JPH11327269A - Powder container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent powder from being compacted in a long container and flocculation and bridging from being caused thereby with a simple device. SOLUTION: A stirring means 2 provided in a lengthwise direction inside a long container 1 for stirring the powder in the container 1 in the lengthwise direction by rotation is arranged at one position or plural positions all over the area in the container 1 so that the cross section of a rotation area 3 may have nearly the maximum size that the means 2 can be housed in the container 1, and the powder in the container 1 is stirred by a small number of stilling means 2 in a required lengthwise direction such as upward without a dead angle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a powder container, and stores a toner used for forming an electrophotographic image in a copier, a printer, a facsimile or a microfilm reader printer for forming a monochrome or color image. The present invention relates to a powder container suitable for replenishing the powder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, particles of toner have been miniaturized in order to cope with higher image quality. The miniaturization of the particles increases the fluidity of the toner. On the other hand, a powder container for storing and supplying toner is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2686277 because of consideration such as not to increase the flat installation space of the container in response to a demand for large capacity. It is being made to be vertically long as it is.

[0003]

By the way, in a vertically long powder container, the lower layer portion of the powder contained therein is subject to a greater load due to its own weight, and is liable to agglomerate or cross-link with each other. The finer the toner particles and the higher the fluidity, the easier the aggregation and crosslinking occur.

In order to cope with this, if a plurality of horizontal stirring means and conveying means are provided in multiple stages as disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, a phenomenon in which the toners in the lower layers are mutually fastened due to their own weight or vibration, etc. As the length becomes longer, the number of agitating means and transporting means is required and the cost increases.
Further, if the stirring means conventionally used for stirring the two-component developer is employed, the number of parts increases and the size of the apparatus itself increases, which is further disadvantageous in terms of cost and space.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a powder container which can prevent powder compaction in a vertically long container, aggregation and cross-linking due to the compaction with a simple device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a powder container according to the present invention comprises a vertically long container for accommodating powder, and a vertically provided powder container in the container. Agitating means for agitating the body in the vertical direction by rotation, wherein the agitating means has a cross section of the rotation area substantially having the maximum size that can be accommodated in the container, and is provided at one location or over the entire area in the container. One of the features is that they are arranged at a plurality of locations.

Accordingly, even when the powder is stored in a vertically long container, the powder is stirred in the vertical direction by rotation of the stirring means positioned in the vertical direction, so that the direction of the stirring is set at least upward. Then, the powder moves to the lower layer side due to its own weight or vibration, and the tightening of the powders is alleviated or eliminated by giving a movement in the opposite direction, so that aggregation and crosslinking can be prevented. In particular, the agitating means is disposed at one or more locations so that the cross section of the rotation area has a maximum size substantially accommodated in the container and extends over the entire area in the container. Because it covers the whole area, the aggregation of the powder without blind spots and prevention of cross-linking can be achieved. Since the required number is smaller than in the case where the stirring means is arranged, the structure is simple and the cost is low.

If the agitating means has a vertical conveying function, the powder is forcibly conveyed in the vertical direction in each part thereof, and the powder flows into a portion where the density of the powder is reduced by being conveyed. The powder can be actively stirred in the vertical direction by various movements of the powder, such as spilling from each part of the powder being conveyed, so that it is easier to further prevent the powder from being tightened, agglomerated, or crosslinked by its own weight or vibration. . When a plurality of agitating means in different transport directions are provided coaxially inside and outside double or multiple,
The upward movement along the one stirring means and the downward movement along the other stirring means are described as follows.
With two or more combined movements, the powder can be more smoothly and actively stirred in the vertical direction.

[0009] If a conveying means for conveying the powder in the container to the outside of the container is provided, and the conveying means is driven by a driving means for driving the stirring means, the powder contained in the container is unloaded by the conveying means. No special driving means is required for replenishing or supplying the powder to others, and the use of the stored powder can be achieved at low cost. Each time the powder in the container is stirred by the stirring means so that the powder can be smoothly fed out, and the powder can be supplied and supplied stably without special control for powder stirring. it can.

[0010] Further objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and drawings. Each feature of the present invention can be used alone or in combination in various combinations as far as possible.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11 together with embodiments thereof, to provide an understanding of the present invention.

The powder container according to the present embodiment is used for storing and replenishing toner in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and a microfilm reader printer for forming an image by an electrophotographic method. This is an example of the case. However, the present invention is not limited to such applications, and it is an object of the present invention to prevent the powder from accommodating and agglomerating or cross-linking under the influence of its own weight or vibration to accommodate the powder. The present invention is effective in all cases.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a powder container according to the present embodiment has a vertically long container 1 for accommodating a toner as an example of powder, and a container provided in the container 1 in a vertical direction. And a stirring means 2 for stirring the toner in the printer 1 in the vertical direction by rotation. The stirring means 2 has a rotation section 3 whose cross section is
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, it has almost the maximum size A shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 which can be accommodated in the container 1 so as to cover the entire area inside the container 1. They are arranged in two places as in the embodiment or three places as shown in FIG. Here, the vertically long container 1 refers to, for example, a container in which the vertical dimension C exceeds the maximum dimension B of the bottom surface 1a.

Each container 1 is filled with toner from a toner bottle 13 or the like, for example, by opening a lid 12 of an opening 11 provided at an upper portion thereof as shown by a virtual line in FIG. If the lid 12 is closed after storage as shown by the solid line in FIG. 4, it will not leak to the outside carelessly. However, the container 1 may be sealed after the toner is stored so that the user cannot carelessly refill the toner inlet.

When the powder is stored in such a vertically long container 1, the powder is stirred in the vertical direction by the rotation of the stirring means 2 positioned in the vertical direction as described above. As long as the setting is at least upward, the movement of the powder to the lower layer due to its own weight or vibration and tightening with each other is alleviated or eliminated by giving the opposite movement, so that the powder is agglomerated or cross-linked by tightening. Can be prevented from becoming easy to perform.

As described above, the agitating means 2 has one section where the cross section of the rotation area 3 has a maximum size A which is substantially accommodated in the container 1 and extends over the entire area in the container 1. Since the agitation is performed at a plurality of locations, the characteristic stirring is performed over the entire area in the container 1, so that the powder can be prevented from being compacted, aggregated, and crosslinked without blind spots. The arrangement direction of the stirring means 2 is a horizontal direction having a dimension B smaller than the vertical dimension C of the container 1 as shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, or FIG. The required number of the stirring means 2 is smaller than in the case where the stirring means are arranged in the same manner. Therefore, the structure is simple and the cost is low.

In the case of the container 1 having a straight body, the rotation region 3 of each stirring means 2 may be straight. However, for example, in the case of a hopper type that expands upward, if the cross section of the rotation area is also expanded according to the expansion, the stirring area of the stirring means 2 is entirely formed regardless of the shape of the container 1. And easy. However, in the case of a plurality of stirring means 2, it is necessary to adjust the spread shape and arrangement posture of the cross section so that they do not interfere with each other.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 replenishes toner in an image forming apparatus for forming a color image.
G. FIG. B. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, four containers 1 for four colors in which black Bk is added to three colors are integrally formed.
Needless to say, the necessary number of containers 1 need not always be integrated for replenishing toners of a plurality of colors. Each container 1 has a rectangular bottom surface 1a and is arranged and integrated in the short side direction. At the bottom of each container 1, there is provided a conveying means 4 for conveying the toner contained in the container 1 to the outside of the container 1 and performing the above-mentioned replenishment and the like. The stirring means 2 has a maximum dimension A contained in the container 1, that is, , Which are set to a size substantially close to the internal short side dimension. The rotation area 3 does not cover the entire area of the container 1 simply by providing the stirring means 2 at one location. Therefore, the stirring means 2 is arranged at two places in the long side direction in the container 1. If there is room, three or more positions may be arranged. Rather, the arrangement is preferred because blind spots are eliminated in stirring. However, there is no margin in the embodiment of FIGS. Conversely, when the bottom surface 1a does not have a long side such as a square or a circle as shown in FIG.

A drive motor 5 is mounted on the lower surface of the bottom of each container 1, and the rotation of the drive motor 5 is transmitted to each agitating means 2 provided in the same container 1 by a gear train 6 so as to be driven whenever necessary. I can do it. The timing of this driving can be freely set to a required timing such as power-on of the image forming apparatus, each time of image formation, or when forming a predetermined number of images, when a predetermined time has elapsed, and during image formation. .

However, in the embodiment shown in FIGS.
Is transmitted to the conveying means 4 by another gear train 7 to share the drive motor 5. This eliminates the need for a special driving means to carry out the powder stored in the container 1 by the transporting means 4 and resupply or supply the powder to the other, so that the stored powder can be used at low cost. Can be achieved. Each time the powder is replenished or supplied by the transport means 4, the powder in the container 1 is stirred by the stirring means 2 so that the powder can be smoothly fed. Therefore,
In this embodiment, the powder can be stably supplied or supplied without any special control for stirring the powder.

The stirring means 2 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is a coil spring-shaped carrier 2 around a vertical rotation shaft 2a.
b, and exerts a vertical transport function by a combination of the lead direction and the rotation direction of the transport body 2b. In this embodiment, any one of the stirring means 2 in one container 1 is used.
Also, it is driven in a direction that exerts an upward transport function. Thereby, in the longitudinal direction of the powder at each part in the longitudinal direction by the transporting body 2b of the agitating means 2, it is possible to forcefully transport the powder in the vertical direction with almost no restraining force, and to transport the powder to a portion where the density of the powder is reduced. The powder can be actively stirred in the vertical direction by various movements including a main movement as shown by an arrow E in FIG. it can. With this stirring,
Tightening, agglomeration, and crosslinking of the powder due to its own weight and vibration can be further prevented.

The stirring means 2 may have any structure as long as it can stir in the vertical direction. As a device having a vertical transport function, a bucket type device as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, there is a cylindrical or axial spiral transport body having spiral irregularities and blades as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and various types including these can be adopted. The transporting means 4 is a screw transporting body as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, but can also be replaced with a coil spring type one, and is basically the same as the stirring means 2 having a transporting function. Can be adopted.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show another embodiment, in which a plurality of coil spring-like transfer bodies 2b and 2c of a plurality of agitating means 2 in different transfer directions are provided inside and outside on a coaxial 2a.
This embodiment has a double structure in which the stirring means 2b having an upward conveying function is arranged on the outside, and the stirring means 2c having a downward conveying function is arranged on the inside. However, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the container can be tripled or more, and furthermore, the combination of the stirring means 2b having the upward conveying function and the stirring means 2c having the downward conveying function makes the container An upward movement along one stirring means 2 as shown by an arrow E in FIG. 6 and a downward movement along another stirring means 2 as shown by an arrow F can be made inside and outside of the powder in 1. Therefore, the movement of the powder due to the forcible conveyance is such that the upward direction along one stirring means 2b and the downward direction along the other one stirring means 2c are combined two or more movements,
The powder can be stirred more smoothly and more actively in the vertical direction.

In such a structure in which a plurality of conveying means 2 or the conveying bodies 2b and 2c are provided in one place, when the cross section of the rotation area 3 of one stirring means 2 becomes large, the rotation area 3 It is effective to avoid forming blind spots where the powder cannot be stirred in the vertical direction. More powder in the container 1 can be rolled up and agitated more actively while smoothly performing large movements such as convection. In addition, the inside and outside arrangement of each stirring means 2 having different transport directions can be freely selected, and the arrangement is not limited to the arrangement shown in the embodiment.

Also in this embodiment, the conveying members 2b and 2c of the stirring means 2 are of the coil spring type.
The present invention is not limited to this, and may be a cylindrical one as shown in FIG. The tube-type carrier may have one of spiral irregularities or blades on one or both of the inner and outer surfaces. Further, the stirring means 2 located on the innermost side may be of a shaft type.

[0026]

According to the powder container of the present invention, even when the powder is accommodated in a vertically long container, the powder moves to the lower layer side by its own weight or vibration and tightens in the opposite direction. It can be relaxed or eliminated by giving a motion or the like, and aggregation and crosslinking can be prevented. The agitation means can prevent the agglomeration and cross-linking of the powder without blind spots because the agitation can be applied to the entire area in the container by its arrangement.In addition, the agitation means is arranged in a horizontal direction smaller than the vertical dimension of the container, Since the required number is smaller than in the case of arranging the stirring means in the vertical direction having a large dimension as described above, the structure is simple and the cost is low.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one example of a powder container according to a typical embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the container of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the container of FIG. 1 viewed from a direction different from that of FIG. 1 by 90 degrees.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a powder stirring state in the container of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another example of the container of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a powder stirring state in the container of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing another example of the stirring means of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing still another example of the stirring means of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another example of the stirring means of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a container having another arrangement of the stirring means of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a container in which the stirring means of the embodiment is arranged differently.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container 2 Stirring means 2a Shaft 2b, 2c Carrier 3 Rotation area 4 Transport means 5 Drive motor 6, 7 Gear train

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vertically long container for accommodating a powder, and a stirring means provided in the container in a vertical direction for stirring the powder in the container in a vertical direction by rotation, wherein the stirring means rotates the powder. A powder container characterized in that one or more powder containers are arranged so that the cross section of the region has the largest size that can be accommodated in the container and extends over the entire region in the container. 2. The powder container according to claim 1, wherein the stirring means has a vertical conveying function. 3. The powder container according to claim 2, wherein the agitating means comprises a plurality of agitating means in different transport directions coaxially and internally or externally double or multiplexed. 4. The powder according to claim 1, further comprising a transport unit that transports the powder in the container to the outside of the container, wherein the transport unit is driven by a driving unit that drives the stirring unit. container.