JPH0834088A - Part of electronic machinery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a part of electronic machinery capable of being subjected to regeneration treatment without peeling a decal. CONSTITUTION:Decals 4, 5 are respectively bonded to the front and rear surfaces of the front door 2 being the part of a copier constituting electronic machinery and the front door 2 and the decals 4, 5 are constituted of thermoplastic resins mutually having compatibility. The decals 4, 5 are ground as they are without being peeled from the front door 2 and melted to make it possible to regenerate a molded product.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component of electronic equipment to which at least one sheet-shaped member is attached.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile or a composite machine of these, or an electronic device such as various electric products, it has been generally practiced to attach a sheet-like member to its components. There is. For example, sheet-shaped members called decals are attached to the front door of the copying machine main body and various parts inside thereof, and such decals are flexible such as resin sheets, resin films, and thin resin plates. It is composed of a sheet-like piece having flexibility or rigidity, and has predetermined information written on its surface. More specifically, for example, in a copying machine, a decal on which various image information such as a brief description and a part replacement order number is written for a user or a service person is a part of the copying machine. Pasted on. The image information written on the surface of the decal may be represented by characters, symbols such as arrows, figures, or colors.

In addition to such decals, for the purpose of protecting parts of electronic equipment, a sheet-like member made of a protective sheet having flexibility or rigidity for the parts themselves or parts such as a case for accommodating the parts. May be attached. A sheet-like member made of such a protective sheet or decal may be attached to a replacement part of an electronic device such as a toner cartridge of a copying machine.

By the way, particularly in recent years, for the purpose of environmental protection and further resource saving, the emergence of products having excellent recyclability has been strongly demanded, and office automation equipment such as image forming apparatuses and electronic products such as electric products have been strongly demanded. The same is required for devices. Therefore, conventionally, a component of an electronic device is made of a thermoplastic resin, and when the component is used up, the component is recycled without being discarded. For example, the used parts are crushed into pellets by a shredder, heated and melted to be molded again as some parts, and the regenerated molded product is reused.

However, conventionally, in a component to which a sheet-shaped member such as the decal or the protective sheet described above is adhered, the component and the sheet-shaped member are made of different materials. Therefore, if they are crushed and melted as they are, The two did not mix with each other, and when a recycled component was molded with such a molten material, its mechanical properties deteriorated significantly, and it could not be reused as the component.

Therefore, conventionally, a sheet-shaped member is peeled off from a used component by a dryer or a grinder, and then the component is crushed into pellets and melted to obtain a recycled molded product. However, the work of peeling off the sheet-shaped member from the component is a laborious and time-consuming work, which inevitably raises the cost of recycling the component.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-mentioned novel recognition, and its object is to make a component of an electronic device which can be recycled as it is without peeling off a sheet-shaped member. To provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a component of an electronic device of the type described at the beginning, wherein the component and the sheet-shaped member are made of a thermoplastic resin which is compatible with each other. Propose components of electronic equipment that are configured.

At this time, it is particularly advantageous to use a thermoplastic resin compatible with the component and the sheet-shaped member as an adhesive for adhering the sheet-shaped member to the component.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides
In the component of the electronic device of the type described at the beginning, the component and the sheet-shaped member are both made of a thermoplastic resin, and the sheet-shaped member and the total weight of the component to which this is attached,
We propose parts for electronic devices in which the weight ratio of all sheet-shaped members is set to 1% by weight or less.

At this time, in each of the above-mentioned configurations, it is advantageous that the surface area of all image information written on the sheet-shaped member is set to 20% or less of the surface area of all the sheet-shaped members.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned constitutions, it is advantageous that at least one sheet-like member is attached to the component by peeling off the release sheet attached to one surface thereof.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned constitutions, it is advantageous that the sheet-shaped member is provided with information that reports that the sheet-shaped member can be recycled without being peeled from the component.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a copying machine which is an example of an electronic apparatus. The copying machine has an outer cover 1 of its main body, a front door 2 pivotably attached to its main body frame (not shown), and a front door 2. It is composed of a large number of parts such as a pressure plate 3 for pressing a document provided on the upper part of the main body and various elements (not shown) housed inside the main body. Here, the front door 2 is taken up as an example of the component, and a specific example in which the present invention is applied to the front door 2 will be clarified.

The front door 2 is rotatably supported by the main body frame between a closed position shown by a solid line and an open position shown by a chain line in FIG. , At least one sheet-shaped member is attached.
In the example of FIG. 1, a sheet-shaped member made of a first decal 4 is attached to the front surface of the front door 2, and a second decal 5 is attached to the back surface of the front door 2. Such decal 4,
As described above, 5 is made of a flexible or rigid sheet, film, or thin plate-shaped piece, and predetermined image information is written on the surface thereof. In this example, the first
As shown in FIG. 2, the decal 4 of FIG. 3 is filled in with the order of the consumables and the contact information of the repair of the copying machine, and the second decal 5 of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, image information for describing a procedure for removing a sheet having a transport trouble is entered. Such a decal is often configured so that a user of a copying machine or a distributor thereof can fill in predetermined information with a ballpoint pen or the like. Alternatively, the decal 4 can be configured such that the dealer fills in the contact information for repair each time.

When the above-mentioned copying machine is used up, the copying machine is carried from the user's place to a recycler and dismantled there. The reusable parts are then recycled and reused.

Here, in order to facilitate the recycling process of the copying machine, the front door 2 which is an example of the parts thereof is made of a thermoplastic resin and is a sheet-like member attached to the first and second doors. Decals 4 and 5 are also made of thermoplastic resin.
Moreover, the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 are made of thermoplastic resins which are compatible with each other. in this way,
The parts of the electronic device and the sheet-shaped member attached to it are
It is composed of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins.

According to the above-mentioned structure, while the decals 4 and 5 are attached to the front door 2, the decals 4 are crushed into pellets having a side of about 5 mm by a shredder (not shown), and the pellets are heated and melted. By doing so, the resin material forming the front door 2 and the resin material forming the decals 4 and 5 melt well with each other. Therefore, if such a material is molded into a predetermined part by a molding machine (not shown). Therefore, it is possible to remanufacture a component having characteristics that can be sufficiently used.

Generally, the exterior cover 1 and front door 2 of a copying machine are used.
Is often composed of a thermoplastic resin such as PS (polystyrene), PPE (polyphenylene ether), ABS (acrylic butadiene styrene), or PPO (polyphenyl oxide), but before being composed of these resin materials. As the decals 4 and 5 attached to the door 2, it is preferable to use the resin materials illustrated below.

For the front door 2 made of PS, for example, PC (polycarbonate) or P compatible with the front door 2 is used.
Besides MMA (methacrylic resin), decals 4 and 5 made of the same PS as the material of the front door 2 can be advantageously used. Further, for the front door 2 made of PPE, in addition to the compatible material such as PS, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), ABS, PC, or PMMA, the decal 4 made of the same PPE as the material of the front door 2 is used. 5 can be used advantageously. Further, for the front door 2 made of ABS, for example, PS, PET, P having compatibility with the front door 2 can be used.
In addition to C or PMMA, the same material as the front door 2 A
Decals 4, 5 consisting of BS can be used advantageously. Also P
For the front door 2 made of PO, decals 4 and 5 made of PPO which is the same as the material of the front door 2 can be advantageously used, as well as PS or ABS having compatibility therewith.

Front door 2 and decals 4 and 5 attached to it
If the sheet-shaped member is made of the thermoplastic resin as exemplified above, even if the sheet-shaped member is recycled without being peeled from the front door 2, the characteristics of the recycled product, for example, Mechanical strength (bending strength, impact strength, etc.) does not decrease significantly. In this way, the recycling cost can be reduced, and the cost of the recycled molded product can be reduced.

It is understood from the above that the thermoplastic resin forming the parts of the electronic device and the thermoplastic resin forming the sheet-shaped member attached to the electronic parts are compatible with each other. As a result, the molded products obtained by regenerating these can be used for their original purpose so that each heat component constituting the parts and sheet-shaped member before the remanufacturing can be maintained to such an extent that the characteristics that can withstand the use can be maintained. It means that the plastic resins are compatible with each other.

By the way, since the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 are made of thermoplastic resins which are compatible with each other, when the decals 4 and 5 are attached to the front door 2, they are attached by heat fusion. It is possible, in this case, that there is no need to use an adhesive to attach both. In contrast,
The decals 4 and 5 may be attached to the front door 2 by using an adhesive. At that time, since the amount of the adhesive used is generally extremely small, compatibility of the adhesive with the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 need not be particularly considered.
It is particularly advantageous to use a thermoplastic resin compatible with the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 as the adhesive. That is, a thermoplastic resin that is compatible with the component and the sheet-shaped member is used as an adhesive for attaching the sheet-shaped member to the component of the electronic device. If such a configuration is adopted, when the parts such as the front door 2 are crushed and melted as described above without peeling off the sheet-shaped members such as the decals 4 and 5, the entire compatibility including the adhesive is further improved. It is possible to more reliably prevent deterioration of the characteristics of the molded product that has been enhanced and regenerated.

For example, PMMA can be used as the adhesive agent of the thermoplastic resin for joining the front door 2 and the decals 4, 5.
Such an adhesive has a good compatibility with, for example, PS, PPE, ABS, etc. Therefore, when PMMA is used as an adhesive, the front door 2 and the decal 4, using a resin such as PS, PPE, ABS, etc. It is preferable that each of 5 is configured.

By the way, in a component of an electronic device to which at least one sheet-shaped member is adhered, such as the front door 2 described above, the following constitution is adopted together with or instead of the above constitutions. You can also do it.

That is, the components of the electronic device and the sheet-shaped member are both made of a thermoplastic resin, and the ratio of the weight of all the sheet-shaped members to the total weight of the sheet-shaped member and the parts to which the sheet-shaped member is attached is 1% by weight. Set it as follows.
Here again, taking the front door 2 shown in FIG. 1 as an example, the front door 2 and the decals 4, 5 are made of a thermoplastic resin, and the weight ratio of all the decals 4, 5 to the total weight of these is 1% by weight or less. To do. For one part such as the front door 2,
A plurality of sheet-shaped members, such as the first and second decals 4,
When 5 is attached, the weight ratio of all the decals 4 and 5 is set to the above-mentioned value. According to this structure, the weight ratio of all the sheet-like members, that is, the decals 4 and 5 to the parts such as the front door 2 is extremely low, so that the front door 2 and the decals 4 and 5 and the adhesives thereof are compatible with each other. Decal 4, regardless of whether it is made of material or not
When the front door 2 with 5 attached is crushed and regenerated as a molded product, it is possible to prevent the characteristics of the regenerated molded product from being greatly deteriorated. As described above, in this embodiment, the components of the electronic device and the sheet-like member adhered to the components are made of thermoplastic resin, and the components are The sheet-shaped member can be recycled while being attached. Of course, as described above, this configuration may be appropriately combined with the configuration of each of the embodiments described above. For example, both the components of the electronic device and the sheet-shaped member are made of thermoplastic resin, and the ratio of the weight of all the sheet-shaped members to the total weight of the sheet-shaped member and the component to which the sheet-shaped member is attached is set to 1% by weight or less. At the same time, the component and the sheet-shaped member are made of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins. Further, it is particularly advantageous to use a thermoplastic resin having compatibility with the component and the sheet-shaped member as an adhesive for sticking the sheet-shaped member to the component.

By the way, as described above, image information is written on the sheet-like members such as the decals 4 and 5 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 by using, for example, ink. Therefore, when such decals 4 and 5 are reclaimed while being adhered to the front door 2 according to the configurations of the above-described embodiments, the decals 4 and 5 are placed on the regenerated surface of the molded article. The ink may appear in the form of many dots, and the appearance of the regenerated molded article may deteriorate.

In view of the above, in the configurations of the respective embodiments described above, it is preferable to set the surface area of all the image information written on the sheet-shaped member to 20% or less of the surface area of all the sheet-shaped members. To explain using the example of the front door 2 shown in FIG. 1, since the first door 2 and the second decals 4 and 5 are attached to the front door 2, all the decals 4 and 5 written on both the decals 4 and 5 will be described. The surface area of the image information is 2 of the surface areas of both decals 4 and 5.
It is kept below 0%. Thus, when a plurality of sheet-shaped members are attached to a certain component, the surface area of the image information of all the sheet-shaped members is set to 20% or less of the total surface area of all the sheet-shaped members. Of. If such a configuration is adopted, it is possible to prevent the ink from appearing in the form of dots on the surface when crushing and melting the parts with the sheet-shaped member attached and regenerating the molded product as described above, or You can keep it small enough to ignore. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent deterioration of the appearance of the remolded product.

By the way, in a sheet-like member such as a decal, when an electronic device or its components are manufactured, the electronic devices or their components are shipped from the manufacturing plant rather than being attached to the components in the manufacturing plant. In some cases, the product is packaged together with the product, delivered to the user, and then attached to the component by the user or a distributor. For example, the second decal 5 shown in FIG. 1 is attached to the front door 2 at a copying machine manufacturing plant, but the first decal 4 is
Since the decal 4 should be attached to the front door portion that is most easily seen by the user, the decal 4 is attached to a desired portion of the front door 2 after the electronic device reaches the user. An adhesive composed of a pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied to one surface of such a decal 4, and a release sheet having high releasability is attached to the surface of the pressure-sensitive adhesive. Then, when the electronic device arrives at the user, the release sheet is peeled off from the decal 4 included in the electronic device, and the decal 4 is attached to the front door 2 with an adhesive. The configuration of each of the above-described embodiments can be applied to the sheet-shaped member. That is, even when at least one sheet-like member of the sheet-like member adhered to the component of the electronic device is one in which the release sheet adhered to one surface thereof is peeled off and adhered to the component, The configuration of each embodiment can be adopted as it is.

Further, the decals 4 and 5 shown in the above-mentioned respective embodiments
Since a sheet-like member such as that can be recycled without being peeled off from the front door 2 which is the component, the sheet-like member is peeled off from the component in order to inform a recycler or the like of the fact. It is advantageous to enter information that informs that the reproduction process can be performed without performing. At the same time, the material of the sheet-shaped member can be entered. The decals 4 and 5 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 include
The message "This seal can be recycled without peeling it off" and "PS" indicating the material are written on the surface. Such a configuration can be applied to all the above-mentioned embodiments.

It is apparent from the above description that the structure according to the present invention can be applied not only to the front door 2 shown in FIG. 1 but also to various parts of electronic equipment. For example, it can be applied to the exterior cover 1 and the pressure plate 3 shown in FIG. Further, the copying machine shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a display section 6 such as a liquid crystal panel or an LED at the operation section thereof, and the display section 6 and its printed circuit board (not shown) are also shown in the figure. The display is located in the upper opening of the case, but in order to protect the display, a transparent protective sheet 7 with a thickness of, for example, about 1 mm is provided in the upper opening of the case. It is attached. The same configuration as the configuration of the decals 4 and 5 and the front door 2 described above can be adopted for the sheet-like member including the protective sheet 7 and the component including the case to which the protective sheet 7 is attached. Protective sheet 7 shown in FIG.
For example, a transparent thermoplastic resin made of PC or ABS can be used, and the case to which the transparent thermoplastic resin is attached is made of a thermoplastic resin compatible with these resins.

Further, the decal 8 shown in FIG. 4 has a large margin, and the user can attach the decal 8 to an arbitrary position of a predetermined part, and freely fill in the margin with information that the user himself needs. It is configured to be able to. The present invention can be applied to a component of an electronic device to which a sheet-shaped member made of such a decal 8 is attached. If the decal 8 on which the user can freely enter information is pasted on the component of the electronic device, it is possible to prevent the user from pasting a sheet-shaped member such as paper other than the decal 8 on the component. If a large piece of paper or the like that is incompatible with this component is attached to this component, it cannot be recycled unless the component is peeled off, which inevitably increases the cost of recycling.

Further, the present invention can be widely applied to parts of various electronic devices other than copying machines.

[0035]

According to the structure described in claim 1, even if the sheet-shaped member is attached to the part and regenerated, it is possible to prevent the characteristic of the regenerated molded article from being significantly deteriorated. It is possible to reduce the regeneration cost.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the effects described above can be further enhanced.

According to the third aspect of the invention, even if the sheet-shaped member is attached to the part and regenerated, it is possible to prevent the characteristic of the regenerated molded article from being significantly deteriorated. The recycling cost can be reduced, and the room for selecting the material of the electronic device component and the sheet-shaped member can be expanded.

According to the structure of claim 4, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the appearance of the regenerated molded product.

According to the structure of claim 5, even when the user freely attaches the sheet-shaped member to a predetermined component, the component can be reprocessed as it is without peeling off the sheet-shaped member. it can.

According to the configuration of claim 6, a recycler or the like can know that the sheet-shaped member can be recycled without peeling the sheet-shaped member from the component,
The work efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a copying machine which is an example of an electronic device.

FIG. 2 is a first panel attached to a front door of the copying machine shown in FIG.
It is a front view of the decal.

FIG. 3 is a second panel attached to the front door of the copying machine shown in FIG.
It is a front view of the decal.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing another example of a decal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Sheet-shaped member configured as a decal 5 Sheet-shaped member configured as a decal 7 Sheet-shaped member configured as a protective sheet 8 Sheet-shaped member configured as a decal

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A component of an electronic device to which at least one sheet-shaped member is attached, wherein the component and the sheet-shaped member are made of mutually compatible thermoplastic resins. Parts of electronic equipment. 2. A component of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein a thermoplastic resin compatible with the component and the sheet-shaped member is used as an adhesive for attaching the sheet-shaped member to the component. . 3. A component of an electronic device to which at least one sheet-shaped member is attached, wherein both the component and the sheet-shaped member are made of a thermoplastic resin, and the total of the sheet-shaped member and the component to which the sheet-shaped member is attached are combined. A component of an electronic device, wherein the ratio of the weight of all sheet-shaped members to the weight is set to 1% by weight or less. 4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the surface area of all image information written on the sheet-shaped member is set to 20% or less of the surface area of all the sheet-shaped members. parts. 5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein at least one sheet-shaped member is attached to the component by peeling off a release sheet attached to one surface thereof. parts. 6. The electronic device component according to claim 1, wherein the sheet-shaped member is provided with information indicating that the sheet-shaped member can be recycled without peeling the sheet-shaped member from the component. .