JPH07237335A - Image recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To omit wasteful work and to enhance work efficiency when work is executed with respect to the electric mechanism part arranged in an image recording apparatus. CONSTITUTION:In an image recording apparatus wherein image recording is applied to the recording paper 4 supplied from a paper supply part and fed along a recording paper feed passage in an image forming part and the recording paper 4 is discharged to the outside, a first image recording apparatus main body A containing the recording paper feed passage and the image forming part is provided. Further, the second image recording apparatus main body B receiving the electric mechanism part of the image recording apparatus and provided to the first image recording apparatus main body A in a detachable manner and having at least one outer surface forming a part of the outer surface of the image recording apparatus is provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording an information image on recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an image recording apparatus for recording an information image on recording paper, a printer is known in which a laser light source is used and a controller is used as a control apparatus for converting code information into an image signal. Such a controller is arranged in the lower part of the image recording device.

[0003]

However, in the conventional image recording apparatus, the image recording apparatus is arranged in the image recording apparatus when a trouble such as a failure occurs in the electrical equipment section or when the maintenance of the electrical equipment section is performed. In order to perform work on the electrical component section, the exterior surface of the image recording apparatus is removed, or another component in the image recording apparatus is removed to deal with it. For this reason, the conventional image recording apparatus has a problem that it is a wasteful work to perform the original work, which takes time and labor, and the work efficiency is low. In addition, there are problems such as forgetting to attach a component or an incorrect attachment when the assembly work for returning is performed.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and eliminates unnecessary work and improves work efficiency when performing work on the electrical equipment section arranged in the image recording apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus that is used.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, recording paper fed from a paper feed section and conveyed through a recording paper conveyance path is
In an image recording apparatus that performs image recording by the image forming unit and ejects the recording paper to the outside of the apparatus, a recording paper conveyance path, a main body of the first image recording apparatus including the image forming unit, and an electrical component of the image recording apparatus are provided. The second image recording apparatus main body is housed and detachably attached to the first image recording apparatus main body, and at least one outer surface of the second image recording apparatus main body forms a part of the outer surface of the image recording apparatus. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a part of the exterior surface of the second image recording apparatus main body is used as the bottom surface of the image recording apparatus, and this bottom surface and the bottom surface of the first image recording apparatus main body form the image recording apparatus. It is a structure to support.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the second image recording apparatus main body accommodating the electric component section is detachably attached to the first image recording apparatus main body. By removing the second image recording device body from the body,
The trouble of removing the exterior surface of the image recording apparatus is saved, and the repair, replacement, or maintenance of the electrical component is facilitated.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an example of a printer as an image recording apparatus using a semiconductor laser.
The printer main body 1 accommodates a first printer main body A including a recording paper conveyance path and an image forming unit, and an electrical component section of the printer main body 1, is detachably provided to the first printer main body, and at least 1 One exterior surface is a second printer body B that forms a part of the exterior surface of the printer body 1. The outline of the recording process performed by the printer body 1 will be described below.

First, the first printer body A will be described. In FIG. 1, recording papers 4 are bundled and stacked on a bottom plate 3 of a paper feed tray 2 partially stored in the first printer body A, and the uppermost recording paper is recorded by a paper feed roller 5. It is sent toward the pair of paper separating and conveying rollers 6. The separation / conveyance roller pair 6 includes an upper roller 6a and a lower roller 6b,
The lower roller 6b among them rotates in the direction opposite to the recording paper feeding direction (arrow direction) or is held in a stopped state, and a plurality of recording papers have been fed from the paper feed tray 2. At this time, only the uppermost recording sheet is separated and conveyed in cooperation with the upper roller 6a which rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

The recording paper fed by the recording paper separating / conveying roller pair 6 is continuously fed even after reaching the portion of the registration roller pair 7, and the leading end of the recording paper reaches the portion of the recording paper leading edge detecting sensor 8. The registration roller pair 7 is temporarily stopped, and the recording paper is also stopped from moving. At this time, the recording paper separating / conveying roller pair 6 is also stopped. The paper feed roller 5 is designed so that after a predetermined amount of recording paper has been fed, a clutch (not shown) is disengaged and idle.

By the way, in this printer, an optical housing 9 is provided in an upper portion of the printer main body 1, and mirrors 11 and 12 are arranged in the optical housing 9 in a position shown in FIG. A semiconductor laser light source (not shown), a hollow scanner, a polygon, and the like are provided in the inner part of the. In a printer equipped with such an optical system,
Now, when the printer receives a print signal from the host machine, the recording paper transport system described above operates and the photoconductor 15 composed of an endless belt starts to rotate in the arrow direction. First, the surface of the photoconductor is uniformly charged by the charging charger 16.

On the other hand, signal light corresponding to image information is emitted from the semiconductor laser light source, and this signal light is converted into scanning light by a rotating hollow scanner or polygon,
The scanning light is guided to the mirrors 11 and 12, passes through the cylindrical lens 13, and is applied to the surface of the photoconductor 15 that is uniformly charged. An image is formed. Reference numeral 14 indicates dustproof glass.

The electrostatic latent image thus formed is visualized by the toner, which is a one-component developer carried on the surface of the developing sleeve 17. By the way, it has already been described that the recording sheet temporarily stops in the state where the leading edge of the recording sheet reaches the portion of the recording sheet leading edge detection sensor 8. However, after this stop, the registration roller pair 7 starts rotating again. The tip of the recording paper fed toward the photoconductor 15 by this rotation is arranged so as to meet with the tip of the visible image on the photoconductor at the transfer portion facing the transfer charger 18.

Next, in the transfer section, the photoconductor 15
The toner image on the photoconductor 15 is transferred by the transfer charger 18 to the recording paper moving while being in contact with the recording paper. Thereafter, the leading end of the recording paper is separated from the photoconductor due to the strength of the waist of the recording paper. While being guided by the guide members 19 and 20, it is sent toward the fixing roller pair 23 of the fixing unit 22.
The fixing roller pair 23 has a heat source for at least one roller 23a of the rollers 23a and 23b, and the transfer image of the recording paper is thermally fixed by passing the recording paper between both rollers, and after the fixing, The roller 23a by the peeling claw 24
While being separated from the surface of the recording paper, the recording paper is sent toward the recording paper discharge path 25. While passing through the paper discharge path 25, the recording paper is
The direction thereof is reversed by 180 °, the recording image surface faces downward, and the sheet is discharged from the sheet discharge roller pair 26 and stored in the sheet discharge tray 27. On the other hand, the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 15 is removed by the fur brush 29 of the cleaning unit 28, and the photoconductor is cleaned to prepare for the next recording.

In this printer, the controller 3
In addition to the control boards 31a, 31b and the control circuit board 34 of FIG. 1, an associated printed board 38 related to the optical system is provided on the upper side of the optical housing 9, and the right side of the first printer body A in FIG. A character pattern storage device 39 is installed in the section. The developing unit 47 includes a developing container 48, a toner cartridge 49, a toner stirring member 50, a doctor blade 51, a developing sleeve 17, and the like. The paper feed tray 2 is still attached to the printer, and the recording paper is replenished by rotating the cover 55 around the fulcrum 55a and sliding the recording paper onto the bottom plate 3.

Next, the second printer body B will be described. A space is formed in the lower portion of the printer main body 1 by disposing the recording paper discharge / accommodation section in the upper portion of the printer main body 1. Utilizing this space, the controller 31 and the like are built in this space. A shielding wall 32a extends rearward and obliquely upward from a base portion 32 of the apparatus main body integrally formed of synthetic resin or the like, and the shielding wall 32a and both side walls (not shown) connected to the shielding wall 32a have a box shape. An object is formed, a space is formed in the bottom of the apparatus main body, and a power supply unit 33 as an electrical component and a control circuit board 3 of the printer are provided inside the space.
4, a controller 31, a fan device 35, etc. are stored. The controller 31, as described above,
The code information is converted into an image signal and has a plurality of control boards 31a and 31b.

Above the space in which the controller 31 and the like are arranged is a shield frame 36, and control boards 31a and 31b.
The lower part of each is covered with a metal plate 52. Metal plate 5
2 is detachably attached to the main body of the apparatus with screws. The control board is placed in space and the metal plate 52
Since the signal line is not exposed, noise is not generated or noise is not picked up, so that malfunction can be avoided and the reliability of the recording apparatus is improved. Can be further improved. Further, the power supply unit 33 and the controller 31 are isolated from each other by a shield frame 36.

Charging charger 16 and transfer charger 18
Although ozone is generated from various chargers such as the above, the shielding wall 32a blocks the ozone from entering the lower space of the shielding wall 32a. By operating the fan device 35 and allowing air to flow in from the air intake opening 37, the power supply unit 33, the controller 31 and the like can be air-cooled. In this case, a part of the side portion 33a of the power supply unit 33, the side portion 36a of the shield frame 36, or the like has a wire mesh structure, so that the inside of the power supply unit 33 or
The control boards 31a, 31b and the like can be cooled.

The power supply unit 33, the control circuit board 34 of the printer, the controller 31, the fan device 35, etc. are housed in a unit box as the second image recording apparatus main body B,
The unit box itself can be taken out of the apparatus body by pulling it to the left in FIG. In addition, the control board 3
Shield frame 3 together with 1a, 31b and control circuit board 34, etc.
6 may be taken out of the main body device. Further, in this case, each control board may have an independent structure and only necessary boards may be taken out.

In the present invention, since the control boards 31c and 31d are arranged in the lower part of the apparatus main body,
The control board can be arbitrarily added downwards if necessary. Figure 2
Shows an example in which the number of control boards 31c and 31d is increased, but the number is arbitrary. When the control board layer bulges downward from the bottom of the apparatus body due to the addition of the control board, the height of the printer can be appropriately adjusted by attaching long legs 56 as indicated by reference numeral 56. it can.

By the way, in FIG. 1, each device group located above the shielding wall 32a is the unit side plate 5 shown in FIG.
7 and 58 are attached to the unit side plate 57,
58 is placed on a box-shaped base portion 32 having an open upper end, and the base portion 32 is adapted to receive the weight of the unit side plates 57, 58 and each equipment group.

It should be noted that, in FIG. 1, a reinforcing stay 62 for mounting the static elimination lamp 59 and the ground brush 60 whose tip contacts the photoconductor 15, a reinforcing stay 63 for mounting the guide rail 64 of the charging charger 16, and a guide rail for the transfer charger 18. 65, etc., as shown in FIG.
The unit side plates 57 and 58 are laterally stretched between the unit side plates 57 and 58, and the unit side plates 57 and 58 are integrally assembled and a predetermined rigidity strength is secured as a structure. In addition to ensuring such strength, the reinforcing stay 62 and the like also serve to attach devices such as the static elimination lamp 59 and the like, which contributes to reduction in the number of parts and weight. Controller 31
The shield frame 36 and the metal plate 52 to which the above are attached also contribute to ensuring the strength of the base portion 32. A part of the shield frame 36 made of a metal plate is connected to the ground side of the image forming apparatus, which simplifies the grounding method and ensures its reliability.

[0023]

According to the present invention, since the second image recording apparatus main body accommodating the electric component section is detachably provided to the first image recording apparatus main body, the electric component section is repaired. ,
In the case of replacement or maintenance, unnecessary work such as removing the exterior surface of the image recording device is not required, the above-mentioned work is facilitated, and work efficiency is improved.

Further, since the electric component section is housed in the second image recording apparatus main body, the harmful effects caused by generating or picking up electrical noise are eliminated and the reliability is improved. Furthermore, as compared with the case where only one image recording apparatus main body supports the image recording apparatus, by supporting the image recording apparatus by the first image recording apparatus main body and the second image recording apparatus main body, The weight can be distributed and received, the cost can be suppressed, and the strength of the image recording apparatus main body can be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an image recording apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an essential part of an embodiment in which a control board is added.

FIG. 3 is a configuration perspective view of a unit side plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 15 Photoconductor 18 Transfer Charger 22 Fixing Unit 28 Cleaning Unit 31 Controller 33 Power Supply Unit 34 Printer Control Circuit Board 35 Fan Device 47 Developing Unit 52 Metal Plate

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical display location // B41J 13/00 (72) Inventor Takashi Yokota 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo・ Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming section records an image on a recording sheet fed from a sheet feeding section and conveyed along a recording sheet conveyance path.
An image recording apparatus for ejecting the recording sheet to the outside of the apparatus, wherein the recording sheet conveying path, a main body of the first image recording apparatus including the image forming section, and an electrical component section of the image recording apparatus are housed, A second image recording apparatus main body, which is detachably provided to the image recording apparatus main body, and at least one exterior surface of which constitutes a part of the exterior surface of the image recording apparatus. Recording device. 2. A part of the exterior surface of the second image recording apparatus main body is the bottom surface of the image recording apparatus, and this bottom surface and the bottom surface of the first image recording apparatus main body form the image recording apparatus. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, which supports the image recording apparatus.