JPS58126556A - Developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display the absence of toners when the residual amt. of the toners decreases and to announce the decrease to the operator by detecting the toners in a toner storage chamber and a developing chamber with respectively separately provided detecting means. CONSTITUTION:A developing device is divided to a replenishing toner storage chamber 1 and a developing chamber 2, and sensors S2, S1 which detect the amt. of the toners are provided separately in the respective chambers. When the sensor S1 in the chamber 2 detects the decrease in the toners, the toners are replenished from the chamber 1 into the chamber 2. On the other hand, the toners in the chamber 1 are detected with the sensors S2, and when both sensors S1, S2 detect the absence of the toners, a toner replenishing lamp is lighted to announce the need for the replenishment of the toners. When the sensor S1 detects the presence of the toners and the sensor S2 detects the absence of the toners, the toner replenishing lamp is flickered to announce that the copying operation is possible but that there is a need for replenishing the toner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a developing device, and more particularly to a developing device that replenishes developer from a developer replenishing chamber to a developing chamber.

The present invention relates to a developing device, and a developing device that replenishes developer to a residual amount detection chamber for detecting when the amount of developer in the developing chamber is low. The purpose of this project is to provide a developing device having a display means for detecting the amount and informing the operator of the amount.

Examples of the present invention will be described below.

The embodiment shown in the drawings is a current system using a one-component magnetic fluid. As shown in FIG. 1, this developing device consists of a replenishment toner storage chamber 1 and a developing chamber 2, and a shutter is used to supply an appropriate amount of toner 4 to the developing chamber 2 through a communication path 3 between the two chambers 1 and 2. 5 is provided. In addition, the above communication path 3
A stirring member 6 is provided in the storage chamber l near the storage chamber l.

In the current tube chamber 2, a toner supply sleeve 8 containing a fixed magnet roller 7 and a developing sleeve 10 containing a fixed magnet roller 29 are arranged so as to be rotatable in the same direction at the same speed with a gap d between them. It is set up. For example, the blade 11 is arranged at a distance of 1 waO from the sleeve 8. This blade 11 is made of a non-magnetic material such as aluminum, and is attached to the partition plate 12 of the two chambers 1 and 2 with a set screw 13. For example, the opening 14 of the sleeve 1otf'fA chamber 2 is 300s long. ．． Open the ijigl forming body (photosensitive drum)
It is facing 15.

Sleeves 8 and 10 are made of non-magnetic material such as stainless steel,
As shown in FIG. 2, a gear 17 that is integrated with the shaft 10a of the sleeve 10 is engaged with a gear 16 that is integrated with the photosensitive drum 15, and a gear 19 that is integrated with the shaft 8a of the sleeve 8 is connected to this gear 17 via an intermediate gear 18. This is a linked configuration. As the gear 16 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the sleeve 8.10Fi rotates in the direction of the arrow.

The toner adhering to the surface of the rotating sleeve 80 due to the magnetic force (N, 9) of the magnet roller 7 is regulated by the blade 11 to a uniform thickness of approximately 1.2 t.

The adhering toner on this sleeve 8 is exposed to the repulsive magnetic force (Ss
'), the attractive magnetic force (N, ) of the magnet row 29, and the electrostatic attractive force of the bias voltage applied to the sleeve 10 by the series-connected DC power supply DC and AC power supply AC, and Transfer to form a thin layer of approximately 50μ.

When the toner on the sleeve 10 faces the photosensitive drum 15, it is transferred onto the photosensitive drum by the electrostatic attraction force of the surface formed on the photosensitive drum 5, and the above-mentioned surface is transferred to the surface of the photosensitive drum 1@5s. It is developed by the jumping method described in Japanese Patent No. 18656-9.

The toner remaining on the sleeve 10 is separated from the sleeve by the repulsive magnetic force (8t) of the magnet row 29 and moves on the inclined lower surface of the developing chamber 2 in the direction indicated by the dotted line arrow.

When a sensor 8-1 serving as a toner remaining amount detecting means provided at the bottom of the developing chamber detects a lack of toner in the developing chamber, in response to the detection signal, a solenoid 5L-2 shown in FIG.
is turned on, and the lever 20 is rotated counterclockwise with the shaft 21 as the center of rotation. As a result, the U portion 2 of the lever 20
Hook the dowel 22a engaged on the arm 2
2 in a counterclockwise direction around the rotating shaft 23 (in Fig. 1)
The shutter 5 attached to the rotating shaft 23 is rotated to
It is opened to supply and drop toner 4 from the replenishment toner storage chamber 1 into the developing chamber 2. On the other hand, the above solenoid 5L-2 is O
If you press N, the bent portion 20b of the lever 20 will be connected to the arm 24.
Rotate counterclockwise to release it from the controller 25.

In FIG. 2, when the controller 25 becomes free, a clutch (not shown) is engaged and the rotation of the gear 26 is transmitted to the shaft 6a of the stirring member 6, and the stirring member 60 rotates to scrape the toner into the communication path 3.

When the controller 25 is locked with the arm 24, the gear 26 is idly rotating on the shaft 6a. As described above, the solenoid 5L-2 can be used for timing both the rotation of the shaft 6a and the opening/closing operation of the shutter 5.

In the above configuration, when the sensor 8-1 in the developing chamber 2 detects that the amount of toner is low, the solenoid 5L-2 is turned ON in response to the detection signal from the sensor 8-1, and the toner storage chamber 1 is refilled. From there, toner is replenished as described above.

When the sensor S is replenished to the level of sensor 8-1,
There is no signal from -1 and solenoid s-2 is 0FF.
t,,) Toner replenishment is stopped. If the copy button 105 is pressed and the multifunction machine is in copy mode, copying will start.

The reason why the developing device is divided into the replenishment toner storage chamber 1 and the developing chamber 2 as described above is that when the developing device is operated with a large amount of toner refilled in the developing chamber 2, the toner in the lower part of the developing chamber is drained from above. This is because it is easily blocked by the weight of the toner. In particular, magnetic toner has a heavy weight per unit volume and is easily blocked. In addition, the generation of frictional heat due to the 80 rotations of the sleeve, the connection 11d between the blade 1 and the sleeve 8.
Deterioration of the toner and changes in triboelectric characteristics are likely to occur due to passing through t.

Therefore, it is a must! Put the minimum amount of toner in developing chamber 2,
It is more economical to replenish toner in the developing chamber each time it is consumed to a certain extent, as fresh toner can always be used for development, and even if the toner in the developing chamber deteriorates or foreign matter gets mixed in, the amount of toner to be discarded is small. It is true.

The remaining amount of toner in the replenishment toner storage chamber is detected by a sensor 8-2. When sensor s-2 detects that toner is low, lamp 2 is displayed on the control panel of the multi-military aircraft shown in Figure 3.
7 lights up to indicate that the toner in the toner storage chamber IK) is running out. As a method for detecting the presence or absence of toner on this sensor line, for example, a vibrator is used, and whether or not toner is on the vibrator is detected by a change in the vibration mode of the vibrator. Further, the presence or absence of toner in the storage chamber 1 is detected by a sensor S-2 comprising a lamp 28 and a light receiving element 29 arranged as shown in FIG.

However, toner detection tends to be accompanied by malfunctions, and the sensor itself is also prone to accidents such as breakdowns and disconnections.

For example, when the sensor 8-1 detects that the amount of toner in the developing chamber 2 is low and replenishes toner from the storage chamber 1, the detection signal of the sensor S-1 may disappear even after a certain period of time has passed. If the sensor S-2 indicates that there is toner in the storage chamber 1, the following accident may occur.

1...Failure of sensor S-1, 2...Failure of sensor s-2.

3. Toner is blocked in the storage chamber and cannot be replenished. Especially in the case of accident 1, a large amount of toner is sent into the developing chamber, causing solidified toner, or toner entering the bearing and damaging the equipment, which can be fatal. This will result in an accident.

Therefore, in the present invention, the remaining amount detection sensors s-2 and s-1 in the storage chamber 1 and the developing chamber 2 and a timer circuit are used, so that even if a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the start of toner replenishment, the detection signal of the sensor S-1 (
If the state (no toner) does not disappear and the sensor s-2 indicates that toner is present, the copying operation is stopped and an abnormality display is displayed.

FIG. 5 shows a sequence diagram of the developing device of the present invention. In the sequence diagram shown above, when the power is turned on, the sensor S
~l, the presence or absence of toner is detected at s-2, and when it is detected that there is toner at s-2 and no toner is detected at 8-1, the solenoid 5L-2 is activated to start toner replenishment. When toner replenishment begins, a 4-second timer circuit checks the presence or absence of toner every 4 seconds. In this developing device according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is set so that the appropriate amount can be replenished in about 4 seconds, but it may be shorter, longer, or continuous. After 4 seconds have elapsed, if the sensor 8-1 remains out of toner and the sensor s-2 is also out of toner, toner needs to be replenished, and the toner replenishment lamp 27 is turned on. Sensor S-2
If it detects that there is toner, it is strange that the sensor S-1 is up to i, which indicates that there is no toner, even though 4 seconds have passed, so in this case, the copy operation is stopped, the error lamp 44 is lit, and the power is cut. Note that abnormal locations may be displayed on the display 41, which normally indicates the number of copies. When the sensor 8-1 detects the presence of toner after 4 seconds have elapsed, the solenoid 8L-2 is turned off and the copying operation begins. (Step I) When both the sensors s-2 and 8-1 detect the presence of toner, it is checked whether the copy button is pressed or not, and then the copy operation is started. After making a predetermined number of copies, the copying operation is stopped. (Step 1) When both 8-2 and 8-1 detect that there is no toner, the toner replenishment lamp 27 is turned on. Further, when S-2 is out of toner and S-1 is with toner, the toner replenishment lamp 27 is blinked. (Step l) In the current medical device according to the present invention,
Even if the toner sensor S-2 detects that there is no toner, the developer chamber 20 is configured to contain enough developer to copy 99 sheets or more, and the presence or absence of toner is not monitored during the copying operation. No, this is because the sensor may malfunction due to vibration or the amount of toner hitting the sensor may change, and if the machine stops due to an out-of-toner signal during copying, the sequence after recovery becomes complicated, so it is difficult to copy the specified copy. After taking each sheet, I check whether there is toner or not.

In other words, in such a copying machine, even if the toner runs out during the copying operation, the number of copies per copy setting is still 99.
After copying 99 sheets, detect the presence or absence of toner in the current chamber, and if there is no toner, turn on solenoid 8L-2 to replenish toner, and after 4 seconds, when toner replenishment is complete, start copying operation. If toner replenishment is not completed, the toner replenishment lamp or error lamp is turned on.

In the developing device according to the present invention, as shown in the sequence diagram of FIG. 5, the sensor 8-1 checks the presence or absence of toner every 99 copies at maximum, that is, after the copying operation is completed, but there is almost no replenishment toner in the storage chamber l. Even in this case, no problem occurs because there is enough toner in the developing chamber 2 to make 99 or more copies. 9
If you turn on the out-of-toner lamp when 9 or more copies are ready, the lamp will turn on when the lamp turns on.) If you replenish toner at the IJ, you will not have to worry about the copier running out of toner and stopping while copying. Therefore, there is an advantage in that the copying machine sequence and the operator are freed from the complexity of having to remember how many copies have been made.

Furthermore, in the developing device according to the present invention, even if the sensor s-2 is out of toner, if the toner sensor 8-1 in the developing chamber 2 is in the presence of toner, a copying operation is possible. At this time, if the toner replenishment lamp blinks, and if both lamps are left on when there is no toner, it will be completely differentiated by the display method, so the operator will know when the toner is low and will be able to replace the toner as soon as possible. It is convenient for the operator because it allows replenishment.

That is, in this example, due to the size and cost of the display panel, the display device is shared, and the sensor 8-1 is located near the developing area.
When there is toner only in Noto Toro k, the L flashes, and when both are out of it, the display lights up. However, for example, you could install another indicator to separately indicate when the toner is low, or change the color It is also possible to display the difference.

In FIG. 1, the replenishment toner storage container 30 includes a cylindrical inner tube 31 having an opening 31a and a cylindrical outer tube 32 having an opening 32a, which are rotatably fitted together. The outer surface of the outer cylinder 32 has guide protrusions 33a and 33a arranged asymmetrically on the left and right sides.
33b, the refill toner storage container 3o
When loaded into the replenishment toner storage chamber 1, the opening 32m always faces downward. Therefore, after loading, the inner cylinder 31 is rotated so that its opening 31a is aligned with the opening 32a, so that the toner is dropped and supplied to the replenishment toner storage chamber 1 within the inner cylinder 31. 34 is a shaft rotatably provided at the center of the inner cylinder 31, and 35 is a toner scraping member such as a wire attached to the shaft 34.

In FIG. 2, 36 is a protruding shaft of the end face of the inner cylinder 31 that passes through the end face of the outer cylinder 32, and 37 is a retaining member provided on the protruding shaft 36. The replenishment toner storage container 30 is placed in the storage room lK11.
When loading, insert the retaining member 37 in the same direction as the U groove 38 on the storage chamber side plate, and after loading, rotate the middle cylinder 31 as described above to align the opening 31m with the opening 32a. , the engaging member 37 engages with the storage chamber side plate in the direction shown by the chain line, and prevents the replenishment toner storage container 30 from being removed while the toner is being discharged.

In Fig. 3, 40 is a warning display section, 41 is a number display section, and 42
43 is a copy operation section.

As described above, the present invention provides the toner storage M, 11 and current G.
Since the toner in one room is detected separately and each is displayed, there is no chance of damage to the equipment due to toner agglomeration or sensor malfunction.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of the developing device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the developing device showing the power transmission system, FIG. 3 is a view of the operation panel of the copying machine, and FIG. 4 is a method for detecting the presence or absence of toner. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a part of the replenishment toner needle chamber showing the means, and FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram. 1 is a replenishment toner needle chamber, 2 is a current chamber, 3 is a communication path, 4 is a toner, 5 is a shutter, 6 is a stirring member, 7@9 is a magnet roller, 8 and 10 are sleeves, 11 is a plate, 1
2 represents a partition plate, 15 represents a photosensitive drum, and S-1 and 8-2 represent sensors for detecting the presence or absence of toner.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Detection means S- for detecting the amount of developer in the developing chamber
1, and a detection means s for detecting the amount of developer in the developer storage chamber.
-2, rain detection means 8-z and rain detection means 8-z and S-2 both detect that there is no developer, a display means that displays the absence of developer, and the detection means S-1 detects that there is developer. Means S
2. A developing device comprising: a display means for displaying that the amount of developer is low when detecting that there is no developer. (2) The developing device according to claim 1, wherein when the amount of developer is running low, the developer out display means flashes.