JPH04371986A - Toner recovery device in image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To house recovery toner by smoothly moving it from the vicinity of a rotary cleaning brush to the back side of a recovery toner housing part and to prevent the flocculation of the toner inside the recovery toner housing part without generating an abnormal sound. CONSTITUTION:The bottom wall part of a cleaning device 6 w}nose back side part is the recovery toner housing part 23, is formed with an ultrasonic carrying member 24. This ultrasonic carrying member 24 is composed of a large number of electrodes 24a, a piezoelectric member 24b as an exciting member, and an elastic vibrating member 24c composed of for instance, a copper plate having the formation of a slit, and a carrying sheet 26 composed of, for instance, a polyester film, is provided on the upper surface of the elastic vibrating member 24c. A standing wave is applied to a large number of the electrodes 24a by a driving circuit 25 based on the principle of the operation of ultrasonic carriage.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, facsimile machines, printers, etc., and more particularly, to a toner collection device for storing toner and the like removed from the surface of an image carrier by a cleaning device.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of toner collection device includes:
One is installed in the casing of a cleaning device that collects residual toner after transfer from the surface of the image carrier, and the other is installed separately from such a cleaning device and connects the cleaning device and toner conveying members such as toner conveying pipes. What is connected is known. In the former toner recovery device (hereinafter referred to as an integrated toner recovery device), there is a region within the casing where a cleaning member such as a cleaning blade or a cleaning fur brush that comes into contact with the surface of the image carrier is arranged, and a region provided vertically. The collected toner storage section is partitioned by a partition wall or the like, and a collecting member such as a rotating roller is disposed in a collected toner intake port formed in a part of the partition wall. The collected toner intake port is usually formed near the bottom wall of the casing of the partition wall due to layout constraints within the image forming apparatus. In the latter type of toner recovery device (hereinafter referred to as a separate toner recovery device), the end of the toner recovery pipe or the like on the discharge port side usually passes through a hole formed in the upper side wall of the toner recovery device to remove the collected toner. Extends to the containment chamber,
The collected toner discharged from the discharge port is configured to fall onto the bottom surface of the collected toner storage chamber and be stored therein. When the toner that falls onto the bottom surface of the collected toner storage chamber accumulates and aggregates to a height that blocks the discharge port, it may reduce the transporting force of the transporting screw in the toner collection pipe, or in the worst-case scenario. However, according to the above configuration, the toner that falls onto the bottom surface of the collected toner storage chamber and is stored accumulates in a mountain shape and aggregates, so the capacity of the collected toner storage chamber is reduced. The outlet is blocked before it is used up and becomes full. Therefore, in order to eliminate such problems, the bottom wall of the collected toner storage chamber is sloped, and the entire toner collection device is mechanically vibrated by a mechanism consisting of a rotating cam and a spring. It has been proposed that a relatively large amount of recovered toner can be accommodated before the outlet is blocked, and that agglomeration of the recovered toner is less likely to occur.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, according to the structure of the above-mentioned integrated toner collecting device, the rotating rollers etc. provided in the collected toner intake port formed near the bottom wall of the casing of the partition wall are Since the collecting member only sends toner into the collected toner storage unit, toner accumulates and aggregates near the collected toner intake in the collected toner storage unit, creating a driving load for the collecting member, causing blocking and cleaning. There has been a problem in that toner may blow out from the opening in the portion of the device facing the image carrier. In addition, in the above-mentioned separate toner collection device,
If the bottom wall of the collected toner storage chamber is sloped as described above, the toner will accumulate in the lower parts of the collected toner storage chamber, making the balance of the toner collection device unstable. This increases the size of the image forming apparatus, and furthermore, it does not effectively prevent the collected toner from coagulating. Furthermore, as mentioned above, applying mechanical vibration to the toner collection device is effective in preventing agglomeration of collected toner, but since mechanical vibration is applied to the entire toner collection device by a mechanism consisting of a rotating cam, a spring, etc. However, there was a problem in that it produced abnormal noise.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to smoothly move and store collected toner from the vicinity of the collected toner intake port to the inner side of the collected toner storage section. Another object of the present invention is to provide a toner collecting device that can prevent toner aggregation within a collected toner accommodating portion without generating abnormal noise.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 provides a toner collecting device for an image forming apparatus having a collected toner storage section and a collected toner intake port. The present invention is characterized by providing an ultrasonic conveying member for conveying the collected toner taken in from the collected toner intake port in the storage section, and a driving means for driving the ultrasonic conveying member. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the toner collecting device of the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the ultrasonic conveying member is provided on a bottom portion of the collected toner storage section. According to a third aspect of the invention, in the toner recovery device of the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, a switching means for switching the direction of conveyance of the ultrasonic conveying member is provided. The invention of claim 4 provides a toner collection device in an image forming apparatus according to claim 2, which is detachably attached to an apparatus main body, and in which the toner collecting device is removed from the apparatus main body. The present invention is characterized in that the vibrating member and the bottom wall of the collected toner accommodating portion are configured to be separable so that the member can remain in the main body of the apparatus.

[0006]

[Operation] The present invention operates so that the collected toner taken in from the collected toner intake port is ultrasonically transported by an ultrasonic transporting member in the collected toner storage section.

[0007]

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in an electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine) which is an image forming apparatus, and an integrated toner recovery system that collects toner removed from a photoconductor which is an image carrier by a cleaning device. An example applied to an apparatus will be described. First, the outline of a copying machine will be explained using FIG. 1(a). In FIG. 1(a), a photosensitive drum 1, which is a latent image carrier, is rotated clockwise. When an original is placed on a contact glass (not shown) and a print switch (not shown) is pressed, reflected light from the original is illuminated onto the photoreceptor drum by a scanning optical system (not shown) consisting of an original illumination light source, a mirror, etc. . As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum, which has already been uniformly charged by the charging charger 2. This electrostatic latent image is made visible by the developing device 3, and this visible image is transferred by the corona discharge of the transfer charger 4 onto the transfer paper fed from the paper feed section. After this transfer, the transfer paper is separated from the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 by a separation charger 5. After this separation, the transfer paper passes through a fixing device (not shown), and after the transferred image on the transfer paper is fixed, it is discharged to the outside of the machine. On the other hand, after the transfer, residual toner is removed from the surface of the photoreceptor by a cleaning device 6, and residual charges are removed by an eraser 7 to prepare for the next uniform charging.

Next, the integrated toner recovery device according to this embodiment will be explained. In FIG. 1B, which is an enlarged view of the cleaning device 6 in FIG. 1A, the cleaning device 6 includes a cleaning blade 20 and a rotating cleaning brush 21 in an opening facing the surface of the photoreceptor drum. This cleaning blade 20 is for removing foreign matter such as pieces of paper that are difficult to remove, and is supported at one point in the center so that the contact pressure on the surface of the photoreceptor drum in the axial direction of the photoreceptor drum is uniform. , is constantly pressurized by a spring 22. The rotating cleaning brush 21 is driven to rotate in the same direction as the photosensitive drum 1.

[0009] The back part of the cleaning device that is away from the photosensitive drum 1 serves as a collected toner storage section 23 . The collected toner accommodating portion 23 and the region where the cleaning blade 20 and the rotating cleaning brush 21 are disposed are arranged such that the lower edge thereof is located above the bottom surface of the cleaning device by a predetermined amount, and the collected toner storage portion 23 is located above the bottom surface of the cleaning device by a predetermined amount. It may be partitioned by a partition plate that forms an intake port. The bottom wall portion of the cleaning device is formed of an ultrasonic conveying member 24. This ultrasonic transport member 24
A large number of electrodes 24a, a piezoelectric member 24b which is a vibration member
, and an elastic vibrating member 24c made of, for example, a copper plate with slits formed therein, and a conveying sheet 26 made of, for example, a polyester film is provided on the upper surface of the elastic vibrating member 24c. The top surface of this conveyance sheet 26 is the bottom surface inside the cleaning device. This large number of electrodes 24a
A predetermined standing wave is applied by a drive circuit 25 based on the operating principle of ultrasonic transport, which will be described later. This cleaning device 6 is detachably supported by the copying machine main body, and when the cleaning device 6 is taken out from the copying machine main body, the piezoelectric member 24b fixed to the main body side is moved by the elastic vibration member 24c.
It is designed to be separated from the

In the above configuration, the toner removed from the surface of the photosensitive drum by the cleaning blade 20 and the rotating cleaning brush 21 falls onto the conveying sheet 26 below. The toner on the conveying sheet 26 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A along the undulating surface of the conveying sheet 26 by the piezoelectric member 24b which is undulated by applying a predetermined standing wave to a large number of electrodes 24a by the drive circuit 25, and the collected toner is It is deposited on the back side of the storage section 23.

[0011] Here, the principle of the transport operation using ultrasonic vibration as a drive source used in the ultrasonic transport member of this embodiment will be explained. Ultrasonic waves are elastic vibrations of air with a frequency exceeding 50 Hz to 20 KHz that can be heard by humans, and in a broad sense, it refers to all elastic vibrations of gases, liquids, and solids, excluding audible sounds of air. In this case, it corresponds to elastic vibration of a solid. The general principle of operation is that the thickness T, width W
, length L, density ρ, Young's modulus Y, both ends (X=
0, Y=L) are equal, then T《
L, W《L

...(1), the displacement ξ1 in the thickness T direction is ξ1=ξ0Sin(nX)・Sin(ω0t)
...(2)
It is. n4=12ω02ρ/(YT2)

...(3) nL=2πS

S=1,2,3

...(4) l=L/S

ω0=(2π/l)2×T(Y/12ρ)1/2
...(5)
l is the wavelength. Similarly, π/2 in position and time
When the phase of is changed, ξ2=ξ0cos(nX)×cos(ω0t)
...(6)
When these two vibrations are added together, a traveling wave of bending vibration is obtained. ξ=ξ1+ξ2=ξ0cos(nX−ω0t)
…(7
) The phase velocity v is v=ω0/n=(2π/l)T(Y/12ρ)
1/2...(8) is found. This vibration is with respect to the neutral surface, and on a surface with thickness T (at a position T/2 away from the neutral surface), ζ=ξ0n(T/2)×sin(nX-ω0t
)=πξ0(T/l)×sin(nX−ω0t)
…(9)
A displacement in the lateral direction (length L direction) occurs. Equations (7) and (9) indicate that a mass point on the surface moves in an ellipse with a ratio of vertical to horizontal directions of 1:πT/l. When the longitudinal displacement ξ is maximum (nX=ω0t), the lateral displacement ζ is minimum. The speed U of the lateral displacement ζ also becomes maximum, and the following equation is obtained. U=dζ/dt=-πω0ξ0(T/l)×c
os(nX-ω0t) Umax=-πω0ξ0
T/l
...(10) Since it is a traveling wave, the maximum point of the longitudinal displacement ξ moves at the phase velocity v, but the object that comes into contact with the peak moves in a constant direction at the speed expressed by the above equation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the collected toner can be smoothly stored without toner being accumulated in the vicinity of the rotating cleaning brush, which is the collecting toner intake port into the collected toner storage section 23. Furthermore, since ultrasonic transport is used, almost no abnormal noise is generated. Furthermore, since the ultrasonic vibration vibrates the toner, aggregation of the toner can be prevented. Furthermore, since the relatively expensive piezoelectric member 24b is left on the main body side when the cleaning device 6 is taken out of the copying machine, economical efficiency is not adversely affected even when the cleaning device main body is configured as a disposable unit, for example. The elastic vibration member 24c of the ultrasonic conveying member 24 and the conveying sheet 26 are separable so that the entire ultrasonic conveying member 24 remains in the copying machine body and the cleaning device body can be removed from the copying machine. Good too.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2(a) is a schematic diagram of the copying machine according to this embodiment. The toner recovery device in this copying machine is of a separate type, and the structure of the copying machine is basically the same as that of the copying machine according to the above embodiment shown in FIG. 1(a). Components corresponding to the configurations in the above embodiment are given the same reference numerals. The cleaning device 6 in this embodiment also uses a cleaning blade 20 and a rotating cleaning brush 21 to remove residual toner from the surface of the photoreceptor drum. A square bar-shaped rotating collection member 30 is used to transport the toner that has fallen onto the bottom surface of the cleaning device to the back side on the bottom surface.
is provided. An intake end of a toner discharge pipe 32 whose discharge end is connected to a waste toner bottle 31, which is a toner collection device provided separately, at a location on the bottom surface where the toner is sent by the rotating collection member 30. The parts are connected. A toner discharge coil 32b that is rotationally driven is provided within the toner discharge pipe 32.

The bottom wall of the waste toner bottle 31 is formed of an ultrasonic conveying member 24 similar to that of the above embodiment, and a drive circuit 25 is connected to a large number of electrodes 24a of the ultrasonic conveying member 24. As shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), the discharge end of the toner discharge pipe 32 is connected to approximately the center of the upper side wall of the waste toner bottle 31 in the left-right direction. The discharge port 32a serves as a toner intake port. In this example, the drive circuit 25 controls a large number of electrodes 24a by control signals from a control section (not shown).
By switching the phase of the standing wave applied to (sin wave and co
s wave), and the direction of conveyance can be switched to the left and right as shown by arrows A and B in FIG. 2(b). To change the conveyance direction, use the waste toner bottle 3.
The toner deviation detection means in 1 may be provided, and the detection may be carried out based on the deviation detection signal from the detection means, or it may be performed automatically at a certain period, or furthermore, the deviation correction instruction may be operated by an operator. This can be done using a signal from a dedicated switch. In the case where the direction of conveyance is automatically switched at regular intervals, it is necessary to prevent the toner that falls and accumulates from the toner outlet 32a to the center of the bottom in the left-right direction from being concentrated only directly below the toner outlet 32a. Set the switching cycle.

In the above configuration, the cleaning device 6
The toner removed from the surface of the photoreceptor drum falls on the bottom of the cleaning device, is conveyed to the back side by the rotating collection member 30, enters the intake of the toner discharge pipe 32, and is discharged from the discharge coil 32b inside the pipe 32. The waste toner is transported by the waste toner bottle 31 and falls from the toner discharge port 32a onto the transport sheet 26 forming the bottom surface of the waste toner bottle 31. Conveyance sheet 2
The toner that has fallen onto the drive circuit 2 is transferred to a large number of electrodes 24a.
At 5, a piezoelectric member 2 is undulated by applying a predetermined standing wave.
4b, the undulating surface of the conveying sheet 26 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A or B. Then, the direction of conveyance on the surface of the conveyance sheet 26 is appropriately switched by the means described above.

As described above, in this embodiment, the toner that has fallen from the toner discharge port 32a onto the conveyance sheet 26 forming the bottom surface of the waste toner bottle 31 is conveyed by the ultrasonic conveyance member 24. Toner does not accumulate in a mountain shape on 32a. Further, as in the above embodiment, since ultrasonic transport is used, it is possible to prevent toner aggregation with almost no abnormal noise being generated. Note that when the waste toner bottle 31 in this embodiment is configured to be taken out from the apparatus main body and discarded together with the waste toner, the relatively expensive piezoelectric member 24b is left on the main body side and the elastic It is desirable that the piezoelectric member 24b and the elastic vibrating member 24c be separable so that only the vibrating member 24c can be discarded together with the main body of the waste toner bottle 31. Furthermore,
The elastic vibration member 24c of the ultrasonic conveying member 24 and the conveying sheet 26 are separable so that the entire ultrasonic conveying member 24 remains in the copying machine body and the waste toner bottle 31 body can be removed from the copying machine. Good too.

[0017]

According to the invention as set forth in claims 1 to 4, since the collected toner taken in from the collected toner intake port is ultrasonically transported by the ultrasonic transport member in the collected toner storage section, the collected toner is transported in the vicinity of the collected toner intake port. The collected toner can be smoothly moved from the toner to the back of the collected toner storage section and stored therein, and the toner agglomeration inside the collected toner storage section can be prevented without producing any abnormal noise, which is an excellent effect. There is. Furthermore, according to the third aspect of the present invention, a switching means is provided to appropriately switch the direction of conveyance of the ultrasonic conveying member, so that it is possible to effectively prevent unevenness of the collected toner in the collected toner storage section. I can do it. Further, according to the invention according to claim 4, in the toner recovery device that is removably attached to the device main body, when the toner recovery device is removed from the device main body, the vibrating member constituting the ultrasonic conveying member is removed from the device. The vibrating member and the bottom wall of the collected toner storage section are configured to be separable so that they can be left in the main body, so even when other parts of the toner removal device are discarded without being reused, they can be easily removed. This allows the relatively expensive vibration member to be used continuously.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(a) is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine according to an embodiment, and FIG. 1(b) is an enlarged view of a cleaning device of the copying machine.

FIG. 2(a) is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine according to another embodiment, and FIG. 2(b) is an enlarged view of a waste toner bottle of the copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Photoreceptor drum
, 6 cleaning device 20 cleaning blade ,
21 Rotating cleaning brush 23 Collected toner storage section
, 24 Ultrasonic transport member 24a Electrode
, 24b piezoelectric member 24c elastic vibration member
, 25 Drive circuit 26 Conveyance sheet
, 30 Rotating collection member 31 Waste toner bottle
, 32 discharge pipe 32a toner discharge port

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A toner recovery device for an image forming apparatus, comprising a recovered toner storage section and a recovered toner intake port, wherein the collected toner is transported by ultrasonic waves that are taken in from the collected toner intake port in the collected toner storage section. 1. A toner recovery device for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a member; and a driving means for driving the ultrasonic conveying member. 2. The toner collecting device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic conveying member is provided on a bottom surface of the collected toner storage section. 3. The toner recovery device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a switching means for switching the direction of conveyance of said ultrasonic conveyance member. 4. A toner collection device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the toner collection device is detachably attached to an apparatus main body, and when the toner collection device is taken out from the apparatus main body, the vibrating member constituting the ultrasonic conveying member is removed. 3. The toner collecting device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the vibrating member and the bottom wall of the collected toner storage section are configured to be separable so that the toner collecting member can be left in the main body of the apparatus.