JPH068977B2 - Cleaning device in recording device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning member that removes toner remaining on a latent image carrier after a visible image transfer, a container that contains the removed toner, and a container that is housed in the container. The present invention relates to a cleaning device in a recording device, which includes a toner detection device that detects a toner amount state.

2. Description of the Related Art In a recording device, such as an electronic copying machine, an electrostatic recording device, or various printers, which forms a visible image of toner on a latent image carrier and transfers the visible image to a transfer material to obtain a recorded image, It is well known in the prior art to clean the latent image carrier after the transfer of the visible image with a cleaning device of the above type. Since toner is sequentially accumulated in the container of such a cleaning device, when the amount of toner in the container reaches a predetermined amount or becomes full, it is necessary to replace this container with a new container. For this purpose, even in the conventional cleaning device, the toner detecting device detects the state of the amount of toner in the container to know the replacement time of the container.

A conventional toner detection device has a sensor including a tuning fork,
This sensor is housed in a container, and when the container is filled with toner, the pressure changes the oscillation state of the tuning fork to detect the amount of toner in the container. However, since this sensor is housed in a container, if a container filled with toner is discarded, an expensive sensor must be disposed together with it, which causes an economic loss. To avoid this inconvenience, the sensor should be taken out of the container, and only the container and the toner contained therein should be discarded. However, in this way, when the sensor is taken out, the toner in the container is exposed to the outside. There is a risk of scattering or spilling, which may contaminate the hands of the operator or the periphery with toner.

Further, the container containing the toner is divided into a sensor housing and a container main body that is detachably fitted to the housing, and a pressure-sensitive sensor is provided in the sensor housing, and the sensor is exposed inside the sensor housing. A cleaning device has been proposed in which, when the toner in the container is full, the pressure sensor is operated by the pressure to detect the replacement time of the container. According to this configuration, since the container body can be removed from the sensor housing and the body can be discarded, it is not necessary to discard the pressure-sensitive sensor, and it is possible to prevent economic loss. However, according to this structure, when the container body is detached from the sensor housing, the opening of the container body and the opening of the sensor housing, which are the connecting portions between the two, are exposed, so that there is a risk that toner may scatter or spill it. is there.

Also, a flexible bag is housed in the container, the toner collected from the latent image carrier is sent into this bag, and when the bag expands due to the increase in the amount of toner in the bag, the micro switch is activated by this bag part. A cleaning device has also been proposed that is configured to signal when a bag is full of toner. Even with this configuration, it is not necessary to discard the micro switch, but when the bag is removed, the opening thereof is opened, and therefore the toner inside may be scattered from here. In addition, when the bag is discarded, the container accommodating the bag must be sealed with a lid, which inevitably complicates the work.

OBJECT The object of the present invention is to propose a cleaning device in which all the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks are eliminated.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a cleaning device of the type described at the beginning, in which a toner detection device includes a flexible film member for closing an opening formed in an upper wall of the container, and a container outside the container. And a pressure-sensitive sensor that is provided on the pressure sensor and is in contact with the outer surface of the flexible membrane member.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial view of an electronic copying machine having a cleaning device 1 according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a latent image carrier configured as an endless belt-shaped photoconductor 2 is wound around a roller 3 shown in the figure and another roller not shown in the figure and driven in the direction of arrow A. At this time, an electrostatic latent image and a visible image composed of toner are sequentially formed on the surface of the photoconductor 2, and the visible image is transferred to a transfer material (not shown). After the visible image transfer, the toner remains on the surface of the photoconductor, and if it is left as it is,
This will stain the visible image that is formed next. Therefore, the residual toner is cleaned by the cleaning device 1 before the next image forming process is performed.

The cleaning device 1 is opposed to the photoconductor 2 and has a cleaning member configured as a cleaning blade 4 and a container 5 for containing toner. The cleaning blade 4 is fixed to the container 5 by a holder 6, and the tip of the blade 4 is pressed against the photoconductor 2. A rod-shaped toner feeding member 7 which is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow B is disposed in the container 5, and the tip of a scraping seal 8 made of an elastic sheet is brought into pressure contact with the feeding member 7, and The other end is fixed to the container 5. A seal member 9 prevents the toner scraped off by the blade 4 from being discharged to the outside of the container.

Container 5, and the elements 4, 6, 7, attached to it
8, 9 and a film member, a fixture, and a pin, which will be described later, are integrally configured as a unit and are detachably attached to the main body of the copying machine.

When the photoconductor portion after the transfer of the visible image reaches the cleaning device 1, the toner remaining on the portion is scraped off by the cleaning blade 4. The toner thus removed from the photoconductor 2 and falling in the container 5 is transported in the direction of arrow C by the toner feeding member 7 rotating in the direction of arrow B, and is stored in the toner storage portion 5a on the left side of the container. The toner attached to the feeding member 7 is scraped off by the scraping seal 8.

As described above, the toner is sequentially accumulated in the container 5, and the toner is clogged from the lower portion of the storage portion 5a. However, when the toner is full in the storage portion 5a, the container 5 must be replaced with a new one. I have to. Therefore, the toner detection device 10 for detecting the state of the amount of toner contained in the container is provided. The toner detection device 10 includes a flexible film member 12 that closes an opening 11 formed in the upper wall 5b of the container 5.
And the pressure-sensitive sensor 13 fixed to the body of the copying machine outside the container.
And have. As described above, the pressure-sensitive sensor 13 provided outside the container is in contact with the outer surface of the flexible film member 12.

As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible film member 12 shown in FIG.
It is composed of a ring-shaped edge portion 12a and a cup-shaped portion 12b protruding from the edge portion 12a, and is entirely formed in a hat shape and has a substantially trapezoidal vertical cross section. The membrane member 12 is made of a flexible thin film member, for example, a rubber thin film, and an edge portion 12a thereof has a ring-shaped fitting 14.
Is fixed to the inner peripheral edge of the container opening 11 by means of a pin 15, a screw, an adhesive, or the like. At this time, the cup-shaped portion 12b of the membrane member 12 projects from the opening 11 to the outside of the container, and the pressure-sensitive sensor 13 is in contact with the top portion 12c thereof. The sensor 13 bends the cup-shaped portion 12b in a crushed state. . The chain line in FIG. 1 shows the shape of the cup-shaped portion 12b before bending, and the biting amount D when bending is set to about 2 to 3 mm, for example.

The pressure-sensitive sensor 13 has a portion contacting the flexible membrane member 12,
The vibrator 16 is exposed, and the vibrator 16 vibrates at a high frequency (for example, 2.8 KHz).

When the amount of toner in the container 5 gradually increases, the toner reaches the height level of the film member 12, and starts to press the vibrator 16 of the pressure sensor 13 via the flexible film member 12, The frequency of the oscillator 16 changes depending on the pressure. And
When the frequency is reduced to a predetermined value, a container full signal is generated, which causes a display (not shown) attached to the copying machine main body to indicate that the container should be replaced. Alternatively, a buzzer may be notified.

The operator, who knows this, removes the container 5 from the main body of the copying machine together with the respective elements attached thereto and mounts a new container, but the pressure-sensitive sensor 13 remains attached to the main body of the copying machine during this replacement work. Then, only the container 5 and the elements attached thereto are replaced. Therefore, even if the removed container is discarded, there is no waste of discarding even the sensor 13. Further, since the opening 11 is covered by the flexible film member 12 when the container is removed, the toner does not spill or scatter from the opening 11. Further, if the photoconductor 2 and the roller 3 are also configured as a unit integrated with the container 5 so that the whole of them can be removed from the main body of the copying machine, there is a risk that toner will come out from the opening formed on the right side of the container 5. Disappear.

The flexible film member 12 is a vibrator 16 of the pressure sensitive sensor 13.
However, since the membrane member 12 has flexibility and the cup-shaped portion 12b has an extremely thin wall thickness (for example, about 0.1 mm), it is flexible. The elastic film member 12 does not hinder the vibration of the vibrator 16. According to an experiment, the flexible film member 12 has a pressure sensor 13 of 2 g.
Even if it is pressed with a relatively large pressure, the film member 12 does not substantially exert a damper action for stopping the vibration of the vibrator 16 for the above-mentioned reason, and therefore does not affect the vibration of the vibrator 16. It was On the contrary, the toner in the container can be detected by simply pressing the toner against the vibrator with a small pressure of about 50 mg, which changes the vibration frequency of the vibrator 16. It is considered that this is because the pressing force of the toner directly gives the vibrator a damper action for stopping the vibration of the vibrator 16.

Of course, the present invention can be applied to various copying machines other than those shown in the drawings, electrostatic recording devices using a latent image carrier containing a dielectric, or cleaning devices such as printers. Further, the present invention can be applied to a cleaning device that uses, for example, a fur brush instead of a blade as a cleaning member that removes toner remaining on the latent image carrier, and can be applied to a cleaning device in which a cleaning member and a container are separated. Is also applicable.

Advantageous Effects of Invention In the cleaning device according to the present invention, the toner detection device has a flexible film member that closes the opening formed in the upper wall of the toner container, and a flexible film member that contacts the outer surface of the film member and is provided outside the container. Since it has a pressure sensitive sensor, it is possible to perform work without toner scattering or spilling from the opening of the container when replacing the container, and even if the container is discarded, the sensor itself Since there is no need to discard it, there is no economic loss as in the past.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing an example of a cleaning device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a flexible film member. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cleaning device, 5 ... Container 5b ... Upper wall, 10 ... Toner detection device 11 ... Opening, 12 ... Flexible film member 13 ... Pressure sensor

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuaki Tagawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Ricoh Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-57-92366 (JP, A) JP-A-SHO 57-122471 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning member for removing toner remaining on a latent image carrier after the transfer of a visible image, a container for containing the removed toner, and a toner for detecting the state of the amount of toner contained in the container. A cleaning device in a recording device having a detection device, wherein the toner detection device is provided outside the container, and a flexible film member that closes an opening formed in an upper wall of the container,
A cleaning device, comprising: a pressure-sensitive sensor that contacts an outer surface of the flexible film member.