JPH0452764Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is directed to the developing device itself or the developing device, which is provided with a conveying means (including a developing roller, a conveying roller, and an agitating means) provided in the longitudinal direction of the developing device. The present invention relates to a powder developer supply container for separately supplying replenishment powder developer to a computer.

(Background Art) Conventionally, the structure for supplying developer to a developing device has been to use a toner cartridge, a bag-like supply bag, or a bottle-like container directly to the developing device itself, or a developer supplying device provided in the developing device. It is also known to supply via a hopper. Toners that are refilled in the form of a bag do not allow stable replenishment because the opening changes during supplying, so a container that is shaped like a resin bottle and replenishes a large amount of replenishing toner is used.

It has also been considered to form a small slit for supplying the developer to the developing device and to supply the developer from this slit.

However, even if an attempt is made to simply supply the developer through the slit, it is difficult to form a uniformly distributed developer distribution over the longitudinal direction of the developing device, and the distribution tends to be non-uniform. When a bag was used to supply this, the distribution was completely uneven, and even if the development process was repeated for a while, the developer was not supplied evenly, which not only caused development defects (uneven density, background fog), but also wasted the developer. At the same time, the developer was consumed. Furthermore, since the developer is supplied in an indeterminate amount, the powder developer is likely to scatter on the surface of the device around the conveying means, resulting in poor development, and many stains are observed.
If an attempt is made to make the slit larger in order to prevent this dirt and scattering, the developing device will become larger, and miniaturization cannot be achieved.

Further, when the container is enlarged to hold a large amount of developer, it takes a long time to supply the developer, and it is necessary to hold a heavy bottle for a long time when replenishing the developer.

(Purpose of the invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a powder developer supply container that can quickly and reliably form a uniform developer distribution in the longitudinal direction of a developing device. Another object of the present invention is to prevent powder developer from scattering and to solve problems during developer replenishment, including waste of time and waste of developer.

(Summary of the invention) The present invention supplies powder developer into the developing device while moving it in the longitudinal direction of the developing device from a slit-shaped developer supply opening provided in the longitudinal direction of the developing device. a rectangular container that is elongated in the moving direction and has a cylindrical body for accommodating a powder developer, a long side having a length equivalent to the internal diameter of the body, and a short side that is shorter than this; It has a developer discharge port shaped like a shape, and a supply guide portion that guides the developer from the main body to the developer discharge port, and the supply guide portion guides the developer toward the long side of the developer discharge port. It has a first guide surface that reduces the width and a second guide surface that substantially maintains the guide width toward the short side of the developer discharge port, and the inner surface of the cylindrical body has a width that reduces the width of the developer discharge port. A plurality of curved protrusions in a direction intersecting the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical body, which loosen the developer in the cylindrical body when the container is shaken, are arranged independently of each other in the longitudinal direction. The plurality of protrusions are provided in an area of 10 to 50% of the inner surface area of the cylindrical body, and the height of the protrusions is 0.5 of the inner diameter of the cylindrical body.
This is a powder developer supply device characterized by a height of ~20%.

According to the present invention, the time required for supplying the powder developer can be shortened, the distribution of the powder developer can be made uniform over the longitudinal direction of the developing device, and stains and poor development can be prevented.

The present invention is effective when using only toner particles as a powder developer, but is also effective when using a mixture of magnetic carrier particles and toner particles, and is also effective when using an initial starter agent. .

(Example) Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the outlet side of a container according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a cross section of the outlet 3 of Fig. 1 viewed from its long side in a plane parallel to the long side. It is a diagram.

The main body 1 is a cylindrical container, has a threaded portion (not shown) that engages with an internal threaded portion 22 of the cap 2 as a supply guide, and stores powder developer. The cap 2 is locked to the main body 1 by threaded engagement at an engaging portion 27, and is removable from the main body 1.
The cap 2 has guide surfaces 20 to 27, and has a discharge port at its tip. The guide surfaces 20 and 21 face each other and form the short side 32 of the discharge port 3.
The supply amount is controlled on the inner surface which is inclined while decreasing the diameter from the main body 1 toward the discharge port 3. Guide surface 20, 2
The angle θ (Fig. 6) at which 1 decreases the inner distance is the angle θ (Figure 6) when the powder developer
20μm or less), the temperature is 10 degrees or more and 30 degrees or less.
This angle allows the developer to flow out at a relatively fast and stable rate, and is an extremely effective numerical condition in practice. The feature of the guide part 2 is that in addition to the above-mentioned guide surfaces 20 and 21, guide surfaces 2 are arranged in parallel to each other so as to keep the interval l constant.
3 and 26, and the ends of the guide surfaces 23 and 26 form the long side 31 of the discharge port 3. This interval l is the same as the inner diameter L of the main body 1, or is substantially the same with a difference within 5 mm. In this example, L is 73.5 mm in diameter, L is 70 mm, and the difference is
It was set to 3.5mm. This spacing l remains essentially constant throughout the guide section 2, apart from manufacturing differences. The guide section 2 includes guide surfaces 20 and 21 that reduce the distance, and a guide surface 2 that maintains a constant distance.
3 and 26, guide surfaces 22, 24, 25, and 27 (only 27 is not shown) are provided as surfaces connecting these surfaces. Guide surfaces 22, 24, 2
Preferably, 5, 27, 20, and 21 are curved surfaces.

In this way, since the supply guide section 2 is provided for the large-capacity main body 1, the developer that is about to flow out from the main body 1 side is hardly regulated between the short sides 32, and Since the load is gradually increased between the discharge ports, the amount of developer flowing out over the long side 31 of the discharge port can be made uniform, and the developer can be reliably supplied within a short time.

When the maximum diameter (circular shape) of the cap 2 is L, the length d of the substantially rectangular short side 32 of the discharge port 3 is preferably greater than 5 mm and less than 15 mm, and the discharge port area ( It has been experimentally confirmed that lxd) is 20 to 40% of the maximum area of the maximum diameter D, which is a favorable condition for selecting a stable discharge amount of powder developer in the container. Ta.

Although the discharge port 3 forms one surface in the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is preferable to adopt a structure 5 in which it extends in the same shape to the tip by a length h as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. . This is to ensure that the discharge port 3 is inserted into the opening 4 while sliding the guide along the edge of the slit-shaped opening 4 of the developing device, as shown in FIG. This allows the tip of the discharge port to enter, achieving stable supply. The rectangular long side 31 of the discharge port 3 corresponding to the longitudinal direction of the developing device is 1/2 or less of the longitudinal length of the slit-shaped opening 4 of the developing device;
Preferably the length is 1/4 or less. This is for the purpose of avoiding a case where, if the long side 31 is too long, a large difference in the amount of outflow occurs within the discharge port 3 in the longitudinal direction at the end of developer replenishment. The discharge port 3 may have a substantially rectangular shape with a curved portion as in this example, or may have a rectangular shape such as a polygon. The width d of the discharge port 3 is slightly smaller than the width C of the slit-shaped opening 4 of the developing device, and the difference is preferably several mm, preferably 1.
mm~2mm is good.

Since the guide part is configured in this way, the developer can be supplied relatively quickly and uniformly in the longitudinal direction without shaking the main body 1 due to the action of the rectangular discharge port and the guide part. , it is possible to prevent stains caused by scattering and to start development early and in good condition.

FIG. 4 shows a case in which the container body 1 has a special shape, and the container is shaken several times to further enhance the effect of the guide section and to make the supplied developer flow more efficiently. In other words, it must have a plurality of minute protrusions that are provided in a direction intersecting with the longitudinal direction and that protrude inside the container and become an obstacle when the powder moves in the longitudinal direction, so as to be independent from each other in the longitudinal direction. This is a powder storage container featuring:

As shown in FIG. 5, the main body 1 is a cylindrical resin bottle having protrusions 8 to 13 spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction and protruding inward over the entire circumference, and at the longitudinal end. It has an opening 16 at the upper end, and the opening 16 is normally closed with the cap 2 described above.

Protrusions 8 to 13 are curved protrusions with a width t ₁ of 10 mm and a maximum height of 5 mm for the inner diameter of the resin bottle of 100 mm, and the diameter changes smoothly over the range from the inner diameter of 100 mm to the diameter of 90 mm. are doing. Protrusions 8-15
are paired with each other, and the interval t ₂ between the pairs is the width t ₁
The distance t ₃ between each pair is set to be larger than the width t ₁ (in this example, three times), and these are arranged with a predetermined regular spacing relationship. The important protrusions in this bottle are the protrusions 8 and 9 provided at the end of the bottle adjacent to the opening 16. These protrusions 8 and 9 are preferably composed of a set of at least a plurality of protrusions, so that the developer (using toner particles with an average diameter of 8 μm) can be reliably dispersed just before reaching the opening 16. This is one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention because the developer can be supplied smoothly.

In the embodiment of the present invention, only an electrophotographic developer was used as the powder, but the present invention can be applied to all types of powder. Especially average particle size 3
The effect is remarkable for powders of ~40 μm that tend to aggregate.

If the amount of protrusions on the inner surface of the container is too large or too small, the effect will be reduced.
More preferably, it is about 20 to 40%.

If the height of the protrusion on the inner surface of the container is too low, it will have little effect, and if it is too high, it may become a major hindrance rather than an obstacle when discharging the powder. 0.5~ of distance between inner walls
The optimal amount is about 20%, preferably about 2 to 10%.

However, the required height of the protrusions may vary depending on the shape of the powder. For example, for powders with an average particle size of about 40 μm that are difficult to agglomerate, a container with an inner diameter of 100 mm is
A protrusion of ~3 mm is sufficient, but in the case of powder with an average particle size of 10 μm or less that tends to agglomerate, an inner diameter of 100 mm is also sufficient.
Containers must have protrusions with a height of 5 mm or more. In this sense, protrusions with a height of 1 mm or more are suitable for powder average particle diameters of 3 to 40 μm.

Specific configuration examples are listed below.

750g of insulating magnetic toner (average particle size 15μ) as a powder developer for the starter agent (capacity: 1600g)
cm ³ ), the area of cap 2 diameter l is 38.46 cm ² ,
The discharge port area is 14cm ² (width d is 20mm), and the diameter reduction angle θ is
When a developer supply container having an angle of 18.90° and made entirely of polyethylene was used and the developer was supplied to the developer opening 4, the developer could be evenly distributed.
The operation took only 40 to 60 seconds. Further, there was almost no remaining toner in the container body 1. When this was developed, no development defects occurred over a long period of time. In addition, when supplying, divide the longitudinal direction,
While slightly overlapping each other's supply areas, they were sequentially supplied in the longitudinal direction and fed back and forth.

It is desirable that there is a straight cylindrical part (length h) 5 at the tip of the discharge port, and good results were obtained preferably with a length of 3 mm or more (15 mm in the above example). If there is a straight cylindrical part, the discharge speed is regulated by the two side surfaces, and even if the width is relatively wide, the discharge speed can be controlled and made more uniform in the lateral direction.

On the other hand, when we used a beer bottle as guide part 2 with a diameter that decreased overall to supply the developer, it was impossible to discharge the developer without shaking the container, and even after shaking the container considerably, there was a large amount of scattering. The remaining amount is 40~
80g remained.

(Effects of the invention) According to the invention, uniform powder developer distribution can be reliably formed in the longitudinal direction of the conveyance means of the developing device in a short time and with almost no remaining amount. It also has the advantage of preventing stains due to scattering during supply and making it possible to perform good development after supply.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the main part of a container according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a portion where the width is constant in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is another embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6. An explanatory diagram showing developer supply using an example container, Figures 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams of another embodiment of the present invention having a special configuration of the discharge port 3, and Figure 4 is an illustration of the guide section of the present invention. It is an explanatory view showing a special example of an effective main body container. Reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of the developer container, 2 a cap as a guide portion of the container having a discharge port 3 for the contents, 3 a powder developer discharge port, 4 a slit opening for a developer input port on the side of the developing device; 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,
25, 26, and 27 are guide surfaces, 31 is a long side, and 32 is a short side.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) Powder developer is introduced into the developing device while being moved in the longitudinal direction of the developing device from a slit-like developer supply opening provided in the longitudinal direction of the developing device. a cylindrical body for containing a powder developer, the container for supplying the powder developer;
A rectangular developer discharge port that is long in the moving direction and has a long side that is the same length as the internal diameter of the main body and a short side that is shorter than the long side; a first guide surface that decreases the guide width toward the long side of the developer discharge port, and a first guide surface that decreases the guide width toward the short side of the developer discharge port. The second substantially maintains
The inner surface of the cylindrical main body has a guide surface, and a guide surface is provided on the inner surface of the cylindrical main body in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical main body to loosen the developer inside the cylindrical main body when the container is shaken before discharging the developer. A plurality of curved protrusions are arranged independently of each other in the longitudinal direction, and the plurality of protrusions are provided in an area of 10 to 50% of the inner surface area of the cylindrical body, and the height of the protrusions is A powder developer supply container characterized in that: has a height of 0.5 to 20% of the inner diameter of the cylindrical body. (2) The main body is a cylindrical container, and the supply guide part has a slope extending from the cylindrical container to the longitudinal supply area with a reduction angle θ of 10 degrees or more and 30 degrees or less, and a width of more than 5 mm. A powder developer supply container as set forth in claim 1 of the utility model registration claim, wherein the container has a diameter of 15 mm or less. (3) The above-mentioned powder developer is a magnetic powder developer that is magnetically held by a magnetic field generating means provided in the longitudinal direction within the developing device. The powder developer supply container according to item 2.