JPH0621050U - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a laser printer having a toner conveying mechanism that does not cause toner spillage during replacement work and does not stain the hands of workers. In a laser printer, an image is printed by an electrophotographic method, and a waste toner 55 is conveyed from a process cartridge by a first auger 80 and a second auger 81. The waste toner 55 is discharged from the discharge port 84 provided at the tip of the second auger 81 to the waste toner receiving port 62 of the waste toner storage chamber 61 of the toner cartridge 50. At that time, the discharge port 84 faces downward when the upper casing is closed and faces upward when opened, and the waste toner receiving port 62 faces the discharge port 84 and always faces upward regardless of whether the upper casing is opened or closed. The waste toner 55 does not spill when the toner is conveyed and the upper housing is opened and closed.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to the transportation of waste toner used in an electrophotographic apparatus.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 An image forming apparatus that visualizes an electrostatic latent image includes an electrophotographic copying apparatus and an electrostatic recording apparatus. In these devices, it is well known that a powder developer is supplied to an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor or a non-charging member by a predetermined process to obtain a visible image. This visible image is transferred to another transfer material and used as a copy or data. As described above, when the electrostatic latent image is visualized, that is, the development is repeated, the toner in the developing device is consumed, so that the toner needs to be replenished at a proper time. As a toner replenishing method that is generally used at present, the toner is stored in a fixed container having a structure that can be attached to and detached from the developing device main body, and when the toner in the container is exhausted, the container is replaced. . Such a container that can be attached to and detached from the main body is called a cartridge.

A conventional device will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 shows a state when the electrophotographic apparatus is in operation. That is, inside the toner cartridge 150, there is a replenishment toner storage chamber 160 for storing the replenishment toner 154 and a waste toner storage chamber 161 for storing the waste toner 155, and the waste toner 155 is in the linear waste toner conveyance path 151. It is conveyed to the opening 184 through the auger 181, and falls into the waste toner storage chamber 161 by its own weight. The toner cartridge 150 is detachably provided in the upper casing of the electrophotographic apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the upper casing of the electrophotographic apparatus is opened in order to replace the cartridge 150.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, when the upper casing of the electrophotographic apparatus is opened and the toner cartridge is replaced, the toner remaining on the inner wall of the waste toner conveyance path 151 is scattered from the opening 184 at the tip of the waste toner conveyance path 151, and the operator's hand There is a problem that it gets dirty. Further, even when the upper casing of the electronic copying apparatus is closed, the toner is scattered from the opening 184 at the tip of the waste toner conveying path 151, which causes a mechanical failure or the like.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the toner of the toner can be removed when the upper casing of the electrophotographic apparatus is opened or closed by replacing the toner cartridge or the like. An object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic apparatus capable of suppressing scattering.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve this object, the electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention provides a lower case, an upper case that can be opened and closed with respect to the lower case, and an image provided by the upper case by an electrophotographic method. An image forming section for printing, a conveying path for conveying waste toner from the image forming section, a discharge port provided at the tip of the conveying path, which faces downward when the upper housing is closed, and upward when opened. A waste toner box detachably attached to the image forming section, and a waste toner box that is provided on the waste toner box and faces the discharge port of the conveyance path at the time of attachment / detachment regardless of whether the upper housing is open or closed It is composed of mouth and.

[0008]

[Action]

 In the electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration, an image is printed by the electrophotographic method in the image forming section, waste toner is conveyed from the image forming section in the conveying path, and the waste toner is provided at the leading end of the conveying path. From the discharge port, the toner is discharged to a waste toner receiving port provided in a waste toner box that can be attached to and detached from the image forming unit. The discharge port faces downward when the upper casing is closed and faces upward when the upper casing is opened, and the waste toner receiving port faces the discharge port of the conveying path and is always upward regardless of whether the upper casing is opened or closed.

[0009]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, a laser printer of an embodiment embodying the electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, an outline of the laser printer will be described with reference to FIG.

The laser printer is composed of an upper housing 3 and a lower housing 1. One end of the upper housing 3 is rotatably attached to a support shaft 1 a provided in the lower housing 1. The upper housing 3 can be opened and closed with respect to the lower housing 1.

The laser printer is provided with an automatic paper feeder 2 below the lower housing 1 and a manual paper feeder 4 on the left side of the lower housing 1. Paper is fed from either one of the paper feeders. The paper is sent toward the toner cartridge 50 and the process cartridge 7 which form the image forming unit by the paper device.

The sheet fed by any one of the sheet feeding devices is guided by guides 8a, 8b, 8c arranged on the downstream side in the sheet conveying direction. The pair of registration rollers 10a, 10b arranged downstream of the guides 8a, 8b, 8c, after the passage of the sheet is detected by the sheet detecting means 12 provided upstream thereof, start rotation after a predetermined time by the signal. To do. The sheet is skewed at the rotational contact position of the registration roller pair 10a, 10b, and then fed downstream while being sandwiched between the registration roller pair 10a, 10b as the registration roller pair 10a, 10b rotates. .

On the downstream side (right side in FIG. 1) of the pair of registration rollers 10a and 10b, the guides 14a and 14b that face each other to form a paper path and the photoconductor 16 are faced. A pre-transfer roller 18 that guides the paper sheet in close contact is arranged. The paper sheet is sent out by a pair of registration rollers 10a and 10b, and then guided by the guides 14a and 14b and the pre-transfer roller 18, and the process cartridge 7 Is sent to.

The process cartridge 7 includes an exposure device 20 that performs exposure for forming an image on the photosensitive member 16 formed in a drum shape, an image forming device 22 that develops the electrostatic latent image formed by the exposure, and a developing device 20. It has a transfer device 24 for transferring the latent image formed on the paper and a static eliminator 26 for discharging the paper to separate the paper from the photoconductor 16 after the transfer, and an image is formed on the paper by the process cartridge 7. While being guided on the conveyance guide section 28, the sheet is conveyed to the subsequent fixing device 30. After the image on the paper is fixed by the fixing device 30, the paper is sent out according to the paper path of the paper discharge unit 32 and is discharged by the paper discharge roller pair 34 onto the paper discharge tray 36 formed on the upper surface of the upper housing 3. Sent out.

The process cartridge 7, the exposure device 20, and the paper discharge unit 32 are provided in the upper casing 3, and the transfer device 24, the static eliminator 26, and the fixing device 30 are provided in the lower casing 1. There is.

As shown in FIG. 2, the process cartridge 7 has the developing device 22 on the left side and the cleaning device 38 on the right side with the photoconductor 16 interposed therebetween. Inside the cleaning device 38, a first waste toner carrying path 52 having a first auger 80 therein is formed. Further, on the side surface of the process cartridge 7, a second waste toner carrying path 51 having a second auger 81 is formed. One end of the second waste toner carrying path 51 is arranged below the first waste toner carrying path 52, and a discharge port 84 is formed at the other end.

A toner cartridge 50 is detachably attached to the developing device 22 of the process cartridge 7. When the toner cartridge 50 is attached to or detached from the process cartridge 7, the upper casing 3 is opened and the toner cartridge 50 is attached to or detached from the process cartridge 7 fixed to the upper casing 3. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the toner cartridge 50 and the process cartridge 7, and the toner cartridge 50 is attached and detached in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the toner cartridge 50 and the process cartridge 7. Inside the toner cartridge 50, a replenishment toner storage chamber 60 for storing the replenishment toner 54 and a waste toner storage chamber 61 for storing the waste toner 55 are formed. A waste toner receiving opening 62 is formed in a part of the waste toner storage chamber 61 facing the discharge opening 84 of the second waste toner conveying path 51, and the waste toner 55 discharged from the discharge opening 84 is discarded. The waste toner storage chamber 61 is entered through the toner receiving port 62.

The toner remaining on the photoconductor 16 without being completely transferred to the sheet is scraped off from the surface of the photoconductor 16 by the cleaning device 38, and is processed by the first auger 80 through the first waste toner transport path 52. It is conveyed to the side surface of the cartridge 7. The waste toner 55 conveyed by the first auger 80 falls under its own weight to one end of the second waste toner conveyance path 51, is further conveyed to the discharge port 84 by the second auger 81, and the waste toner receiving port 62 by its own weight. Through to the waste toner storage chamber 61. Since the discharge port 84 at the tip of the waste toner conveying path 51 is bent in a V shape and faces the lower surface than the horizontal direction, the waste toner 55 does not spill and almost certainly weights to the waste toner storage chamber 61. Fall at.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the laser printer with the upper housing 3 opened. Since the discharge port 84 at the tip of the waste toner carrying path 51 is bent in a V shape and faces the upper surface more than the horizontal direction, the waste toner 55 does not spill out from the discharge port 84.

[0022]

[Effect of device]

 As is apparent from the above description, in the present invention, when the upper casing of the electrophotographic apparatus is opened for the purpose of exchanging the cartridge or the like, the discharge port at the tip of the toner conveying path is automatically moved in the horizontal direction. Toner does not spill because it faces the upper surface, and the inside of the device and the hands of workers do not get dirty. Further, when the upper casing of the electrophotographic apparatus is closed, the discharge port of the toner conveying path automatically faces downward from the horizontal, so that the toner can be surely dropped into the waste toner box.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a laser printer embodying an electrophotographic apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a toner cartridge and a process cartridge of the laser printer.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a toner cartridge and a process cartridge of the laser printer.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a toner cartridge and a process cartridge in a state where the upper cover of the laser printer is opened.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the conveyance of waste toner during operation in a conventional electrophotographic apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating conveyance of waste toner in a conventional electrophotographic apparatus with an upper cover opened.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Lower Housing 3 Upper Housing 7 Process Cartridge 51 Second Waste Toner Conveying Path 61 Waste Toner Storage Room 62 Waste Toner Receiving Port 84 Discharging Port

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A lower housing, and an upper housing openable and closable with respect to the lower housing,
An image forming unit that is provided in the upper housing to print an image by electrophotography, a conveying path that conveys waste toner from the image forming unit, and a leading end of the conveying path that is provided when the upper housing is closed. A discharge port that is downward and that is upward when opened, a waste toner storage unit that is detachably attached to the image forming unit, and a waste toner storage unit that is provided in the waste toner storage unit An electrophotographic apparatus, which is provided with a waste toner receiving port facing upward regardless of whether the upper housing is opened or closed.