JPH08101577A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To miniaturize the entire device and to reduce manufacturing cost. CONSTITUTION: A rotary shaft 42 is provided with dispersion vanes 44, and a plurality of feed vanes 48 are so provided at the edges of the dispersion vanes 44 as to be distributed in the direction of the length of the vanes 44. When the rotary shaft 42 is rotated, the dispersion vanes 44 desperse toner in a toner storage part 16, and also the feed vanes 48 carry the toner successively to a replenishment opening. A vane wheel 52 at the front end of the rotary shaft 42 supplies the toner from the replenishment opening to a developing tank 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device, and more particularly to a developing device for supplying toner to a developing tank while preventing solidification of the toner in a toner containing portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional developing device 1 of this type shown in FIG. 7, a diffuser 3 for diffusing the toner in a toner containing portion 2 and a conveying screw 5 for conveying the toner toward a replenishing port 4. Are provided independently of each other, and each of them is individually driven by the drive units 6 and 7. The arrow in FIG. 7 indicates the toner movement path.

[0003]

In the prior art, since the diffuser 3 and the conveying screw 5 are provided independently of each other, it is necessary to secure a space for installing them and the size of the entire apparatus becomes large. was there. Further, since the driving units 6 and 7 are required in association with the diffuser 3 and the conveying screw 5, respectively, the structure is complicated, the number of parts is large, and the manufacturing cost is high.

Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide a developing device which can reduce the size of the entire device and reduce the manufacturing cost.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a toner containing portion for containing toner, a developing tank provided with a developing roller,
Development including a replenishment port for replenishing the toner in the toner storage unit to the developing tank, a diffusing unit for diffusing the toner in the toner storage unit, and a conveying unit for conveying the toner in the toner storage unit toward the replenishment port In the apparatus, the diffusing means includes a rotating shaft and a diffusing blade extending in the axial direction of the rotating shaft, and the conveying means is provided on the edge of the diffusing blade so as to be distributed in the longitudinal direction and inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the rotating shaft. A developing device including a plurality of feeding blades having a toner feeding surface.

[0006]

When the rotating shaft is rotated by the motor, the diffusion blade is rotated accordingly, and the toner in the toner containing portion is diffused by the diffusion blade. At this time, when the toner feeding surface of each feeding blade (hereinafter referred to as “feeding surface”) hits the toner, the toner is pushed by the feeding surface and moved in the axial direction of the rotating shaft. Since the feeding blades are distributed in the lengthwise direction of the diffusion blades, that is, the axial direction of the rotating shaft, the toner is sequentially moved by the feeding blades in the axial direction of the rotating shaft and is conveyed toward the replenishing port.

[0007]

According to the present invention, one rotating shaft is provided with a diffusion blade and a feed blade to diffuse the toner in the toner containing portion and at the same time convey the toner toward the replenishing port. The overall size can be reduced and the structure can be simplified, and thus the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

The above-mentioned objects, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Developing device 10 of this embodiment shown in FIGS.
Is a photosensitive drum (a photosensitive plate or photosensitive belt may be used) 1
2 is to visualize the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of FIG. 2 (FIG. 2) by using a toner obtained by mixing an insulating non-magnetic toner and a magnetic carrier.

The developing device 10 includes a housing 14.
A toner container 16 and a developing tank 18 are provided inside the housing 14, and the toner container 16 and the developing tank 18 are separated by a partition wall 20. And the partition wall 20
A replenishment port 22 (FIG. 3) for replenishing the toner in the toner container 16 into the developing tank 18 is formed in the vicinity of the longitudinal end (the left end in FIG. 1) of the.

An opening 24 is formed in the side surface of the developing tank 18, and inside the developing tank 18, a developing roller 26 having a magnet roller (not shown) is provided near the opening 24. Further, between the replenishing port 22 and the developing roller 26, agitators 28 and 30 for agitating the toner supplied into the developing tank 18 and supplying the toner to the developing roller 26 are provided in a direction parallel to the developing roller 26. A partition wall 32 separates the region where the stirrer 28 is provided and the region where the stirrer 30 is provided. However,
These two areas communicate with each other near both ends of the agitators 28 and 30. On the other hand, an opening 34 is formed in the upper part of the toner storage portion 16, and a lid 36 is attached to the opening 34. In addition, a substantially plate-shaped shutter portion 35 is provided inside the toner containing portion 16 so as to sandwich the region where the replenishment port 22 is formed with the side wall of the housing 14, and a diffuser / feeder as shown in FIG. A blade 38 is provided.

The diffuser / feed vane 38 includes a rotary shaft 42, one end of which is connected to a drive unit 40 (FIG. 1) provided on the side surface of the housing 14, and the rotary shaft 42 has a predetermined length. Two diffusion blades 4 that are spaced apart and extend in the parallel direction
4 is attached via a support portion 46, and a plurality of feed blades 48 are provided on the edge of one diffusion blade 44 in a distributed manner in the length direction. The feed blade 48 has a feed surface (lower surface of the blade 48 in FIG. 5) inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the rotation shaft 42, as can be seen from FIG. Therefore, when the rotary shaft 42 is rotated in the arrow A direction, the toner contained in the toner containing portion 16 is sequentially conveyed by the sending surface 50 in the arrow B direction. An impeller 52 is attached to the tip of the rotary shaft 42. The impeller 52 includes a substantially cylindrical main body 54, and a plurality of blades 5 extending in the radial direction of the main body 54, that is, the rotating shaft 42 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the main body 54.
6 are attached at regular intervals in the circumferential direction.

The diffuser / feed vane 38 is connected to the toner container 16
When installed inside, the impeller 52 is disposed between the side wall of the housing 14 and the shutter portion 35. Therefore, the supply port 22 is closed by the side wall of the housing 14, the shutter portion 35, and the impeller 52. The developing device 10 is mounted in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and the developing roller 26 is brought into contact with the photoconductor 12 (FIG. 2) at a predetermined pressure. Then, the magnetic carrier is supplied into the developing tank 18 and the toner is supplied into the toner containing portion 16.

In operation, the photosensitive drum 12, the developing roller 26, the agitators 28 and 30, and the diffuser / feed blade 38 are moved in the direction of the arrow by a motor (not shown) (FIG. 2).
When the toner is stored in the toner storage unit 16, the toner in the toner storage unit 16 is diffused by the diffusion blades 44 and is pushed by the feed surface 50 of the feed blade 48 to be conveyed toward the replenishment port 22. Then, the toner is supplied by the impeller 52 into the developing tank 18 through the supply port 22. The toner supplied into the developing tank 18 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 1) by the stirrers 28 and 30, and is sufficiently mixed with the magnetic carrier in this conveying process. Since the plurality of blades 56 of the impeller 52 are provided at regular intervals, a constant amount of toner is always supplied from the toner storage portion 16 to the developing tank 18, and therefore, in the developing tank 18,
The toner and the magnetic carrier can always be combined in a constant mixing ratio.

Then, the toner and the magnetic carrier combined at a predetermined mixing ratio are supplied to the developing roller 26, and the magnetic carrier is magnetically attracted to the surface of the developing roller 26. Therefore, when the developing roller 26 is rotated in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 2), the magnetic carrier adsorbed on the surface of the developing roller 26 and the toner bound to the magnetic carrier are transferred to the photosensitive drum 1.
The electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photoconductor drum 12 in the developing area C (FIG. 2) is toner-developed.

According to this embodiment, the diffusion blade 44 for diffusing the toner in the toner container 16 and the feeding blade 48 for conveying the toner toward the replenishing port 22 are integrally formed. The installation space for them can be reduced, and the entire device can be downsized. Further, since the diffusion blade 44 and the feed blade 48 are driven by the same rotary shaft 42, the number of parts in the drive unit can be reduced and the structure can be simplified, and therefore the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Further, since the replenishing port 22 that connects the toner storage portion 16 and the developing tank 18 is closed by the side wall of the housing 14, the shutter portion 35, and the impeller 52,
It is possible to prevent more than the required amount of toner from being supplied into the developing tank 18, and to prevent the toner in the developing tank 18 or the magnetic carrier from flowing into the toner containing portion 16. In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where two diffusion blades 44 are provided on the rotating shaft 42 is shown, but only one diffusion blade 44 or three or more diffusion blades 44 may be provided. Further, the feed blade 48 may be provided in two or more of the plurality of diffusion blades 44. The diffuser / feed blade 38 shown in FIG.
4 and the diffusion blades 44 are provided with the feed blades 48.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1 embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 1 embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a diffuser / feed blade in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing a feed blade.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a modified example of the diffuser / feed blade.

FIG. 7 is an illustrative view showing a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Developing device 12 ... Photosensitive drum 14 ... Housing 16 ... Toner container 18 ... Developing tank 22 ... Replenishing port 26 ... Developing rollers 28, 30 ... Stirrer 35 ... Shutter 38 ... Diffuser / Feeder 40 ... Drive 42 ... Rotating shaft 44 ... Diffusion blade 48 ... Feeding blade 50 ... Feeding surface 52 ... Impeller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A toner storage unit for storing toner, a developing tank provided with a developing roller, a supply port for supplying the toner in the toner storage unit to the developing tank, and a diffusion of the toner in the toner storage unit. In the developing device, a diffusing unit for carrying out the toner and a carrying unit for carrying the toner in the toner containing portion toward the replenishing port are provided, wherein the diffusing unit is a rotating shaft and a diffusing blade extending in the axial direction of the rotating shaft. Wherein the conveying means includes a plurality of feeding blades provided in the lengthwise direction at the edge of the diffusion blade and having a toner feeding surface inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the rotation axis. A developing device. 2. An impeller having a plurality of blades attached to the rotary shaft and extending in a radial direction of the rotary shaft and distributed in a circumferential direction. The impeller further supplies the toner by the impeller. The developing device according to claim 1, wherein the developing tank is supplied through the mouth.