JPH0626931Y2 - Recovery toner container fullness detector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of use) In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser printer, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum is removed by, for example, a cleaning device having an elastic blade, and the collected toner is collected. It is contained in a container.

In such an image forming apparatus, a sensor provided in the collected toner container detects the full state, and when the collected toner container is full, the collected toner container is taken out from the apparatus main body and the collected toner is discarded outside the apparatus. .

Generally, a photo sensor is used as the fullness detecting method. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a protruding portion 4 is formed by partially protruding the upper portion of the toner recovery container 2 made of a resin material such as polypropylene. Then, a photosensor 10 including a light emitting portion 6 and a light receiving portion 8 is provided on the protruding portion 4. The toner carried in the carrying tube 12 by a spiral fin 11 or the like from a cleaning device (not shown) is housed in the container 2 through an opening 13 provided in the upper part of the collected toner container 2. Then, when the inside of the container is filled with the toner that is successively accommodated, the toner also accumulates on the protruding portion 4.

At this time, when the light is not full, the light emitted from the light emitting portion 6 passes through the projecting portion 4 of the container 2 and is incident on the light receiving portion 8. However, when the light is full, the light is blocked by the accumulated toner, so that the light is full. The time can be detected.

However, in the case where the protrusion 4 is simply provided,
Before the toner is filled in the container, the toner scattered or floating in the container adheres to the inner surface of the protruding portion,
There arises a problem that the photo sensor 10 detects that the photo sensor 10 is full.

As a method for solving such a problem, for example, the actual exploitation 61-
A method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 89870 has been proposed. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, an opening 16 is left in the upper portion of the protruding portion 4 so that a part of the toner accumulated inside the container 2 can flow into the protruding portion, and the inner surface of the protruding portion 4 is covered with the mylar plate 15. It was done.

However, even in this case, the toner floating or scattered from the opening 16 sometimes intrudes and accumulates therein.

This is caused by a slight air flow 17 accompanying the rotation of the spiral fill 11 that conveys toner from the cleaning unit.
The air flow 17 causes the toner particles to float, and the puddles 19 caused by the air flow 17 cause the protrusion 4 to move.
Occurs inside the. As a result, the toner is deposited inside the protruding portion 4 in which the snowdrift is formed.

Therefore, even with such an improvement plan, it is the current situation that the detection is not completely prevented.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been devised in order to completely eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional fullness detection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a fullness detecting device using a photo sensor, which is free from malfunction.

An object of the present invention is to provide a device that can reliably detect fullness with a simple structure that is not much different from the conventional fullness detection device.

(Structure of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the fullness detection device of the present invention is provided (i) on a side surface of a recovery toner container that stores the recovery toner from the cleaning unit so as to project to the outside of the toner container. Convex part (ii) a photosensor positioned above the toner container and positioned at a part of the convex part (iii) a cover member provided facing the photosensor so as to cover the inner space of the convex part (Iv) and the configuration in which the opening provided on the lower side of the cover member is provided so as to connect the inner space of the convex portion and the inner space of the toner container.

(Operation of the Invention) By adopting the above configuration, (i) the cover member prevents toner from adhering to the inner wall of the protruding portion where the sensor is located, and prevents erroneous detection, as in the prior art.

(Ii) By providing a communication opening on the lower side of the cover member to prevent unnecessary toner accumulation, toner accumulation that may cause malfunction before the toner container body is filled with toner is created. It can be prevented from occurring.

Therefore, erroneous detection of the photo sensor can be prevented, and reliable toner full detection can be performed.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The fullness detecting device of the present invention has an appearance similar to that shown in FIG. Therefore, the respective features will be described below with reference to sectional views so that the features can be clearly understood.

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross-section including a full detector, and FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view in the horizontal plane II direction in the drawing.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a protruding portion 22 is formed on the side surface of the collected toner container 20 so as to protrude outward and extend in the vertical direction. The photosensor 10 is arranged on the protruding portion, and the light emitting portion 6 and the light receiving portion 8 are arranged from the outside of the container 20 so as to sandwich the protruding portion 22.

With this arrangement, the full detection space 23 is formed at this position of the protrusion 22. On the other hand, inside the container 20, a cover member 24 is provided at a position facing the photo sensor 10, that is, at a position including the full detection space 23.

Since the cover member 24 is provided in the above-mentioned positional relationship, as for the space of the projecting portion 22, the inner space 3 of the container 20 is located at the upper position 26 and the lower position 28 thereof, respectively.
Openings 32 and 34 communicating with 0 are formed.

With such a configuration, the collected toner carried by the spiral fin 11 in the carrying tube 12 from the cleaning device (not shown) is sequentially arranged in the inner space 3 of the collected toner container 20.
0 is deposited.

At this time, the air flow generated by the spiral fin 11 is
Although the toner will be suspended as in the conventional case, in the full detection device of the present invention, the opening 3 is formed in the inner space of the protrusion 22.
Since 4 is formed, even if the airflow penetrates the inner space through the opening 32, it blows into the space 30 of the main body, so no dripping occurs.

Therefore, unnecessary accumulation of toner in the full detection space 23 that would cause erroneous detection does not occur.

If the amount of collected toner increases and the lower opening 34 of the detection space 23 is blocked with toner,
There is a new concern that the configuration will be the same as that of the conventional example shown in FIG.

However, in this case, a considerable amount of toner is also collected in the space inside the toner collection container. Therefore, even if toner accumulates in the puddles after that, erroneous detection does not occur as long as the toner container is adjusted so that the toner container is fully filled while the accumulation occurs.

From this, when the cover member 24 is provided inside the protruding portion, it is necessary to pay attention to the size and the positional relationship, but an appropriate positional relationship may be determined according to the processing capacity of the image forming apparatus used. .

For example, in the case of a copying machine of 50 sheets / min, in the case of the above embodiment, the volume of the collected toner is about 1350 cm ^3. The width of the protrusion is about 6 mm. If the lower edge is located about 95 mm above the bottom surface, good fullness detection was possible.

The present invention can appropriately change the configuration without changing the basic idea of the configuration described above.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, instead of forming the protrusion 22 'up to the bottom of the container, the protrusion 22' may be formed as a part of the bottom.
It is also possible to form the slope 40 on the lower surface side of the inner space 2 '.

In this case, even if the toner is to be accumulated in the inner space of the protruding portion 22 ', the inclined surface is utilized to expedite the toner into the main body space, which is convenient.

(Effect) As described above, according to the present invention, erroneous detection by the photosensor can be reliably prevented, and full detection can be accurately performed with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a specific example of the fullness detecting device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken in the horizontal direction of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is another specific example of the present invention. A schematic cross-sectional view, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are views showing a conventional fullness detecting device. The reference numbers in the figure indicate the following contents. 10 ... Photo sensor 20 ... Collected toner container 22, 22 ', 22 "... Projection 24' ... Cover member 34 ... Opening

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A convex portion provided on a side surface of a collected toner container for accommodating the toner collected from the cleaning portion so as to project to the outside of the toner container, and a part of the convex portion at a position above the toner container. A photosensor positioned on the photosensor, a cover member facing the photosensor so as to cover the inner space of the convex portion, and the cover member so as to communicate the inner space of the convex portion and the inner space of the toner container. A device for detecting fullness of a collected toner container having an opening provided on the lower side of the container.