seals the cartridge 500.
The lower roller 680 is a cylindrical roller made of an elastic material, and the upper roller 680 is a roller with an uneven surface so that the roller can be pulled reliably. The rotation shafts of both rollers 680 are rotatably supported by a link mechanism that allows the distance between the two shafts to be changed, and can be driven by an unsealing motor (not shown). This link mechanism includes a spring that constantly applies a biasing force to make the distance between the vertical rotation shafts at least a distance that allows the guide wing portion 503a to pass between the pair of upper and lower rollers; An unsealing pinch solenoid is connected that can resist the force and make the distance between the upper and lower rotating shafts such that the sealing member 504 that seals the cartridge 500 is clamped between the pair of upper and lower rollers.

The seal storage box 681, which is the sealing member storage section, opens the cartridge 50 with the unsealing roller 680.
A receiving opening is provided for receiving the sealing member 504 removed from the zero opening. The empty cartridge storage box 113, which is the empty cartridge storage section, has an opening for receiving the cartridge 500 at the top and is configured to be detachable from the main body of the apparatus. This empty cartridge storage box 550 will be described in detail later.

The transfer means includes first to third transfer rollers 610, 611, 6 driven by a transfer motor capable of forward and reverse rotation.
12 and a lower conveyor belt 603, a first upper conveyor rail pair 632 and a second upper conveyor that can contact the lower surface of the guide wing portion 501a, etc. of the cartridge upper plate 501 of the cartridge 500 and support the cartridge upper plate 501 from below. rail vs 6
33 and the guide wing portion 503a of the cartridge lower plate 503
a lower transport rail 631 capable of supporting the cartridge lower plate 503 from below by contacting the lower surface of the hopper guide 66;
0 and an insertion window door 693. The first to third conveyor rollers 610, 611, 612 are arranged in a timing belt groove 501a on the upper surface of the cartridge upper plate 501.
The timing pulley is disposed at a position facing the timing belt groove 501a and engages with the timing belt groove 501a. Of these, the second conveying roller 611 is supported by a bearing supported on the side plate of the main body so as to be able to move up and down, and downward pressure is applied by a pressure spring or the like. Then, the lower conveyor belt 6
03 is a double-toothed timing belt rotatably supported by belt pulleys 601 and 602, and the lower teeth are connected to the timing belt groove 503b formed on the upper surface of the guide blade portion 503a of the cartridge lower plate 503. They are placed in a position where they can mesh. From then on, the conveyance motor moves to the cartridge 50.
The case where 0 is conveyed to the back side of the apparatus is called normal conveyance, and the rotation of the conveyance motor at this time is called forward rotation, and the reverse case is called reverse conveyance or reverse rotation.

Each of the upper transport rails 632 and 633 is an L-shaped rail in cross section, consisting of a vertical part and a horizontal part extending from the lower end toward the transport path of the cartridge 500.
They form a pair on the left and right sides of the transport path of the cartridge 500, respectively. The first transport rail 632 is provided above the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 of the empty cartridge storage box 550, and its front end extends below the first transport roller 610, and its back end extends to the second transport roller 610. It extends to the front of Colo 611. Then, the first upper conveyance rail 63
The horizontal portion of the cartridge upper plate 501 is set so that the flange portion and the guide feather portion 501 of the cartridge upper plate 501 can be placed on the horizontal portion of the cartridge upper plate 501. The flange portion and guide wing portion 501a are arranged so as to be able to pass through. Second transport rail 633
is provided above the empty cartridge accommodating portion 551 and the hopper 101, and the rear end thereof connects the gap between the upper surface of the horizontal part and the lower part of the first conveying roller 610 to the cartridge upper plate 501.
It is positioned so that the flange portion and the guide feather portion 501a can pass through, and is inclined downward from the end portion to the front side to reach the lower part of the second conveying roller 611, and further from here to the first conveying roller 611.
Below the transport rail 632, empty cartridge storage section 55
It is arranged so as to extend above the central part of 1. The horizontal portion of the second transport rail 633 is
33, the cartridge upper plate 50 is placed on the front side area 633a of the device.
The flange portion and the guide wing portion 501a of the cartridge top plate 501 can be placed thereon, and the flange portion and the guide wing portion 501a of the cartridge upper plate 501 can be placed on the rear side area 633b of the device. or,
The length of the former region 633a is set to be the same as the length from the back side end of the guide wing portion 501 to the back side end of the flange portion of the cartridge top plate 501. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a base end portion of a branching leaf spring 640 having a free end inclined upward toward the back side of the apparatus is fixed to the lower surface of the rear end portion of the first conveyance rail 632. ing. When the cartridge 500 is transported in the reverse direction, the branching plate spring 640 moves the cartridge upper plate 501, which has been guided by the second upper transport rail 633, to the second upper transport rail 633 below the first upper transport rail 632. This is to make sure that it continues.

The lower conveyance rail 631 is also a rail having an L-shaped cross section, consisting of a vertical portion and a horizontal portion extending from its lower end toward the conveyance path of the cartridge 500, and is located above the empty cartridge accommodating portion 551. They are provided in pairs on the left and right sides of the conveyance path of the cartridge 500 at positions closer to the back of the apparatus than the center of the housing section 551 . The horizontal portion includes the flange portion of the cartridge upper plate 501 and the guide wing portion 50.
The gap between the upper surface of the cartridge and the lower surface of the lower conveyor belt 551 is
The height of the arrangement is set so that the flange portion and guide wing portion 501a can pass through. Furthermore, the length of the rail 631 in the front-rear direction is equal to the guide wing portion 50 of the cartridge lower plate 503.
It is set the same as the front and rear spacing of 3a, and the placement position is
As shown in FIG. 22, when the cartridge 500 is reversely conveyed, when the front and rear gaps of the guide wings 503a of the cartridge lower plate 503 face the rails 631 and the cartridge lower plate 503 starts to fall, the cartridge 500 It is set to be located approximately at the center of the empty cartridge storage section 551 in the front-rear direction. Incidentally, when the gap between the guiding wings 503a of the cartridge lower plate 503 faces the rail 631 in this reverse conveyance, the first conveying roller 6
Although the positional relationship in the conveyance direction between the cartridge 500 and the lower conveyor belt 603 is such that it can be conveyed in reverse, the insertion window door 693 is retracted from above the opening of the empty cartridge storage section 551 and the cartridge 500 is removed.
Since there is nothing to support the cartridge 500 from below, the cartridge 500 starts to fall into the empty cartridge storage box 550.
No further reverse transport is performed. Further, the position of the second upper transport rail with respect to the lower transport rail 631 is set so that the cartridge upper plate also starts falling at the position where the cartridge lower plate starts falling.

Note that in order to detect the conveyance state of the cartridge 500, the empty cartridge storage box 550 is
A cartridge passage detection filler 703a is provided on the conveyance path between the cartridge 500 and the hopper opening, which is pressed down by the lower surface of the front flange of the cartridge 500 passing therethrough (see FIG. 2). This cartridge passage detection filler 7
03a is pressed down by the cartridge 500 to turn on an unsealed sensor (not shown) consisting of a light emitting element and a light receiving element.
Make it. Note that this unsealing sensor detects the sealing member 5 removed from the bottom surface of the cartridge 500 by the unsealing roller 680.
It is also configured to be turned on by a cartridge opening detection filler (not shown) whose tip end is pushed to the right side of the apparatus by the 04.

Next, the operation of the above toner replenishing mechanism will be explained. 6 to 12 are left side views showing the state of the toner replenishing mechanism in each operating state, FIG. 19 is a timing chart from when the cartridge 500 is inserted into the device until opening, and FIG. 20 is a reverse view. 5 is a timing chart from the start of transfer to storage in the empty cartridge accumulation section 551.

First, insert the cartridge 500 into the insertion window 692.
The operation of inserting the toner and transporting it to the toner replenishment position will be explained. The insertion window door 693 of the insertion window 692 is normally in a locked state with the lock release solenoid 700 turned OFF by the lock release solenoid control, and the lock release solenoid 700 is turned ON when it is necessary to insert the cartridge 500 such as at the toner near end. and becomes unlocked.

When the cartridge 500 is inserted while pushing the insertion window door 693 inside the apparatus with its tip, the insertion window door 693 rotates around the lower horizontal axis 693a, and the insertion window door 693 rotates about 90 degrees as shown in FIG. The cartridge 500 is stopped in the rotated state to partially cover the opening of the empty cartridge accumulating section 551, preventing the cartridge 500 from falling into the opening of the empty cartridge accumulating section 551, and moving the cartridge 500 along with the lower transport rail 631 into the hopper. A transport path is formed to support the cartridge lower plate 501 from below when transporting the cartridge 500 above the opening. At the beginning of this rotation of the insertion window door 693, the tip of the protruding plate 693a attached to the upper part of the inner surface of the insertion window door 693 comes out from between the light emitting element and the light receiving element of the door sensor 701, and the door sensor 701 is turned on. The open state of the door is detected (■ in FIG. 19).

[0031] A certain period of time T after door opening is detected.
1, the transport motor for transporting the inserted cartridge 500 starts to rotate normally, so that the cartridge upper plate 501 is moved by the first transport roller 610 without the operator pushing the cartridge 500. , the cartridge lower plate 503 is driven by the lower conveyor belt 601, whereby the cartridge 500 is drawn into the apparatus. It should be noted that the cartridge upper plate 501 of the inserted cartridge 500 reaches the first conveyance roller 610 and the cartridge lower plate 503 reaches the lower conveyance belt 603 at the same time, and the upper and bottom parts each have a conveying force. Therefore, even if the cartridge has side portions made of a film-like member or an elastic member, the cartridge is transported as one piece, and the transport state is stabilized.

First, the cartridge lower plate 503 is guided by the insertion window door 693 and the lower transport rail 631, and the cartridge upper plate 501 is guided by the first upper transport rail 632. When the cartridge upper plate 501 that has advanced toward the back side of the apparatus reaches the branching leaf spring 640 provided on the first upper transport rail 632, the cartridge upper plate 501 pushes down the branching leaf spring 640 and is further transported, and then reaches the second transport roller. It hits the bottom of 611. The cartridge upper plate 501 receives a conveying force from the first conveying roller 610, and as a result, downward pressure is applied by the pressure spring, pushing the second conveying roller 611 upward. The pushed-up second conveying roller 611 engages with the timing belt groove 501b of the cartridge upper plate 501 to provide a conveying force (FIG. 7).

While being conveyed, the cartridge is transferred onto the hopper opening, and when its leading end (in the traveling direction of the cartridge 500) reaches the cartridge passage detection filler 703a, the abutting and opening sensor is turned ON, and the cartridge is further conveyed, and its rear end reaches the cartridge passage detecting filler 703a. It passes through the passage detection filler 703a and hits to turn off the opening sensor (■ in FIG. 19). During this time, as the rear end of the cartridge 500 passes through the insertion window door 693, the free end of the insertion window door 693 rotates upward, closing the insertion window 692 and turning off the door sensor 701. At the time when this abutment opening sensor is turned off (■ in FIG. 19), the cartridge 500 is positioned above the hopper opening, which is the toner replenishment position, with its tip touching the cartridge abutment wall 6.
The transport motor has been transported almost to the position where it hits point 1, but to ensure further certainty, the transport motor is rotated forward for a certain period of time (Fig. 19
T2) in the middle, thereby causing the cartridge abutting wall 66
1, as mentioned above, the lower surface of the inclined plate is lowered to form a wedge-shaped gap that becomes narrower toward the rear of the device, so the position of the tip edge of the lower cartridge plate 503 in the conveying direction is restricted, and the hopper 101 is pressed. In addition, since the rear end is held down by the lower conveyor belt 603,
The lower cartridge plate 503 comes into close contact with the hopper 101 and stops (FIG. 8). There is a hopper opening sealing member 662 around the opening of the hopper 101 (see FIG. 3), which seals between the hopper and the cartridge 500. Therefore, when the cartridge 500 is on the hopper 101, the toner does not scatter, and it is possible to prevent toner scattering with a simple configuration. After this predetermined time T2, the drive of the transport motor is stopped, and the process shifts from the transport operation of the cartridge 500 to the operation of unsealing the cartridge 500.

The cartridge top plate 501 that has left the first conveying roller 610 is further conveyed by the conveying force of the second conveying roller 611, reaches the third conveying roller 612, and the cartridge top plate 501 leaves the first conveying roller 610.
When the cartridge is transported to the toner and agent replenishment position by the transport force of 12 (FIG. 8), the transport guide of the cartridge upper plate 501 becomes the second upper transport rail 633. Further, when the rear end of the cartridge upper plate 501 passes through the second conveying roller 611, the roller returns to its original position due to the pressure of the pressure spring. Furthermore, in the above description, the conveyance of the cartridge 500 was mainly explained using the cartridge upper plate 501, but during this time, the lower cartridge plate 503 is given a conveying force by the lower conveyor belt 603, and the cartridge insertion door 693 and the conveyor rail The lower part 631 is guided by a hopper guide 660 and is transported at the same speed as the cartridge upper plate 501.

Next, the operation of opening the cartridge 500 will be explained using FIGS. 2 and 19. In the unsealing operation of the cartridge 500 above the hopper opening, first, the timing at which the above-mentioned abutting and unsealing sensor is turned off (FIG. 19)
In (■) in the middle, confirm that the cartridge 500 insertion window door 693 is closed by checking the output of the door sensor 701.
The door lock release solenoid 700 is turned off, thereby locking the opening/closing of the insertion window door 693. Further, the unsealing pinch solenoid is turned ON, and the unsealing roller 680 pinches the free end of the right side sealing member 504 of the cartridge 500, which exists in the gap of the guide wing part 501a of the cartridge top plate 501, and the unsealing motor is turned ON. Then, rotation of the unsealing roller 680 is started, and removal of the seal member 504 on the lower surface of the cartridge 500 is started. As a result, the opening of the cartridge 500 is gradually opened by removing the sealing member 504, and the tip of the sealing member 504 reaches the opening detection filler 703d and hits the opening, turning on the opening sensor, and further, the opening operation is continued. As the process continues, the cartridge 500 and the unsealed seal member 504 are completely separated. The tip portion of the seal member 504 is the seal accumulating portion 6
It will be housed in 81. Then, when the rear end of the seal member 504 passes through the opening detection filler 703d, the abutment opening sensor turns OFF (■ in FIG. 19). This indicates that the unsealing has been completed, so the unsealing pinch solenoid and the opening motor 705 are turned off, and the unsealing roller 68 is turned off.
0 is returned to the retracted position and the unsealing operation is completed.

By opening the cartridge seal 504 of the cartridge 500, the toner and agent contained in the cartridge 500 are replenished into the respective storage portions 101a and 101b of the hopper 101. When all stored items are replenished into the hopper 101, the cartridge upper plate 501
The rear end of the rear end can be lowered to the second upper transport rail 633. (Figure 9). The toner and agent replenished into the hopper 101 as described above are replenished into the developing device 100 by toner and agent replenishment control described later. Additionally, status flags indicating the status of the above series of operations are set and reset (1) in the nonvolatile RAM during and at the end of the series of operations.
or 0), thereby making it possible to continue the operation even if the power is momentarily interrupted during execution of the process. In this way, when the replenished toner is consumed as the copying operation progresses and the toner in the hopper 101 becomes empty, toner and agent are replenished from the cartridge again. 500 to the empty cartridge accumulating section 551.

Next, the cartridge 50 above the hopper opening
The operation of storing 0 in the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 will be explained using FIGS. 10, 11, 12, and 20. This operation starts after first storing the near-end state in the nonvolatile RAM at the toner near-end time. It is sufficient that the evacuation of the empty cartridge 500 from above the hopper opening is completed before the next cartridge is inserted at the toner near end, etc., but in this embodiment, the empty cartridge 500 is In order to prevent the toner from scattering into the apparatus, wait until the toner near-end, when the next cartridge 500 needs to be inserted, and insert the empty cartridge 5 from above the hopper opening.
Reverse conveyance to the empty cartridge accumulation section 551, which is the evacuation operation of 00, is started.

First, the pinch solenoid for opening is also turned off and the opening roller 680 is also retracted so as not to interfere with the conveyance of the cartridge 500, thereby securing a conveyance path, and the conveyance motor is rotated in the reverse direction to reverse conveyance of the cartridge 500. Start. After a timing that takes into consideration the sleep rate between the transport unit and the cartridge 500, the rear end of the cartridge 500 (the end on the insertion window 692 side) reaches the cartridge passage detection filler 703a and turns on the abutment opening sensor, and then When the entire cartridge 500 is conveyed and completely passes through the cartridge passage detection filler 703a, the abutting and unsealing sensor is turned off.

During this time, the upper cartridge plate 501 and the lower cartridge plate 503 are transported toward the front side of the machine body. The cartridge board 501 is guided and transported by the second upper transport rail 633, but is always guided to the lower side of the first upper transport rail 632 by the action of the branching plate spring 640 (Fig. 1
0). Further, the lower cartridge plate 503 is guided by a hopper guide 660 and a lower conveyance rail 631, and is conveyed at the same speed as the cartridge upper plate 501. The cartridge upper plate 501 and the cartridge lower plate 503 reach the drop position above the empty cartridge accumulation section 551 (FIG. 11).

At this point, the guide for the cartridge upper plate 501 and the cartridge lower plate 503 is gone, and each can fall, but for a certain period of time (T2 in FIG. 20),
The conveyance motor continues to rotate in the reverse direction, thereby ensuring that the toner falls to the starting position. This certain period of time T2 is set longer than the time it takes for the cartridge 500 to fall due to its own weight at the drop position and the time from when it passes through the abutment opening sensor until it is transported to the drop position (taking into consideration sleep rate, etc.). . When the above operation is completed, the non-volatile RA
A counter for counting the number of empty cartridges 500 in the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 on M is incremented (+1).

From this point on, the new cartridge 500 can be inserted, so the door lock release solenoid 70
0 to unlock the insertion window door 693. Also, at this point, toner near end display starts.

[0042] Since the empty cartridge 500 is composed of plate-like members at the top and bottom and film-like members or elastic members at the side parts, when the empty cartridge 500 is dropped and stored in this way, the side parts are crushed and the empty cartridge is stored. (Figure 29). Therefore,
Empty cartridge 5 had a total height of 86mm before falling.
00 has a total height of about 10 mm when collapsed, making it possible to store it in a space-efficient manner.

Next, the automatic agent exchange system will be explained. 13 is an enlarged view of the photosensitive drum and its surroundings, FIG. 14 is a view showing the arrangement of the toner recycling pipe 114, and FIG. 15
16 is a perspective view of the toner recycling section, etc., and FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the developing device. As shown in FIGS. 13 and 16, the developing device includes a developing device main body 100 and a hopper section 101, and the hopper section 101 is divided into a toner hopper 101a and a agent hopper 101b. First, the toner and agent replenished from the cartridge 500 are each supplied to a toner hopper 1.
01a and the agent hopper 101b. The replenished toner is stirred by a stirring member 106 and supplied to the developing device 100 by a toner supply roller 108 . The toner density within the developing device 100 is controlled by the amount of toner supplied. This is done, for example, by reading the density of a predetermined reference image formed on the photosensitive drum 140 using a reflective optical density sensor (P sensor) 352 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, the agent is supplied to the developing device 101 by rotating the agent replenishing roller 107 in response to the agent replenishment signal. Note that the agent replenishment roller 107
The cross-sectional shapes of the rollers and the toner supply roller 108 are different. The agent replenishing roller 107 is intended to replenish a large amount of agent from the hopper to the developing device 100 in a short period of time, so one or more deep grooves are formed in the roller. On the other hand, the toner replenishing roller 108 has shallow grooves because it is intended to replenish toner little by little. Further, it is also possible to change the replenishment amount by changing the rotation speed using the same roller shape. The toner replenishment roller 108 and the agent replenishment roller 107 are connected to electromagnetic clutches 180 and 181 via couplings 150 and 151, respectively.
, 181 (see FIG. 16). Further, as long as the amount of replenishment per unit time can be controlled, the agent replenishing roller 107 may be a shutter-shaped roller instead of a roller-shaped roller.

The agent and toner replenished into the developing device 100 are mixed by the mixing and agitating member 104, and then transferred to the conveying member 103.
is carried to the magnet roller 102 by. The agent and toner attached to the magnet roller 102 are removed by the developing doctor 1.
05, and the remaining amount is regulated to a certain amount by the photoreceptor drum 140. Meanwhile, the rectifying plate 10
9 and a conveying screw 110 to create a uniform developer in the developing device 100.

Photosensitive drum 14 remaining after being transferred to paper
The toner on the 0 is cleaned by the mag brush cleaning device 130. The toner cleaned by the agent adhering to the magnet roller 120 is collected by the bias roller 112 to which voltage is applied, and then collected by the bias blade 122. The collected toner is transferred to the recycling pipe 11 by the recycling screw 113.
4 and returned to the developing device 100 for reuse (Fig. 14
, 26). The conveying member 111, the rectifying plate 118, the conveying screw 121, and the cleaning device doctor 119 are the conveying member 103, the rectifying plate 109, and the cleaning device doctor 119 of the developing device 100, respectively.
It functions similarly to the conveying screw 110 and the developing doctor 105.

In FIGS. 14 and 15, the agent recovery screw 115 is used to recover the agent in the cleaning device 130, and the rotation of the agent recovery screw 115 causes the agent to pass through the agent recovery pipe 116 and into the agent recovery tank 117.
will be collected. The capacity of the agent recovery tank 117 is 7000
cc, the size is equivalent to 750,000 copies. The larger the capacity of this tank, the better, but due to space issues, it needs to be at least 750cc or larger, which is equivalent to 80,000 copies. It should be noted that the capacity of the agent recovery tank 117 will be increased by the time the developing unit 100 reaches the end of its life, when satisfactory copies cannot be obtained even if the necessary replacement parts are replaced appropriately.
If the capacity is set to accommodate the total amount of used agent used in the cleaning device 130 and finally recovered from the cleaning device 130, the agent recovery tank 117 will last until the end of the life of the copying machine. Replacement work can be omitted.

FIG. 2 shows the automatic recovery of the agent in this example.
This will be explained using the timing chart of No. 1. First, when the toner runs out, the cartridge 500 is replaced. Then, when the cartridge 500 is set above the hopper opening, the agent exchange system is activated. Specifically, when the insertion operation of the cartridge 500 is completed, that is, at the timing when the abutting and opening sensor 703 is turned off (■ in FIG. 19), the agent and toner replenishing rollers 107 and 108 of the developing device 386 are activated. Then, turn on the main drive motor that becomes the drive source of the agitator 103, set a delay time until the motor starts up, and turn on the agent recovery clutch (
■) in FIG. 21, the developer in the cleaning device 130 is removed from the developer recovery pipe 1 by the rotation of the developer recovery screw 115.
16 and are all collected into the agent recovery tank 117. When the agent in the cleaning device 130 has been collected by rotation for 30 seconds, the agent recovery clutch is turned OFF to stop the agent recovery screw 115, and at the same time, the rotation direction of the recycling screw 113 used for toner recycling is reversed. The developing device 100 is rotated to convey the agent in the developing device 100 to the cleaning device 130 (■ in FIG. 21). By continuing to rotate in reverse for 120 seconds, when about half of the developer has been transferred to the cleaning device 130, the recycle motor is turned off to stop the recycle screw 113, and at the same time, the developer replenishment clutch is turned on and the developer is collected in the developer hopper 101b. Rotate the agent replenishment roller 107 to remove the agent (t3=30
seconds) (■ in FIG. 21) When all of the toner is put into the developing device 100 and both the agent replenishment clutch and toner replenishment clutch are turned off, the main drive motor is turned off and the agent replacement is completed. Note that the agent replenishment roller 107 and the toner replenishment roller 108
Due to the shape, if the time for agent replenishment and toner replenishment are made the same, the agent replenishment clutch and toner replenishment clutch can be combined into one and used as the agent and toner replenishment clutch. Further, agent replenishment and toner replenishment can be performed by operating the clutch as shown by the broken line in FIG. 21 to perform intermittent replenishment, thereby allowing smooth stirring in the axial direction of the magnet roller 102. However, in this case, there is a drawback that it takes a long time to complete the replenishment operation. Furthermore, the agent supply roller 10
7 and the toner replenishment roller 108, a shutter can also be used, and in this case, the toner replenishment clutch is turned ON.
The time t3 and the cleaning agent replenishment (recycle motor reversal) time t2 are shortened, and the agent is replenished during standby after a certain number of copies have been made. Furthermore, the agent can be replenished to the cleaning device 130 directly without going through the developing device.
30, t2 in FIG. 21 becomes 0, and the agent is replenished to the cleaning device 130 at the timing of (3). In this case, there is no need to reverse the recycling motor. During the above series of operations and at the end of the operation, each non-volatile RA
Set a status flag indicating the status in M and reset it (1
or 0), and the process can be continued even if the power is momentarily cut off during execution.

The developing device 100 and the cleaning device 130 use the same agent. In this example, the weight of the agent in the cleaning device 130 is 150 g, and that in the developing device 100 is 300 g. Further, the amount of the agent contained in the cartridge 500 is 150 g. In other words, when replacing the agent, first 150g of agent is transferred from the cleaning device 130 to the agent collection tank 11.
7, and then about 150 g of the used agent is sent from the developing device 100 to the cleaning device 130, and then the developing device 10
Add 150 g of new agent from cartridge 500 to 0. Repeat this.

Generally, the recycle screw 113 is located at the upper part of the developer 100, and the recycled toner is generally dropped onto the agent accumulated at the bottom and stirred. In the example, a recycling screw 113 is located at the lower part of the developing device 100, and introduces recycled toner into the developer. This is so that the agent in the developing device 100 can be sent to the cleaning device 130 by reversing the recycle screw 113.

The ratio of the weight of the agent in the developing device 100 to the weight of the agent in the cleaning device 130 is 2:1, and the amount of the agent in the developing device 100 is larger. This is because the agent used in the developing device 100 is reused in the cleaning device 130, so that deterioration of the agent in the developing device 100 is reduced, and it is possible to support a high-speed developing system. In other words, as the speed increases, it is necessary to start up a large amount of developer. In this method, the ratio of 2:1 is 300g and 150g, but if the amount of cleaning agent is increased to 300g, 1:1 is also possible. However, in this example, the amount of cleaning agent is 150 g to save space.

Next, replacement of the photoreceptor will be explained. The photosensitive drum 140, which is the image carrier in this embodiment, is
A photosensitive sheet 90 is placed on a support drum (hereinafter referred to as drum).
The photoreceptor sheet can be automatically wound around the drum. For this purpose, as shown in Fig. 1, a recess is formed in the drum for inserting and fixing the front and rear ends of the photoreceptor sheet, and the front and rear ends of the photoreceptor sheet are fixed in this recess. A mechanism (not shown) is provided for this purpose. The photoreceptor sheet that has reached the end of its service life and is wound up from the drum is collected into the storage section through the entrance of the photoreceptor sheet storage section formed at the lower part of the empty cartridge storage box 550. This empty cartridge storage box 550
This will be discussed later. Then, a new photoconductor sheet, which was also stored in the photoconductor sheet storage section, is wound onto the drum. In order to convey the photoconductor sheet between the photoconductor sheet storage section and the drum, a conveyance mechanism consisting of rollers and belts is also provided between the entrance of the photoconductor sheet storage section and the circumferential surface of the drum. There is.

Next, the empty cartridge storage box 550, which can be detached from the main body of the apparatus, will be explained. Figure 17 shows
It is a perspective view of the entire box 550 seen from the rear,
The box is detachably supported by the apparatus main body. FIG. 18(a) is a front view of the box, FIG. 18(b) is a view seen from the upper left, and FIG. 18(c) is a plan view thereof. An empty cartridge accumulating section 551 for accommodating empty cartridges 500 is formed in the upper part, and a photoreceptor sheet accommodating section 599 is formed in the lower part. The empty cartridge accumulating section 551 in this example stores 10 empty cartridges 500.
It is possible to accommodate individuals. Since the cartridge 500 stores approximately 360 g of toner as described above, approximately 8,000 copies can be made with standard use. Therefore, approximately 80,000 copies can be made before the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 becomes full. The total height of the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 is set to 110 mm. Regarding the empty cartridge accumulation section 551, for example, in an apparatus with a slow copy speed, the amount of toner used is small;
Since the loading cycle of the cartridge 500 is long, the number of cartridges that can be accommodated may be five. In that case, the total height of the empty cartridge accumulation section 551 can be set to, for example, 60 mm, and the total height of the empty cartridge accumulation section 551 can be set to 60 mm.
It becomes possible to provide an empty cartridge accumulation area lower than 0.00. The photoreceptor sheet storage section 599 stores the photoreceptor sheet before use and the photoreceptor sheet 900 after use, and faces the photoreceptor sheet conveying mechanism when set in the main body of the apparatus, as shown in FIG. A photoreceptor sheet inlet 800 is provided at a position parallel to the axis of the support drum 905 for the photoreceptor sheet. A feed roller 930 is provided at the loading/unloading port 800, and the roller 930 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by being driven by a drive motor of the image forming apparatus via a coaxial gear 932. feed roller 9
30 is pressed by a plate spring 931, and when the photoreceptor sheet 900 is wrapped around the drum, the photoreceptor sheet 900 is held under pressure between the feed roller 930 and the plate spring 931, and the rotation of the feed roller 930 causes the photoreceptor sheet 900 to be rotated at approximately the same speed as the linear speed of the drum. sent out. When the photoreceptor sheet 900 is peeled off from the drum 905, the force in the feed direction of the guide roller section and the self-weight of the photoreceptor sheet 900 are used to separate the photoreceptor sheet 900 from the drum 905 as shown in the figure.
It is pushed inside from the gap of “D”.In the main body of the device,
As mentioned above, the empty cartridge storage box 550 and the insertion window 694 are provided below the cartridge insertion window (
(See FIG. 2), the operator takes in and out the empty cartridge storage box 550 through the window. A handle is formed on the front side of the box 500 for taking in and out. Further, the empty cartridge storage box 550 is provided with a lock mechanism and a shutter mechanism for opening and closing the upper opening of the empty storage section 551.

[0053] This storage box 550 for empty cartridges, etc.
At certain long-term intervals, a new empty cartridge storage box 55 is stored together with the used photoconductor sheet stored in the photoconductor sheet storage section 599 and the empty toner cartridge 500 stored in the empty cartridge accumulation section 551.
Replace with 0 as appropriate. Here, the above-mentioned fixed period is set according to the lifespan of the photoreceptor, for example, and the amount of toner consumed within the lifespan of the photoreceptor is predicted from the copy speed of the main body of the apparatus and the number of copies to be made in January, for example. An empty cartridge accumulating portion is set to have a size capable of accommodating a corresponding number of toner cartridges (the amount of toner accommodated per toner cartridge is also appropriately determined). In other words, the volume of the toner cartridge and the volume of the empty toner cartridge accumulating portion are determined based on the amount of toner consumed during the life of parts called consumables. In this example, the capacity of the empty cartridge accumulation section 551 is
The empty cartridge storage capacity of the empty cartridge accumulating section 551 is set so that the time when the empty cartridge 550 becomes full and the life of the photoreceptor sheet 900 are approximately the same time. Therefore, if the box is taken out and disposed of when the photoreceptor sheet 900 reaches the end of its life, it is possible to dispose of two waste storage means at the same time in one operation without wasting the storage section. Become. As a result, the user's maintenance work regarding the toner and photoreceptor sheet used in the device main body is reduced by inserting a cartridge every time 8,000 copies are made, and when 80,000 copies are made, an empty cartridge is removed. It is only necessary to discard the storage box 550, and the operability can be greatly improved.

By the way, the total number of empty toner cartridges stored (capacity of the empty cartridge accumulating section 561) and the total number of copies, which indicates the service life limit of the photoreceptor, are determined based on the above-mentioned relationship.
The amount of toner used per copying operation varies depending on the copying size, image ratio, copying efficiency, etc. Therefore, depending on the usage conditions, the time when the empty toner cartridge accumulation section 561 becomes full and the time when the photoreceptor sheet 900 reaches its service life limit may not always coincide. Therefore, in this embodiment, the following control regarding replacement of the empty cartridge storage box is performed. That is, in this embodiment, when the number of empty cartridges is 10,
Or, this durability limit is 8 for one photoreceptor sheet 900.
When 10,000 copies have been made, after the photoreceptor sheet 900 is peeled off from the drum 905, a message is displayed requesting replacement of the empty cartridge storage box 550. FIG. 23 is a flow chart of this control, and FIG. 25 is its timing chart. In FIG. 23, step 3 and step 5
Determine whether any of the above applies. If any of these cases apply and the empty cartridge storage box (MFP) is not pulled out (Y in step 6), the empty cartridge storage box 550 is unlocked in steps 7 to 10. (Turns on the lock solenoid (MFP lock SOL)) and displays a predetermined display. Further, when a new empty cartridge storage box is loaded, the control shown in the flowchart in FIG. 24 is executed to set the same lock. FIG. 26 is a timing chart thereof.

Next, initialization of the image forming process conditions when replacing the photosensitive sheet 900 will be described. When the photoreceptor sheet 900 is replaced, it is desirable to initialize the image forming process according to the characteristics of the new photoreceptor sheet 900. In this example, the following four corrections are performed. For this reason, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. 22, when the replacement of the cartridge storage box 550 is completed and the winding of a new photoreceptor sheet is completed, the drum is charged (-
600V) Execute the prescribed exposure on a part (turn on the exposure LD)
), the potentials of the exposed and unexposed parts of the photoreceptor are read by a potential sensor (sampled at regular intervals during period T).
, and the optical density of the developed toner image in the exposed area and the unexposed background area is read by the optical sensor 352. obtained 4
Check and correct the following items using the species data. 1. Check the charging potential and the exposed part potential, and correct the set value of the charger output (and/or grid voltage) so that the charging potential becomes -600V. 2. Check the charging potential and the exposed part potential, and then perform the exposure (LD
power), and the development bias output settings. 3. The optical sensor output of the toner image and the background area is checked, and the output of the optical sensor is corrected (correction for the difference in reflectance (surface properties) due to photoreceptor sheet replacement). 4. The toner density is detected by checking the optical sensor output of the toner image and the background area, and the toner density in the developing device is corrected by performing a toner replenishment operation as necessary.

Next, a copying machine according to another embodiment of the present invention will be explained. In the above embodiment, the cleaning device 1
The present invention is applied to a copying machine in which the untransferred toner collected in step 30 is transferred to the developing machine 100 for reuse. It can also be applied to copying machines that are disposed of as waste toner. FIG. 27 is a front view showing the general structure of this copying machine, FIG. 28 is a schematic view showing the structure around the photosensitive drum, and FIG. 29 is a plan view showing the waste toner recovery path from the cleaning device. In these figures, the same reference numerals are given to the components corresponding to those of the copying machine according to the above embodiment. In this example, the toner collected by the cleaning device 130 is transferred to the waste toner storage section 561 via the toner collection pipe 141.
It will be sent to and stored here. This waste toner storage section 561
is formed in the cartridge storage box 550 as described later, and the toner stored in this waste toner storage section 561 is not reused and is discarded together with the cartridge storage box 550. The automatic agent exchange is basically the same as the above example, but
The method for conveying the agent from the developing device 100 to the cleaning device is different. In this embodiment, instead of reversing the recycle screw 113 to send the agent from the developing device 100 to the cleaning device 130 in the above embodiment, carrier is attached onto the photosensitive drum 140 and the cleaning device 130
0 and collected by the magnet roller 120 of the cleaning device 130. For this purpose, the potential of the photosensitive drum 140 and the bias of the developing magnet roller 102 and the like are controlled so that the toner adheres to the photosensitive drum 140. If the agent is deposited on the drum and transported to the cleaning device, no mechanism such as a pipe is required, and costs can be reduced. Instead of this, a dedicated material conveying pipe or the like may be used.

FIG. 30 is a perspective view of the empty cartridge storage box of the copying machine, FIG. It is. In this example, in order to facilitate the operation of disposing of the container in which waste toner is stored in the copying machine, this container is formed integrally with a storage box for empty cartridges, etc. In this box, the toner storage section 561 is formed above the photoreceptor sheet storage section 599 and on the side of the empty cartridge accumulation section 551 and integrally therewith. Other points are the same as those in the above embodiment. Inside the toner storage section 561, a small room 568 is formed with a bottom open by a partition wall 565.The outer wall of the small room has a storage space for receiving waste toner transferred from the cleaning device 130 through a collection pipe or the like. 569
is formed. At the lower opening of the small chamber 568, a feeding member 563 is rotatably driven in order to compress the waste toner carried into the small chamber from the carry-in port 569 and drop it into the large room, which is a portion other than the small chamber 568. is provided. The waste toner discharged from the cleaning device 130 is first carried into the small room 538 through the carry-in port 569. Since the carry-in port 569 is provided above the feeding member 563, waste toner falls near the feeding member 563 under its own weight and accumulates. The accumulated waste toner is transferred from the small chamber 538 to the large chamber 53 by the rotation of the feeding member 563.
Sent to 7. Since the small chamber 538 is provided above the large chamber 537, the feeding member 563 is not subject to rotational load due to the weight of the waste toner fed therein.

By the way, as will be described later, under standard use, waste toner is generated approximately in proportion to the amount of toner used. On the other hand, the number of empty cartridges 500 naturally occurs in proportion to the amount of toner used. Further, the photoreceptor sheet deteriorates depending on the total copy amount. Therefore, if the volumes of the waste toner storage section and the empty cartridge storage section 551 are appropriately set in relation to the life of the photoreceptor sheet, the timing of the end of the life of the photoreceptor sheet and the empty cartridge storage section 551 and the waste toner storage section 561 can be filled up at approximately the same time. FIG. 32 shows the relationship between toner consumption, amount of waste toner, and deterioration of the photoreceptor. As can be seen from the figure, the relationship between the number of copies (CV) and the amount of toner consumed is approximately proportional, although it has a certain range. This constant width occurs because the dark areas of the document are not constant. Moreover, the untransferred toner (waste toner) on the photoreceptor more accurately follows the amount of toner consumption than the number of copies. However, the amount generated varies greatly depending on the transfer efficiency. For example, if the transfer charger becomes dirty over time, the transfer efficiency will deteriorate and the waste toner generation rate will increase (generally, the efficiency is about 70 to 80%). Furthermore, since the photoreceptor also repeatedly comes into contact with the developer and cleaning agent and comes into close contact with and separated from the transfer paper during copying operations, the incidence of scratches and streaks on the surface increases as the CV increases. Increase in drum defects due to increase in CV,
By combining changes in the three parameters of increasing the amount of waste toner and toner consumption, it is possible to make the time when the photoreceptor sheet reaches the end of its life and the time when the empty cartridge storage section etc. become full approximately equal. . Specifically, for example, the relationship between the maximum waste toner generation amount (TB) and the maximum toner consumption amount (TA) with respect to the CV of the drum life (TC) shown in FIG. 32 is used. If it is integrally formed, the following equation (1) is required, and the waste toner storage section volume≧TB×1/compression ratio (
1) Furthermore, if the number of cartridges stored in the empty cartridge storage section is n, then the following equation (2) is required. n×350g≧TA
(2) Therefore, the upper limit CV is determined from TC, TA is determined from this CV, and TB is determined by considering the worst transfer rate. This determines the volumes of the various accommodating parts and the means that can be attached and detached in one piece. According to this, the empty cartridge etc. storage box 550 type 3 can be used for at least one of the empty cartridge accumulation parts 551 and the waste toner storage part 591 because the time when the empty cartridge accumulation part 551 and the waste toner storage part 591 become full is approximately the same time as the life of the photoreceptor sheet. If they are discarded when they are full or have reached the end of their service life, it is possible to dispose of three waste containers at the same time in one operation without wasting the storage section. Similarly to the above embodiment, in order to respond to changes in the usage conditions of the copying machine, when the number of empty cartridges is stored in the empty cartridge storage section 551 is 10, one photoreceptor sheet 9
When 80,000 copies have been made in 00, or when the discharge toner storage section 561 is full, the empty cartridge storage box 550 must be replaced after the photoreceptor sheet 900 is peeled off from the drum 905. Perform the requested display. Figure 33
is a flowchart of this control. In steps 3 to 5, it is determined whether any of the above cases applies. Of these, the discharge toner bottle fullness detection is performed using a piezoelectric sensor or the like. If any of these cases apply and the empty cartridge storage box (MFP) is not pulled out (Y in step 7), the lock that prohibits removal of the box is checked in steps 8 to 11. (lock solenoid (MFP lock SOL)
(turns on) and performs a predetermined display. Also, when a new empty cartridge storage box is loaded,
As in the above embodiment, the control shown in the flowchart in FIG. 24 is executed to set the lock and the like. In this embodiment, as in the above embodiment, when the empty cartridge storage box 550 is replaced and a new photoreceptor sheet is wound, the image forming process is changed according to the characteristics of the photoreceptor sheet. Initialize the conditions.

[0059]

According to the present invention, the developer accommodating means loaded in the loading section is transferred to the developer replenishing section by the transfer means, thereby making it easy to load the developer accommodating means and also A developer storage means, which is emptied by replenishing the developer in the developer replenishment part, is provided in the apparatus from the developer replenishment part.
The developer storage means is transferred to a storage means and the empty developer storage means is stored therein until the storage means is full.
To significantly improve the operability of toner replenishment, since developer can be refilled by simply loading the developer storage means into the main body, and the trouble of taking out the empty developer storage means each time it is refilled is eliminated. I can do it. In addition, this storage means is integrated with an electrostatic latent image carrier storage means for storing used electrostatic latent image carriers by providing a removable storage means in the main body of the apparatus. Since the empty developer storage means and the like that are no longer needed due to use during work can be discarded, maintenance work for the user can be greatly reduced, and since only unnecessary items are discarded, resources can be used effectively. Furthermore, the first control means determines that the total number of empty developer storage containers stored in the storage means has reached the upper limit that can be stored in the storage means, and that the number of image forming operations using the electrostatic latent image carrier is determined. When detecting at least one of the states in which the electrostatic latent image carrier has reached its service life limit, the timing for replacing the storage means is determined, and thereby the operator can accurately determine the timing for replacing the storage means. It is possible to notify etc. Further, the second control means initializes the image forming conditions of the apparatus main body in response to the replacement operation of the storage means, thereby forming an image under image forming conditions corresponding to the new latent image carrier after replacement. I can do it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a digital copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining the outline of a toner replenishment mechanism of the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the configuration near the hopper opening of the toner replenishment mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a left side view showing the configuration near the hopper opening of the toner replenishment mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cartridge used in the copying machine.

FIG. 6 is a left side view showing a state in which the cartridge is being inserted.

FIG. 7 is a left side view showing a state in which the cartridge is being conveyed onto the hopper opening.

FIG. 8 is a left side view showing a state in which the cartridge has reached the hopper opening.

FIG. 9 is a left side view showing a state in which the cartridge has finished supplying toner and the like above the hopper opening.

FIG. 10 is a left side view showing a state immediately after reverse transport of the cartridge has started.

FIG. 11 is a left side view showing a state in which the cartridge has reached the cartridge stacking section.

FIG. 12 is a left side view showing a state in which the cartridge has fallen into the cartridge stacking section.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of the vicinity of the photoreceptor of the copying machine.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the developer transport system of the copying machine;
(a) is a top view, (b) is a front view.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the developer transport system.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the developing device of the copying machine.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of an empty cartridge storage box of the copying machine.

FIG. 18 shows the same box; (a) is a front view thereof, (b) is a view seen from the upper left, and (c) is a plan view thereof.

FIG. 19 is a timing chart of control when inserting a cartridge in the copying machine.

FIG. 20 is a timing chart of control during transfer of a cartridge storage section in the copying machine.

FIG. 21 is a timing chart of control when opening a cartridge in the copying machine.

FIG. 22 is a timing chart of control during process check in the copying machine.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of control when pulling out a storage box for empty cartridges, etc. in the copying machine.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of control when pushing the empty cartridge storage box in the copying machine.

FIG. 25 is a timing chart of the control in FIG. 23;

FIG. 26 is a timing chart of the control in FIG. 24;

FIG. 27 is a front view of a digital copying machine according to another embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of the vicinity of the photoreceptor of the copying machine.

FIG. 29 is a plan view of the developer transport system in the copying machine.

FIG. 30 is a perspective view of a storage box for empty cartridges, etc. of the copying machine.

FIG. 31 shows the same box; (a) is a front view thereof, (b) is a left side view thereof, and (c) is a view seen from the upper left side thereof.

FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram of factors related to the timing of replacing the box.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart of control when pulling out a storage box for empty cartridges, etc. in the copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

500 cartridges, 5
02 Cartridge film 502a Toner storage section, 50
2b Agent storage section 504 Cartridge seal, 550
Empty cartridge storage box 551 Empty cartridge accumulation section, 561
Waste toner storage section 563 feeding member, 5
68 Small room 569 Waste toner entrance
, 599 Photoreceptor sheet storage section 660 Hopper guide , 66
1 Hopper abutment wall 662 Hopper opening seal member, 680 Opening roller 681 Cartridge seal accumulation section, 691
Cartridge loading section 692 Cartridge insertion window, 69
3 Cartridge insertion door 694 Maintenance free pack insertion window

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrostatic latent image carrier, a developing means for developing an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image carrier, and an electrostatic latent image carrier exchange for replacing the electrostatic latent image carrier. an electrostatic latent image carrier accommodating means for accommodating the electrostatic latent image carrier that has reached its service life limit and has been replaced; a developer accommodating means for accommodating replenishing developer; and the developer accommodating means. a loading section into which the developer accommodating means loaded in the loading section is transferred to the developer replenishing section; a replenishing means for replenishing the developer in the replenishing section; a storage means for storing the empty developer accommodating means after replenishing the developer in the developer replenishing section; a transport means for transporting the developer from the developer replenishment section to the storage means; a storage means in which the electrostatic latent image carrier storage means and the storage means are integrally provided and are configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body; The state in which the total number of empty developer storage containers stored in the storage means has reached the upper limit that can be stored in the storage means, and the number of image forming operations using the electrostatic latent image bearing member a first control means that determines the timing for replacing the storage means when detecting at least one of the following states: a state in which the storage means has reached its service life limit; an image forming apparatus comprising: a second control means for initializing image forming conditions; 2. An electrostatic latent image carrier, a developing means for developing an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image carrier, and an electrostatic latent image carrier exchange for replacing the electrostatic latent image carrier. an electrostatic latent image carrier housing means for accommodating the electrostatic latent image carrier that has reached its service life limit and has been replaced; a cleaning means for collecting untransferred toner from the electrostatic latent image carrier; A waste toner accommodating means for accommodating toner collected by the cleaning means, a developer accommodating means for accommodating replenishing developer, a loading section into which the developer accommodating means is loaded, and a waste toner accommodating means for accommodating the toner collected by the cleaning means, a loading section into which the developer accommodating means is loaded, a transport means for transporting the developer storage means to a developer replenishment section; a replenishment means for replenishing the developer contained in the developer storage means transferred to the developer replenishment section into the replenishment section; a storage means for storing the empty developer storage means that has been refilled with developer in the developer replenishment section; a transfer means for transporting the empty developer storage means from the developer replenishment section to the storage means; An electrostatic latent image carrier storage means, the waste toner storage means, and the storage means are integrally provided, and the storage means is configured to be detachably attached to the apparatus main body, and the waste toner is stored in the storage means. A state in which the total number of empty developer storage containers has reached the upper limit that can be stored in the storage means, a state in which the amount of toner stored in the waste toner storage means has reached the upper limit of the amount that can be stored, and the electrostatic latent image. A first step that determines the replacement timing of the storage means when detecting at least one of a state in which the number of image forming operations using the carrier has reached the service life limit of the electrostatic latent image carrier;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a control means; and a second control means for initializing image forming conditions of the apparatus main body in response to a replacement operation of the storage means.