JPH0545744U - Waste toner bottle identification device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a waste toner bottle detecting device capable of reducing the number of parts and simplifying the detection circuit to reduce the manufacturing cost as a whole and further downsize. A photo sensor 20 for detecting a waste toner bottle is provided, and its light emitting element 20a is configured to emit light in two stages, a low light amount when the output level of the CPU 21 is "H" and a high light amount when the output level is "L". To do. Further, the incident illuminance of the light receiving element 20b exceeds the threshold when there is no waste toner bottle when the light emitting element 20a has a low light amount, and exceeds the threshold when there is no waste toner inside the waste toner bottle when the light emitting element 20a has a high light amount. To do. The output of the light receiving element 20b becomes "L" when the incident illuminance exceeds the threshold value, and becomes "H" when it does not exceed the threshold value, which is the input level to the CPU 21. First, the CPU 21 sets the output to "H" and the input level is "H".
If so, it is determined that the waste toner bottle is attached.
Next, the output level is set to "L", and if the input level is "L", it is determined that the mounted waste toner bottle is new.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Technical field of invention]

 The present invention relates to a waste toner bottle identification device in an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a waste toner bottle identification device that detects the presence / absence of a bottle container and the presence / absence of waste toner with one photo interrupter sensor.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 The structure of the image printing unit in an image forming apparatus that prints an image on plain paper will be described in more detail later. It consists of a body drum and a developing device that turns the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor drum into a toner image. The toner image on the photoconductor drum is transferred by the transfer device onto the paper that is transported by the paper transport mechanism. After that, it is fixed by the heat fixing mechanism and discharged to the outside of the machine. Excess toner remains on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum that has completed the transfer, is cleaned and collected by a cleaner, and is stored in a waste toner container (bottom). Such a waste toner container is used as a set with the toner unit so that the waste toner does not become full and interferes with the cleaning of the photoconductor drum. The waste toner container can also be replaced. At this time, it becomes necessary to confirm that the waste toner container is placed in the correct position and that the container is new.

In the conventional waste toner container detection device provided for this confirmation in the machine, a waste toner container 23 is provided as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), for example. It is composed of two devices, a push switch 24 for detecting such a situation and a photo sensor 25 for detecting whether waste toner is contained in the waste toner container. FIG. 1A is a circuit diagram of the detection device 26, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the waste toner container 23 and the waste toner container accommodating portion 27. If the waste toner container 23 is disposed in the waste toner container accommodating portion 27, the circuit is energized by closing the push switch 24, whereby the waste toner container is attached to the waste toner container accommodating portion 27. Is detected. If the waste toner container 23 is new, the waste toner does not enter the inside thereof, so that the light from the light emitting portion enters the light receiving portion of the photo sensor 25. On the other hand, if the waste toner container 23 is old, the waste toner container 23 contains it. The light is blocked by the toner and the light does not enter the light receiving portion. With this, the old and new of the waste toner container 23 are identified.

[0004]

[Problems of the prior art]

 However, in the configuration of the conventional waste toner container detection device described above, since the push switch 24 and the photo sensor 25 are used, the number of parts is increased, which increases the cost of parts and has been particularly demanded in recent years. However, it is impossible to downsize the image forming apparatus as one of the downsizing of office automation equipment. In addition, the number of man-hours required for assembly in the factory will increase and production efficiency will decline. Furthermore, the structure of the push switch has the drawback that the contact part is easily contaminated by fine powder such as waste toner, which easily causes a malfunction.

[0005]

[The purpose of the device]

 The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a waste toner bottle identifying device that can reduce the number of parts, reduce the manufacturing cost as a whole, and further reduce the size. It is in.

[0006]

[Key points of the device]

 In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a bottle identifying device for a waste toner bottle that collects and discards the waste toner remaining on the image carrier, and the waste toner can be accommodated inside to transmit light. And a photointerrupter in which a light-emitting part and a light-receiving part are arranged at positions facing each other with the light-transmitting part of the bottle container interposed therebetween, and the light-emitting part of the photointerrupter sensor. And a discriminating unit for discriminating the presence or absence of the bottle container and the presence or absence of waste toner by discriminating the amount of light detected by the light receiving unit of the photo interrupter sensor according to the switching unit. To do.

[0007]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram showing a main part of a printer provided with a bottle identifying device for a waste toner bottle according to the present invention.

The printer 1 includes a photosensitive drum 2 that rotates in the direction of arrow X, a charger 3 that is sequentially arranged near the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 2, and that applies a uniform charge to the photosensitive drum 2. Of the print head 4 which forms an electrostatic latent image of an image by optical writing on the photosensitive drum 2 to which a uniform charge is applied, and visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 2. A developing device 5 for forming an image, a transfer device 6 for transferring the toner image onto a sheet, a cleaner 7 for collecting the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 2 after the transfer, and the like. Although not shown in particular, a sheet conveying mechanism that conveys the sheet to the transfer device 6 and discharges it out of the machine after printing is completed, and a heat fixing mechanism that fixes the image transferred to the sheet and completes the printing process. And so on.

The developing device 5 includes a developing case 8, a toner sensor 10 fixed to the lower surface of the developing case 8, a developing device lid 13 covering an opening 8 a provided on the upper surface of the developing case 8, and a sleeve 9. , And a doctor blade 11, which are integrated to form a removable image cartridge. Toner is accommodated in the inside thereof, and when replenishing the toner, the developing device lid 13 is removed and the toner is charged.

The cleaner 7 includes a cleaner case 14, a recovery roll 15 provided in the cleaner case 14, a conveying spring 16 a, a blade 17 attached to the upper part of the cleaner case 14, and the like, and the photosensitive drum 2 and a charger. It is a drum cartridge that is integrated with 3 and is removable. The blade 17 is arranged so that its edge contacts the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 2, and the toner remaining on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 2 is separated and collected.

Further, a waste toner bottle 18 for storing the collected waste toner is installed below the side surface of the cleaner 7, and the photo sensor 20 is provided at a position corresponding to an appropriate portion below the waste toner bottle 18. Are arranged. The photo sensor 20 performs both the detection of the presence or absence of the waste toner bottle 18 and the detection of the presence or absence of the waste toner in the waste toner bottle 18.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a circuit configuration diagram including the photosensor 20 and the like, which is used both for detecting the waste toner bottle 18 and for detecting the waste toner in the bottle. In the figure, the photo sensor 20 comprises a light emitting element 20a and a light receiving element 20b. The light emitting element 20a is composed of a light emitting diode (LED) and is connected in series with resistors R1 and R2, and emits light when energized. The resistor R1 is connected in parallel between the emitter (E) and the collector (C) of the transistor Tr2 as a switching means, the base (B) of the transistor Tr2 is connected to the pull-up resistor R3, and the buffer 22 is connected. It is connected to an output terminal OUT of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21 via.

The CPU 21 as an identification means switches the bias voltage of the base (B) of the transistor Tr2 by outputting a high or low signal from the output terminal OUT to control the transistor Tr2 on / off. When the transistor Tr2 is turned on, a current flows from the resistor R2 to the light emitting element 20a through the transistor Tr2, and the potential at the point a is approximately + 5V, so the voltage applied to the light emitting element 20a is high and the light emitting amount of the light emitting element 20a is large at this time. . On the other hand, when the transistor Tr2 is off, no current flows through the transistor Tr2, so that a current flows through the light emitting element 20a via the resistors R1 and R2. Therefore, at this time, the potential at point a is low and the amount of light emitted from the light emitting element 20a is small.

The light emitted from the light emitting element 20a enters the light receiving element 20b. The light receiving element 20b is composed of a phototransistor, and its output is connected to the input (IN) of the CPU 21. A pull-up resistor R4 is connected to the input of the CPU 21. When the light receiving element 20b is off, a voltage of 5V (“H” level) is output to the input terminal IN of the CPU 21 via the pull-up resistor R4. On the other hand, when light is incident on the light receiving element 20b from the light emitting element 20a and the amount of the light exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the light is turned on, and when the light receiving element 20b is turned on, the potential at the point b becomes the ground level (“L” level). Become.

An algorithm for detecting the presence / absence of the waste toner bottle 18 and the presence / absence of the waste toner in the waste toner bottle 18 using the above circuit will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. ..

In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis shows the cases where the light emission amount of the light emitting element 20a is different, and the vertical axis shows the incident illuminance of the light receiving element 20b according to the state of each bottle. The left side from the point Xa of the horizontal axis shows the case where the light emitting element 20a has a low light amount, and the right side from the point Xa shows the case of a high light amount. Further, the Yb point on the vertical axis shows the threshold value of the incident light amount at which the light receiving element 20b is turned on / off.

When the light amount of the light emitting element 20a is low, when the waste toner bottle 18 is not installed and there is no bottle, that is, when there is no obstruction, light exceeding the threshold is incident on the light receiving element 20b. To do. If the waste toner bottle 18 is installed, whether the waste toner bottle 18 is a new bottle “NEW bottle” or an old bottle “OLD bottle”, the light emission of the light emitting element 20a is low in both cases. Therefore, the light is not blocked by the bottle, and the light of the light emitting element 20a is not detected (turned on) by exceeding the threshold value. As a result, it can be detected that the waste toner bottle 18 is installed by detecting that the output side level of the light receiving element 20b is "H" level.

Further, when the light emitting element 20a has a high light amount, even if the waste toner bottle 18 is installed and is in the state of “with a bottle”, if the bottle is a new bottle “NEW bottle”, it is still abandoned inside. Since the toner does not contain toner, the light transmitted through the NEW bottle exceeds the threshold value and is detected by the light receiving element 20b. On the other hand, if the waste toner bottle is an old "OLD bottle", the waste toner in the bottle blocks the light, the light does not exceed the threshold value, and the light receiving element 20b does not detect the light. With this, in the state of “with bottle” detected when the light emitting element 20a has a low light amount, the light emission of the light emitting element 20a is set to a high light amount, and it is detected that the output side level of the light receiving element 20b is “L” level. Therefore, it is possible to detect that there is no waste toner, that is, the installed waste toner container 18 is a new bottle "NEW bottle".

FIG. 4 shows a list of the above algorithms. The OUT column 41 shows "H", "H", "L", and "L" from the top, and the output level of the output terminal OUT of the CPU 21. The IN column 42 shows "L", "H", "L" and "H" from the top and the input level applied to the output side of the light receiving element 20b, that is, the input terminal IN of the CPU 21. In the state column 43, from the top, "no waste toner bottle", "waste toner bottle", "no waste toner", and "waste toner", the output level of the OUT column 41 of the CPU 21 and the input of the IN column 42 are input. It shows the detection status corresponding to the combination of levels.

Next, the printer 1 having the above-described configuration detects the presence or absence of the waste toner bottle 18 and detects the waste toner in the waste toner bottle 18 under the control of the CPU 21 shown in FIG. 2 based on the above-described detection algorithm. The processing operation for detecting the presence / absence will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this process, although not shown, a display device made of liquid crystal or the like and a door open / close detector of the printer housing shell made of a micro switch or the like are used. Further, this process is started by detecting that the toner in the developing case 8 has been exhausted and is exhausted by the toner sensor 10 of the developing device 5 shown in FIG. 1, and notifying the CPU 21 of that fact.

In FIG. 1, in step S1, the power supply for rotating and driving the photosensitive drum 2, the charger 3, the print head 4, and other parts involved in printing are turned off to prohibit the printing operation.

Subsequently, in step S2, a warning display for instructing the replacement of the toner set is displayed on the display device. As a result, it is shown to the outside that the operation stop of the printer 1 is due to the toner exhaustion.

Next, in step S3, the state of the door open / close detector is referred to, and it is determined whether or not the door of the shell (outer shell of the printer) is opened / closed. Then, if it is opened or closed, the process proceeds to step S4 to refer to the output of the toner sensor 10 to determine whether the toner set has been replaced.

If the output of the toner sensor 10 indicates that the developing case 8 is filled with toner, it is determined that the toner set has been replaced, the process proceeds to step S5, and the output of the output terminal OUT is set to " Then, the input level of the input terminal IN 1 is discriminated. As a result, the state when the amount of light is low as shown in FIG. 3, that is, the state of the upper stage 44 or the second stage 45 shown in FIG. 4 is determined.

If the input level of the input terminal IN is “H” in the above determination, it is determined that the waste toner bottle is installed, then the process proceeds to step S7, and the output of the output terminal OUT is set to “H”. Then, at step S8, the input level of the input terminal IN is determined again. Thereby, the state at the time of high light amount shown in FIG. 3, that is, the state of the third stage 46 or the fourth stage 47 shown in FIG. 4 is determined.

If the input level of the input terminal IN is “L” in the above determination, the waste toner bottle is installed in step S6 and no waste toner is present, that is, the NEW bottle is installed. If it is determined that the print operation is prohibited, the process proceeds to step S9, the print operation prohibited in step S1 is restarted, and the process ends.

In step S8, if the input level of the input terminal IN is "H", it is determined that the waste toner bottle is installed and contains the waste toner, that is, the OLD bottle, and a new one is set. A message requesting replacement of the bottle is displayed on the display device (step S11), and the process returns to step S1.

In step S6, if the input level of the input terminal IN is "L", it is determined that the bottle is not installed, that is, the bottle is forgotten to be attached, and the process proceeds to step S10. A message warning that the user has forgotten to mount the bottle is displayed on the display device, and the process returns to step S1.

If the toner set has not been replaced in step S4 or the shell has not been opened or closed in step S3, the process returns to step S1 in either case, and the shell is opened or closed. Until the replacement of the toner set is confirmed, steps S1 to S3 or steps S1 to S4 are repeated, respectively.

In this way, the presence / absence of the waste toner bottle 18 and the presence / absence of the waste toner in the waste toner bottle 18 are detected based on the algorithms shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Although the light receiving element 20b is a phototransistor in the above embodiment, it may be a photodiode.

[0032]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the circuit can be simplified and the number of parts can be further reduced. Therefore, both the man-hour and the part cost can be reduced, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced as a whole.

Further, since the number of parts is small and the device is simple, the device can be downsized. Furthermore, since there is only one detector, maintenance is easy and the failure rate is reduced, improving the reliability of the device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration for detecting two kinds of states of a waste toner bottle of a printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram showing a main part of a printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the light emission amount of the light emitting element and the incident illuminance of the light receiving element when the light emitting element has a low light amount and a high light amount.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an algorithm for detecting two types of states of a waste toner bottle according to the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation of detecting the presence / absence of a waste toner bottle of the printer and detecting the presence / absence of waste toner in the waste toner bottle.

FIG. 6A is a circuit diagram of a conventional waste toner detection device, and FIG.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a conventional waste toner bottle and a waste toner bottle accommodating portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printer 2 Photoreceptor Drum 3 Charging Device 4 Print Head 5 Developer 6 Transfer Device 7 Cleaner 8 Developer Case 8a Opening 9 Sleeve 10 Toner Sensor 11 Doctor Blade 13 Developer Lid 14 Cleaner Case 15 Recovery Roll 16a Conveyor Spring 17 Blade 18 Waste toner bottle 19 Waste toner 20 Photo sensor 21 CPU (central processing unit) 20a Light emitting element 20b Light receiving element

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A bottle identifying apparatus for a waste toner bottle, which collects and discards waste toner remaining on an image carrier, and a bottle having a light transmitting portion capable of containing the waste toner and transmitting light therein. A container, a photo interrupter sensor in which a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion are arranged at positions facing each other with a light transmitting portion of the bottle container interposed therebetween, a switching means for switching the light emission amount of the light emitting portion of the photo interrupter sensor, and the photo interrupter sensor, A waste toner bottle identifying device comprising: an identifying unit that identifies the presence or absence of the bottle container and the presence or absence of waste toner by distinguishing the amount of light detected by the light receiving unit of the interrupter sensor according to the switching unit.