JPH0753098Y2 - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention provides an electrophotographic apparatus including an image forming unit including an image carrier and a heat fixing unit, while removing ozone generated from the image forming unit. The present invention relates to a device that suppresses a temperature rise in the apparatus due to a heat fixing unit. For example, it can be used for laser printers, electrophotographic copying machines, LED printers, liquid crystal printers, and the like.

[Prior Art] An image forming unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier and transfers an image to a sheet, and a heat fixing unit that thermally fixes the toner image on the sheet on which the image is transferred by the image forming unit. There is known an electrophotographic apparatus having

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, an image forming section 2 for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum 21 which is an image carrier and transferring an image onto a sheet 11 in the apparatus main body 1, and the image forming section 2. A sheet feeding unit 3 for feeding the sheets 11 one by one to the sheet 2, and a thermal fixing unit 4 arranged downstream of the image forming unit 2 in the sheet conveying direction for thermally fixing the toner image transferred onto the sheet 11. There is known an electrophotographic apparatus provided with a sheet discharging section 5 for discharging the sheet 11 having the image fixed by the heat fixing section 4 to the outside of the apparatus main body 1.

Here, the image forming unit 2 is a photosensitive drum that is an image carrier.
A charger that charges the photoconductor drum 21 along the periphery of 21.
22, a laser beam device 23 that irradiates a laser beam on the peripheral surface of the photoconductor drum 21 charged by the charger 22 according to image information to form an electrostatic latent image, and an electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor drum 21. On the developing device 24 for forming a visible image by attaching toner to the transfer device 25 for transferring the toner image formed by the developing device 24 onto the paper 11 and the photoconductor drum 21 not transferred by the transfer device 25. The cleaning device 26 for removing the waste toner is disposed in order. The paper feeding unit 3 is a cassette case that is detachably attached to the apparatus main body 1 and stores a plurality of papers 11 in a stacked state.
31 and a pickup roller 32 for feeding the sheets 11 in the cassette case 31 one by one. The heat fixing unit 4 includes a heat roller 41 and a pressure roller 42.

By the way, in this type of electrophotographic apparatus, the temperature inside the apparatus main body 1 rises excessively due to the heat generated from the heat roller 41 of the thermal fixing unit 4. Therefore, in order to maintain and improve the printing quality, the apparatus main body 1 It is necessary to suppress the internal temperature rise. Further, since ozone is generated from the charging device 22 and the transfer device 25 of the image forming unit 2, it is necessary not to let the ozone out of the apparatus main body 1 in order not to adversely affect the operator.

Therefore, conventionally, the cooling fan 51 is provided near the heat fixing unit 4.
And an ozone filter 52 is attached so as to cover the entire suction side opening of the cooling fan 51.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] With the configuration in which the ozone filter 52 is mounted so as to cover the entire suction side opening of the cooling fan 51 as in the conventional case, if the ozone filter 52 having a relatively fine mesh is used, However, since the air flow is deteriorated, the temperature inside the apparatus body 1 is excessively increased. On the other hand, if the ozone filter 52 having a relatively coarse mesh is used, the flow of air is improved and the temperature rise in the apparatus main body 1 can be suppressed, but ozone cannot be reduced.

Therefore, in order to reduce the ozone and suppress the temperature rise in the apparatus main body 1, the ozone filter 52 having a relatively fine mesh is used to reduce the ozone, and the cooling fan having a large intake amount is used. This leads to the drawback that the device itself becomes large and expensive.

Here, an object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem and to reduce the size and cost of the device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic apparatus capable of suppressing an increase in temperature inside the apparatus due to the heat fixing section while removing ozone generated from the image forming section.

[Means for Solving Problems] Therefore, in the present invention, an image forming unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier and transfers an image to a sheet, and a downstream side of the image forming unit in the sheet conveying direction. In an electrophotographic apparatus having a heat fixing section disposed inside the apparatus and thermally fixing an image transferred onto a sheet, the air inside the apparatus main body is provided between the image forming section and the heat fixing section. A cooling fan that discharges to the outside is provided, and a partition member that partitions the image forming unit and the heat fixing unit is provided in the suction-side opening of the cooling fan, and the suction-side opening of the cooling fan that is partitioned by the partition member. An ozone filter is provided on the side of the image forming unit.

[Operation] When the cooling fan is operated, the ozone from the image forming section and the heat from the heat fixing section are effectively sucked into each partition of the suction side opening of the cooling fan while being partitioned by the partition member.

At this time, the ozone from the image forming section is passed through the ozone filter and is hardly discharged outside the apparatus. Therefore, the operator is not adversely affected.

On the other hand, the heat from the heat fixing unit is sucked from the suction side opening of the cooling fan where the ozone filter is not mounted and is discharged to the outside of the apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to suppress ozone removal and temperature rise in the device while reducing the size and cost of the device.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the description of FIG. 2, the same or similar components as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted or simplified.

In FIG. 1, the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 of the image forming unit 2 is charged by the charger 22 as the photosensitive drum 21 rotates in the direction of the arrow in the drawing, and then the laser beam from the laser beam device 23 is applied to the surface. An electrostatic latent image is formed by the beam. The photoconductor drum 21 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed is subsequently developed by the toner of the developing device 24, and then the waste toner remaining on the surface is removed by the cleaning device 26 via the charging device 25.

On the other hand, the paper 11 in the paper supply unit 3 is sent out one by one by the pickup roller 32 and is sent between the photoconductor drum 21 and the charger 25, and the toner image on the photoconductor drum 21 is transferred onto the paper 11. It The paper 11 on which the toner image is transferred is
The toner image is heat-fixed on the paper 11 by the heat roller 41 and the pressure roller 42 of the heat fixing unit 4 and then discharged to the outside of the apparatus main body 1 by the paper discharge unit 5.

In this embodiment, between the image forming section 2 and the heat fixing section 4,
More specifically, a cooling fan 61 for discharging the air inside the apparatus main body 1 to the outside is disposed between the image forming unit 2 and the thermal fixing unit 4 and near the thermal fixing unit 4, and the cooling fan 61 is disposed.
A partition plate 62 as a partition member for partitioning the image forming section 2 and the heat fixing section 4 is provided at a substantially central position of the suction side opening of 61.

The partition plate 62 is provided to guide the ozone generated from the image forming unit 2 to the right half side of the cooling fan 61 and the heat generated from the heat fixing unit 4 to the left half side of the cooling fan 61 in the drawing. ing. In addition, a cooling fan 61 divided by a partition plate 62
An ozone filter 63 is attached to the image forming unit 2 side portion of the suction side opening, that is, the right half side in the drawing.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, when the cooling fan 61 is operated, the ozone from the image forming section 2 partitioned by the partition plate 62 and the heat from the heat fixing section 4 are cooled by the partition plate 62. Is sucked into each partition of the suction side opening. At this time, the ozone from the image forming section 2 is passed through the ozone filter 63, and therefore is hardly discharged to the outside of the apparatus main body 1. Therefore, the operator is not adversely affected. Moreover, since the ozone filter 63 may be half the size of the conventional one, it is inexpensive.

On the other hand, the heat from the heat fixing unit 4 is discharged to the outside of the apparatus main body 1 from the portion of the suction side opening of the cooling fan 61 where the ozone filter 63 is not attached. Therefore, the heat can be efficiently discharged to the outside of the apparatus main body 1, so that the temperature rise in the apparatus main body 1 can be suppressed without using a large cooling fan 61. This has the advantage that the cooling fan 61 may be small and inexpensive.

In the above embodiment, the partition plate 62 is provided at the center position of the suction side opening of the cooling fan 61 and the suction side opening of the cooling fan 61 is divided in half, but the position of the partition plate 62 is not limited to the above example. However, the suction side opening of the cooling fan 61 may be defined in consideration of the amount of heat generated from the heat fixing unit 4 and the amount of ozone generated from the image forming unit 2.

Further, in the above embodiment, the partition plate 62 is provided for partitioning the image forming section 2 and the heat fixing section 4 into the suction side opening of the cooling fan 61.
However, the point is that the heat from the heat fixing section 4 is attached to the portion of the cooling fan 61 where the ozone filter 63 is not attached, and the ozone from the image forming section 2 is attached to the ozone filter 63 of the cooling filter 61. It suffices to guide each of the parts to the open part, and any part that can exhibit the function as a partition member may be used. For example, the shape of the apparatus main body 1 may be devised to form a shape that can function as a partition member, or
You may consider arrangement | positioning of various devices (for example, duct) provided in the apparatus main body 1 so that it may function as a partition member.

[Advantage of Device] As described above, according to the present invention, the ozone from the image forming unit is guided to the suction side opening portion of the cooling fan where the ozone filter is mounted and is passed by the ozone filter. It is hardly discharged to the outside and does not adversely affect the operator. On the other hand, the heat from the heat fixing unit is discharged to the outside of the device from the part of the cooling fan where the ozone filter is not mounted, so the heat can be efficiently discharged to the outside of the device. Even if used, the temperature rise in the device can be suppressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a conventional electrophotographic apparatus. 1 ... Device body, 2 ... Image forming unit, 4 ... Thermal fixing unit,
61 ... Cooling fan, 62 ... Partition plate, 63 ... Ozone filter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An image forming section for forming an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier and transferring an image on a sheet, and an image forming section arranged downstream of the image forming section in the sheet conveying direction and transferred onto the sheet. In an electrophotographic apparatus having a heat fixing section for thermally fixing an image in the apparatus main body, a cooling fan for exhausting air in the apparatus main body to the outside is provided between the image forming section and the heat fixing section, A partition member for partitioning the image forming unit and the heat fixing unit is provided in the suction side opening of the cooling fan, and an ozone filter is provided in the image forming unit side portion of the suction side opening of the cooling fan partitioned by the partition member. An electrophotographic device characterized by the following.