JPS5926774A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To know securely the maintenance time of a body to be detected in a state corresponding to the image forming operation of an image carrier by detecting rotation of the image carrier and displaying the state that the number of revolution attains a value corresponding to the maintenance time of the body to be detected. CONSTITUTION:The rotation of a photosensitive drum 1 is transmitted to the input shaft 13 of a switch operating mechanism 10 and the output shaft 15 makes a nearly one rotation when the drum 1 rotates specified times. Then, the eccentric projecting part 9a of an eccentric cam 9 fitted to the output shaft 15 through a unidirectional rotation clutch 16 presses the operating lever 11a of a detection switch 11, which is operated. Consequently, a display part 12 turns on to indicate that the cleaning time of the developer recovery box 7 of, for example, a cleaning device 2 comes, and following copying operation is stopped. Then, an operator draws out and cleans the developer recovery box 7. Thus, the maintenance time of the body to be detected is known securely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in an electrophotographic apparatus that can notify when it is time for maintenance, for example, when it is time to clean a developer collection box of a cleaning device.

Conventionally, methods for knowing when it is time for maintenance in electrophotographic devices such as electronic copying machines have been based on, for example, optical use to detect when the developer collection box of a cleaning device is full, and methods using heavy I detection. . However, in the case of optical use of the former, there are malfunctions due to variations in the accumulation state of the collected developer and dirt on the light emitting part and light receiving part, and in the case of the latter, detection of the mold part is due to the light weight of the developer. It has drawbacks such as difficulty in adjustment and the tendency to make mistakes.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to detect the rotation of an image bearing member that rotates during image formation, and to detect the rotation of the image carrier until the number of rotations reaches a point corresponding to the maintenance time of the detected object. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic apparatus in which it is possible to reliably know when it is time for maintenance when a failure is detected by displaying a message to that effect when the failure is detected. .

FIG. 1 shows the structure of the cleaning device section of the electronic camera, showing the sides of the photosensitive drum 1 as an image carrier,
That is, the rotation direction 1111 of the image transfer unit (not shown)
The untransferred developer a remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1 is
A cleaning device (cleaner) 2 for removing ... is provided.

The cleaning device 2 uses a cleaning blade 3 to scrape off untransferred developer a from the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1, and uses a collection roll 4 to scrape off the recovered developer A from the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1. The developer is conveyed in a direction away from the surface, and the collected developer a' adsorbed on the surface of the collection roll 4 is further scraped off by a scraping blade 5. Further, the recovered developer a'... scraped off by the scavenging blade 5 is recovered in a developer recovery box 7 attached to the bottom of the casing 6 of the cleaning device 2. .

In addition, the guide groove 7a formed on the opening-1 edge of the developer recovery box 7 is replaced by the guide rail portion 6 formed on the lower opening-side edge of the casing of the cleaning device i2.
It is attached by engaging with a, and the source agent collection box 7 can be pulled out to the front l111 as necessary. The collected developer a' can be periodically removed.

Furthermore, when the present 1 reagent collection box 7 becomes full with the collected developer a' and needs to be cleaned, the maintenance timing detection device 8 detects and displays this fact. As shown in FIG. 8, when the copying operation of the electronic copying machine is performed the number of times that the developing Al1 recovery box 7 as the object to be detected is full, the tomoe-shaped eccentric cam 9 as an actuator rotates a predetermined amount of the switch. An actuating mechanism 10 and a detection switch 1) that is moved by the one-center cam 9 of the switch actuating mechanism 10, and an inkstone 1 household medicine collection box 7 are activated by a signal from the detecting means 12a. Display as a means of indicating that it is time to clean the j? li 12b.

The switch operating mechanism 10 interlocks an input shaft 13 with the shaft 1a of the photosensitive drum 1, which is a rotating part that rotates with the copying operation of the electronic copying machine, and uses the rotational force of the input shaft 13 as a deceleration means. Q outputs are transmitted to 11J5 via Arjl 14, and an eccentric cam 9 as the actuator is attached to this output width 115 via a one-way rotation clutch 16. Also,
The speed reduction mechanism 14 includes a worm 17 integrated with the input shaft 13;
It is comprised of a gear box J9 that includes a worm gear I8 that meshes with the worm 17, and a gear group (not shown) that decelerates and transmits the rotation of the worm gear 18 to the upper mill output shaft 15.

In addition, the upper 6 pin detection switch 1 and the switch actuator (tom 10) that operates the switch actuator (the eccentric cam 9 of the present 1 liquid agent collection box 7) are arranged near the bottom surface of the liquid agent collection box 7, and are attached to the bottom surface of the developer collection box 7. It has a 4M configuration in which the eccentric protrusion 9a of the eccentric cam 9 can be interposed in the moving path of the reset member 20.When the developer collection box 7 is pulled out as shown in FIG. hits the eccentric protrusion 9a of the eccentric cam 9 and forcibly rotates the eccentric cam 9 to the reset position,
Effect of the detection switch 11 pressed by the eccentric protrusion 9a+
Ruber 11 af (gl: It is now possible to use it.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the reset member 20 is a plate spring bent into a substantially horizontal shape, and when the developer collection box 7 is pulled out, the reset member 20 does not undergo elastic deformation and its tip vertical piece 20a is eccentric. It comes into contact with the eccentric portion 9a of the cam and is reliably pushed away. ↓When the eccentric protrusion 9a of the eccentric cam 9 protrudes into the movement path of the reset member 20 for some reason, such as immediately after standing up, the present one-year-old drug collection box 7 is installed. , the neck/first part 20b of the reset part 20 is elastically deformed and goes over the eccentric protrusion 9a and collides! The structure is such that the t+ error is avoided. Note that 2 is formed on the bottom surface of the developer collection box 7,
This is an escape groove to prevent the reset member 2θ from coming into contact with the vertical piece 20a during the i'P PIX deformation.

The display section 12 that indicates that it is time to clean is still 1.
A colored display board 22 with words such as "cleaner cleaning" placed on the 11th panel (not shown) is connected to a light source 23 provided at the bottom of this colored display board 22. When 23 is lit, the words ``Crease Cleaning'' appear.

The operation of the above four embodiments will be explained in detail. ! The untransferred developer a... remaining on the display on the photoreceptor drum I due to the copying process is collected by the cleaning device 2 into the casing 6, and the collected developer a'...・ is stored in the developer collection box 7. The number of copies will increase in proportion to this recitation of cape copying.

On the other hand, the photoreceptor drum I rotates once for one ( ) copying operation.
The rotation of υ is transmitted to the input shaft 13 of the structure 10 during switch operation.
When the photoreceptor drum 1 is collected a predetermined amount, that is, the developing agent collection box 7 is full of collected developer a'..., and rotates a predetermined number of times f'L, the output Ql+7 is generated.
s makes almost one revolution. And this output ill l 5
The eccentric protrusion 9a of the eccentric cam 9 as an actuator attached via the one-way rotary clutch 16 pushes the actuating lever 11af of the switch 1) to activate the switch J1.
Then, the display section J2 displays that it is time to clean the developer collection box 7 of the cleaning device 2, and the subsequent copying operation is stopped.

When the display section 12 lights up, the operator pulls out the developer collection box 7 and returns to normal. At this time, the eccentric cam 9 is forcibly rotated to the reset position (1) by the reset member 20 attached to the lower phase 1 of the developer collection box 7, and the smart switch 11 is brought into the state of .

And now II! By cleaning and installing the drug recovery box 7, the user can again use the drug collection box 7 for the first time.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a case has been described in which the detection of maintenance time is applied to the cleaning time of the developer collection box of the cleaning device, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example +Jui! ! Disconnection may be used to detect the agent replenishment time of the apparatus cooling, the lifespan of the photosensitive drum, the lifespan of the indicator heat roller, etc.

In addition, although the switch actuation mechanism 10 is configured using a gear box that accommodates a worm, a worm gear, and a group of gears as the worm, the switch operation mechanism 10 is not limited thereto. The detection may be of any type as long as it can detect that the photosensitive drum has rotated a number of times corresponding to the timing for maintenance of debris.

In addition, the present invention provides t=t without changing the scope of the present invention.
The most important thing is the incisal edge.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the rotation of the carrier that rotates during image formation is detected, and when the number of rotations reaches t, which corresponds to the time for maintenance of broken parts, this is displayed. Therefore, it is possible to know exactly when it is time to maintain the object to be detected in a state corresponding to the movement of one quadrangle bF to the image holder. Therefore, for example, if the actual situation is uneven,
In addition, it is light in weight and is useful for detecting fullness of the lubricant collection box of cleaning equipment that collects the agent.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the cleaning device section of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the main tidal section of the present invention, and FIG. The figure shows a half-open bright part 1, 4th (1 is a side view of the shark part. 1... iron carrier (photosensitive drum), 7... detection object (currently 11# rut Collection box), 8...Maintenance 4
φ display device, 12a...+(output means, 12b...display means. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 11 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an electrophotographic apparatus that forms an image on a rotatably supported image carrier, there is provided a detection means for detecting rotation of the image carrier to detect maintenance time, and a detection means for detecting maintenance time according to the detection means. 1. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising: display means for displaying images.