JPH07271162A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently store discharged toner and also to make the miniaturization of a device and the compatible cost reduction by providing an agitating means for agitating the toner and the discharged toner with rotation while projecting into both of a toner storing part and a discharged toner part. CONSTITUTION:When blades 6 and 16 are rotated in accordance with the rotation of an agitator 5, the toner 3 and the discharged toner 13 are agitated, the toner 3 itself is prevented from firmly sticking, and the toner 3 is efficiently discharged from an opening part 7. The discharged used toner 13 is agitated by the blade 16, so that the discharged toner is efficiently stored in the discharged toner container 14 without being conically heaped up in the discharged toner container 14, thus, the discharged toner container 14 is made as small as possible. And also, the discharged toner container 14 is integrally arranged with a replenishment toner container 4 in the longitudinal direction and a certain part of the integrally formed agitator 5 is made to function as the blades 6 and 16 for agitating the toner 3 and the discharged toner 13 in the replenishment toner container 4 and the discharged toner container 14, so that the agitator in the discharged toner container 14 is installed without adding other members.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a laser beam printer,
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus has been used as an output device of a computer, etc., and it is remarkable that the maintenance of replacement of the image forming apparatus and the downsizing of the apparatus are remarkable. There is a configuration in which the toner storage unit is integrated so that the discharged toner can be discarded at the same time when the replenishment toner is replaced.

A conventional image forming apparatus will be described below. 3 is a perspective view of a process cartridge of a conventional image forming apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main body of the conventional image forming apparatus. In FIG. 4, 50 is a chassis of the image forming apparatus main body, 27 is a sheet material, 28 is a sheet feeding cassette filled with the sheet material 27, 29 is a sheet material 2 in the sheet feeding cassette 28.
7 is a paper feed roller, 30 is a fed sheet material 2
7 is a conveyance roller that conveys 7 to the image transfer portion, 31 is a process cartridge that forms a toner image on the sheet material 27,
The life of the internal components is shorter than that of other components in the image forming apparatus, and periodical replacement is required, so that the components are detachable from the main body. 32 is a laser scanning unit that scans a laser beam to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum 2 in the process cartridge 31, 33 is a transfer device that transfers the toner image formed in the process cartridge 31 onto the sheet material 27, Reference numeral 34 is a fixing device for fixing the toner image on the sheet material 27 by an internal heat source and two rollers, and 35.
Is a discharge roller for discharging the fixed sheet material 27, 36
Is a tray for stacking the discharged sheet material 27.

In FIG. 3, 1 is the base of the process cartridge 31, 2 is a photosensitive drum which forms a latent image on its outer peripheral surface by irradiation of laser light by the laser scanning unit 32 shown in FIG. 4, 3 is toner, and 4 is toner. Is toner 3
Is a replenishment toner container for accommodating the toner, and 24 is an agitator, and the blade 3 which is a part of the agitator agitates the toner 3. 7 is an opening provided in a part of the replenishment toner container 4, through which the toner 3 is discharged to the outside of the replenishment toner container 4, 8 is a sponge roller, and 9 is a latent mark for supplying the toner 3 to the surface of the photosensitive drum 2. A developing roller 10 for converting the image into a toner image, a cleaning blade 10 for scraping off the toner 3 remaining on the surface of the photoconductor drum 2 without being completely transferred to the sheet material 27 shown in FIG.
1 is an auger that collects the toner 3 scraped by the cleaning blade 10 on one end of the process cartridge 31, 12 is a conveyer that conveys the toner 3 collected by the auger 11, 13 is discharged toner that is conveyed by the conveyor 12, 14 Is a waste toner container for storing the waste toner 13. This waste toner container 14 has a capacity so that the waste toner 13 in the waste toner container 14 becomes full when the toner 3 in the replenishment toner container 4 becomes empty. It is set. 15
Is provided in a part of the waste toner container 14 and has openings 17, 17, 19, 20, 21, 21, which the waste toner 13 enters.
2, the drive is transmitted from a drive device (not shown) of the main body,
These are gears for rotating the photosensitive drum 2, the developing roller 9, the sponge roller 8, the agitator 24, and the auger 11.

The operation of the conventional image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, the agitator 24 agitates the toner 3 in the replenishment toner container 4, thereby preventing the toner 3 itself from sticking and efficiently discharging it from the opening 7. The toner 3 discharged from the opening 7 is conveyed to the developing roller 9 by the sponge roller 8 and adheres to the photosensitive drum 2 on which the latent image is formed by the laser scanning unit 32. The toner 3 attached to the photoconductor drum 2 is transferred from the paper feed cassette 28 to the paper feed roller 2
9. The transfer device 33 transfers the sheet material 27 sent by the transport roller 30 to the sheet material 27, and the fixing device 34 fixes the sheet material 27. The sheet material 27 on which the toner 3 is fixed is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the discharging roller 35. On the other hand, the toner 3 that has not been transferred and remains attached to the photosensitive drum 2 is scraped off by the cleaning blade 10 and conveyed to the discharged toner container 14 by the auger 11 and the conveyor 12. With this operation, when the replenishment toner container 4 becomes empty and the discharged toner container 14 becomes full, the replenishment toner container 4 and the discharged toner container 14 can be integrally attached to and detached from the base 1. The toner container 4 and the discharged toner container 14 are exchanged.

Next, another conventional image forming apparatus will be described. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a process cartridge of another conventional image forming apparatus. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 26 is a replenishment toner container for storing the toner 3, 47 is an agitator,
The toner 48 is agitated by the blade 48 which is a part of the blade. 49 is a waste toner container for storing the waste toner 13;
Is an agitator, and the blade 51 formed of a part thereof agitates the discharged toner 13.

In another conventional image forming apparatus constructed as described above, the replenishment toner container 26 for stirring the toner 3 is used.
Waste toner container 4 provided separately from the inside agitator 47
Since the discharged toner 13 is agitated by the agitator 50 inside 9, the discharged toner 13 is efficiently accumulated in the discharged toner container 49 without accumulating on the cone in the discharged toner container 49. The discharged toner 13 is a discharged toner container 49.
Can be minimized.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional structure, in the waste toner container 14 shown in FIG.
Since the discharged toner container 14 does not have an agitator, the efficiency of storing the discharged toner 13 is low, the discharged toner container 14 becomes large, and the discharged toner container 49 shown in FIG. Since the agitator 50 is provided in the waste toner container 49 in addition to the agitator 47 therein, there is a problem that the number of parts is increased and the cost is increased because a driving member for driving each agitator 47, 50 is required. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus which efficiently stores discharged toner and achieves both downsizing and cost reduction.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has a toner accommodating portion for accommodating the toner transferred to the developing means, and a developing means integrated with the toner accommodating portion provided in contact with the toner accommodating portion. The toner in the toner storage unit and the toner in the waste toner storage unit are projected by rotating into the toner storage unit that stores the discharged toner that is configured to be more detachable and the toner storage unit and the waste toner storage unit. And a stirring means for stirring.

[0011]

According to the present invention, the agitating means in the toner accommodating portion and the agitating means in the discharged toner accommodating portion can be integrated with the above-mentioned configuration.

[0012]

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view of a process cartridge of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a process cartridge of the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the same components as those of the process cartridge of the conventional image forming apparatus are designated by the same reference numerals, and the duplicate description will be omitted.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 5 is an agitator provided through the replenishment toner container 4 and the discharge toner container 14, 6 is a part of the agitator 5, and the toner 3 in the replenishment toner container 4 is agitated. A blade 16 for agitating the discharged toner 13 in the discharged toner container 14 which is a part of the agitator 5, and these supply toner container 4 and discharged toner container 14 are provided on the conveyor 12 as shown in FIG. By rotating, both can be attached and detached at once.

The operation of the process cartridge of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described below.

First, by rotating the agitator 5, the blades 6,
When 16 rotates, toner 3 and discharged toner 13 are agitated,
The toner 3 is prevented from fixing itself and is efficiently discharged from the opening 7. On the other hand, since the used waste toner 13 is agitated by the blades 16, the used waste toner 13 is efficiently stored in the waste toner container 14 without accumulating on the cone. Therefore, the waste toner container 14 can be minimized.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the discharge toner container 14 is integrally provided in the longitudinal direction of the replenishment toner container 4, and a part of the integrated agitator 5 is provided.
By using the blades 6 and 16 for agitating the toner 3 and the discharged toner 13 in the discharged toner container 14, the agitator 5 in the discharged toner container 14 can be provided without adding a member. Further, it is possible to achieve both downsizing and cost reduction of the image forming apparatus.

[0017]

According to the present invention, there is provided a toner storage portion for storing toner to be transferred to the developing means, and a discharge toner which is provided in contact with the toner storage portion and is detachably attached to the toner storage portion from the developing means. By including the discharged toner storage portion to be stored, and the stirring means for stirring the toner in the toner storage portion and the discharged toner in the discharged toner storage portion by protruding and rotating both in the toner storage portion and in the discharged toner storage portion ,
Since the stirring means in the toner storage portion and the stirring means in the waste toner storage portion can be integrated, and it is not necessary to add the stirring means in the waste toner storage portion as a separate member, both downsizing of the apparatus and cost reduction can be achieved. Can be planned.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a process cartridge of an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a process cartridge of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a process cartridge of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main body of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a process cartridge of another conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Base 2 Photoreceptor Drum 3 Toner 4 Replenishing Toner Container 5 Agitator 6,16 Blade 9 Developing Roller 10 Cleaning Blade 11 Auger 13 Exhaust Toner 14 Exhaust Toner Container

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G03G 21/10

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A toner accommodating portion for accommodating toner transferred to a developing means, and a developing device which is provided so as to be in contact with the toner accommodating portion and is configured to be detachable from the developing means integrally with the toner accommodating portion. The discharged toner storage portion that stores the discharged toner, and the toner inside the toner storage portion and the discharged toner inside the discharged toner storage portion are agitated by protruding and rotating both inside the toner storage portion and inside the discharged toner storage portion. An image forming apparatus, comprising: 2. An image bearing member on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, a developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member with toner, and a toner transferred to the developing unit. The toner storage unit has a substantially cylindrical shape to be stored, and is provided coaxially with the toner storage unit so as to be detachable from the developing unit integrally with the toner storage unit. A discharged toner storage unit that stores the discharged toner that has not been transferred to the recording material and remains on the image carrier, and the toner storage unit and the discharged toner storage unit that project into both the toner storage unit and the discharged toner storage unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: a stirring unit that stirs the toner in the toner storage unit and the discharged toner in the discharged toner storage unit by rotating about the axis of the.