JPH0552945B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a toner recovery device for an electronic copying machine, and particularly relates to an improvement in the structure of the device for increasing the reliability and toner recovery efficiency of the device.

[Prior art]

In general, this type of toner recovery device includes a screw conveyor that conveys the toner collected from the surface of the photoconductor by a cleaning device, a collection box that stores the toner that has been discharged and fallen from the screw conveyor, and an upper part of the collection box. The toner collecting box is provided with a sensor for detecting whether or not the toner storage space of the collecting box is filled with the collected toner. An example of this conventional toner recovery device is shown in FIG.

That is, in FIG. 1, 1 is the main body of the cleaning device, 2 is the screw conveyor, 3 is the collection box, and 4a and 4b are the above-mentioned sensors. Here, the sensor is an optical sensor, and 4a is a light emitting element. , 4b are light receiving elements. Therefore, this device transfers the toner (not shown) collected by the cleaning device 1 from the surface of the photoreceptor (not shown) as indicated by arrow F1 in the figure to the screw conveyor 2 rotating as indicated by arrow R. Therefore, the conveyed toner is conveyed as indicated by arrow F2, and further, the conveyed toner is caused to fall as indicated by arrow F3 in the figure through the toner discharge port TO of the same screw conveyor 2, and is sequentially stored in the collection box 3. do. When the toner storage space of the collection box 3 is filled with the collected toner, that is, the light ray c emitted from the light emitting element 4a is blocked by the collected toner and does not reach the light receiving element 4b. When the toner is used up, the toner collection device (more precisely, a control device (not shown) that receives the output of the light receiving element 4b) notifies the operator of this fact through the display of the copying machine, and removes the toner from the collection box 3. The user will be advised to replace the toner or remove the collected toner as appropriate.

[Problems with conventional technology]

However, as described above, in this conventional toner collection device, the toner transported by the screw conveyor 2 is allowed to fall and is stored in the collection box 3. Sensors 4a and 4b
The collection box 3 cannot have a sufficient capacity due to limitations such as the location of the copying machine and the internal space of the copying machine.

2 In particular, when the sensors 4a and 4b are optical sensors as described above (in fact, most of them are optical sensors), the detection parts are likely to be contaminated by the falling toner, and therefore false detection by the sensors may occur. Easy to occur.

This resulted in such inconveniences, and some kind of countermeasure was desired.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention makes it possible to secure a sufficient capacity of the collection box within a limited space, and also avoids the occurrence of false detection by the sensor and performs toner collection with high efficiency and high reliability. An object of the present invention is to provide a toner recovery device for an electronic copying machine that can be used in an electronic copying machine.

[Structure of the invention]

In this invention, focusing on the fact that the screw conveyor has excellent conveyance ability and that the toner conveyed by the screw conveyor never flows backward, the above-described recovery of the toner conveyed by the screw conveyor is carried out. A discharge port into the box is provided at the bottom of the collection box. As a result, all the space above the collection box that was required to connect it to the screw conveyor in the conventional device can be used as space for the collection box itself, and therefore the collection This allows the box to have a sufficient capacity. Also,
Since all the collected toner is stored in the collection box from below the sensor, the sensor will not be contaminated by this toner. Therefore, even if a convenient optical sensor is employed as the sensor, the sensor can maintain stable detection operation without false detection.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the toner collection device for an electronic copying machine according to the present invention, the capacity of the collection box can be increased by effectively utilizing the limited space, and the reliability of the above-mentioned sensor can also be greatly improved. can be improved.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a toner recovery device according to the present invention. However, in FIG. 2, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same numbers or symbols, and redundant explanations will be omitted.

Now, as is clear from comparison with the conventional device shown in FIG. A toner outlet TO for Yukon Bear 2 is provided. In addition, the light emitting element 4
An optical sensor consisting of a light beam C and a light receiving element 4b is disposed at the upper end of the collection box 31 as shown in the figure, and as described above, the toner storage space of the collection box 31 is determined depending on whether or not this light beam C is blocked. It is configured to detect whether or not it is filled with the collected toner. FIG. 3 schematically shows the manner in which toner is accommodated by this embodiment of the apparatus and the manner in which the toner is detected by the sensors 4a and 4b.

In other words, in FIG. 3, FIG.
Figure 3b shows the storage state of the collection box 3.
The toner storage space of 1 is the toner collected above.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the storage state of the toner TN when filled with TN, and as is clear from these figures, in this embodiment device, the sensor 4 is
a and 4b maintain the transmission and reception of the light beam C without any interference until the toner storage space of the collection box 31 is filled with toner TN;
Only when the storage space is filled with the toner TN can the transmission and reception of the light beam C be prevented.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the toner outlet TO of the screw conveyor 2 is provided at the bottom side of the collection box 31, the capacity of the collection box 31 can be effectively increased. The above-described detection by the sensors 4a and 4b can also be made stable and highly reliable.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional toner recovery device, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the toner recovery device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a toner storage of the embodiment device shown in FIG. 2. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example embodiment. 1... Cleaning device main body, 2... Screw conveyor, 3... Collection box, 4a, 4b... Optical sensor,
TO...Toner outlet, TN...Toner.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A screw conveyor that conveys the toner collected from the surface of the photoreceptor by the cleaning device, a collection box that stores the toner conveyed by the screw conveyor, and a light emitting device on the top of the collection box. The element and the light-receiving element are arranged horizontally, and the toner storage space of the collection box is filled with the collected toner or not, and the light is detected based on whether or not the light irradiated from the light-emitting element to the light-receiving element is blocked. A toner collection device for an electronic copying machine comprising a sensor, characterized in that a discharge port for toner conveyed by the screw conveyor to the collection box is provided at the bottom of the collection box. Machine toner collection device.