JPH10340037A - Cooler for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restrain noise by a ventilation fan and to improve physical distribution efficiency by providing a duct member changing the advancing direction of exhaust from a discharge port to a specified direction on the outside of the discharge port. SOLUTION: An intake port 211 and the discharge port 210 are provided on the back surface of a device main body 202, and the fan 206 for air intake and a fan 203 for exhaust are respectively disposed inside the ports. The outside duct member 201 has a shape that one end of the member 201 is opened, the four pawl parts provided on the open part, for example, are respectively attachably/detachably engaged with four holes provided on the device main body 202 side. Such a sound absorbing material 209 as sponge is extended and stuck to the inside surface of the duct member 201. By this constitution, the direction of air flow discharged by the fan 203 is changed downward by the member 201, and also the noise is absorbed by the material 209. Since the member 201 is attachable/detachable to the main body 202, the member 201 is detached to perform work for package and transportation at the time of packaging and transporting.

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 and a printer, and more particularly to a cooling apparatus for the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

FIG. 4 is a schematic side sectional view showing a color laser printer as a typical example of such a known image forming apparatus. Briefly, a transfer material 2 such as paper stored in a cassette 1 disposed below the apparatus is taken out one by one by a paper feed roller 3, and a pair of transport rollers 4 and 5 and a transport path 6. , And reaches the registration roller 8 by the conveyance roller 7.

[0003] In the apparatus, the vehicle rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure,
Cylindrical transfer drum 11 having an axis perpendicular to the paper surface
The image carrier 15 is disposed in parallel with the transfer drum 11 in close proximity to the image carrier. Around the image carrier 15, a developing unit 21 containing a black toner, and a developing unit 20Y, 20C, and 20M, which are rotatably provided on a shaft 22 and which respectively contain a yellow toner, a cyan toner, and a magenta toner. A device 23 is provided.

The transfer material having reached the transfer drum 11 via the roller 8 is caught by the transfer drum 11 and continues to rotate with the transfer material, during which the developing device 21 and the developing device 23
As a result, the electrostatic latent images formed on the image carrier are sequentially superimposedly transferred onto the transfer material.

Thereafter, the transfer material is separated from the transfer drum, advances in the direction indicated by the two-dot chain line in the drawing, and reaches the fixing device 25, where it is heated and pressed to melt and mix the toner on the transfer material to form a color. The image is fixed and fixed on the transfer material, passes through the transport path 33 by the transport rollers 34 and 35, and is discharged to the discharge section 37 via the discharge roller 36.

Incidentally, such an image forming apparatus includes:
Fixing devices, motors, electrical components, and other members that promote temperature rise inside the image forming apparatus are provided, thereby preventing unnecessary heating of portions inside the apparatus by unnecessary heating. In order to prevent functional deterioration due to contamination of various parts due to floating toner, dust and the like in the inside, attention is paid to form an air flow suitable for cooling and cleaning in the machine using a cooling fan, a duct, a filter, and the like. .

The above-mentioned color printer and the like have a large size and a complicated internal structure, and the heat distribution in the machine is also complicated. Therefore, a large-capacity fan is used. In addition, a plurality of fans are used to realize a suitable air flow, and fans are often used separately for intake and exhaust.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the arrangement of a fan provided on the back of the printer. FIG. 5 is a perspective view from the back of the apparatus main body, and FIG. FIG. An upper fan 101 is an intake fan for taking in clean external air, and a lower fan 102 is an exhaust fan for discharging heated air, floating toner and the like in the apparatus.

Each fan is provided with a filter 103 for preventing dust and the like from entering from outside and a filter 104 for preventing toner and the like inside the apparatus from being discharged to the outside. In order to compensate for the pressure loss of the filter, it is preferable to make the exhaust fan larger.

[0010]

However, in the conventional fan configuration as described above, especially in the case of a large-sized apparatus such as a color printer, a noise generated by the fan is required and an environment as quiet as possible is required. This is a major problem in offices and the like. The present invention has been made to cope with such a situation, and the noise suppression function is effective for a large fan such as that used for a color printer with a simple and inexpensive configuration, and it is also suitable for packing and transportation. It is an object to provide a simple cooling device.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with an exhaust port on a side wall and an exhaust fan for exhausting near the inside thereof. A cooling device (1) for an image forming apparatus, wherein a duct member is provided outside the exhaust port so as to change a traveling direction of exhaust air from a predetermined direction. In the cooling device (2) of the image forming apparatus, wherein the sound absorbing material is provided on the inner surface of the duct member, the cooling device is detachably mounted on the side wall. The cooling device (3) of the image forming apparatus, or the above (1)
In any one of (3) to (3), in the image forming apparatus having an intake port on the same side wall as an exhaust port, the predetermined direction in which the exhaust of the duct member is displaced is different from the position of the intake port. A cooling device (4) for an image forming measure, wherein

With this configuration, the noise caused by the exhaust fan can be significantly suppressed and the distribution efficiency can be improved.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state where a duct member is removed from the back of the apparatus main body. FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a state where the duct member is attached to the apparatus main body.

An intake port 211 and an exhaust port 210 are provided on the back of the main body of the image forming apparatus, as in the case of the above-mentioned known apparatus, and an intake fan 206 and an exhaust fan 203 are provided inside thereof. The fan 206 sends clean outside air into the machine through a duct 208, and the fan 203 removes unnecessary heated air or floating toner generated from a fixing portion, motors and the like inside the machine by a duct 205. Discharge.

In the vicinity of each of the fans 206 and 203,
A filter 207 for preventing foreign matter such as dust in the air from entering the inside of the machine and a filter 204 for preventing escape of heated air and floating toner inside the machine to the outside are provided.

Reference numeral 201 denotes an external duct member, one of which has an open shape, and four claw portions 201a, 201b, 20 in the illustrated case provided at the open portion.
1c and 201d (only 201a and 201b are shown in FIG. 1) are four holes 201 provided on the apparatus main body side.
(A), 201 (b), 210 (c), and 210 (d) are detachably engaged with each other.

A sound absorbing material 209 such as a sponge is extended on the inner surface of the duct member 201 as shown in FIG.

With this configuration, the fan 20
The airflow discharged by 3 is turned downward by the duct member 201 and is absorbed by the sound absorbing material, so that the noise level is greatly reduced.

As described above, the external duct member 20
1 is detachable from the main body of the apparatus, so that it can be detached during packing and transportation for work, which greatly contributes to improvement of distribution efficiency and cost reduction. Further, even a small amount of toner that cannot be completely removed by the filter 204 in the apparatus is adhered and collected by the sound absorbing material 209 at the time of changing the direction of the airflow, so that it is useful to reduce contamination of the outside air. Furthermore, it is possible to reliably prevent a situation in which the warm air discharged from the exhaust side or the above-mentioned minute amount of toner contained in the exhaust is sucked from the intake port located above.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing the periphery of an external duct member 201 showing another embodiment. In this case, the filter 204 on the exhaust fan 203 side is provided independently and can be detachably mounted on the external duct member 201.

A stopper 212 is formed at a position near the open end of the external duct member 201.
01 is attached to the apparatus main body, the above-described claw 20 is pressed and held while the filter 204 is pushed to the stopper position.
What is necessary is just to lock 1a etc. in the hole 201 (a) etc. of a main body side.

With such a structure, the filter on the exhaust side can be replaced with a new one in a timely manner, so that the replacement workability is greatly increased and the exhaust function can be maintained well.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By cooling means for cooling the inside of the image forming apparatus having a heating source therein, warm air discharged from the apparatus, floating toner,
When dust and the like are discharged using a fan, an external duct that changes the traveling direction of the discharged air flow and has a sound absorbing member is disposed outside the discharge portion of the image forming apparatus.
The noise level can be greatly reduced, the discharged hot air, toner and the like are reliably prevented from being sucked into the apparatus again, thereby improving the cooling efficiency. Further, the external duct is detachable from the apparatus main body. It is suitable for packaging and transportation of equipment and contributes to reduction of distribution costs. Further, by making the exhaust-side filter detachable, the replacement efficiency can be greatly increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a rear view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which an external duct is attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of a portion near an intake port and an exhaust port of the same.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing another embodiment of a portion near an intake port and an exhaust port of the present invention.

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

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the image forming apparatus showing an intake port and an exhaust port of the image forming apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing a cooling means for an intake port and an exhaust port of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cassette 2 Transfer material 11 Transfer drum 21 Developing device for black toner 23 Developing device 25 Fixing device 201 External duct member 202 Image forming apparatus main body 201a, 201b, 201c, 201d Claws 202 (a), 202 (b), 202 (c) ), 202
(D) hole 203 exhaust fan 206 intake fan 204, 207 filter 209 sound absorbing material 210 exhaust port 211 intake port

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having an exhaust port on a side wall and an exhaust fan for exhausting air in the vicinity of the inside of the exhaust port, a duct member for moving the exhaust gas from the exhaust port in a predetermined direction is provided. A cooling device for an image forming apparatus, wherein the cooling device is provided outside the image forming apparatus. 2. The cooling device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the duct member is detachably mounted on the side wall. 3. The cooling device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sound absorbing material is provided on an inner surface of the duct member. 4. An image forming apparatus having an intake port on the same side wall as an exhaust port, wherein the predetermined direction in which the exhaust of the duct member is displaced is different from the position of the intake port. "Claim 1" to "Claim 3"
A cooling device for an image forming measure according to any of the preceding claims.