JPH10340036A - Cooler device for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To arrange a driving motor on a place where the cooling effect of a cooling means hardly reaches, and a place in the vicinity of a member having low heat resistance and to improve the degree of freedom in device design by providing a self-cooling means on the driving motor. SOLUTION: The motor for driving an image forming part is disposed in the vicinity of a laser scanner. An outside rotor type motor is used as this motor, a cooling fin 1 is attachably/detachably attached to a rotor part, and cools the motor itself as the motor is driven. That is, the fin 1 is attached to an outside rotor type motor, and a space between the fin 1-1 and the end face of the motor is controlled by a stopper part 1-3a provided on a cylindrical part 1-3, so that air vent operation is performed. Pawl parts 1-2a are respectively formed on the leading end of a connecting part 12, engaged to a motor side part when the motor is attached, and prevents the fin from being detached. The fin can be also applied to an inside rotor type motor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrostatic copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, and more particularly to a cooling device for the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a known image forming apparatus as described above, a fixing device for heating and pressurizing a transfer material carrying a toner image, a driving source for driving various parts in the apparatus, and various other devices are provided in the apparatus. Since members serving as heat sources, such as electrical components, are arranged, it is necessary to mount a cooling fan at an appropriate place in the machine and exhaust the heated air inside the machine to the outside in order to sufficiently exhibit the function of each member.

In this type of apparatus, since various members are arranged in the machine in a complicated manner, the air flow path, which is a space between the members, is also miniaturized and complicated, so that a single cooling fan can sufficiently cover the entire inside of the machine. Is extremely difficult to cool. For this reason, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-194920, an auxiliary fan is provided on an appropriate rotating shaft inside the machine in addition to a main cooling fan to avoid cost increase such as additional fan. There have been proposals for the purpose of cooling the entire interior of the machine as uniformly as possible.

However, if the speed of the image forming apparatus is increased and the temperature of the heat generating portion is significantly increased due to an increase in the number of prints, it is unavoidable that such a method may not be able to be used. For example, in this type of apparatus, since the fixing device, which is the final step of image formation, also generates the largest amount of heat, the fixing device is arranged near one end of the image forming apparatus, and is usually of an exhaust type. Usually, a cooling fan is arranged at a position close to the fixing device to improve the cooling efficiency.

In such a configuration, the drive motor for the image forming section is necessarily arranged on the side near the other end of the image forming apparatus. For this reason, when a laser scanner having a low heat-resistant temperature is located between the fixing device and the drive motor, there is a drawback that when the fan is driven, the heated air near the drive motor heats the laser scanner. .

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to cope with such a situation. In the above-described image forming apparatus, the drive motor is provided with a self-cooling means so that the drive motor can be used. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to dispose it in a place where the cooling effect of the main cooling means is hard to reach, near a member having low heat resistance, or the like, and to greatly improve the degree of freedom in device design.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus comprising a heat generating member, a member having a low heat resistant temperature, a cooling means for cooling the inside of the apparatus, and a drive motor. In the apparatus, a drive motor is an external rotor type motor, and an external rotor of the motor is provided with cooling blades for cooling the motor itself. An image forming apparatus including a member having a low heat-resistant temperature, cooling means for cooling the inside of the machine, and a drive motor, wherein the drive motor is an internal rotor type motor, and a cooling shaft for cooling the motor itself on a rotating shaft of the motor. In the cooling device (2) of the image forming apparatus having the blade, or in any one of the above (1) or (2), the cooling blade is detachable from the drive motor. A cooling device (3) for an image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 and 2, or a cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the drive motor is disposed between the heat-generating member and a member having a low heat-resistant temperature, and the internal cooling means is an exhaust type.

With this configuration, it is possible to avoid the influence of a temperature rise inside the image forming apparatus including a member serving as a heat source and a member having low heat resistance, thereby improving design flexibility. .

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a facsimile apparatus as an image forming apparatus suitable for applying the present invention, and FIG.
Is a side sectional view thereof. In the figure, a document table 102 is formed on the top surface of an apparatus main body 101. Symbol 103
Denotes an image reading unit that reads image information of the document S, 104 denotes a laser beam printer as a recording device, 105 denotes a document transport unit, 106 denotes a document pressing unit, 107 denotes an image sensor,
08 is a document discharge tray, 109 is a laser scanner, 11
0 is an image forming unit, 110 is a front cassette unit, 112
Denotes a transfer material discharge tray, 113 denotes a multi-paper (MP) cassette unit, 114 denotes a cartridge cover, and 115 denotes an AD.
F (automatic document feeder) cover, 116 is an upper document guide, 117 is a lower document guide, 118 is a cassette paper feeder,
119 is a front cassette, 120 is an image reading unit 103
A heat dissipating unit for dissipating heat, water vapor, and the like generated from the fixing device of the image forming unit; 121, a facsimile control unit; 122, a handset;
Is a transport guide, 124 is an operation unit, 125 is a display unit, 12
6 is a tally lamp indicating the operation state of the facsimile machine,
127 is a second cassette unit, 128 is a light cover, 1
29 is an MP cassette sensor unit, and 130 is an MP separation unit.

First, the operation of the image reading unit 103 will be described. The document S placed on the document table 102 is pulled out by pressing the preliminary transport roller 105b against the preliminary transport pressing piece by the preliminary transport solenoid 105c, and then separated one by one by the separation roller 105d pressed against the reverse rotation roller 105e. Next, a contact type image sensor 107 is fed by a paper feed roller 105 ′ e and a paper feed roller
And the weight pressing shaft 106
a, The information of the document S is read while the document S is pressed and brought into close contact with the image sensor 107 by the document pressing plate 106b. Next, the document S is discharged to the document discharge tray 108 by a discharge roller 105h pressed against a discharge roller 105g. During this time, the original is transferred to the upper guide 116 and the lower guide
7.

The document table 102 is provided with a slider 102a which slides in the width direction of the document (perpendicular to the paper).
As a result, both sides of the placed document can be aligned. If the document is long, the auxiliary tray 102
By pulling out b, it is possible to prevent the trailing edge of the document from protruding from the document table and hanging down.

The laser beam oscillator 10 of the laser scanner 109 is controlled based on the image signal output from the control unit 121.
9a outputs a modulation signal.
The image is scanned by an image carrier 09b and projected as an image signal via a reflection mirror 109c onto an image carrier 110a of the image forming unit 110.

In the illustrated apparatus, the image forming unit 110
Rotating image carrier 110a, primary charger 110b,
Developing device including developing sleeve 110c, cleaner 110d
Are integrally formed in the cartridge 110e, and the surface of the image carrier is uniformly charged by the primary charger 110b before the image signal is projected on the image carrier 110a. Therefore, when the image signal is projected on the charged surface, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier.

When the latent image reaches a developing site where the developing sleeve 110c is located, toner is supplied to the latent image to be visualized to form a toner image. Further, when the toner image reaches a transfer portion where the transfer roller 110f is provided, the transfer material supplied from the MP cassette unit 113, the front cassette 111, and the like by this time is transferred to the image carrier 11
The transfer roller 110f is supplied with a transfer bias at the same time as the toner image on the transfer roller 110a, and the toner image on the image carrier 110a side is transferred to the transfer material P by the action of an electric field formed thereby. Transfer to

A part of the toner not transferred to the transfer / retransfer material proceeds as it is and reaches the cleaner 110d, where it is removed from the image carrier, and the image carrier is ready for the next image forming step. Become. Further, the transfer material carrying the toner image is separated from the image carrier 110a, reaches the fixing device 110g through the transport path 123, where the toner image is fixed and fixed on the transfer material, and then discharged via the discharge roller 110h. It is assumed that the sheet is discharged to the tray 112.

Next, the MP cassette unit 113 will be described. Transfer material P stored in MP cassette 113a
Is a vertically movable middle plate 11 provided on the cassette.
3c, is biased upward in the figure by a pressure contact member 113c, abuts against the MP separation roller 130a, is separated one by one by a separation pad 130b pressed against the roller, and is conveyed by a separation base 130c.
The transport roller 128a is inverted by a cover-side U-turn guide 128b and a main-unit-side U-turn guide 128c arranged on the light cover 128.

The transfer material conveyed in this way is detected at its leading end by the top sensor 128c, and is supplied to the transfer portion at a timing such that the transfer material matches the toner image on the image carrier side as described above. The transfer material is an MP regulating plate 11 movably mounted in accordance with the size.
The side end face and the rear end face are regulated by 3d, and the size and presence or absence of the transfer material are detected by the sensor 129.

In the illustrated apparatus, the MP cassette can be inserted and removed from the left side of the figure, and the number of transfer materials accommodated is about 100 sheets, and the size is A4, letter, and legal.
It is set to letter size in the figure.

The front cassette section 111 has a top plate 1
11d is disposed below the apparatus main body 104, and has a bottom plate 111f. An intermediate plate 119b is rotatably disposed in the front cassette holder 119a, and the intermediate plate biases the transfer material P placed in the middle by a spring 119c upward in the drawing. The transfer material includes a semicircular feed roller 118a, a pair of separation claws 119d provided at both ends of the transfer material front end, and a feed roller 11 that rotates normally.
8b and a retard roller 118d which rotates in reverse through a torque limiter (not shown), and is taken out one by one.

The transfer material separated and taken out of the cassette is transported by a pair of transport rollers 118e.
After passing between the MP separation base 130c and the paper passing guide 128e, the conveying roller 128a and the U-turn guide 128b on the light cover side provided on the light cover 128 are provided.
And the device body side U-turn guide 128c. Thereafter, the image forming operation is performed by proceeding on the same course as the transfer material taken out of the MP cassette.
The retard roller 118d is provided on a retard roller holder 118f pivotally supported by the main body so as to be swingable. I have.

The rear end of the transfer material in the cassette is
f, and the side edge is regulated by a regulating plate 119e, and the side edge is arranged on the side facing the regulating plate 119e and is regulated by a regulating plate (not shown) biased by a spring. Side. Further, the size of the transfer material stored in the cassette is detected by a size sensor and a size sensor (not shown) arranged in the front cassette holder 119a. The presence or absence of the transfer material is detected by the sensor 111b. Further, in order to prevent double transfer of the last transfer material in the cassette,
9b, a separation sheet 119j is attached at a position facing the paper feed roller 118a.

Cassette unit 111, second-stage cassette 127
(FIG. 3) can accommodate about 500 sheets of transfer material, and can be pulled out to the near side of the paper in FIG. 4 and the storable size is the regulation plate 119e. , 119f, it is possible to switch between A4 size and letter size, and in the case shown, it is set to letter size.

Although the second-stage cassette 127 is not shown in FIG. 4, its internal configuration is the same as that of the cassette 111.
It is assumed that the transfer material is disposed below the cassette 111, and the taken-out transfer material is conveyed upward in the drawing from the side space indicated by reference numeral 111c in FIG. This cassette 1
27 is optional and can be connected to and separated from other parts. By using this, it is possible to increase the capacity of the cassette and to use different size transfer materials.

A cartridge cover 104 is disposed on the top surface of the apparatus main body 101 so as to be openable and closable. When the cartridge cover 104 is released, the cartridge 110e can be pulled out from the main body. The cartridge cover 114 is provided with an interlock mechanism, and whether the cartridge cover 114 is open or the cartridge 110e is
Is not set in the image forming apparatus main body 104
Does not work.

The cartridge 110e is provided with a drum shutter 110i so as to interlock with the insertion / removal of the cartridge into / from the main body. When the cover 114 is released and the cartridge 110e is mounted at a predetermined position, the drum shutter 110i is in the retracted position shown in the figure, the image carrier 110a is exposed, and the transfer roller 110f on the main body side is exposed.
When the cartridge 110e is removed from the apparatus main body, the drum shutter 110i pivots clockwise in the drawing to take a position covering the image carrier 110a, and unnecessary exposure, damage, and dust of the image carrier are performed. This is protected from the adhesion of

When a jam occurs during the operation, the cartridge cover 11 may be changed depending on the location of the jam.
4. By opening any one of the light cover 128, the paper discharge cover 111j, and the jam release cover 111e, the transfer material stuck inside can be taken out. In addition,
The paper discharge cover 111j needs to be opened after removing the paper discharge tray 112.

The heat radiating section 120 forms a duct for separating the image reading section 103 and the image forming section main body 104. The heat radiating section 120 and the heat fixing device 110g are provided on the side opposite to the illustrated side of the apparatus main body 104. A fan is provided to prevent the image reading unit 103 from being adversely affected by heat generated from the main body 104 due to the formation of an air flow, and that water vapor evaporated from the transfer material is condensed and drops on the transfer material. It is blocking.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system of the image forming apparatus. Reference numeral 301 denotes a CPU for controlling the entire apparatus, including a MPU, a ROM for storing a control program of the MPU, a work area for various data processing, a RAM used as a temporary storage unit for image information, and image scaling. , An image processing unit that performs resolution conversion and the like.

The CPU is provided with a known calendar, clock function, and the like. An area for storing important system setting information such as one-touch key destination information and software switch information in the RAM is provided by a battery backup so that an unforeseen event such as a power failure occurs. Protected from failure. This protected RAM area may be constituted by an EEPROM (including a flash memory).

The control system of the facsimile apparatus has a configuration in which the above-mentioned CPU and the following elements are connected via an interface. The operation unit 302 includes various key switches such as a numeric keypad, a function key, a one-touch key, a start key, and a stop key. Display unit 30
Reference numeral 3 includes an LCD for displaying various messages, various LEDs for displaying a transmission mode and the like, a tally lamp for notifying a distant operator of a communication state, occurrence of a failure, and the like. The reading unit 304 includes a driving unit such as a reading motor, a reading sensor that reads an image, an image processing unit that performs shading and binarization of the read image, and various sensors that perform document detection and the like. A communication control unit 306 that performs outgoing calls, incoming calls, encoding of image data, and the like includes a connection unit including a MODEM, an NPU, and the like, and a communication network 307 and a handset 308 are connected to the connection unit. The CPU external interface 309 is an interface for directly transmitting and receiving data from the device 301. For example, RS232C, SCSI, L
By connecting a line such as an AN to a computer outside the apparatus, the apparatus can be used as a scanner printer of the external computer. The HDD 310 is used for storing image information as a large-capacity nonvolatile memory.

Next, the operation of the printer using the laser beam will be described with reference to the schematic perspective view shown in FIG. Reference numeral 400 denotes a semiconductor laser that blinks a laser beam with respect to image data to be recorded; 402, a prigon mirror that is rotated by a motor 401; 403, an optical system that performs image formation and tilt correction; 404, a photodetector; , 406 is an image carrier, 407 is a developing device, 40
8 is a transfer material, 409 is a conveyance guide, and 410 is a fixing device.

The laser beam projected from the semiconductor laser 400 is deflected by the polygon mirror 402, and passes through the optical system 403 and the return mirror 405.
6. Irradiation image formation is performed on the surface 6 (main scanning). At this time, the cue is made by the photodetector 404 and the irradiation position is determined. While this irradiation is completed for one line, the image carrier 406
Rotates by one line (sub-scan).

The image (latent image) formed for one page in this way is then visualized by a developing unit 407, further transferred to a transfer material P at a transfer position, and then fixed by a transport path 409. The hard copy is completed and discharged outside the machine.

In the facsimile apparatus as described above,
The present invention includes the following cooling means. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the facsimile apparatus showing the vicinity of the cooling means, and is a view in which the document table 102, the image reading unit 103, and the like of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 are removed. .

As shown in FIG. 1, the laser scanner 1
In the vicinity of 09, a motor 2 for driving the image forming unit 110 is provided. Further, as shown in the figure, the laser scanner 109 is disposed above the structure 4 of the apparatus main body, which is hatched in FIG. Reference numeral 3 denotes a fan for cooling the entire apparatus, and reference numeral 5 denotes a duct for connecting a main cooled part in the apparatus to the fan 3.

In the case shown in the figure, the motor 2 is of an external rotor type, and the cooling blades 1 are detachably mounted on the rotor portion. Cooling.

The inside of the apparatus is cooled as usual by the operation of the fan 3, and at the same time, the driving of the motor 2 rotates the blades 1 mounted on the apparatus to cool the motor itself. Escapes to the outside together with the main cooling air flow from the fan 3. For this reason, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the temperature of the laser scanner 109 disposed adjacent to the motor is raised to cause a functional deterioration.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cooling blade to be mounted on the motor 2. The blade 1 has a circular portion having a fin 1-1 for generating an air flow, a short cylindrical connecting portion 1-3 connected to the circular portion, and a plurality of elastic connecting portions 1-1 extending in the rotation axis direction thereof. It has two.

The blade 1 is mounted on the external rotor type motor, and a stopper 1-3 provided on the cylindrical portion 1-3 is provided.
a to restrict the distance between the fins 1-1 and the end face of the motor so as to achieve an air bleeding action.
Claws 1-2a are formed at the tips of the -2, respectively, so as to engage with the side of the motor when mounted on the motor to prevent the blade from being pulled out.

The case where the present invention is applied to a facsimile apparatus and the case where an external roller type motor is used have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to these, and can be applied to other image forming apparatuses. ,Also,
It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to an internal roller type motor.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, since the drive motor, which is one heat source of the apparatus, is directly cooled, the drive motor can be installed in a portion where the effect of the main cooling means is difficult, and If the main cooling means is an exhaust type, it becomes possible to arrange the members having a low heat-resistant temperature in such a positional relationship as to be sandwiched between the main cooling means and the cooling means according to the present invention, which leads to deterioration of image quality. Therefore, the degree of freedom in design can be greatly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the vicinity of a portion of an image forming apparatus provided with a cooling unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cooling fan to be mounted on a drive motor.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an external appearance of an image forming apparatus suitable for applying the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of an image forming apparatus suitable for applying the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a control system of the above device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the operation of the above device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling fan 2 Drive motor 3 Main cooling fan 4 Structure 5 Duct 101 Device main body 102 Document table 103 Document reading part 104 Image forming part main body 108 Paper discharge tray 109 Laser scanner 111 Front cassette 112 Transfer material discharge tray 113 MP ( Multi-paper) cassette 114 cartridge cover 119 front cassette 120 heat radiating unit by cooling means 121 control unit of facsimile machine 123 transport guide 128 light cover 130 MP separation unit 301 CPU 302 operation unit 303 display unit 304 reading unit 305 recording unit 306 communication control unit 307 Communication network 308 Handset 309 Interface outside CPU 400 Semiconductor laser 402 Polygon mirror 403 Optical system 404 Photodetector 405 Folding mirror 406 Image carrier 407 Developing device 408 Transfer material 409 Transport guide 410 Fixing device

Claims (4)

[Claims] An image forming apparatus comprising: a heating member; a member having a low heat-resistant temperature; cooling means for cooling the inside of the apparatus; and a drive motor, wherein the drive motor is an external rotor type motor and an external rotor of the motor. A cooling device for an image forming apparatus, further comprising a cooling blade for cooling a motor itself. 2. An image forming apparatus comprising a heat generating member, a member having a low heat-resistant temperature, a cooling means for cooling the inside of the apparatus, and a drive motor, wherein the drive motor is an internal rotor type motor, and a rotating shaft of the motor. A cooling blade for cooling the motor itself. 3. The cooling blade is detachable from the drive motor.
The cooling device for an image forming apparatus according to any one of the above. 4. The drive motor according to claim 1, wherein the drive motor is disposed between a heat-generating member and a member having a low heat-resistant temperature, and the inside cooling means is an exhaust type. An image forming apparatus comprising: