JPH0962166A - Residual toner recovering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a residual toner recovering device capable of preventing the sticking of toner to the surface of an endless belt carrying the toner. SOLUTION: Residual toner removed from a photoreceptor 6 is carried on the side of a developing unit D and is reused by using a toner recycling belt 3 stretched between a driving pulley 2a and a driven pulley 2b. In this case, projecting parts whose height are different from each other are provided on the peripheral surface of the driven pulley 2b, and the toner recycling belt 3 is vibrated in the radial direction of the driven pulley 2b by the projecting parts at the time of carrying, so that the sticking of the toner to the surface of the toner recycling belt 3 is prevented and the deterioration of the carrying performance of the toner caused by the sticking of the toner is prevented. Also, the toner dropped to the bottom surface of a lower case 1a from the toner recycling belt 3 is recovered to the toner recycling belt 3 in the vicinity of the driving pulley 2a by the projecting blade 13 of the toner recycling belt 3, so that recovered toner is efficiently reused.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a residual toner collecting device which is used by being incorporated in an image forming apparatus and which conveys and reuses residual toner removed from a photoconductor to a developing unit side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, residual toner removed from a photosensitive member by a cleaning unit after transfer is conveyed to a developing unit for reuse in order to effectively use the toner. Various types of recovery devices have been proposed.

For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-81863 discloses a residual toner collecting device which conveys collected toner by an endless belt wound around a drive pulley. There is disclosed a residual toner collecting device in which an engaging hole for engaging with the engaging projection is provided in a longitudinal direction in a continuous belt to stably convey the endless belt to efficiently collect the toner.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-108877, toner is collected by rotating a rotating body having a magnet embedded in its peripheral surface and moving an endless belt wound around the rotating body to collect toner. An apparatus is disclosed in which a plurality of protrusions are projected on the peripheral surface of a rotating body so that the entire endless belt is driven without floating from the peripheral surface of the rotating body.

Further, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-29971, an endless belt having elastic blades is driven by a pulley, and the tips of the blades slide on the inner wall of the housing to convey toner. There is disclosed a toner recovery device that provides a toner outlet with a protrusion that intersects with a blade to efficiently convey toner.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-116862, an elastic force is applied to a conveying means using an endless belt or the like at a position facing an opening of a toner collecting portion, and residual toner is accumulated by accumulated repulsive energy. An electrophotographic apparatus that efficiently collects is disclosed.

[0007]

According to the methods disclosed in the above-mentioned respective publications, it becomes possible to stably and efficiently collect the respective toners. However, by driving for a long time, the endless belt is The collected toner adheres to the surface, which causes a problem that the toner transport performance is deteriorated.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problem of the deterioration of the toner conveying performance that occurs when the conventional residual toner is collected as described above, and an object thereof is an endless belt for conveying the toner. An object of the present invention is to provide a residual toner collecting device capable of preventing toner from sticking to the surface of the toner.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is an endless belt which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus and is used and which is stretched between a drive pulley and a driven pulley. It is a residual toner collecting device for transporting and reusing the residual toner removed from the photoconductor to the developing unit side by using projections having different heights on at least one of the driving pulley and the driven pulley. It is characterized in that a section is provided.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 2 is used by being incorporated in an image forming apparatus, and an endless belt stretched between a drive pulley and a driven pulley is used to form a photosensitive belt. A residual toner collecting device that conveys and reuses residual toner removed from the body to a developing unit side, wherein at least one of the drive pulley and the driven pulley has a rotation shaft eccentrically arranged. To do.

Similarly, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the residual toner removed from the photosensitive member is removed by using an endless belt which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus and stretched between a driving pulley and a driven pulley. A residual toner recovery device that conveys the toner to the developing unit side and reuses it. A plurality of protruding blades are provided on the surface of the endless belt, and when the belt is conveyed,
A protrusion is provided on the inner wall of the housing that is in contact with the protrusion blade.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment in a built-in state, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment in a built-in state. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment in a built-in state, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the present embodiment.

In this embodiment, the lower case 1a shown in FIG. 1 is used.
It is housed in a housing 1 formed by an upper case (not shown). At one end in the longitudinal direction of the housing 1, the inner walls of both side edges of the housing 1 have semi-circular curvature walls of the same curvature. 14a
Is formed, and the bottom surface of the housing 1 between the curvature walls 14a is formed in a flat shape. A drive pulley 2a and a driven pulley 2b are provided in the housing 1 in the vicinity of the curvature walls 14a.
The toner recycle belt 3 is rotatably attached and is wound between the drive pulley 2a and the driven pulley 2b in the housing 1.

At the position of the drive pulley 2a, a toner discharging screw 4 is arranged in the housing 1 along the first side edge portion of the housing 1, and the toner discharging screw 4 covers the cover 5.
Covered with. Adjacent to this cover 5, an electrostatic latent image of an original image is formed in the housing 1, and a photoconductor 6 that is visualized as a toner image is provided. In the housing 1, the cover 5 is formed.
A cleaning blade 9 for removing the residual toner on the photoconductor 6 is provided between the photoconductor 6 and the photoconductor 6, and a charger 7 for uniformly charging the photoconductor 6 is provided so as to face the top of the photoconductor 6. There is.

Further, adjacent to the photoconductor 6, a developing sleeve 8 for developing an electrostatic latent image of an original image formed on the photoconductor 6 into a toner image is arranged at a substantially central position in the housing 1. The developing unit D on the side of the second side edge portion of the housing 1 is provided with a stirring unit 10 for stirring the toner along the second side edge portion, and between the stirring unit 10 and the developing sleeve 8. Is provided with a doctor blade 11 for forming a toner layer on the developing sleeve 8. Further, the developing unit D is provided with a T sensor 16 for detecting the density of the toner contained therein.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of protrusions 12 having different heights are arranged at equal intervals on the peripheral surface of the driven pulley 2b so as to be in contact with the inner surface of the toner recycling belt 3. A plurality of elastic projection blades 13 are formed on the outer surface of the toner recycling belt 3 at equal intervals, and when the toner recycling belt 3 is transported, the projection blades 13 are elastically attached to the inner wall 14 of the housing 1 including the curvature wall 14a. Are configured to face each other.

The toner collecting operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be described. The latent image of the original image formed on the photoconductor 6 is visualized as a toner image by the developing sleeve 8.
This toner image is transferred to the transfer paper, but the toner remaining on the photoconductor 6 after this transfer is scraped off by the cleaning blade 9 and introduced to the discharge position of the toner discharge screw 4 by a guide member (not shown). .

A gear provided on the toner discharging screw 4 is meshed with a gear attached to the photoconductor 6, and the screw 4 starts to rotate at the same time as the photoconductor 6 rotates and is scraped off by the cleaning blade 9. The generated toner is fed onto the toner recycling belt 3 at a position near the drive pulley 2a. Then, by the rotation of the drive pulley 2a, the toner placed on the toner recycling belt 3 is conveyed by the toner recycling belt 3 in the direction of the driven pulley 2b, and from the reverse position of the toner recycling belt 3 to the bottom of the developing unit D. Stirrer 10
Is fed to the position where is provided.

In the process of carrying the toner, in the present embodiment, in the peripheral area of the driven pulley 2b, the distance from the center of the driven pulley 2b of the toner recycling belt 3 contacting the protrusion 12 is the distance of the driven pulley 2b. As the toner recycle belt 3 vibrates in the radial direction of the driven pulley 2b, the toner recycle belt 3 sequentially changes due to the difference in height of the plurality of protrusions 12 as the toner revolves. Therefore, the toner does not stick to the surface of the toner recycling belt 3 even if it is used for a long time.

In this way, the collected toner sent to the stirring section 10 corresponds to the toner density of the developing unit D detected by the T sensor 16 and the unused toner supplied from the supply port (not shown). After being stirred and supplied to the developing sleeve 8, a doctor blade 11 forms a toner layer of a predetermined thickness on the peripheral surface of the developing sleeve 8, and the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor 6 by this toner layer becomes a toner image. It is developed.

From the top of the toner recycling belt 3,
The toner dropped on the bottom surface of the housing 1 is collected by the projection blade 13 on the toner recycling belt 3 in the vicinity of the drive pulley 2a without waste.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the toner collected from the photoconductor 6 by the cleaning blade 9 is conveyed to the developing unit D side by the toner recycle belt 3. At the time of this conveyance, the driven pulley 2b is used. Since the toner recycling belt 3 vibrates at right angles to the conveying surface by the protrusion 12 provided on the toner reusing belt 3, the toner does not stick to the surface of the toner recycling belt 3 even after long-term use, and the toner sticking by the toner sticking It is possible to prevent the transport performance from deteriorating.

From the top of the toner recycling belt 3,
The toner that has fallen to the bottom surface inside the housing 1 is collected on the toner recycling belt 3 near the drive pulley 2a by the projection blades 13, so that the collected toner can be reused without waste.

[Second Embodiment] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the main part of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, as compared with the first embodiment already described with reference to FIG. 4, the projection 12 is removed from the driven pulley 2b to remove the driven pulley 2 from the driven pulley 2b.
The driven pulley 2b is attached to the housing 1 with the rotation axis R of b being eccentric. The configuration of the other parts of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment already described.

In the present embodiment, when toner is conveyed by the toner recycle belt 3, the toner recycle belt 3 vibrates vertically and horizontally by the driven pulley 2b that is eccentrically rotated at the position of the driven pulley 2b. Since the toner on the toner recycling belt 3 receives a force in a direction away from the belt surface, the toner is prevented from sticking to the surface of the toner recycling belt 3 even during long-term use. Other operations of the present embodiment are the same as those of the first example already described.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the toner collected from the photoconductor 6 by the cleaning blade 9 is conveyed to the developing unit D side by the toner recycling belt 3, but at the time of this conveyance, it is eccentrically arranged. The toner recycle belt 3 vibrates both horizontally and at right angles to the conveying surface by the driven pulley 2b provided, so that the toner recycle belt 3 does not violate the toner even when used for a long time.
It is possible to prevent deterioration of the toner transport performance due to toner adhesion without sticking to the surface of the toner. Also,
The toner falling from the toner recycling belt 3 onto the bottom surface of the housing 1 is driven by the projection blade 13 to drive the pulley 2a.
Since the toner is collected on the toner recycling belt 3 in the vicinity of, the collected toner can be reused without waste.

[Third Embodiment] A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, in comparison with the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the protrusion 12 is removed from the driven pulley 2b, and the protrusion blade is used when the toner is recycled by the toner recycling belt 3. A plurality of protrusions 15 are provided on the lower case 1 a portion (bottom surface portion inside the housing 1) that is in contact with 13. The configuration of the other parts of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first example already described.

In the present embodiment, when the toner of the toner recycle belt 3 is conveyed, the projection blades 13 move up and down by the protrusions 15 of the lower case 1a, and the toner recycle belt 3 becomes perpendicular to the belt surface during the conveyance operation. Because it vibrates,
Since the toner on the toner recycling belt 3 receives a force in a direction away from the belt surface, the toner is prevented from sticking to the surface of the toner recycling belt 3 even during long-term use. Other operations of this embodiment are
This is the same as the first embodiment already described.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the toner collected from the photoconductor 6 by the cleaning blade 9 is conveyed to the developing unit D side by the toner recycle belt 3. At this time, the toner recycle belt is used. The protrusion blades 13 of 3 move up and down by the protrusions 15 of the lower case 2a, and the toner recycling belt 3 vibrates in a direction perpendicular to the belt surface. It is possible to prevent the toner conveyance performance from being deteriorated due to toner adhesion without sticking.

From the top of the toner recycling belt 3,
The toner that has fallen to the bottom surface inside the housing 1 is collected on the toner recycling belt 3 near the drive pulley 2a by the projection blades 13, so that the collected toner can be reused without waste.

In the first embodiment, the case where the driven pulley is provided with the protrusion is described, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the protrusion is provided on the drive pulley. It is also possible to provide projections on the driven pulley and the drive pulley. Similarly, in the second embodiment, the case where the driven pulley is eccentrically arranged has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the drive pulley can be eccentrically arranged. Also, the driven pulley and the drive pulley can be eccentrically arranged.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the residual toner removed from the photoconductor by using the endless belt which is incorporated in the image forming apparatus and is stretched between the driving pulley and the driven pulley. In the residual toner collecting device for transporting and recycling the toner to the developing unit side, since at least one of the driving pulley and the driven pulley is provided with a convex portion having a different height on the pulley circumferential surface, the endless belt may be , By virtue of the convex parts with different heights, it vibrates in the radial direction of the pulley,
It is possible to prevent the toner from sticking to the endless belt surface and prevent the toner conveying performance from being deteriorated due to the toner sticking.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the residual toner removed from the photoconductor is developed by using the endless belt which is incorporated in the image forming apparatus and is stretched between the driving pulley and the driven pulley. In the residual toner collecting device that conveys to the unit side and reuses it, since at least one of the drive pulley and the driven pulley has an eccentric pulley shaft, the endless belt is conveyed to the belt surface by the eccentrically rotating pulley. It is possible to prevent the toner from sticking to the endless belt surface by vibrating in both the parallel and right angles, and to prevent the toner conveying performance from being deteriorated due to the toner sticking.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the residual toner removed from the photoconductor is developed by using the endless belt which is incorporated in the image forming apparatus and stretched between the driving pulley and the driven pulley. In the residual toner recovery device that conveys to the unit side and reuses it, on the surface of the endless belt,
Since a plurality of projection blades are provided and a projection is provided on the inner wall of the housing that is in contact with the projection blade when the belt is transported, the endless belt is supported on the belt surface by the contact between the projection blade and the projection during transportation. By vibrating at a right angle, it becomes possible to prevent the toner from sticking to the endless belt surface, and to prevent the toner transport performance from being deteriorated due to the toner sticking.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention in an assembled state.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the same embodiment in an assembled state.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment in an assembled state.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a Lower Case 2a Drive Pulley 2b Driven Pulley 3 Toner Recycle Belt 4 Toner Discharge Screw 6 Photoreceptor 8 Developing Sleeve 9 Cleaning Blade 10 Stirring Part 12 Projection 13 Projection Blade 15 Projection

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Used by being incorporated in an image forming apparatus,
A residual toner collecting device that conveys and reuses the residual toner removed from the photoconductor to the developing unit side by using an endless belt stretched between the drive pulley and the driven pulley. A residual toner collecting device, characterized in that at least one pulley peripheral surface is provided with protrusions having different heights. 2. Used by being incorporated in an image forming apparatus,
A residual toner collecting device that conveys and reuses the residual toner removed from the photoconductor to the developing unit side by using an endless belt stretched between the drive pulley and the driven pulley. A residual toner collecting device, wherein at least one of the pulleys has a rotating shaft eccentrically arranged. 3. Used by being incorporated in an image forming apparatus,
A residual toner collecting device that conveys the residual toner removed from the photoconductor to the developing unit side for reuse by using an endless belt stretched between a driving pulley and a driven pulley. The residual toner collecting device is characterized in that a plurality of projection blades are provided on the inside of the housing, and the projections are provided on an inner wall of the housing that is in contact with the projection blade when the belt is conveyed.