JPH1020724A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the increase in size of a device, to make the installation easy, and to improve the maintenance characteristic, by integrally forming a high tension connector for connecting a high-tension power source unit and a charging unit or a developing unit, on at one end of an exhaust duct. SOLUTION: The charging units are electrically conducted by the contact of a contact spring 27 in a projected high-tension connector part 30a, and the electrode parts 10a, 115a at the side of the charging units (for example, the primary charging unit 10, a transfer charging unit 115), through an open hole formed on a machine body rear side plate 20. A high-tension harness 26 is distributed from the high-tension power source part 25, to the position of the charging units, a developing unit, a recovery roller and the high-tension connector part, and is connected with the contact spring 27 through an infinite resistance 28. And the high-tension connector 30a is integrally molded with the exhaust duct 30, and the air in the device is guided in the direction of an arrow B in the exhaust duct 30 by the action of a fan 23, to be exhausted to the outside of the machine through an ozone filter 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium, for example, a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and the like. Is characterized by a high-voltage connector that electrically connects the

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus uses a corona discharge to form and transfer an electrostatic latent image to impart an electrostatic charge, and thus ozone is generated inside the apparatus.
In addition, fine powder toner is used to develop the electrostatic latent image.
Paper dust becomes dust and scatters inside the device.

For this reason, ozone and dust generated inside the apparatus are guided from the back of the apparatus to an exhaust fan by an exhaust duct.
A flow path is formed to exhaust air out of the apparatus.

In a conventional image forming apparatus, a charger for generating the corona discharge or a developing unit for developing an electrostatic latent image is provided by means of electric connection supplied from a high-voltage power supply unit inside the apparatus. It is connected to a certain high-voltage connector on the back side of the device.

As described above, in the conventional image forming apparatus, the exhaust duct and the high-pressure connector have to be arranged so as to coexist in position.

[0006]

Therefore, since both the high-pressure connector and the exhaust duct are arranged on the back side of the apparatus, the conventional example has the following disadvantages. (1) For the high-voltage connector, the creepage distance from the electrical grounding member,
A space distance is required. On the other hand, in the exhaust duct, there are many restrictions on space such as an optimum suction hole area, a position, and an air flow path cross section of the suction efficiency. (2) The high-voltage connector requires a high-pressure harness that is electrically connected to the high-voltage power supply unit, and the exhaust duct requires an air flow path that connects to the exhaust fan. On the other hand, a drive unit for driving each part of the device is usually provided at the back of the device. Therefore, the arrangement of each of the high-pressure harness, the exhaust duct, and the drive system is difficult in terms of design, and maintenance is complicated. (3) In order to overcome the above-mentioned problem, for example, if a high-pressure connector is made to coexist in the exhaust duct, the sealing performance of the exhaust duct will be impaired.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of suppressing an increase in size of an apparatus caused by a high-voltage connector.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which the arrangement of a high-pressure harness, an exhaust duct, a drive system, and the like is easy in design and maintenance is easy.

A third object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus which can achieve the above object without increasing costs.

[0010]

The above object is achieved by an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In summary, the present invention provides:
An image forming apparatus comprising: at least one charger or developing device; a high-voltage power supply unit; and an exhaust duct for guiding dust or ozone generated from the charging device or the developing device to the outside of the device. An image forming apparatus, wherein a high-voltage connector for connecting a unit to the charger or the developing device is formed integrally with a part of the exhaust duct.

It is preferable that a high-pressure harness connecting the high-voltage connector and the high-voltage power supply unit is fixedly held by the exhaust duct. The high-pressure harness is preferably insert-molded into the exhaust duct.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:

[0012] In a mounting portion for accommodating the high-voltage connector,
It is preferable that a notch portion communicating the attachment portion and the exhaust duct be provided. It is preferable that the outlet of the high-voltage harness on which the AC component is superimposed and the high-voltage power supply unit thereof are different from the DC high-voltage harness and the high-voltage power supply unit thereof. It is preferable to increase the distance between the high-voltage harness on which the AC component is superimposed and the DC high-voltage harness.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, the image forming apparatus is a printer 1
000 and the scanner unit 2000, and the printer 10
Reference numeral 00 denotes an upper cassette 100 and a lower cassette 102. Sheets in the upper cassette 100 are separated and fed one by one by the action of the separation claw and the feeding roller 101, and guided to the registration roller 106. Lower cassette 10
The sheet material in 2 is separated and fed one by one by the action of the separation claw and the feeding roller 103, and is guided to the registration roller 106.

The printer 1000 includes a laser modulator (laser scanner) 111, a photosensitive drum 112, an image writing optical system 113, a developing device 114, and a transfer charger 11.
5. The image forming section is constituted by the separation charger 116.

Further, a conveying belt 117 for conveying the sheet material on which an image is formed, a fixing device 118, a discharge roller 119
And the sheet material on which the image is formed is discharged to the sorter 2 by the discharge roller 119.

The scanner unit 2000 includes a scanning system light source 20.
1, platen glass 202, original platen 203 to be opened and closed,
A lens 204, a light receiving (photoelectric conversion) unit 205, and an image processing unit 206 are provided.

The original image read by the scanning light source 201 is processed by the image processing unit 206, converted into an electric signal 207, and transmitted to the laser modulation unit 111.

The printer 1000 and the scanner 200
Although 0 may be separate as shown in FIG. 5, the printer 1000 and the scanner 2000 may be integrated. In the case of being integrated, it is usually called an image forming apparatus (or a printer).

The printer 1000, whether separate or integrated, functions as a copying machine when the processing signal of the image processing unit 206 is input to the laser modulation unit 111, and functions as a facsimile when a facsimile transmission signal is input. Functions as a printer if an output signal from a computer is input. Conversely, if the processing signal of the image processing unit 206 is transmitted to another facsimile, it functions as a facsimile.

If an automatic document feeder 250 as shown by a two-dot chain line is mounted instead of the document pressure plate 203,
The manuscript is read automatically.

Embodiment 1 Next, Embodiment 1 according to the present invention will be described.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, a photoconductive semiconductor (A-Si, OPC, etc.) is applied to the surface of a photosensitive drum 112, and the surface of the drum is first held at a predetermined charge by corona discharge of a primary charger 10. However, an electrostatic latent image is formed by blank exposure 12 and image exposure 9. Thereafter, the toner image visualized by the developing device 114 is transferred onto the transfer paper synchronously fed by the registration roller 106 by corona discharge by the transfer charger 115, and then corona discharge by the separation charger 116. The transfer paper is separated from the surface of the photosensitive drum by the action of, and is sent to the transport belt 117.

On the other hand, the transfer residual toner on the photosensitive drum 112 is scraped off by the cleaner 14 and is conveyed to a waste toner container (not shown), and the surface of the photosensitive drum 112 is cleaned. After that, the surface of the photosensitive drum 112 irradiated with light by the pre-exposure 11 is electrically initialized, and the next image forming process is started.

The potential sensor 13 is a member for measuring the potential on the surface of the photosensitive drum 112 and controlling the current of the primary charger 10. The pre-transfer charger 15 uses a corona to charge the visualized toner image. The toner collection roller 16 is disposed around the photosensitive drum 112 in order to obtain an effect of increasing transfer efficiency by stabilizing by discharging, and an effect of collecting toner scattered from the developing device 114 and preventing contamination in the apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 2, the photosensitive drum 112
The drum shaft 17 is rotatably supported by ball bearings 22 fixed to the main body rear plate 20 and the driving support plate 21, respectively. The driving gear 18 is drivingly connected to a driving source (not shown). It is configured to rotate in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by the action with the meshing drum gear 19.

Each of the chargers described above has opening holes 20d, 20e, and 2d formed in the body rear side plate 20 shown in FIG.
0f, 20g, and 20h, the contact spring 27 in the protruding high-voltage connector 30a and the charger (for example, the primary charger 1).
0, it is electrically conductive by contact with the electrode portions 10a and 115a on the transfer charger 115) side.

On the other hand, a high-voltage harness 26 is arranged from the high-voltage power supply unit 25 shown in FIGS.
8 to a contact spring 27.

The high pressure connector 30a is connected to the exhaust duct 3
0, and the air in the device is
2 in the exhaust duct 30 in FIG.
And exhausted to the outside through the ozone filter 24. The suction port is the rear plate 2 shown in FIG.
Opening holes 20a, 20b, and 20c opened at 0,
It is provided at an optimal position for mainly absorbing ozone and scattered toner generated from each charger. The high-pressure harness 26 is insert-molded into the exhaust duct 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable to provide a cutout portion 30b at the base of the high-voltage connector portion 30a, so that the air sucked by the fan 23 can be ventilated to the inside of the connector portion. It is possible to prevent toner contamination of the contact portion with the contact spring and also prevent contact deterioration due to accumulation of ozone. In addition, since the high-voltage application unit and the exhaust duct unit are formed as a single unit, maintenance is simplified, and accidents such as touching and damaging the harness during maintenance can be prevented.

By adopting the configuration as described above, the degree of freedom in designing the high-pressure connector and the exhaust duct is improved, and the mounting portion can be reduced in space as compared with the case where the high-pressure connector and the exhaust duct are arranged independently. Since a seal is not required, cost can be reduced.

Further, since the arrangement of the exhaust duct and the high-pressure harness is substantially common, the exhaust duct can also serve as a high-pressure harness fixing member. Therefore, the number of assembly steps can be reduced, and erroneous connection of the harness at the time of assembly can be prevented.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the outlet of the high-voltage harness 26 "and the high-voltage power supply 25" on which the AC components of the separation charger 116 and the pre-transfer charger 15 (see FIG. 1) are superimposed are connected to another charger, that is, the primary charger 10 Transfer charger 115 and developing device 11
4 (see FIG. 1), apart from the outlet of the DC high-voltage harness 26 'and the high-voltage power supply 26', and the arrangement of the high-voltage harness 26 "is made as far as possible from the DC high-voltage harness 25 '. When prevention is required, it is possible to satisfy the requirement.

Further, by making the exhaust duct 30 of an insulating resin, there is an advantage that the distance can be reduced and the positional stability is increased as compared with the conventional spatial arrangement.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the high-voltage connector for connecting the high-voltage power supply unit and the charger or the developing device is integrally formed at one end of the exhaust duct, it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the device due to the high-voltage connector, and also to provide a high-pressure harness and an exhaust duct. In addition, an image forming apparatus can be obtained in which the layout of the drive system and the like is easy in design, the maintainability can be improved, and the reliability after long-time use can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a main part of an image forming apparatus according to a first exemplary embodiment.

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

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view taken along a line III-III in FIG. 2 omitting a drive gear, a drum gear, and a drive support plate for easy understanding.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an exhaust duct.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing each opening of a rear plate of the main body.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 of the first embodiment in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Primary charger 15 Pre-transfer charger 25, 25 ', 25 "High voltage power supply unit 26, 26', 26" High voltage harness 30 Exhaust duct 30a High voltage connector 30b Notch 112 Photosensitive drum 114 Developing device 115 Transfer charger

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising at least one charger or developing device, a high-voltage power supply unit thereof, and an exhaust duct for guiding dust or ozone generated from the charger or developing device to the outside of the device. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a high-voltage connector for connecting the high-voltage power supply unit and the charger or the developing device is formed integrally with a part of the exhaust duct. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a high-pressure harness connecting the high-voltage connector and the high-voltage power supply unit is fixed and held by the exhaust duct. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the high-pressure harness is insert-molded into the exhaust duct. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a notch portion communicating the mounting portion and the exhaust duct is provided in a mounting portion for accommodating the high-voltage connector. apparatus. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an outlet of the high-voltage harness on which the AC component is superimposed and a high-voltage power supply unit thereof are separated from a DC high-voltage harness and a high-voltage power supply unit thereof. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a distance between the high-voltage harness on which the AC component is superimposed and the high-voltage DC harness is increased.